Chapter 266
10 minutes before the start of the exam.
Splash, splash.
Simon was waiting atop a floating platform on the sea.
The platform appeared to be made from slime byproducts, flat and buoyant. Each platform held about 20 to 30 students, all dressed in diving suits provided by Keyzen, wearing protective vests over them and Tongue Pads strapped to their arms.
A glance around revealed the sea dotted with countless such floating platforms.
In other words, this was an exam taken simultaneously by all 847 first-year students.
"Simooon! I'm over here!"
Far off on another platform, Dick was waving and shouting. Simon smiled and waved back.
‘Alright. Focus now.’
Simon checked the Tongue Pad strapped to his wrist.
‘Looks different from the one we used during the Island Survival Evaluation.’
Points from monster hunting were calculated remotely and transmitted to the headquarters by the Tongue Pad. Current points and overall ranking could also be viewed through it. Before the match began, Simon tested several of its functions.
Perhaps because of the tension, no one was talking. Everyone was quietly warming up or doing breathing exercises to maintain focus.
[Hahaha! Nervous, boy?]
Simon shook his head with a smile at Feer's voice.
‘I'm fine. It’s not time to be nervous yet.’
Wooooooong!
Then, a voice amplification magic circle spread out across the sky, and a loud announcement echoed over the sea.
[Thank you for waiting! We now begin the 3rd 'Black Magic Aptitude Test'!]
[The countdown will begin!]
[10.]
[9.]
……
Students began shouting the countdown in unison.
[6.]
[5.]
The spectators watching from Roke Island joined in as well.
Regardless of status or nationality, everyone chanted the numbers together.
[2.]
[1.]
[The exam begins!]
BWOOOOOOOOOO!
With the echo of a foghorn resounding across the sea, the students jumped into the water all at once as if they'd been waiting for it.
Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!
Hundreds of students leaping into the sea at the same time, causing waves to erupt, was truly a magnificent sight.
“Wahaha! I’m going first!”
Amazingly, the one advancing fastest among all students was Dick. As he activated an enchantment on his fins, Darkness burst out like a booster behind him.
“All the coins are mine… huh?”
Twang!
Dick’s movement came to a sudden halt. Turning around, he saw a male student grinning mischievously while holding a strange fishing rod-like device.
Somehow, a hook had caught onto Dick’s fin.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
As the student pulled the rod, Dick’s body was yanked back at tremendous speed.
“Waaah! What are you doing! Do you even know who I am?!”
“Nope! Just going for the guy up front!”
The student lifted his rod, and Dick’s body was flung up above the water’s surface. The student smirked, satisfied.
Wham! Whack!
“Ugh!”
Suddenly, black arrows shot from behind, severely depleting the barrier gauge of the fishing rod user.
“Who’s there?!”
Looking back, he saw more students aiming their hands at his back.
“You little…!”
“Should’ve watched your back, huh?”
The sea quickly turned into a battlefield.
There were only a limited number of coins on the seabed. Initially, only 1,000 coins had been scattered.
Considering each student needed to collect 10 coins to pass the exam, only about 100 students could finish early at best.
Naturally, the competition was fierce.
Of course, Keyzen would gradually scatter more coins into the sea as time went on, but for those aiming for the top ranks, the pressure only intensified.
“Get him!”
“He’s getting away!”
“This isn’t the time to fight each other! Focus on the ones diving in!”
It was chaos—projectiles, curses, and black magic flying in all directions.
Meanwhile, Simon, one of the students mentioned as noteworthy in Jane’s commentary, was…
“……”
…just sitting calmly, crouched on his floating platform. He silently observed the scene unfolding below the sea.
Booms echoed, splashes rose, students fought amongst themselves in utter mayhem.
‘No need to dive in right away. The front runners are bound to be targeted and waste energy.’
In fact, Simon wasn’t alone. Most of the top-tier students remained on their platforms, watching. They weren’t wasting their energy and were waiting for the others to exhaust themselves.
Simon, too, began charging his air magic circle and waited patiently.
[But the exam is only 4 hours long. Isn’t this a bit too relaxed, boy?]
Feer spoke.
[I suggest changing the order instead.]
‘Order?’
[Exactly! Head out to the outer sea, hunt monsters and accumulate points first, then return when the coin scramble dies down!]
‘Ah, that’s a good idea too.’
In fact, many students had already bypassed the coin competition and were heading straight for the open sea.
The current area, where coins lay, had a shallow depth of around 20 meters. But the outer sea quickly deepened and was filled with monsters.
One strategy was to hunt monsters and gather points first, then return with an hour left to collect coins. By that time, most students would’ve secured their coins and moved on.
Of course, students could also hunt other students in the outer sea to steal coins. That was the idea of most heading there now.
‘Still, I think I’ll wait a little longer.’
Simon had a secret weapon—Deimos.
However, based on the few training sessions with him, Simon had found that Deimos wasn’t exactly fuel-efficient. He could only fight at full strength for about two hours.
So Simon planned to secure the coins first, then disappear into the depths until the exam ended.
‘The moment I heard the rules, I already laid out the plan without any gaps. This time, for sure!’
His face remained calm, but his fighting spirit was ablaze.
If he couldn’t take first place with Deimos, it meant nothing.
* * *
“This third BMAT! It’s developing in a very unusual way!”
The commentator shouted with excitement.
“We’ve just passed the 30-minute mark in this match! And only two students have collected more than 8 coins! The level of interference is absolutely brutal!”
The students were more focused on hindering their competitors than collecting coins.
They floated on the surface, blocking others from breathing, or sniped students trying to retrieve coins from the seabed.
“Ahh! Things are unfolding in a completely unexpected way! According to exam rules, if you don’t collect ten coins, no matter how high your score is, it’s a fail—and expulsion! Vice-chan… no, Professor! If this keeps up, won’t we see mass disqualifications?”
Jane, sitting beside him with her chin in her hand, gave the commentator a look full of disdain. The commentator flinched.
“Students aren’t fools, Conrad.”
“Yes! Of course! Naturally! As expected of the professor, you trust the students! I do too! Oh! As we speak—!”
The screen changed.
It showed a boy speeding underwater.
With white hair, a white swim cap, and dark brown skin, the boy stretched out his arms and legs, and six magic circles simultaneously launched projectiles.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Students swimming toward him were struck by the projectiles and got buried in “snow”, completely immobilized. Shockingly, the snow didn’t melt even underwater.
In the meantime, the boy discovered two coins on the seabed.
“Ahhh! That student! That’s the very student Professor Jane mentioned earlier! Special admission number 8, the Lord of Snowfield Castle, Raheim! He’s already collected 10 coins! He’s in the lead!”
Now that a spectacular scene had finally unfolded, the crowd erupted in cheers.
The commentator beamed at Jane with satisfaction.
“Professor! What kind of black magic is that student using?”
Raheim drew a magic circle on the soles of his feet. Just like when he fired those projectiles, smoke burst out as he zipped forward underwater like a fish.
“That’s ‘Golden Snow’, a unique black magic of the Snowfield Castle family. It looks like ordinary snow, but it doesn’t melt. Once buried, the snow self-replicates and becomes incredibly heavy.”
Students hit by Raheim’s snow bombs were flailing as they sank to the seabed.
Such students only had two fates: either send out a distress signal through their Tongue Pad and get disqualified, or run out of air when their breathing magic ended and be automatically teleported out by Keyzen.
“Truly an overwhelmingly powerful black magic in the water! But even after collecting all ten coins, Raheim isn’t heading out to the outer sea. He’s still roaming the inner sea. Could he be looking for someone? Ah! As we speak, more students are now reaching ten coins!”
Following Raheim, top-tier students—worthy of the “named” title—were diving in one after another.
Special admission number 7, Elisa, created something beyond a ghost ship—more like a “submarine”. Taking every hit head-on, she reached the seabed and scooped up coins.
Special admission number 10, Malcolm, used a doppelganger to quickly locate coins on the seabed, while Kamibarez enclosed herself inside a large blood droplet, rolled along the seafloor like a ball, and gathered coins.
Serne simply remained seated on her starting platform, yet students began offering coins to her of their own accord.
“The competition is suddenly heating up! Even students who were floating on the surface, blocking others, are now diving to the bottom!”
“They were waiting for the coin count to increase.”
Jane explained.
“With time, more coins are added to the seabed. Just now, 1,000 new coins were dropped. Now, collecting has become more advantageous than blocking.”
“I see!”
With more to watch, the audience seemed pleased. The commentator, too, got fired up, now spitting with energy as he narrated.
Then, a teaching assistant approached and handed a document to both the commentator and Jane.
“Ahh, we’ve just received updated statistics! Currently, students majoring in Magical Combat and Toxicology are leading! Meanwhile, those aspiring to Summonology are overwhelmingly struggling! We hope they push through! Speaking of which, let’s check in on the hope of Summonology—Special Admission Number 1, Simon Follentia!”
Pop.
The main screen switched to Simon, still waiting at the starting line.
Simon was still holding his position.
His strategy was to rake in points during the final two hours, so he had no choice but to wait—though truthfully, his body was starting to itch for action.
‘Should I just make a quick round, as long as I don’t overdo it?’
As Simon wrestled with the thought, a sudden commotion broke out beside him.
He turned his head.
“!”
Simon immediately stepped back.
Projectiles flew toward the platform and boom! boom! snow explosions burst forth.
‘This technique, could it be…?’
Craaaack!
The floating platform tilted instantly as the weight shifted toward the snowy impact site.
Simon saw the students who had been on the platform with him screaming as they tumbled into the sea.
He immediately stepped on Darkness, ta-da-dak, leaping to the top of the platform.
“Finally found you!”
A man with soaking wet white hair threw off his swim cap and grinned.
“I challenge you to a duel—right here and now—for Maelyn!”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters