Stretch—
Soren leaned back in his chair until it creaked softly beneath his weight, arms extending over his head as he stretched every stiff muscle he had.
His shoulders popped unpleasantly, and he winced before letting out a slow breath.
"It's finally over…" he muttered, eyes dropping back down to the paper resting on his desk.
For the past three days, his life had been reduced to ink, paper, and cramped fingers.
The written portion of the midterm exams had consumed nearly all of his waking hours, leaving him mentally drained in a way that felt completely different from physical exhaustion.
'Thankfully, it was pretty easy.'
Almost insultingly so.
'If I had to guess…' he thought absently, gaze unfocusing as he stared at the final page, 'I probably placed somewhere in the top ten.'
That realisation didn't bring him satisfaction.
Instead, it only irritated him.
"Ugh… top ten…"
"Soren Arden."
The sharp voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"If you speak one more time, you will be forced to leave the exam hall, and your score will be recorded as zero."
Soren straightened instantly.
"Sorry."
The examiner glared at him for a few more seconds before turning away.
Soren exhaled through his nose and rubbed his face with one hand.
Of course.
Of course, the quest didn't care about the written exam at all.
Three days of effort, perfect recall, and careful answers, and not a single point of it mattered.
Not for what actually counted.
He still had yet to come up with a decent plan for the practical exam.
That fact sat in his chest like a dull weight.
Multiple ideas had come and gone, but almost all of them had been thrown away quickly.
He had tried, he really had.
He had thought about hiding, about ambushing weaker students, about collecting beads early and running, about waiting until the barrier forced confrontations.
Every idea collapsed the moment he thought about the people involved.
Eventually, every line of thought led back to the same dead end.
All but one idea.
That single, barely workable plan hinged on cooperation.
– Wanna team up for the midterms?
– Nah. I'm not that bothered about the results, sorry.
Felix's response replayed in his head, annoyingly casual.
Soren couldn't even blame him.
Midterms at Stellaris Academy weren't a big deal.
They barely affected long-term rankings, and most students treated them as little more than controlled sparring matches.
The only people who cared were either perfectionists or lunatics who enjoyed fighting for its own sake.
That meant Felix was out.
And Soren hadn't even bothered asking anyone else.
After the mock duels, his reputation hadn't exactly improved.
If anything, it had sunk lower.
One of the lowest-ranked students in Arcane Studies.
Frail.
Weak.
Unreliable.
Creepy.
He doubted anyone would listen to him, even if he begged.
'Seriously… what's the point of an almost maxed-out charm stat…'
The thought left him more tired than amused.
At this point, all he could do was hope.
Hope that luck, for once, would tilt even slightly in his favour during tomorrow's practical.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
The Solis Exam Site sat on the outskirts of Stellaris Academy, a massive, enclosed forested region of uneven terrain, its perimeter shimmering with a red barrier.
Students gathered near its edge in loose clusters, the air buzzing with nervous energy and quiet excitement.
Soren stood near the back, hands in his pockets, eyes drifting.
"—The midterm practical exam will take place from one p.m. until six p.m.," the teaching assistant announced loudly. "This will be a battle royale–style event. Every hour, the barrier enclosing the site will shrink. Any students still outside the barrier when it moves will be immediately eliminated—"
Soren barely listened.
His attention had already locked onto someone else.
'She's here…'
It was apparent she would be, since the students from all majors, with the exception of Academic, took their practical exams together, but that didn't diminish his feelings of awe.
Roughly ten meters away stood a grey-haired wolf beastkin, her tail swaying lazily behind her.
He had felt it during the mock duels, but seeing her this close made the sensation unmistakable.
Power.
Not just physical, but overwhelming, like standing near the edge of a cliff and knowing one wrong step would mean death.
'She's seriously pretty…'
The thought slipped in uninvited, followed immediately by a sense of unease.
Amelia Indras Einhardt.
Ranked first in Martial Studies.
One of the main heroines of ❰The Knight of Stellaris❱.
And one of the primary reasons the quest difficulty was rated A-.
In-game, Amelia was a textbook 'lazy genius.'
Detached, disinterested, and expressionless most of the time.
She had no friends, made no effort to socialise, and rarely spoke unless spoken to.
Until combat.
Then everything changed.
Her eyes lit up.
Her posture sharpened.
And she smiled.
Amelia loved to fight.
She lived for it.
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.
Which was precisely why Soren felt a flicker of pity for Alex.
If things played out anything like the game, Amelia would immediately start hunting him the moment the exam began.
As Soren began to look away, a chill crawled up his spine.
Amelia had turned.
Their eyes met.
For only a second, maybe less, but it was enough.
Soren felt exposed, like prey that had accidentally locked gazes with a predator.
He tore his eyes away and released a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.
'Why did she look at me…?'
Amelia was used to attention.
People stared at her constantly.
Soren struggled to understand why she would notice his gaze in particular.
'Let's just hope it's nothing.'
"—I will now hand out the bracelets."
The assistant continued, breaking his train of thought.
"Using these devices, you may absorb mana beads scattered throughout the exam site. Those with the highest number of beads will have their locations broadcast to all participants—"
Soren slipped the bracelet onto his wrist and stared at it.
'This is… just an Apple Watch.'
Different materials, sure, but appearance?
Identical.
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
'What kind of fantasy world is this…'
It felt as if his fantasy dreams were slowly crumbling the more time he spent in this world.
"—You may also trade mana beads with other students. However, any loss incurred through misplaced trust will be your responsibility. Defeating another student grants you half of their beads—"
After the explanation, the students were blindfolded and led to their assigned locations.
And with that, the midterm practical exam had begun.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Begin!]
Soren scoffed as the voice echoed from his bracelet.
"Fantasy my ass."
He shook his head and focused.
'Okay… think.'
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 stock of his surroundings once the blindfold was removed.
Trees, uneven ground, and a stream nearby.
It was the southern forest.
Relief washed through him.
'Luck really is on my side… for once.'
Soren was in the southeastern section of the exam site.
In other words, the exact opposite place from where Amelia started.
Then there was Alex, who was located in the north.
So, even if the two of them went at it, as they did in the game, it was unlikely they would even consider coming down south.
"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)
.
Soren grimaced.
'Already…?'
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 buzzed, 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 saintesses, where they could use divine power offensively, but Olivia wasn't one of those exceptions.
'At least not right now.'
Later, she would awaken as a saintess, but for now, she was just a slightly above-average priest.
Seeing Olivia's name caused a plan to form in Soren's brain.
"This might work."
He tapped 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.
Olivia sat atop a broad rock, chest rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath. Her legs ached. Her arms felt heavy.
She raised her wrist.
"I hope Alex is doing well…"
Anxiety twisted in her stomach.
The reason for the rising anxiety was somewhat embarrassing to the girl: her childhood friend, whom she had rarely 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!"
Even imagining Alex thinking of her that way made the girl shiver, as if the very idea of it happening terrified her.
"But still…"
She clutched her staff tighter.
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.
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.
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 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.
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…?" Olivia answered quietly.
She was a naïve girl.
————「❤︎」————