Chapter 303
"First, I will introduce the necromancer who will be overseeing this 4th BMAT."
Aron turned the script in his hand to the next page, his expression tightening slightly as he read, but he continued speaking without showing much outward change.
"The hottest necromancer of our time, the genius administrator born of the Langerstine Kingdom, chosen by the Burnett Company as 'The Most Influential Man of the Week', 'The Necromancer You'd Want to Wrap an Arm Around Your Waist,' and—"
Aron's smooth tone shifted to a more solemn one at this point.
"One of the Continent's Top Ten Mysteries."
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
From the stage, people in flamboyant jester costumes burst out, blowing trumpets and playing various instruments.
The entire auditorium suddenly turned into a festival.
To the lively rhythm that made shoulders bounce, the troupe members began to sing and dance. The crowd especially roared with applause when two jesters tumbled through the air onto the stage.
Puh-uhng! Puh-uhng!
Suddenly, the lights flared brightly and a dazzling fireworks show unfolded from the ceiling.
While everyone's attention was fixed on the display, someone was walking to the center of the stage.
"Let me introduce,"
Aron said.
"Also known as 'The Necromancer of Cards', Mr. Endolas Vaudeville."
From the sky, more cards than one could possibly count scattered with a rustling sound, forming shapes of various animals. Eventually, the cards on the stage assembled into a door, and through it stepped Endolas.
His entire face was painted white, with green makeup around his eyes. He wore a very wide-brimmed hat, from under which stuck out a mass of curly, unruly hair, giving him a comical impression.
The moment the music stopped and the man raised both arms, thunderous applause erupted.
"Greetings, dear Keyzen students! I am Endolas Vaudeville!"
He lightly tipped his hat with thumb and forefinger in greeting. Every movement of his exuded showmanship.
"It's really Endolas!"
Dick shouted in excitement.
Of course, Simon had never heard of the man before. Yet not only Dick, but even Maelyn and Kamibarez—who usually kept their composure—were watching with surprise.
"Wh-who is he?"
Simon asked cautiously. Dick chuckled and tapped Simon's arm.
"You're the kind of friend who makes explaining worth it."
"...Shut up."
Simon, looking embarrassed, retorted. Dick continued.
"You know the Continent's Top Ten Mysteries, right?"
"I know the concept, but I don't know all ten."
"That's good enough. Out of those ten, two are related to humans, and one of them is that guy."
Simon blinked.
"Then who's the other one?"
Dick grinned.
"The Witch of Death!"
Receiving a voice-amplifying crystal sphere from an attendant, Endolas Vaudeville began his speech.
"Thank you for the warm welcome! I too am honored to meet the Continent's finest elites, who will one day lead the Dark Alliance into the future! And above all!"
He pointed his thumb at his own chest.
"I am delighted to announce that I, Endolas Vaudeville, will be overseeing this 4th BMAT!"
Waaaaaah!
The students responded with loud cheers.
When Endolas spread his palm, the cards that appeared there all floated into the air, weaving magic.
"My ability is to create special 'rooms' using these cards."
Light shimmered from the cards, projecting various scenes onto the ceiling.
A walking castle, a labyrinth crawling with snakes, a dragon's lair spewing flames, and even a chamber stacked high with mountains of gold.
"Just as I think it, just as I imagine it, I can recreate any adventure! You can enter the world inside the cards and choose the adventure you want to experience!"
Choose your adventure?
What's all this about?
"I will give a brief supplementary explanation."
Aron said.
At his signal, attendants activated mana projectors, creating a large screen in the center.
"The venue for the 4th BMAT will be the Keyzen first-year campus and the entirety of Roke Island. Lord Endolas has hidden two thousand cards across the island."
On the map of Roke Island, example locations of the two thousand cards appeared.
"If you happen to find a card, you can enter the 'room' it creates and take the test there."
On screen, an attendant inside the Roke Island library stepped on a card and was sucked right into it.
The screen changed. Now that attendant had landed somewhere in a forest. Monsters were rushing toward him.
"When you enter a room, the test's clear condition will appear. In this case, it's to defeat thirty Kobolds within twenty minutes. Students who successfully clear the test will obtain that card."
Aron flipped to the next page of his documents and continued.
"The basic condition for passing is to have at least six cards when the test ends. Five or fewer is insufficient and will result in expulsion. This time, at least fifty students will be expelled, so take care."
Listening to the explanation, Simon's eyes sparkled and he nodded. This 4th BMAT was going to be a card-grabbing war.
"Now, now! Let the host of the game—me, Endolas—explain further!"
Stepping forward, Endolas waved his hand, and the screen changed to show cards in various colors.
"Each card is a different color. Please refer to the rulebook I personally prepared for details!"
The ceiling fireworks stopped, and books rained down like rain, one for each student.
Simon reached out and caught one.
「Endolas' Game Rulebook」
He opened the flat, square 'book', which was actually a single sheet of paper folded several times.
When he spread it wide open, it revealed a map of Roke Island along with detailed explanations of the game.
Reading the explanation, Maelyn smiled.
"I thought it would be complicated, but it's actually pretty fun!"
First, there were seven card colors.
Red – Katarology
Orange – Darkness Dynamics
Yellow – Summonology
Green – Spiritology
Blue – Haematology
Indigo – Toxicology
Purple – Magical Combat
Each color matched a specific subject.
For example, entering a red card meant a high chance of encountering a game related to Katarology.
And each region of Roke Island had its own tendency for certain card colors.
For example, the forest yielded green cards more often, and the Keyzen campus yielded orange ones.
These details were for students to discover during gameplay.
"Wow! This is gonna be crazy fun!"
Dick shouted while reading the rulebook.
"There's even a siege theme! Thirty people split into attacking and defending teams to fight!"
"Here, here! The fairy race theme looks fun too!"
Hmm.
Simon was looking at the undertaker-versus-skeleton-assembly contest theme. That was one he really wanted to try.
"Ugh, you idiots! Don't just look there, check the back page!"
Maelyn said.
"There are also card combinations!"
"Really?"
Basically, each card was worth one point. But if you collected all seven cards of the same color—say, all red—you got an extra three points.
"Hmm."
Dick made a troubled face.
"So instead of just grabbing cards at random, we need a solid strategy."
Simon also turned to the card combination section in the rulebook.
'Forget the other combinations, let's look at the very top.'
The higher it went, the higher the card combination's score became.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
If you collected all the cards and made a set of seven, the score was ×2.
That made 14 points.
And above that, if you added something called a 'golden card' to the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet set for a total of eight cards, the score was ×3.
A whopping 24 points!
If you completed it, a Top 10 ranking was guaranteed.
However, there was no special explanation about the golden card, only that you could obtain it during the game.
Of course, even without the golden card, 14 points wasn't bad.
'Alright.'
Simon made up his mind.
'The competition will be pretty fierce, but naturally, going for the best combination is the right choice.'
"Now, attention!"
At Aron's voice, the students, who had been absorbed in the game rulebook, lifted their heads.
"I'll give you plenty of time to plan your strategies, but for now, fold the rulebooks and place them on your laps."
The students groaned in disappointment. Aron's eyes gleamed.
"Place them on your laps."
There was no second round of defiance. The students did as told and set the rulebooks on their laps.
"Hmm, Keyzen is far too strict."
Endolas remarked with displeasure.
"The students are giving my game such attention!"
"My apologies, I must finish the announcements."
Aron bowed his head politely, then looked back at the students.
"Once you try Lord Endolas' game, you'll get the hang of it right away. But there's an important announcement apart from that."
Aron glanced around at the students before continuing.
"As you've probably heard, there have been several controversies regarding the BMAT. The entire integrated second-semester curriculum has been revolving too heavily around the BMAT, leaving the coursework and performance evaluations piled up. From the start, if your performance evaluation scores are below standard, you can't advance to the second year."
At the mention of advancing to the second year, tension appeared on everyone's faces.
"So Keyzen is planning to introduce a new system. Namely—"
Aron opened his mouth.
"After-School BMAT."
After-School BMAT.
Since it was a new concept, everyone stretched their necks out to focus on Aron's explanation.
"Originally, the 4th BMAT was to be a fierce card battle across Roke Island over three days and two nights, under the supervision of Lord Endolas."
'…For three days and two nights straight?'
The students looked dazed, and some, like Kamibarez, sighed in relief.
In contrast, the host, Endolas, crossed his arms and turned away with a face full of disappointment.
"Keyzen has gone soft! Tsk tsk, cutting down the game…!"
Endolas grumbled unhappily, but since the proposal had even Neftis' approval, there was no room for change.
Aron continued his explanation.
"As I said earlier, the second semester has been overly focused on the BMAT. Therefore, to relieve the students' burden and allow them to focus on their courses, the school will conduct the BMAT only twice a week, for four hours after class."
Simon nodded. Hearing it that way, the burden really did seem reduced.
"But you know,"
Dick, on the other hand, rested his chin on his hand with a dissatisfied look.
"That just means they'll be cutting into our rest time to do BMAT. That's kinda…"
"There will, of course, be students who feel dissatisfied."
Aron's next words made Dick close his mouth with a sheepish expression.
"So, to ease one major burden for you—"
Aron picked up a new sheet of paper and read aloud.
"The second-year advancement exam will be replaced with the 5th BMAT."
"Whoa!"
Cries of joy erupted here and there.
And for good reason, its infamy was well-known. Naturally, removing it was cause for celebration.
"Of course, that means the difficulty of the 5th BMAT will rise. As a side note, simulations run at Keyzen headquarters suggest that, based on your skill level during the 3rd BMAT, if the current roster of 797 students took the 5th BMAT—"
Aron lowered the paper and looked at the students with a cold gaze.
"At least 500 would fail to meet the standard."
Murmur, murmur, murmur!
The students' faces went pale.
"Therefore, the directive from Keyzen headquarters is this—during this 4th BMAT and the performance evaluation season, achieve at least 1.5 times your current skill level. The faculty has accepted this. Which means, the meal you just ate—"
A sinister smile crept over Aron's lips.
"Think of it as the Last Supper. Things will only get harder from here."
"..."
A quiet tension hung over the auditorium.
"This insult! I can stand no more!"
The Necromancer of Cards, Endolas, raised his voice.
"We are about to begin the 4th BMAT—why bring up the 5th already! Let the students focus entirely on my game, Professor Aron!"
It seemed Endolas had quite a bit of pent-up frustration himself.
"There's always been a big conflict between Endolas and the faculty."
Dick whispered to Simon.
"Endolas takes great pride in his 'game', and the faculty just wants the students to focus on their classes. That's all it is."
"Hm."
Simon nodded, finding Dick's explanation reasonable.
Aron also bowed politely in apology.
"That's all from the faculty. From here on, you may say whatever you wish to the students."
"Ahem hem!"
Only then did Endolas step forward with a satisfied smile.