Stretch—
Leaning back in his chair, he stretched his arms out wide.
"It's finally over." He muttered to himself as he looked down at the paper in front of him.
For the past three days, he had been stuck doing the written section of the midterm exams.
'Thankfully, it was pretty easy.'
'If I had to guess how well I did, I could say with confidence I probably got within the top 10…'
"Ugh, top 10…!"
"Soren Arden, if you talk one more time, you will be forced to leave, and you will be given a 0."
"Sorry."
Soren couldn't help but lament the fact that the quest didn't count his written exam results at all.
He had also not yet come up with a decent plan for the test.
Multiple ideas had come and gone, but almost all of them had been thrown away quickly.
All but one.
There was only one plan he had that he considered somewhat decent, but there was a major problem with that plan…
– Wanna team up for the midterms?
– Nah, I'm not that bothered about the results, sorry.
He had tried asking Felix to team up with him so that he could make his plan work, but alas, he was quickly rejected.
Although he was somewhat annoyed, Soren fully understood why he had been turned down; the midterm exams were not all that important in Stellaris Academy.
They hardly affected your ranking, which meant the only people who took midterms seriously were either model students or crazy people who enjoyed fighting, so Soren didn't even bother to ask anyone else.
After the mock duels, people's perception of him still seemed to be in the gutter, never mind the fact that he was the 5th lowest-ranked student in the arcane studies major, so he doubted that anyone he asked would even listen to him, even if he begged.
'Seriously, what is even the point in this almost maxed-out charm stat…'
All he could hope was that luck would bless him somehow in tomorrow's practical exam…
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
On the outskirts of Stellaris Academy, students stood in front of the Solis Exam Site, one of five exam sites littered around the academy grounds.
"—The midterm exam will take place from 1 pm until 6 pm and will be a battle royale-style event. Every hour, the barrier placed around the exam site will be shrunk. Any students still outside of the barrier when it shrinks will be immediately eliminated—"
While the teaching assistant was explaining the rules, Soren was distracted by something else entirely.
His eyes were stuck on a specific person in the crowd.
'She's here.'
It was apparent she would be, since magical, martial and divine studies students all took their practical exams together, but that didn't take away from his feelings of awe.
Standing roughly ten metres away from Soren was a certain grey-haired wolf beastkin.
He felt it back during the mock duels, but now that she was only a few metres away, he recognised it even more heavily this time.
'She's seriously pretty…'
Amelia Einhardt, ranked 1st in the martial studies major, and one of the main heroines in ❰The Knight of Stellaris❱.
Additionally, one of the main reasons why achieving a top 10 ranking would be classified as an A- level difficulty rating.
The character of Amelia Indras Einhardt from the game was a pretty standard character archetype; it was what one might label a 'Lazy Genius.'
In her day to day life it would be harder to find a moment where Amelia didn't have a languid expression plastered across her face, she made no effort to talk to anyone, having no real friends to speak of, but the moment she was put into a battle it was as if a switch was flipped in her head, and her expression would shift into one of pure delight.
Amelia Einhardt loved to fight.
To put it nicely, she was a battle junkie.
The one upside to this was that she never paid attention to anything that didn't catch her interest.
And because of that, Soren couldn't help but feel pity towards Alex.
Knowing Amelia from the game, the second the exam began, she would start running around, hunting down Alex to sate her curiosity that had peaked during the previous mock duel, or at least that was how it went in-game.
As Soren was about to turn his gaze back towards the professor, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
The reason for this was that Amelia had turned to look at him.
They locked eyes for only a few moments, but Soren felt it, the overwhelming power that she held; he wouldn't stand a chance.
He snapped his head away and released a breath that he hadn't even realised he had been holding before trying to refocus on the teaching assistant's words.
'Why did she look at me, though?'
Amelia, being Amelia, would have been used to the gazes of others, especially with the way she acted, so Soren struggled to understand why she would take notice of his gaze specifically.
'Let's just hope it's nothing important.' He thought, praying internally that he was correct.
"—I will now hand out the bracelets. Using these, you can absorb the mana beads located around the exam site. Be careful, as those with the highest amount of mana beads will have their locations given out through the screen on the bracelet—"
He put the bracelet on his arm whilst staring at it intently.
'This is just an Apple Watch...?'
Of course, the materials were vastly different, but apart from that, it was identical.
He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
'What kind of fantasy world is this?'
He was well aware of the setting that the principal of Stellaris Academy was the best magical engineering genius ever to exist, but he struggled to accept what was in front of him.
'If I ever meet the game director, I'm going to have some choice words for him.'
It felt as if his fantasy dreams were slowly crumbling the more time he spent in this world.
"—Using the bracelet that each of you has been given, you can trade mana beads with each other. Of course, it will be your own responsibility if you put too much trust in the person you trade with. Besides that, when you defeat another student, you will gain half of their mana beads—"
Upon finishing his explanation, the students were all blindfolded and moved to their assigned locations.
And with that, the midterm practical exam had begun.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Begin!]
He looked down at the bracelet from which the voice had just come and scoffed.
"Fantasy my ass."
He shook his head at the totally-not-an-apple-watch bracelet and thought to himself.
'So what should I do now?'
Still yet to come up with a decent plan, he had long decided just to wing it, but even doing that required at least some idea of what to do.
Rushing in mindlessly would just get him eliminated first.
He took in his surroundings to try to figure out where he was and let out a sigh of relief.
'Luck must be on my side for once.'
The area where Soren was currently located was in the south-eastern section of the exam site.
The reason this was lucky was that it meant that he was currently located on the exact opposite side of the exam site from Amelia, who starts in the north-western section.
Then there was Alex, who was located in the north, so even if they went at it like they did in the game, it was unlikely they would even consider coming near Soren's area.
"As long as I stay in the south, I should be fine for a while."
The only problem with that plan was the transparent red barrier surrounding the exam site.
Unfortunately for Soren, even in-game, the barrier would move at random, making it impossible for him to predict where it would be unsafe and at what time.
This was another reason this quest was so challenging for him.
Bzzt–
Then a noise from his bracelet broke his train of thought.
.
– 1st - Amelia Einhardt (2 Points)
– 2nd - Raylin (1 Point)
– 3rd - Esper Rupindolf (1 Point)
.
It had only been about 5 minutes since the exam had begun, and the scoreboard was already starting to fill out.
'Raylin…'
It was the name of yet another powerhouse that Soren was worried about.
Though not as strong as Amelia, Raylin was also a monster, being ranked 1st in arcane studies and already being able to perfectly cast intermediate magic from the moment she stepped into the academy.
The bracelet continued to buzz, and more names appeared.
After a few more minutes, the top 10 had finally been completed.
.
– 1st - Amelia Einhardt (5 Points)
– 2nd - Raylin (3 Points)
– 3rd - Renen Karnstein (2 Points)
– 4th - Esper Rupindolf (2 Points)
– 5th - Edward Undilten (1 Point)
– 6th - Alex (1 Point)
– 7th - Eiser Undyne (1 Point)
– 8th - Carlen Frenun (1 Point)
– 9th - Annie (1 Point)
– 10th - Olivia (1 Point)
.
'5 Points already, she's a monster…'
The list was filled from top to bottom with names that were familiar to Soren, even if he had never met any of them. There was one name that stood out to him, though.
"Olivia?"
In all his playthroughs, he had never seen Olivia on the list, and for good reason as well.
Olivia was a divine studies student.
The priests in the divine studies major, while strong in the late game, were usually only proficient at minor blessings or healing in the early stages.
There were a few exceptions, like paladins or saints/ saintesses, where they can use divine power offensively, but Olivia wasn't one of those exceptions.
'At least not right now.'
Later on, she would awaken as a saintess, but at the moment, she was just a slightly above-average priest.
Seeing Amelia's name caused a plan to form in Soren's brain.
"This might work."
He pressed on Olivia's name, and a map appeared on the bracelet.
Ignoring the annoyance that once again threatened to rise over the extremely modern device, he checked how far away she was from his current location.
'Not too bad.'
The marker indicated that she, too, was in the south, only a short distance away from Soren.
He jumped up from the tree he had been leaning against and set off towards the penniless future saintess.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Olivia POV
"Hee… I got lucky."
A girl with chestnut hair that fell to her waist was catching her breath on a large rock.
After resting for a few minutes, she pulled up her slightly plump arm to look at her bracelet, which caused an anxious expression to fill her face.
"I hope Alex is doing well…"
The reason for the rising anxiety was somewhat embarrassing to the girl; it was because her childhood friend, whom she had rarely ever been apart from, was nowhere to be seen.
"I want to see him…"
Smack!
A crisp slapping sound echoed throughout the dense forest as the girl sat there, her cheeks slightly reddened.
"Wait! No! Stop being silly, Olivia, if you keep acting like that, he'll think you're creepy!"
Shudder
Even just imagining Alex thinking of her in such a way caused the girl to shiver, as if even the very idea of such a thing happening terrified her.
"But still…"
The girl found it next to impossible to let go of her overflowing anxiety.
Due to her role as a priestess, she had almost no experience with fighting; it was for this reason that when she accidentally stumbled upon a mana bead and picked it up, she had almost instantly regretted it.
Thanks to her picking up a mana bead so early on in the exam, her name was plastered onto the top 10 rankings, inadvertently putting a massive target on her back.
"I hope I lost him…" She said with an almost tearful expression.
– Oh, lucky me! A priestess, this'll be an easy win.
Because of that guy, she had ended up running around in the heavy forest for almost 20 entire minutes, burning through virtually all of the small girl's stamina.
It wasn't helped by the fact that Olivia didn't get much exercise in the first place, as evidenced by her figure.
Rustle rustle
Then the sounds of someone moving through the bushes were heard.
"Eek!"
The girl stood up in a panic, clutching her wooden staff to her modest chest.
Rustle rustle
As the rustling sounds got louder, the girl's face turned more and more pale.
'Please just walk past.'
She closed her eyes, desperately praying to the Goddess Aryn, but it was no use.
The rustling stopped, and a soft, androgynous voice called out.
"Hello?"
The girl remained silent, worried that if she responded, she would be eliminated instantly.
Step step
Then, as the steps got closer, a person came into view.
The person, only slightly taller than Olivia, had pure, snow-white hair and warm-looking, red eyes.
At first glance, it was impossible to tell whether the person was a boy or a girl.
Olivia was about to turn and run as fast as she could, but then she noticed the person was not only unarmed but also had their arms raised in a sign of surrender.
Upon seeing that Olivia had a foolish thought, that since the person was surrendering, she was safe.
"Hello?" The girl said back in a quiet voice.
Olivia was a naive girl.
————「❤︎」————