"Lord Ares... you should take a break from studying... even I haven't been doing this much."
Evelyn brought some tea to me as I sat at my desk studying.
"It's necessary considering how much I slacked off before coming to the academy, also, didn't I tell you to call me Ares? No lord."
"...Right, of course."
Our relationship, although a bit awkward, was much better than before.
Significant time had passed since the first term had started, and I had been doing my best to treat her well.
It seemed my efforts were working.
Anyway, she was right.
I had spent the entire weekend studying for hours non stop.
Right now, it was Sunday evening.
It reminded me of the dreaded exam days of my past life.
But it was necessary if I wanted to aim for first place.
If it were the practical exam, I could at least play some tricks, but the written exam was all knowledge.
And considering my experience with the game, my knowledge was not at all lacking, the issue was that I had no idea how I should answer the questions.
Also, gameplay knowledge did not directly translate to in game knowledge.
Throughout my time, I found endless pieces of unknown knowledge as well as learning attack patterns and weaknesses by myself.
If I randomly wrote unknown information, even if it were correct, I would not receive marks.
So I reluctantly had to study up on what type of answers were expected.
After many hours, I felt like I got it down.
"Evelyn, are you aiming for any rank?"
I decided to make some conversation.
"Hmm... Well, I think I'd be happy if I were in the top twenty five..."
Top twenty five was an admirable rank, but her expectations of herself were quite low.
I was sure she would get top ten, possibly top five.
"What about you, Ares?"
I gave a mischievous smile and spoke.
"Don't laugh... but I'm aiming for first place."
I was surprised when Evelyn took my words well. Her green eyes showed some admiration.
"Well, it's certainly good to aim high... I'll be rooting for you!"
"Yeah, and I'm sure you'll get in the top 10."
"Haah... We'll see."
The conversation ended there, and Evelyn left to go study in the library with her own group.
In the solitude of my own room, I leaned back on my chair.
My mind drifted to thoughts of the exam.
Naturally, the academy would not only have a written exam.
The written and practical exam held equal weightage.
My goal was to completely ace the written exam and then do well on the practical.
But I was quite afraid.
Sure, the practical exam was tough, but I was worried about something else.
The Vice Principal.
Previously, he had summoned a high-class death knight to kill me.
Since then, he had not taken any action, when we passed each other in the hallways, he kindly greeted me.
Too much time had passed and he had done nothing, which made me think he would do something during the practical exam.
But at the same time, he would have to be a fool to do so, after all, unlike the monster hunting class in the Ashwood forest, well over a dozen teachers would be watching.
"Ugh.... I should have just reported him to the commander..."
I did not want to cause Ragan trouble, and even if I reported him, I frankly had no evidence.
Ragan did trust my words, but my words alone were not nearly enough to begin an investigation on Ataraxis.
Being the acting principal of the academy was a huge position, in charge of several great talents.
He held great weight in the world of politics.
The church could not begin an investigation upon him simply because a student demanded so.
Right now, I was at the end of the first act of the game.
The third act would take place roughly at the end of the academic year, in the third term.
I had to find some sort of way to expose him before then.
The slimy old bastard was notorious in game for hiding his tracks well.
He used multiple artifacts to hide his deathly magic aura, and claimed to be a mage with only 2 minds opened.
His first mind was death magic, his second mind fire, and his third mind shadow.
He claimed his second and third minds to be his first and second, when in actuality he hid his true first mind, death magic.
"....I'll think about it later."
My thoughts shifted to the practical exam.
The first term's practical exam was less intense than other practical exams.
It was located in the Ashwood forest once more, and this time, hundreds of mana beads would be scattered and hidden.
Students had to use their mana sensitivity to sense the various orbs.
There were three types of orbs.
Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
Bronze orbs emitted the greatest amount of magic, easily being able to be sensed, and were only worth 1 point.
Silver orbs emitted significantly less magic, and were lesser in quantity, being hard to find.
They were worth 10 points.
Gold orbs emitted next to no mana, so little that it was easier to just look for a golden glint than to try sense their mana output.
They were smallest in number and held a massive point count of 50.
I couldn't help but feel a little bad for the other students.
Over my many playthroughs, I had thoroughly memorized the locations of the golden orbs, as well as the most optimal route to obtain them.
As for the written test, I would hopefully be able to ace those as well.
The written test had three separate parts.
History & Geography.
Magical Theory.
Monster Hunting.
History and geography would be easy, as I had literally explored the continent dozens of times in my playthroughs. I had explored places that no human could have ever dreamed of reaching.
As for magical theory... it was another easy pass. It would mostly ask questions regarding minds, awakening and mutations.
Monster hunting was the easiest, if you were to pile up all the monsters I had killed in game, you could reach the moon. I knew everything there was to know about them.
I slept a little early, wanting a good night's rest before tomorrows exams.
I felt slight worry as to what the vice principal might do... but I let it be.
This chapter was brought to you by the gifts from Phantasma_1 and Polzevatel_Google.