Chapter 5 - Dekan Capturing Attention

On the day of the entrance examination.

The people who passed the four colleges’ preliminary exam numbered over a thousand.

The preliminary exam was a very simple attribute test and a written test. Dekan’s attribute test wasn’t outstanding but he was still able to pass it without a hitch.

Of the people who passed the preliminary exam, roughly five hundred of them were here to take the Knight College’s entrance exam, the most of the four colleges.

It was common for martial artists to emerge among common folks. After all, a martial artist was a profession that relied on those pricey magic cards the least.

That being said, if one was to base things off the previous years, the Knight College’s acceptance rate for new applicants would be the lowest of the four colleges.

The reason for that was because the Knight College’s entrance exam was a live combat!

……

Hevenlit Magic Academy. Knight College. Main Building.

Dekan was sitting on a chair in the seventh floor examination venue and waiting for his turn.

There were several giant magic apparatuses placed in the center of the venue.

Light was being shined onto the magic apparatuses, causing them to reflect with blurry yet magnificent radiance.

Placed in a row, the giant magic apparatuses numbered tens of meters. They seemed to be composed of silver and magic crystals. While they looked very magnificent, they gave off a feeling of coldness.

They were one of the greatest masterpieces created by magic engineering in recent years -- an apparatus capable of creating an Artificial Shadow World!

The entrance exam will utilize the ‘Artificial Shadow World’ to give the examinees a live combat drill!

The majority of the examinees were anxious about the exam. There were also examinees whispering to each other. By contrast, Dekan was extremely calm.

He was holding his chin with a slight frown as he looked at the magic apparatuses.

“Hey, what are you looking at?”

Due to his handsome appearance, even though Dekan was wearing ordinary clothes, other people would still try to strike up a conversation with him.

“I’m thinking about how those things are made.”

“Haha, you should stop thinking about that. That’s not something that we, examinees, should be pondering now.”

Dekan nodded his head and stopped paying attention to that examinee.

Indeed, it was not something that a martial artist should worry about.

But, as Dekan was a scholar, he was extremely interested in it.

“Thump thump.”

As if deliberately, heavy footsteps sounded from outside the venue. The noisy exam venue immediately got quiet.

The examinees all turn their gaze toward one direction.

A person wearing a dark brown military outfit walked out from inside the venue. At this moment, it seemed like his footsteps were the only noise present on the seventh floor.

As the footsteps approached, the examinees were finally able to clearly see the incoming individual. He was a middle-aged man with sharp eyebrows, a hawk nose and a stern expression.

There was also a shocking scar on his right eye. However, that scar seemed to only make him appear more imposing.

He stopped his footsteps and stood before the examinees.

“I am your head examiner, Arnold Zerlett. I am also a professor and Associate Dean of the Knight College.”

Arnold spoke after sweeping his eyes over the examinees.

“The subject of today’s examination is ‘survivability.’”

“...overwhelmingly, you will not have to defeat opponents far superior to yourself if you were to follow the correct path to progress toward the main scenario in the Shadow Worlds.”

“However, if an accident or a mistake was to be made en route, it’s very possible for you to provoke enemies far stronger than yourself, enemies capable of easily killing you.”

“At such a time, fleeing is crucial.”

“If you are able to survive till the end of the Shadow World’s time limit, you will be teleported out from the Shadow World alive.”

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Arnold suddenly stopped. His gaze turned sharp.

“Just last year, a sad accident occurred in the Hevenlit Magic Academy. The raid of a tier 4 Shadow World failed. Three students were lost.”

“The main cause for the failure is due to a Knight College’s student being overly conceited without sufficient abilities.”

“As such, we will pay extra focus on the examinees’ talent as ‘martial artists.’”

As Arnold continued, he seemed to turn his gaze toward a couple examinees.

Dekan was one of those examinees.

‘Could it be that he noticed my preliminary exam grades and started to pay close attention to me, an unconventional examinee?!’

‘Well, there’s nothing to be afraid of. The Knight College’s exams have always been fair without discrimination.’ thought Dekan as he rubbed his head.

“The exam will be conducted in batches. Every session will be half an hour long. You shall enter your examination in order of your batch number.”

“The Shadow Worlds that you, examinees, will enter will all be independent Shadow Worlds. Your opponent shall be a random examiner or their projection.”

“Of course, your examiner’s attributes and abilities will be strictly regulated.”

“This ‘Artificial Shadow World Apparatuses’ will at most be able to sustain 100 small-scale Shadow Worlds at once. Thus, examinee 1 to 100 shall be the first batch. Others will follow in a similar fashion…”

After giving a simple introduction, Arnold placed a crystal stone into the console behind him.

Then, several illusory entrances appeared before the enormous magic apparatuses!

They were Void Gates, entrances to the Shadow Worlds.

Arnold did not linger around and soon left the exam venue. The other examiners soon began to guide the examinees into the Shadow Worlds.

Dekan took a glance at his number.

It seemed like he would be in the fifth batch.

Unfortunately, examinees weren’t able to watch the battle progression of the other examinees. As such, the two hours were quite unbearable.

That said, the Knight College’s entrance exams could be viewed from outside.

The images inside the ‘Artificial Shadow World’ were being transmitted to the Central Control Office located in the College of Alchemy.

For the sake of making profits and giving publicity to their products, the College of Alchemy would then relay the transmission by broadcasting it to the entire Hevenlit Magic Academy.

……

Inside a conference room. A group of professors from the Knight Academy were watching the battle progression from the Artificial Shadow World.

Of the various battles occurring right now, the one the broadcast was focused on was a red-haired girl.

Different from the other examinees that were fleeing or hiding, she was confronting a tier 4 examiner!

Furthermore, she was not at all at a disadvantage!

“Arnold, what do you think about this year’s examinees?”

Seated on the main seat, the Dean couldn’t help himself from asking.

“There’s a couple decent ones. Especially this red-haired girl Cornelia…”

Arnold seemed to have thought about something, he paused before continuing, “But, there’s one that’s too much.”

“What do you mean?”

The dean blinked his eyes and turned his gaze away from the projection. He looked at Arnold with interest in his eyes.

Arnold sighed and spoke in a helpless manner, “I remember he’s called Dekan. He got full marks on his written exam. But, on his attribute test, apart from his extremely high Wisdom, his Strength, Intelligence and Constitution are all extremely bad. There’s absolutely no sign that he has any aptitude in being a martial artist. In fact, it’s hard to even say that he could pass for a summoner.”

“However, his overall attributes still reached the standard, no?”

The Dean was stroking his head. He seemed to be very amused by the situation.

This caused Arnold’s frown to crease deeper.

“I’ve mentioned before that our Knight College should add a Strength or Constitution requirement for new students. You’re the one who has been insisting that we must keep the possibilities open for ‘unconventional martial artists.’”

The Dean was not angry after hearing Arnold’s remarks. Instead, he seemed to have a smile on his face. He asked, “In that case, why don’t we have a bet on whether that kid could pass the exam. I want that bottle of wine Marquis Purine gifted you…”

“...If I win, we will have to add the threshold I mentioned for future Knight College enxtrance exams; is that fine?”

“Of course.”

After hearing the Dean’s agreement, Arnold stood up and started walking out the conference room.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to test him myself.”

“......” The Dean paused for a bit, “That kid’s a bit strange, be careful.”

The Dean’s response surprised Professor Arnold.

He turned around, “You’re not worried for him but worried for me instead?”

Besides, what sort of danger could be present in an Artificial Shadow World?

The Dean didn’t say anything. He waved his hand to allow for Arnold to leave.