The smile stayed on my face long after Aldren disappeared into the crowd, before continuing toward the Northern Gate.
The closer I got...
The more people there were.
At first it was only a few travelers.
Then dozens.
Then hundreds.
Until eventually...
The road became a river of hopeful faces flowing toward the floating mountain.
Some wore finely tailored noble uniforms embroidered with family crests.
Others carried equipment patched together from years of adventuring.
There were children barely old enough to call themselves teenagers...
"Didn't one of the playable characters start at twenty?"
[Mei Mei. Twenty years old.]
"Early bloomer, who got mistaken to be a late bloomer, I remember now."
Everyone had come for the same reason.
To become a hero.
Or at least, try.
The closer we came to the mountain, the larger it became.
From a distance it had looked majestic.
Up close...
It was incomprehensible.
Entire forests covered its sides.
Waterfalls poured from the floating landmass before dissolving into glittering mana halfway down.
The nine colossal chains anchoring it were thicker than castle walls, disappearing into the earth like the roots of a world tree.
I couldn't help staring.
Seriously who thought it was a good idea to build over an apocalypse?.
Eventually, the road split into nine massive avenues, each leading toward one of the academy's gates.
The signs were impossible to miss.
North.
South.
East.
West.
And the four intercardinal entrances branching away like spokes of a wheel.
Students naturally drifted toward the gate assigned to their region, causing the crowds to thin just enough that walking became possible again.
I followed the stream heading north.
No one talked much anymore.
The excitement from the journey had slowly faded, replaced by anticipation.
Some people rehearsed prayer beneath their breath.
Others silently sharpened blades.
A few sat cross-legged with their eyes closed, meditating despite the thousands of people walking around them.
One boy repeatedly punched himself in the face.
By the time I reached the plaza before the Northern Gate...
Smooth white stone formed the ground, polished by centuries of footsteps until it reflected the morning sunlight like still water. Thin veins of silver mana crystal ran beneath the surface, glowing faintly with every pulse of the floating mountain, making the entire plaza seem quietly alive.
Towering pillars ringed the perimeter.
Each one was easily the height of a ten-story building.
Ancient runes spiraled around them, shifting ever so slightly whenever someone looked away, as though the stone itself was breathing.
Above...
The sky felt impossibly close.
Clouds drifted beneath the floating mountain instead of above it, leaving the plaza bathed in brilliant sunlight while the world below looked like a distant painting.
At the very center stood a vast circular platform engraved with an intricate magic formation spanning hundreds of meters.
I looked away rubbing my eyes, It sting like hell.
Nine enormous pathways branched outward from the circle like spokes of a wheel, each leading to one of the academy's gates.
Thousands of applicants had already gathered.
The conversations gradually died away,
because everyone had noticed the same thing.
Someone...
Was already waiting for us.
The plaza fell completely silent.
The kind of silence where even clearing your throat felt like a crime.
One woman.
Long silver hair danced gently in the mountain breeze.
A pristine black academy uniform without a single wrinkle.
White gloves.
A small black notebook rested beneath one arm.
Asher.
She smiled.
The sort of smile a favorite teacher might wear while greeting students on their first day.
...
Why did it feel so wrong?
[That's what we call survival instinct.]
Ohhhhh.
The girl beside me unconsciously took a step backward.
A burly beastkin who looked capable of wrestling an ogre suddenly found the clouds fascinating.
Even the chatterboxes from earlier had somehow forgotten how to speak.
The woman slowly looked over the crowd.
Not scanning.
Not searching.
Looking.
Each person she glanced at stiffened as though they had just remembered every embarrassing thing they'd ever done.
When her eyes briefly met mine...
I felt as if she'd already read my entire autobiography, I smiled, it felt amazing.
Then she clapped.
Once.
Yet it echoed across the entire plaza.
Every conversation died instantly.
She gave a graceful bow.
"Good morning."
"My name is Asher Lunaria, you may call me ma'am Lunaria."
She straightened, her smile never wavering
"I'll be supervising your entrance examination."
A few nervous chuckles spread through the crowd.
Those disappeared the moment she continued.
"Before we begin..."
She opened her notebook.
"I would like everyone who intends to cheat..."
She turned a page.
"...to raise their hands."
...
Silence.
"Wonderful."
She closed the notebook.
"So every single one of you intends to cheat."
"What?"
"That's not-"
"I didn't-"
"Oh?"
She tilted her head innocently.
"So none of you raised your hands because you are honest?"
She giggled.
Snap.
Nothing happened.
...
Then every applicant's luggage vanished.
Weapons.
Potions.
Artifacts.
Even spare clothes.
Gone.
Several People immediately shouted.
"My family's relic!"
"My staff!"
"My sword!"
Lunaria scribbled something into her notebook.
"Excellent panic response."
"Don't worry."
She closed the notebook.
"If you survive..."
"you may collect your belongings afterward."
"..."
"If."
Nobody laughed.
She looked genuinely confused.
"Oh?"
"I thought that was funny."
She clasped her hands behind her back and slowly paced before the crowd.
"You've all come here dreaming of leaving a mark in history."
"Heroes."
"Protectors."
"Saviors."
"Legends."
She nodded thoughtfully.
"Wonderful ambitions."
Then her smile widened.
"So."
"Let's see how many of you are willing to step over a corpse to achieve them."
The temperature seemed to drop.
Several applicants visibly paled.
One quietly turned around.
"I... think I'll go home."
Lunaria happily waved at him.
"Safe travels."
The moment he took three steps...
He disappeared.
Lunaria made another note.
"Excellent decision-making. Knows his limits. Passed."
Before anyone could process what had happened, she snapped her fingers.
The sky trembled.
The nine colossal chains anchoring the floating mountain groaned like ancient beasts awakening.
The gates slowly opened.
Darkness lay beyond them.
Lunaria spread her arms with the enthusiasm of someone introducing guests to a festival.
"Welcome..."
Her smile was radiant.
"...to your first trial."
She paused, as though remembering something important.
"Oh, yes."
"If anyone dies..."
She tapped her chin.
"...please do it somewhere convenient."
She looked toward one of the assistants.
"The janitorial staff filed another complaint."
...
I could've done the same thing, raised my hand and walked away, get a passing grade.
I didn't.
Why?
Because I was aiming for S-Class.
I wondered, if it was now possible to obtain, if I'm the one controlling Barry.
And well the benefits were ridiculous.
Priority access to professors, better training facilities, exclusive resources, political connections, scholarships, private dormitories.
And most importantly...
"...Free food."
Never underestimate the motivational power of unlimited meals.
Besides...
This academy might've been founded with noble intentions.
To raise Capable people to solve the world problem.
But ideals had a funny habit of rotting over time.
The academy still produced heroes, but once it began to grow to big, people with greed will naturally want to seize control over it.
And now it also produced politicians, military officers, corporate mages, assassins.
People with far less heroic ambitions.
Lunaria wasn't the only one watching us.
Hidden throughout the trials were professors, department heads, kingdom officials.
Even representatives from influential noble houses.
Some graded combat, others judged leadership, potential, talent, adaptability.
Lunaria stepped aside.
"The first examination..."
Her smile remained as gentle as ever.
"The Trial Of Self."
The darkness beyond the gate rippled.
Countless silver threads emerged from within, weaving themselves into a shimmering veil.
A voice echoed through the plaza.
Know who you are... before you seek power.
One by one...
Applicants stepped through.
I took a slow breath.
"Here goes."
The instant I crossed the veil...
The world vanished.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Then...
Light.
I found myself standing somewhere painfully familiar.
...
Dad's house.
"That's a low blow."
The illusion wasn't merely recreating memories.
It had recreated the smell of old wood, the faint ticking of the clock.
Even the worn scratches on the dining table I'd absentmindedly traced as a kid.
Footsteps echoed behind me.
"Cassius."
Mom.
Her face...
Blurred.
No matter how hard I stared, I couldn't remember it.
Even after all these years...
I still couldn't picture her.
The Trial of the Self.
An ancient illusion woven from mana itself.
It reached into the soul, dragging regrets, fears, desires, and buried memories to the surface.
...
The room trembled.
A picture frame slid from the wall.
Mom stopped speaking.
The air rippled.
The wooden floor beneath my feet briefly became polished marble.
The family home...
Turned into Barry's mansion.
Then
It snapped back.
I smirked, that's new.
The walls twisted.
The dining table stretched into an impossibly long noble banquet table before shrinking into cheap old furniture again.
The illusion flickered violently.
One moment...
Cassius.
The next...
Barry.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Like two paintings being forced onto the same canvas.
The voice returned.
Who... are... you...?
"Good question."
The room shuddered harder.
Barry's childhood bedroom appeared.
Then vanished.
Grandma's living room.
Barry's study.
Clary.
Barry's parents.
My manager.
Rolf.
Faces appeared only to dissolve moments later.
The spell couldn't decide whose memories belonged to this body.
Then...
Everything froze.
A low hum filled the air.
Not from the illusion.
From me.
No...
From Barry's body.
Tiny silver threads of mana began emerging from the walls, attempting to reconnect.
The moment they touched my skin
They unraveled.
Like droplets of water landing on hot steel.
The threads tried again.
Rejected.
Again.
Rejected.
The illusion became unstable.
The house cracked apart.
The sky fragmented.
Entire sections of reality blinked in and out of existence.
The ancient spell desperately attempted to establish a connection.
Barry's body refused every single one.
Foreign mana wasn't absorbed.
It wasn't redirected.
It simply...
Didn't belong.
The Trial wasn't being resisted.
It was being rejected.
The voice echoed one final time.
Only now...
It sounded uncertain.
Mana signature...
Absent.
Vital functions... impossible.
Soul detected.
Body incompatible.
Examination... impossible.
The world collapsed into white.
...
Silence.
Fresh air brushed against my face.
Stone rested beneath my boots.
I blinked.
The plaza.
Empty.
Thousands of applicants had vanished.
Only one person remained.
Asher Lunaria.
She stood exactly where she'd been before.
Notebook in hand.
For the first time...
Her smile had disappeared.
She looked at me with quiet curiosity.
"Well."
She slowly closed her notebook.
"I've worked here for ninety-three years, that's a first."
I scratched my cheek.
"Surely I get points for originality?"
The corner of her mouth twitched.
"Correct!."
She stepped aside, revealing the path deeper into the academy.
"Congratulations, you are the first out of many to cleared the Trial Of Self."