Chapter 232
Four days passed faster than light.
And the day of the test arrived.
Buzz buzz buzz.
Once again, a massive stage had been set up starting from Keyzen’s entrance, and countless visitors flocked to Roke Island. Regardless of class or nationality, anyone who could clearly verify their identity was granted entry.
At last, today marked the beginning of the second test of the Black Magic Aptitude Test (BMAT), with all 898 first-year students of Keyzen participating.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for waiting!”
It was the same emcee in a flashy outfit who had hosted the entrance ceremony test, now shouting into a voice amplification crystal.
“I am deeply honored to see you again! I’m Conrad Hayabon, your host for the second round of the BMAT!”
The audience erupted in cheers, and the emcee bowed like a gentleman in response.
“The BMAT is an exam renowned for its brutal difficulty! But the students of Keyzen have honed their specialties and prepared only for this day! Will a new star who will shake the continent emerge from this test? Please stay tuned until the end!”
The emcee turned his gaze to the side.
“And now, I’d like to introduce a professor from Keyzen who will be joining me for commentary during this test!”
Step, step, step.
Gasps echoed from all directions.
A woman walked in, wearing a tight, black bandage wrapped from her legs to her chest, with a thin jacket thrown over it.
It was an outfit rarely seen in daily life, but since Keyzen was infamous for its eccentrics, people brushed it off.
“Give me that.”
She approached the emcee and snatched the voice amplification crystal right out of his hands.
The emcee, awkwardly bringing the spare crystal he was holding to his mouth, tried to cover the moment with a smile and spoke up.
“Well then, Professor! How about a brief in—”
“I’m Belya!!”
BOOM!
Her booming voice caused the entire crowd to cover their ears.
“They said a lot of parents came today, right? I’m the one teaching your brats Toxicology, and let me tell you, they’re a damn mess! You gotta raise your kids like people before sending them to Keyzen! These little punks think they’re grown just ‘cause their heads got bigger’, always mouthing off… mmph!”
“Aha-ha! My apologies!”
The emcee hurriedly covered Belya’s mouth in a panic.
But then, he suddenly yelped in pain, as if burned, and quickly pulled his hand away.
“Hey, where do you think you're touching? You’ll seriously die if you grab me wrong.”
Belya glared at him fiercely. The emcee couldn’t even show how much it hurt and swallowed his tears.
Originally, the vice-chancellor Jane was supposed to host the second test. But suddenly, Neftis intervened, took Jane away, and appointed a new judge.
When asked why, she said:
—Because it’s fun!
Fun, my ass! The emcee clutched his head.
‘Even if I’m a veteran, how am I supposed to host this with a crazy woman like her?’
“Hey lady! What’re you looking at?”
Now she was even trying to pick fights with the audience.
The horrified emcee blocked her path and quickly threw out a question.
“Ah, Professor! Your outfit is quite stunning!”
“Well, at least you’ve got eyes.”
Belya bared her jagged triangular teeth and grinned.
It was Belya’s new uniform. She had originally planned to appear in her usual ragged attire, but the coordinators had nearly fainted and begged her not to.
Because Belya constantly secreted poison from her body, even regular clothes would quickly turn to rags. She would keep layering new clothes over the old, which is how her ragged look began.
But this bandage artifact safely expelled poison outward, and even if damaged, the bandages would regenerate on their own.
The coordinators even added a black outer jacket with the Keyzen emblem over it, and perhaps finding the effort commendable, Belya agreed to wear it, though it already had holes everywhere.
“Alright, alright! Let’s get you seated!”
The emcee desperately kept her engaged in conversation to prevent her from starting a fight with the audience and escorted her to the commentary desk.
She sat down with a thump, then stretched out her legs and slammed them up on the table.
“Pwahaha! Your sideburns are hilarious! Are they shaped like lightning?”
Belya cackled, tugging at the emcee’s sideburns. He forced a cheerful laugh and played along as if it was all part of the skit, though inwardly, he wept.
“Nellie. Honey. This is how I earn our living, day by day.”
Still, he was a professional. He controlled his emotions skillfully and smiled as he spoke.
“Well then, Professor! Could you please explain the test to us?”
“Oh right, I should!”
Belya raised her arm and snapped her fingers.
“Display the screens!”
Bzzzzzt!
A multitude of mana screens bloomed above her head. It seemed simple, but backstage, dozens of assistants were sweating buckets while moving mana projectors.
“This BMAT test’s theme is dungeon exploration!”
All the screens now displayed the dark interiors of underground dungeons.
There were traps shooting arrows, traps with spears springing from the floor, and massive boulders rolling down. The final scene, with a spiked log swinging down, elicited shocked gasps from the crowd.
“These dungeons are filled with all sorts of horrific traps! The students must overcome them using only their own strength. There are four stages in total.”
The emcee quickly followed up.
“Then this test must emphasize problem-solving and reasoning to pass the traps safely!”
“That’s true for stages 1 and 2. But honestly, most of these traps are designed to be triggered no matter what.”
“Designed to be triggered? What do you mean?”
Belya grinned and crossed her arms.
“Show them stage 3.”
The screen shifted to show a completely empty space.
“I-Is this a trap?”
“Yup.”
On the screen stood a lone skeleton. It began to run forward at the necromancer’s command.
As soon as it crossed a red-marked line—
CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH!
Hundreds of bladed weapons flew from all directions and embedded themselves in the ground. The skeleton frantically tried to flee but was impaled by a spear and collapsed, and then the blades piled up on its body like a mountain.
People gasped and covered their mouths in horror.
“Like that.”
Belya shrugged.
The intensity was far beyond what was originally communicated, and even the emcee was left speechless, his mouth opening and closing silently.
“……Surely, you’re not saying you’re putting students in that place, are you?”
“Oh, I am. And naked, without their Keyzen uniforms.”
Outcries erupted from every direction. Some parents, in a panic, screamed their children’s names at the top of their lungs.
“It’s already too late! All the kids signed body injury waivers and are waiting in the prep room. Just focus on cheering them on.”
At that moment, a portly nobleman shouted at Belya.
“Th-this is neither education nor anything else! Get my son out of there this instant!”
“That’s right! This has gone too far!”
As several noble parents protested, Belya flipped them off with her middle finger.
“Y’all sitting there spewing crap.”
It was the audience who ended up more flustered by her antics.
“Didn’t Keyzen send out letters to all the parents before the semester started? Saying this was a wartime-level curriculum, that it’d be damn hard, blah blah. Anyway, it was all explained, and you agreed to it.”
“B-but…! We didn’t expect it to be this extreme!”
“Oh, you didn’t? Didn’t, huh? I guess all you cared about was bragging that your precious little darling got into Keyzen. Didn’t even care what kind of hell they’d be going through? You lot aren’t even parents, seriously.”
The man’s face turned beet red as his lips quivered. The emcee, panicked, tried to intervene, but Belya insisted on getting the last word in.
“And this ain’t no weak-ass place. All safety measures are in place, so just shut up and watch. More importantly, before they’re your kids, they’re necromancers of Keyzen.”
In truth, the more seasoned parents were calmly watching the situation unfold. They knew full well that this kind of thing was nothing new for Keyzen.
“What a waste of time.”
Belya leaned back and propped her arm under her head.
“Start the test.”
* * *
Simon had been up since dawn, following the instructors’ guidance to move through the teleportation magic circle. From there, the entire student body was transported as a group.
After that, they went through teleportation two more times. At one point, they even covered their eyes with blindfolds during the transfer.
Soon after, when instructed to remove the blindfolds, Simon looked around and found himself in a gloomy underground chamber lit by a single hanging lightbulb. When he brushed his hand against the wall, it felt extremely old.
And in front of him was an iron gate. It was a mechanism that couldn’t be broken by force, and to prevent Spiritology students from escaping, it had even been enchanted with black magic.
‘Still, thankfully, they gave us the theme everyone was expecting.’
The entire place screamed “dungeon”.
Simon hadn’t studied treasure hunter knowledge like ‘trap disarming’. He had devoted all his time to fully mastering the new techniques he had acquired.
‘Now that I’m here, I regret it a bit. Maybe I should’ve studied that stuff after all.’
[Kehahaha! There was no time to learn such useless little tricks, boy!]
The voice of Feer came from inside his cloak. It was Feer’s new alter ego, modified so that Magnus couldn’t detect him.
[In the end, it all comes down to skill! Trust in the efforts you’ve made so far!]
‘Yes, Feer. More than anything, I’m just glad we’re back together!’
[Khehehehe!]
He’d been feeling oddly hollow lately, but now that Feer had returned, he had someone to talk to again, it was nice.
While Simon sat waiting, a broadcast voice rang from the ceiling of the solitary room.
—This is the operations center. We will now explain the rules of the second Black Magic Aptitude Test.
At that, Simon sprang to his feet, ears perked. A mana projector on the ceiling activated, casting a screen in front of him.
—The item shown on the screen is your final target to destroy.
The final target was a “Holy Grail” placed on a luxurious display pedestal. It seemed like a concept test referencing the war with Efnelle’s forces, with the goal being the destruction of the Holy Grail.
—Of course, the path to destroying the Holy Grail is treacherous. The test ends once you destroy the Grail after overcoming all the obstacles. Rankings will be determined by the time taken to destroy the Grail. Next, here is the button that opens the door.
On screen, a red buzzer was shown attached to the wall.
—Pressing this buzzer will open the door to the next area. That is all. We wish you good luck.
[Hmm. That’s the whole explanation?]
‘It’s simple enough.’
Press the buzzer to open the door. Keep advancing. Destroy the Grail, and it’s over.
As always, the rules were simple, but the test would be anything but easy.
‘Not having the Keyzen uniform is kind of a pain.’
Simon, like all the other students, wore nothing but a standard gym uniform, without any defensive enchantments. Compared to the curriculum in the first semester, the overall danger level had definitely gone up.
—The test will now begin.
With a clattering noise, the iron gate blocking the front began to rise.
‘Alright.’
Simon braced himself and stepped forward through the opening gate.
‘Let’s do this.’
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters