The red-haired man said, "Not me. We do."
Rohan said, "I don't want this!"
"Of course you do. This is the best option. Your organs will get better, and you'll never have to go through this process again. You're just afraid of the pain you'll feel."
"Of course I am afraid! Have you ever felt the pain this process causes? I can't even imagine anything that could hurt more."
"To answer your question, yes, I've felt this pain before. After all, I've been through this process and the five others you're about to go through."
"Are you serious? Why did you choose to go through this?"
"So that's the thing. I didn't choose it. I was forced to go through them, just like you will be."
"... I guess I really don't have a choice in the matter."
"Hahaha, not really, so rest while you can."
The red-haired man then stood up and started to leave the room.
Seeing this, Rohan said, "Wait."
"What? Do you still have any doubts?"
"No, but I still don't know your name."
"That's right. What's your name, boy?"
"Well, I asked first, but that's okay. My name is Rohan."
"Nice to meet you, Rohan. My name is Christopher, but my friends call me Chris."
"Nice to meet you, Chris."
"Hm? Why are you calling me Chris?"
"Didn't you just tell me to call you that?"
"No. I said my friends call me that. We hardly know each other. Call me master or teacher."
Rohan then thought, 'I'll call you crazy man when you're not around,' and said, "... Okay."
"Now, I'll let you rest. Recover as soon as possible so we can start the next cleaning process."
Christopher then left the room, and Rohan closed his eyes to try to sleep.
...
A few days passed, and Rohan's body had returned to its normal condition.
He was in a room doing a stretching routine that Christopher had given him.
He was almost finished with the routine when Christopher came through the door and said, "Look at that. You seem to have completely recovered."
"I wouldn't say that. I think I still need to rest for a few more days."
"Really? Well, you're the one who knows your body best, so if you think you need to rest, rest."
"Are you serious?"
"Of course I am. After all, I'm not the one in a hurry to get out of the tower. I bet your mother will understand if you don't show up for a few more days."
"... Come to think of it, I think I'm better now."
"Good. In that case, come with me. I'll explain your next mission."
Christopher then left the room, and Rohan followed him as he thought, 'Damn, I shouldn't have told him about my mother.'
During the days Rohan spent recovering, he and Christopher had time to talk, which was, in reality, more Christopher asking about the world outside the tower and Rohan's family and friends.
As Rohan followed Christopher, he began to talk about his next mission, "The next mission is quite simple. You passed through a forest on your way to the city, right?"
"Yes. What about it?"
"It's the place where you'll do most of the rest of your missions."
"Got it. What do I need to do?"
"You'll need to find items scattered around the forest."
"Items?"
"Yes, they usually refer to them as runes. There are five types of runes in the forest. White runes, blue runes, green runes, red runes, and black runes. You'll need to bring me a certain amount of each."
"Okay, how much of each?"
"Well, to start with, I need fifty white runes, twenty-five blue, ten green, five red, and one black."
"All right, but what do these runes look like? Do you have any photos or drawings of them so I can get an idea of what they look like?"
"Unfortunately not. You'll have to look for them without knowing what they look like."
"Okay. That's a lot of runes, but I guess it makes sense since I'll be going through five procedures."
"No, you got it wrong."
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"That's the amount needed for one procedure. The total for the five would be five times that amount."
"What? Are you for real?"
"Yeah. Ah, and just so you know, if you want, you can bring enough for more than one treatment, although I wouldn't advise it."
"Okay. Depending on how easy it is to find these runes, I'll decide."
"The white ones are easy to find, but I'd be surprised if you found a black rune in less than a week."
"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that each black rune will take more than a week to find? You said I need five of them in total, so it will take more than a month to collect all the runes?"
"Of course, and that's with you being quick. Some people spend more than a year on this process, although they are also the exception. The average time to find all the runes is around eight months."
"Eight months?! You've got to be kidding!"
"Hahaha, it's funny to see you think that's a long time. When you go into the forest to look for the runes, you'll understand how short those eight months are."
The two of them then arrived at the school gate, and Christopher said, "When you leave here, go towards the gate. The guards there will take you to the test site."
Rohan said, "Okay." He left the school and headed for the city gate.
On his way there, Rohan noticed that the city was much more crowded than before, which made him think, 'Where did all these people come from? They don't seem to be from here. They're probably newcomers who arrived while I was recovering.'
He continued towards the gate, but halfway there, he saw a familiar person walking towards him with some of the new arrivals.
The person was Rein, the man from the Iron Castle school.
Seeing Rohan coming towards him, he opened his eyes wide and said, "You! How are you alive?!"
Rohan then said, "I don't know either. Maybe I was lucky."
"No. Luck isn't enough for someone to recover from the state you were in the last time I saw you."
"Hahaha, that's true. I really thought I was going to die."
"Hahaha, not just you. Everyone who was watching thought you were dead. They'll be surprised to see you."
"I guess. Well, you seem to have your hands full with the new candidates. I won't take up your time."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going on the next mission."
"Oh, that's right. I was so startled to see you alive that I've forgotten what it means. Congratulations on being accepted into the Palace of Death."
"Thank you."
"You said you're going on the next mission, so you're probably going to collect the runes, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Hm, in that case, I won't see you for a while."
"Does it really take that long to find the runes? That crazy ... sorry, I meant Master Christopher also said it would take a while."
"It does take a long time, but don't worry. Inevitably, you'll be able to find all the runes you need."
"I see."
"Oh, before I forget. My name is Rein. What's yours?"
"Rohan."
"Well, it's a pleasure, Rohan. Good luck with your test."
"Thank you, Rein."
Rohan then headed towards the city gate, but when he was almost there, a person approached him, saying, "Hello. You seem to be coming back after failing the tests at the more advanced schools. Why don't you try our school?"
Rohan then said, "I'm sorry, but you're wrong. I've already passed a school test."
"Really? I'm sorry I assumed otherwise."
"No problem. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go to the gate to take the test."
"Of course. I'm sorry to keep you, but can I ask you one more thing?"
"Of course."
"What was your grade on the test?"
"... F."
"F? Hahaha, don't kid me. Of course, you didn't get an F. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gotten into any school."
"Well, I'm not lying. See for yourself."
Rohan then took the metal sphere out of his pocket to prove that he had gotten an F, but just as he did so, he felt a prick in his hand, just like when he took the test for the first time.
He looked in its direction and realized that his mark had disappeared, but after a few seconds, the red line inside the sphere began to move until it made the letter 'S'.
Seeing this, Rohan thought, 'Hm? What's going on? Why has my grade changed?'
The person who had stopped him then said, "See, I knew you were kidding me. A student with an F grade won't be accepted at any school. But now I understand why you lied. With an S grade, even after you've already entered your school, the other schools shouldn't leave you alone, insisting that you switch to theirs."
Rohan didn't answer him and thought, 'Could it be that my grade has changed because of the impurities that have come out of my body? Hmm, that's the only reason I can think of, but it wouldn't make sense for the new grade to be 'S'. After all, that crazy man said there are still five more procedures I need to do. Is my sphere defective? Or is it that 'S' isn't the highest possible note?'