Everyone's attention had shifted to Yaketsuku's test results being announced.
All Adam cared about was seeing him in reality.
Yaketsuku Onigahara is the descendant of the shogunate of the West.
A character Adam felt like he related to a lot because of his tragic backstory and the entire story arc he goes through while the main events of the game are taking place.
You would only know snippets of what was happening to him as the story progressed unless you went out of your way to find hidden clues and scenes where it was explained better.
You couldn't get him to talk about it because he has immense trust issues and was the token 'rival of the protagonist'.
The only thing in his life that softened him up a little was his interactions with Mia as he fell in love with her.
All that was ruined when Mia rejected him for our milk toast justice-loving protagonist.
We rarely got to use him in combat during specific fights in the story when he joined our party begrudgingly, and in the end, we had to fight him and kill him to stop him from destroying the shogun himself.
Strangely, the shogun would always end up killing himself in the end after his son died.
Everyone was confused because the entire fight was about saving the shogun and he would just kill himself anyway.
Only later did players realize what was happening behind the scenes and why the events transpired as they did.
The Game was a gem, and Yaketsuku was the gem Adam related to the most.
That's how men relate to each other, through pain, because we all feel it.
Grabbing a couple of drinks with the boys, and talking about how our lives are slowly falling apart, always served as a great bonding moment for men throughout history.
It didn't matter where it was, the battlefield or the pub after working at the factory all day, this was how men bonded.
Adam wanted a better ending for Yaketsuku.
No matter how warped the future became, he would try his best to achieve it.
"Yakestuku Onigahara, the heir to the shogunate is our 2nd supreme potential applicant of today! "
The result was expected.
What Adam had been waiting for was how he looked in reality.
Jet black hair with black eyes with short hair that twisted coming down onto his forehead.
Why did Adam care about what Yaketsuku looked like?
Because he based his entire look in his past life on his imagination of how Yaketsuku would look in real life.
'Okay, at least I got the hair right...'
Adam's body in his past life looked extremely similar to Yaketsuku's body in this life.
'Yes! I got the body right too!'
All the anticipation for wanting to see Yaketsuku in real life was only for his personal validation.
How could our perfectionist narcissist ever make a wrong decision or judgement?
The test overseers then started to announce the names of the main cast one by one for their testing.
It's funny how most of the main cast has their testing one after another, almost as if someone went behind the scenes to make it happen.
The results were as predictable as you would think.
Jake Kennedy = Supreme Potential
Mia Ivrea Arlae = Supreme Potential
Charlotte Sia Loredan = Supreme Potential
Alexandra Argento Stellar = Supreme Potential
Mikhail Vander Puth= Superior Potential
The only difference between the main cast was in the test results of Mikhail which was only because they couldn't let the main character be on par with his sidekick.
Quite saddening.
Here's how Potential is measured in Klienova.
1. Supreme
2. Superior
3. Decent
4. Mediocre
5. Poor
6. Abysmal
7. Unacceptable
8. Trash
Your future was going to be solid as long as you were in the top 4 potentials.
Anything below that and you would have a really hard time surviving the academy.
7 or below would mean you wouldn't even be accepted into the academy unless you were a noble of the empire.
Adam's total stats were enough to at least be counted as mediocre.
After a while of waiting, it was finally Adam's turn to be tested.
"Applicant No. 111 Adam Alastair Dacre please make your way to the testing booth."
As soon as Adam entered the testing booth, time froze and a system window occurred in front of Adam.
|| [MONARCH'S AESTHETICA]{EX} AWAKENS WITHIN THE HOST AS THE FIRST MAIN QUEST IS ABOUT TO BEGIN. ||
|| REALITY WILL NOW BE DISTORTED TO PAVE THE WAY FOR THE HOST TO WALK THE PATH OF AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH ||
'Reality will be distorted? What the f*ck?'
Adam wasn't understanding what the 2nd message meant.
The test was done, and the tester announced.
"Adam Alastair Dacre is the first applicant with 'trash' potential. Please make your way to the writing exam."
The entire process and all of the results of all of the cadets were being shown live on television by the news media for all of the world to see.
Public humiliation in front of the entire world.
The first noble applicant to have a trash potential.
A trait that could distort reality itself was unheard of.
There were disguise spells to hide a person's abilities and potential but those would have easily been caught by the security measures of the academy.
With another system window, as he made his way to the written exam hall, Adam finally understood why the trait did what it did.
|| MONARCH'S PATH QUEST 1
THE WORLD LAUGHS AT
YOU, REIGN SUPREME OVER ALL
WHO DOUBT OR MOCK YOU.
OBJECTIVE: RANK NO.1 IN THE ENTRANCE EXAM
REWARD: [MONARCH'S AESTHETICA] SUB TRAIT 1 AND 2 WILL AWAKEN
FAILURE PENALTY: IMPOTENCY
TIME LIMIT: NONE ||
For some reason, every penalty wanted Adam to become impotent. It's as if the system knew exactly what Adam cared the most about.
All applicants had to wait until the potential for all of the applicants had been tested before the written exam began.
It was now the afternoon and everyone was ready to take their exams since all applicants that were short-listed were now present.
The exam was about 3 hours long.
Adam had no problems with the exam because of [CALCULATOR].
He had already finished his test in one hour since the tests don't really take much time when you already know all the answers as soon as you see the question.
He could see the other students struggling and taking a long time to complete the exam.
Adam suddenly had a brilliant idea.
He asked the supervisor for an extra sheet.
He then began drawing a magic formation on it for flash magic.
Depending on the many practical tests that might take place this could come in handy.
The exam was now finished and everyone made their way to the auditorium where the principal of the academy would give a speech and explain the third practical test to them.
As Adam made his way to the hall he saw something incredibly peculiar.
All the commoners were on one side of the hall while the nobles were on the other.
The funny part was that the faculty of the academy didn't make them stand this way, everyone here made the conscious decision to separate themselves from those of different status.
An ironic smile crept up Adam's face as he saw the spectacle in front of him.
It was time to have a little fun.
Adam made his way and stood in the commoner section of the hall behind a guy of a shorter height than him.
No commoner stood behind Adam in that row and instead, they chose to make the other rows longer.
Slowly the nobles started staring daggers towards Adam unable to understand why a noble would be in the place where the commoners are standing.
The kid in front of Adam started sweating bullets due to his anxiety that was formed because for some reason all the noble kids were staring at him in anger.
He didn't realize that they were staring at what was behind him.
He tried to walk backward to move away from the gazes but instead walked into Adam who was standing behind him.
"Watch where you're going ." Adam said in his monotone, deep stoic voice.
The kid in front of Adam, unable to grasp why a noble would be standing behind him, said while panicking, "Hu- huh? Why are you here?"
"Is there a sign nearby that says I can't stand here?"
"N- No, no there isn't."
"If there isn't, why ask me a question like that in the first place?"
"I'm sorry! My bad!" The kid said as he swiftly turned back forward and closed his eyes so his mental state didn't get any worse.
'Oh man, my luck is the worst why did this trouble-seeking noble have to stand right behind me? Oh god, I already know something bad is going to happen.'
Zimo Laos was just a commoner kid from the Eastern Dynasty.
His father was a local blacksmith who made farming tools for the village he lived in.
One day his father saw his kid using a wooden stick as a makeshift sword when he was no less than 3 years old.
Seeing that his father made him a wooden sword for him to play with.
Once he was 10 years of age, seeing his son make his sword art on his own inspired his father to save up some iron over the years and make his son his very own iron sword.
Zimo came to the academy for a chance to have a better life for himself and his family back home.
This reckless northern noble behind him acting however he wanted was only making his chances of achieving that better life slimmer.
Suddenly while Zimo was having an internal monologue, a girl came towards Adam after hearing the commotion.
"Hey! You with the white hair!"
Adam turned his head towards the source of the voice.
There stood a girl with a wide stance and her hands resting on her waist with an annoyed expression on her face.
Strangely enough, even though she was a commoner. She had white coloured hair, just like Adam.
With a bold and loud voice, she said, "Just because you're a noble doesn't mean you can just go around bullying people like this!"
" Bullying people? When did I bully anyone?"
Adam was quite clueless about the accusation thrown at him.
As the girl came closer, she now managed to get a better look at Adam.
She saw his similar white hair and purple eyes, and for a second she looked at him as if she wanted him dead.
But it was only for a split second and nobody present managed to notice it, except Adam.
The girl then reverted to her annoyed expression and continued.
"What are you doing to that kid in front of you then?"
She said, pointing towards Zimo.
Adam then went on to pull Zimo by his shoulder facing him towards the girl and said,"Hey, let this little lady know, am I bullying you?"
For some odd reason, Zimo still had his eyes clenched close.
"N- N- N- N- No miss , I- I- I- I- I am not b- b- b- b- being bullied..."
"See? He just said he isn't being bullied. Anything else?"
"What do you mean he isn't being bullied? He is so nervous and anxious he can't even say a sentence straight!"
"But that has nothing to do with me?"
"Nothing to do with you? Then how was he completely fine before you came?"
"How do you know he was completely fine before I came? Are you his stalker or something?"
'This chick is not going to leave me alone is she?'
"Fine I did bully him. What are you going to do about it?"
"I Will uhmm....."
The girl was at a loss for words.
As she was trying to think of an answer Adam's brain started thinking at tremendous speed.
'A girl with white hair just like mine, hates the nobility, hates the nobility so much she wants to kill me... or does she just want to kill me instead? Was there a character like this in the game?'
"I'm going to report you to the academy authorities for bullying a commoner!"
"Well, the academy's principal is about to come on stage and give a speech to the students. You are more than welcome to go and complain during that time."
Adam's shamelessness left the girl speechless.
However, Adam didn't wait for her to say anything .
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to standing and doing nothing waiting for the principal to come."
The girl ended up giving up at this display of shamelessness and went back to her place in her row.
After a while of waiting, the principal had finally come onstage.
There was one big problem however.
"Greetings to all students who have been selected this year in the academy, my name is Cain Iglesias and I will be your interim principal until further notice."
The principle ended up being changed to Cain instead of Gabriella who was a 6th circle magician but managed to become principle due to her gift of dealing with people and high societal status.
The only reason she was in the position of principle was so that the protagonist had another member to add to his harem.
For some reason, Cain had ended up taking her position.
'My god why is Cain here?'
Adam couldn't understand why the busy archmage responsible for the protection of the empire was now acting as the principle of the academy.
"While normally, the Academy would be taking a proficiency test for all students as the final test, we are going to be changing that this time around."
Another deviation from the original story. It's almost as if Adam was being mocked by that being for expecting things to stay the same as they always were in his past playthrough.
"Instead of the proficiency tests all students will instead be connecting to the simulacrum neural network and compete with each other for the student rankings.
This event will be live telecast to all nations in Klienova to show the strength of our next generation of heroes to protect the light that shines upon our world.
As the future of this world, I hope all of you perform in a way that brings hope and pride into the hearts of all the people of our world!"
"All students should now start moving to the simulcrum pods."
Row after row, students started to make their way towards the simulcrum pods.
Adam walked towards his destination seemingly calm and composed, no one could guess that inside, he felt like he was going insane.
'Why is Cain telecasting the test to the entire world?'
'Why has he switched the 1st year entrance examination with the 2nd year practical ranking final exam?????'
While Adam was engulfed in an internal monologue, the gods were facing issues of their own.