The building from inside reminded Xiao Xun of the manor where the original body was born.
Cold, uselessly large, clearly expensive yet unadorned.
Even with hundreds of people inside the building, there was no lack of space at all. On the contrary, somehow the threatening structure seemed to make these ordinary people smaller.
This building was designed to intimidate a very specific audience.
Without idle talk, the middle-aged man began his speech: "You all came here trying to win a ticket to a better future. Unfortunately, only a hundred of you will receive it.
The tests will start in half an hour, you are welcome to prevent the participation of others however you wish."
Despite the teasing words, no one broke a sweat.
It was hard to know who was a commoner and who was a noble, making enemies with another family in most cases was not worth it.
Although these nobles were nothing in high society, in a place that contained mostly common people- they were the law.
[Host, the original main character is in the room.]
Thank God, at least the plot didn't go so wrong that it went completely off course.
Iris Lubali, The heiress to Baron Lubali, was an innocent, equality-seeking character who entered the royal academy with the highest-ever entrance exam score.
According to the game's plot, the other participants were too shocked by her strawberry-pink surfer hair and big eyes to concentrate on their test, resulting in the sharpest grade curve ever seen on the continent.
'What a cheesy game, the quality of the plot is so poor it screams world c.'
A world ranked according to its manufacturers. Whether it's abilities or art, as long as it's of a high enough level the actual offensive power of the world doesn't matter.
For such a stupid game to be mainstream... the quality really deteriorates with the infinite time.
Edmond's eyes scanned the crowd, slightly curious to see what was an original cartoon character in real life. It didn't take long to see a small gathering at the side of the hall, consisting mainly of guys, but before he could go over Cecil stopped him. "What are you looking at?" A hint of jealousy flashed in his eyes before it was quickly hidden, He must make up for the past. Make Edmund think he needs him more than Cecil needs Edmund.
Xiao Xun was already used to automatically answering his prying, knowing that he would act strange again as long as he talked about another person. "No one, just curious about the commotion over there."
[You know, your relationship is abusive.]
'What relationship? I need someone strong to assassinate my sister now that I can't buy anything in the system shop, I have to be nice to him.'
'Putting that aside,' He ran his tongue over his upper lip, not noticing that he was scratching it with his little fangs, "He grew up to be exactly my taste.'
Xiao Xun swam both ways, and the only taste he had was 'looks good'.
Somehow, in some unbelievable, frustrating way, both in his original life and in any of the mission worlds he has yet to experience a romantic relationship.
It was always out of character, or the other party died unexpectedly, or his mission completed itself by some cosmic miracle.
He had been abstinent for so long that he thought this day would never come.
In this world, he designed his character to rely on Cecil over the years, and Cecil did next to nothing to hide his interest in him.
As long as he continues to play the innocent sheep card correctly, He doesn't think Cecil could hold his own for long.
He couldn't help but get excited as he looked at Cecil's even under his shirt obvious abs, his almost 1000-year-old virginity was about to break!
"Examinees, preparation time is over!"
The middle-aged man appeared as suddenly as he had disappeared, Announcing that their unused assassination time was up.
Cecil glanced at the gathering at the far end of the room, a little sorry he wasn't the first to use it.
The man walked towards the long corridor behind him, the only sign to the examinees following him being that now, unlike the previous times, he didn't just disappear into thin air.
The hundreds of people quickly organized into a column offhand, following him like a mother hen.
There seemed to be a strange tacit understanding between them ever since the last name was written on the board outside. They did not know if it was temporary or permanent, but for now, without their consent, their minds were slightly connected in some way to each other.
The only ones unaffected were Xiao Xun, Cecile and another girl, who looked at the silent and obedient crowd in wonder.
The strawberry-blonde-haired girl glanced at them with her huge eyes, not understanding why the crowd around her suddenly disappeared.
"How, do you know where they all went?"
"I think we should follow them and find out." Xiao Xun smiled at her.
She blushed a little, "Yes, I have to do well on this test. I promised my dying father that I would bring pride to our baron house, I'm the only one left to do so."
'Wow, she's way more sly than I expected.'
[what? What makes you think that?]
'This sentence has a lot of information about it. First, that she is from a noble family. Second, that her father is dying. Third, being the only daughter, she basically walks around with a sign that says 'Marry me and be the next baron!' She's totally into me.'
[Wow, it really takes one to know one.]
Of course, if Xiao Xun could see it, so could Cecil. He clenched his fists as he watched this insufferable girl bat her heavily made-up and ugly eyelashes at Edmund as if he wasn't there at all.
"Excuse me," He bumped into her shoulder and took Edmund's hand, pulling it forward as he ran, "we're going to miss the teacher, let's move."
"We'll be in touch, miss!" Edmund turned his gaze to her, trusting Cecil not to send him crashing into the wall.
"I'm Iris, Iris Lubali! Look for me at school!"
'she's a player, right? Not an npc.'
The system and he discussed for a long time for strategies whether the character they would meet was the programmed character or a payer in action, Based on the obvious flirtation and the fact that she was sure he would be accepted into the academy, the second option is more likely.
[She must be so confused why you're not a duke.]
'She will be more confused when she hears that my name is Danny Danoni.'
Although being an unpredictable gamer complicates the business a bit, it was funnier that way.
All in all, not too bad a result so far.
There were no major distortions, the world didn't collapse, and no major laws seemed to have changed, although he acted with incredible irresponsibility.
The butterfly effect can cause so many extreme changes that isolating yourself in the woods with an unknown creature for years when your job is to prevent such changes can be seen as a somewhat puzzling decision, yet work doesn't mean doing something you don't like.
[This is the exact meaning in 99% of cases.]
'How lucky you are to be at the 1%, ha? Working for me must be a treat.'
[...]
Xiao Xun distractedly dragged himself down the long corridor, letting Cecil as usual do all the hard work. Even though Cecil was running at top speed not suspecting him of being a magical being, they still only reached the classroom at the end of the older man's speech.
He looked at them through his glasses, thinking something to himself as he motioned for them to sit down in front of the test sheets.
Looking down, Xiao Xun almost laughed when he saw the questions. It seems that the questions were designed with the aim of checking if the person answering could read.
Sentences like: "The girl played with a red ball." followed by the question "What did the girl play with?"
If this is the actual test his last hope is no longer so faint.
He began to answer the questions with great confidence.