2 Months Later.
X was standing in front of a very important place. All around him, an enormous crowd was pushing and pulling at each other, children and adults, knights and citizens, rich and poor, strong and weak. The Academy Entrance Exam was beginning, and everyone wanted to witness it in all its glory. After all, this event was conducted by the Royal Academy.
The Royal Academy. The Kingdom's pride and prestige. A massive building in the center of Rossenberg, one so big it makes Brik's mansion look like a small straw hut that would be seen in Terlem. Thousands of pillars rose from the ground that held a gargantuan three-storied building, with countless training rooms, libraries, research centers, and other rooms of educational importance. Made of pure white marble, this domed building was considered the epitome of architecture in the whole Kingdom of Europa.
In fact, it was not exactly the Royal Academy. The academy was a part of the structure, but in reality, this place was something else. It was called the Center, since it was the literally center of Rossenberg, encompassing not only the Royal Academy but also the Tower and the Royal Palace.
'Any person who graduated from this Academy would begin his or her career as a Stage 2 knight, while everyone else would start from Stage 1. They would also receive more respect and honor than any other knight of the same level, merely because of the fact that they managed to reach the Royal Academy. There were a lot of resources in this building not just because it was a part of the Tower and the Royal Palace, but also because any knight who had reached Stage 3 was welcome to use them for their personal training. In the process, these knights, whose population was less than fifty, would provide some important advice to the young students, which was the main mode of teaching here.'
X stood in front of the massive gate, wrought with pure iron, as he heard the soldiers guarding the place scream their long speeches in perfect sync. As soon as they finished speaking, the gate swung open, and an old man suddenly appeared in front of the massive crowd of potential students. He was around 70 years old, with a long white beard that came up to his abdomen. In his long, flowing dark-blue robe and pointy wizard hat, he looked more like a character from one of those children's books than a real human. In a booming voice that was obviously magically amplified, he roared
'I, the headmaster of the Royal Academy and leader current Second King, the Tower Master, Dusan Sinclair Rubeus formally welcome all of you to the Royal Academy's Annual Entrance Exam. By the end of the examination, at least four of you will stay here as students, and the others will have to attempt next year if possible. I wish you the best of luck. The contestants are requested to follow me into the campus along with the volunteers, while the rest of you, who wish to be the audience of today, are to stay back for the first phase of the Exam.'
The children almost rushed forward, but the knights standing on either side enforced discipline, and they soon walked in orderly lines. X was the second in his line, and while turning his head and counting, he was able to see approximately 150 people. Among them, he was able to see a familiar face.
Standing near the end was Brik. But he looked nothing like before, with strong, well-built muscles that sadly reminded X of the time he first released his claws. He looked sad, and more importantly, angry, the combination of which was extremely painful to look at. He turned his head, and on seeing X, his expression changed, momentarily revealing all the hatred he was concealing, a look that resonated with the one that was on his face when Uncle Ken died, before morphing back to his previous expression. X frantically turned his head forward. The sight of him reminded X of the sad passing of the knight, which was something he did not wish to remember.
The blue-haired girl in front of him stopped walking and turned her head. X almost crashed into her and was saved by the fact that he was looking forward. If she had turned around a little earlier, he would have definitely crashed into her. The other lines were still moving, so X did not know why she had stopped. Her sea-blue eyes seemed to be staring into his soul, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. It was not that her presence felt malicious, it was more like she was the exact opposite of him, someone who was very outgoing. This thought was further cemented when she very quickly spoke something that took X more than a moment to process.
'Do you think it would be too hard? You don't think so, right? I hope not. I do not think I would be able to pass if it is too hard, you know.'
X felt extremely uncomfortable and looked down, hoping that the girl would understand. He could barely reply to someone in a good circumstance, given some time and context. Even then he ended up swallowing most words, and the ones that did come out were indecipherable gibberish. So obviously being asked something like this out of the blue was not going to help. He looked up just a bit, trying to understand if she noticed his shyness. She probably did, since she was blushing due to embarrassment. Strangely, she blushed blue instead of red. As X was pondering about all of this, the rest of the lines stopped moving, and the girl had to rush forward to keep up.
'All of you, look forward. You will be given five minutes before the examination begins. You can find partners and form teams if you wish to. Just note that the event has combat as the main focus, so when making a team, be sure to use your heads.'
X stared around. 5 minutes. He had to find partners in five minutes. He was confident in his abilities, but he was not sure if he could do it himself. That blue-haired girl was an option, he was scared to talk to her. Besides, she did not seem to have a lot of confidence in her abilities. Brik was even worse since they couldn't talk without bringing up Uncle Ken. There were a lot of people with swords, spears, and shields, but they all seemed to know each other. He spotted a few peculiar people, people like him who were different from the norms.
A guy with an expensive sword and an electric look in his cloud-gray eyes who stood away from all the other contestants. A girl with one of her hands wrapped in bandages, staring at people like she was seeing who was stronger. A fat guy without any armor or weapons, who just yawned and looked around for a way to escape this mess. A guy with muscles so large they matched or even surpassed Brik's. A girl with a wooden bow, who was the only archer in the area. There were a lot of people, but X found talking to them too uncomfortable. He would much rather fight on his own. He finally decided that he would talk to the blue-haired girl. At least they had already conversed. He walked up to her and tapped on her shoulder. She turned and looked at him. Taking a deep breath, he said
'C...I jo.. you?'
The girl looked at him for a moment, trying her best not to laugh, then looked at his hatchet, and spoke in her annoyingly fluent accent that sounded like she was speaking underwater
'You want to form a team with me. I think it would be better for you to stay alone, and for me too. I don't want to drag you down. I remember my brother telling me about how weak...'
X couldn't believe the fact that she was just continuing the conversation like that, despite them having barely enough time to talk to each other, much less form a team. But he understood her meaning and recognized the hopelessness with which she spoke. She knew that there was no way for her to win.
A loud bell rang in the distance, startling X who was lost in his thoughts. The time was up. Dusan Sinclair Rubeus raised a hand, and the bell stopped ringing. After making sure that the children had all stopped discussing with each other, he spoke in a deep yet excited voice.
'We have unleashed the weakest of the Stage 1 demons, whom we call Stage 0 demons or larvae on a small village around ten kilometers from Rossenberg. You are expected to fight them and kill these demons, with each demon kill being considered one point. If a party, that is a team were to kill a demon, each person would receive a fraction of a kill that corresponds to the size of the team, but if two strangers were to kill a demon together, they both would not receive a point. Professional knights will be positioned there, so if anything life-threatening occurs, you will be protected. You are not allowed to hurt other knights.'
He took a deep breath, staring at them to make sure that they understood his words
'You will now be given twenty-five minutes. In that time, you are expected to kill as many larvae as possible. If you manage to kill 25 demons, you will be enrolled directly into the academy, while the top eight contestants with less than twenty-five demon kills will participate in the next round, and the four best will be accepted. If you have chosen partners or created a squad, stand beside them.'
Then, in a grand voice that boomed so loudly X felt his eardrums shatter, he announced.
'In the name of the Almighty Lord of Light, who held back all evil, who created day and night during his infinite fight against the endless darkness, who protected mankind and life on this planet, I open this year's Academy Entrance Examination. I wish that the contestants would take this opportunity to display their very best in front of the City, the Kingdom, in front of the Tower and King, for the glory of our Lord.'
X took out his hatchet. His palms were sweaty. He was both anxious and excited, a combination of emotions that made him feel dizzy. Who knew that he would have to kill demons? He looked around, seeing many students flock in front of him. Then suddenly, one by one, they disappeared. A moment after he realized what had happened, he himself was taken to another place, the transition so smooth his brain failed to comprehend it. He felt like he had been here for a long time when in reality, he had just reached there.
He was in a village, right beside a small wooden house. It was similar to the place where Uncle Ken... X took a look around, forcing himself to forget about his previous train of thought. He noticed that he was at a junction, from where he could see four different roads, all small and made of mud. X heard a sharp growl and turned around to see what had made it.
There was a demon in front of him, as tall as a man, feeble and thin like the owner of the inn where he lived at present. While it had sharp claws, they were small compared to the other demons he had faced. With its weak, skinny appearance, X almost felt pity for it and forgot that it was a deadly demon that would have been responsible for the death of a lot of people. The Tower master was right. These demons were not that dangerous. They were literally Stage 0 demons, not worth the title of even Stage 1. It was like a normal villager among demons, and this train of thought again caused X to feel pity for the poor thing.
It didn't last for long, not when he noticed the bloodlust displayed by it as it rushed at him. X's body started to heat up. He held his hatchet tightly and got ready to behead the demon. The temperature of the area rose by more than two degrees. It should be done in a minute.
Just then, a splash of blue liquid fell from the sky, hitting the demon at extreme speed and forcing it to go down to its knees. Another one followed through, the attack actually managing to penetrate the demon's skin due to its high velocity. And this time, X saw that the water had taken the shape of a long, three-pronged spear. A trident. He looked up, towards the place from where these tridents appeared.
'Riptide'
A soft voice spoke in a quavering manner, lacking the confidence to say it out loud. A girl was flying in the air, her blue hair floating like she was underwater. Her arm stretched forward, and from the tip of her hand, water pooled into the form of a trident in mere seconds before flying away. Slamming into the demon, the trident actually managed to pierce through the demon's chest, leaving behind three holes in the demon's corpse. This girl, the same person who told him that she was very weak, had now killed a demon in three strikes while being far enough to not get counter-attacked. It was an impressively good tactic to not get injured. The girl then saw X and spoke in her strange underwater accent.
'I...I told you I was weak. Three attacks are way too much, my brother could... Sorry, anyway, the name is Aqua.'
The girl reached out with her hand, floating towards him. Suddenly she remembered his behavior and his questionable social skills and decided to not mingle with him. It was awkward for the both of them anyway, so Aqua just flew away, leaving behind the corpse of the demon. X's body steamed in anger. She stole his kill, which meant that he still had to kill twenty-five demons, no matter how weak they were. A loud bell rang, similar to the one in the Academy. The timer had started.
25 demons left. He could do this.
'Fire Escape.'