CHAPTER~10 THE FIRST WAVE
For the last time, I glanced back. The butler stood just beyond the gate, eyes fixed forward. Calm. Unyielding. Watching. Waiting.
Above his head, a soft ping appeared in my vision:
-9
Reset available.
It reminded me that my “affection” ability existed.
I was kind of scared. What if it got worse? What if he hated me even more?
But I clicked it.
It took one second. Then it changed.
1
I thought I didn’t care… but inside, I was over the moon.
I turned back toward the academy. The gates loomed ahead. Whatever this place demanded, whatever it tested…
I was ready to face it. Alone
Inside, the academy grounds opened wide
stone paths leading inward examinees moving in small groups
voices low cautious.
No shouting.
No chaos.
Just hundreds of people pretending they weren’t measuring strength of everyone around them.
Before I could take more than a few steps, a figure stepped into my path
An examiner.
He wore a dark navy coat trimmed with thin lines of gold, the academy insignia pinned to his chest. His eyes flicked over me once posture, breathing, stance then he extended a small metal plate..
“Candidate,” he said flatly. “Name.”
I gave it.
The plate warmed briefly in his hand. A faint glow ran across its surface, then settled into a number.
He handed it to me.
No. 317
“Remember it,” he said. “You will not be called by name from this point onward.”
I nodded and stepped aside.
First was written exam
Inside the main hall, the space widened into something massive.
Rows upon rows of desks stretched across the stone floor, each separated by just enough distance to make cooperation impossible.
Candidates took their seats according to number. No talking. No instructions repeated.
When I reached mine, I sat carefully, feeling the stone chair through my back, grounding myself.
My hands were steady
A bell rang.
Once.
“Written examination begins now,” a voice echoed through the hall. “Time allotted: two hours.”
The paper was placed face down.
When the signal came, hundreds of pages flipped at once.
The sound alone raised my heart rate.
I took a breath and turned mine over.
…Oh.
Not easy.
But familiar.
Answer were was but question were complicated
A single paper multiple subject
History,biology, manaology etc...
Normally, history questions asked when something happened.
Dates. Names. Events neatly boxed and labeled.
Here, they asked why.
Why a forbidden ritual was banned—
not the year, not the decree, but the consequence it left behind.
Why an empire collapsed after a mana surge, instead of before it.
And before this life… I’d studied too.
Different world. Same mistakes. Same questions, asked in new forms.
Empires didn’t fall because of dates.
Rituals weren’t forbidden because of superstition.
Everything broke for a reason.
So when the exam asked why,
I didn’t hesitate.
My pen moved smoothly across the pag
At last was philosophy question a question it stopped everyone.
No formulas.
No history.
No mana theory.
A Simple Question that nobody get right including originally mc
what is the most tasty thing in the world
Noble and commoners look confused some start answering in philosophy like
love
kindness
Joy
some answered literal foods
I answered an answer that i didn't learn from novel not from book
but from a cold place
From orphanage life
One word
Hunger
If you’re hungry enough, even yesterday’s cold bread tastes delicious.”
The bell rang again.
Once.
Pens stopped.
The sound echoed longer than the first,
Like a warning
Pages were turned back over. Hands lifted from desks
For a brief moment, no one moved hundreds of candidates frozen between relief and doubt.
Then the examiners began to walk.
They collected papers without comment, faces unreadable, footsteps measured and evenly spaced.
No reactions. No hints. Whatever judgment awaited us would come later.
I sat back slowly, fingers unclenching only now that there was nothing left to write.
My paper was finished. Every answer exactly where i needed it to be.
No second thoughts. Nor regrets.
A noble exhaled so hard
Someone kept cracking their wrists like they were preparing for a street fight instead of an exam.
Another candidate stared at their desk with such intensity I half expected the answers to crawl back onto the page out of fear.
When my paper was taken, I didn’t look up.
Staring wouldn’t make it come back smarter.
There was nothing more to do.
The written exam was over
After the written exam,
we weren’t dismissed.
Instead, we were guided into another chamber.
No desks.
No examiners.
No instructions.
Just a wide stone hall
quiet and open.
For a second, no one spoke.
Then someone laughed.
“So that’s it,” a noble said, leaning back. “We’re through.”
A few others nodded.
“I knew the written wouldn’t be the real filter
This must be a waiting area.” “Looks like we passed.”
The tension cracked.
People sat. Stretched. Talked. Some compared answers. Some complained.
Some smiled, like the worst was already behind them.
I stayed standing.
Because I knew exactly what this was.
Most of them didn’t notice it
but every time they spoke, their mana slipped out with their breath.
Not in bursts.
Not violently.
Just a thin, careless leak, drawn out by relief.
Laughter carried it farther. Complaints wasted more. Even casual conversation cost something.
The room didn’t drain mana.
It invited people to give it away.
I stand there quietly some time. Passed
Some notice
Some felt tired
Some fell unconscious
This place feels… strange,” someone muttered
Ten minutes passed.
No announcement.
No warning.
Then footsteps echoed through the hall.
An examiner entered same navy coat, same unreadable expression. His gaze swept the room once
“Those who remain" he said calmly, “may proceed to the temporary dormitories.”
A pause.
“For the rest—” his eyes shifted to the floor, to the slumped bodies, to those propped against the walls struggling to stay
"better luck next time.”
That was it.
No consolation. No explanation.
Just results.
Guards moved in quietly, already lifting the unconscious, guiding the failed toward a side exit.
Erynthia didn’t test how much mana you had.
It tested whether you could afford to waste it.
If this was rest… I didn’t want to see what Erynthia called training.
The survivors moved slowly.
Not because we were tired though many were but because moving quickly felt like a mistake.
As if the academy might deduct points for enthusiasm.
No one spoke
Ten minutes ago, this place had been full of people confident enough to debate philosophy
Now look at it
At the end of the corridor, stairs spiraled downward. Slow, shallow steps. Not exhausting just annoying enough that if you were already half-drained, you’d feel every single one.
Someone behind me whispered, “How many steps are there?”
No one answered.
When we reached the bottom, iron doors stood open, revealing the temporary dormitories.
Temporary was doing a lot of work here.
Two beds per room. Stone walls. Thin blankets folded with military precision,
as if warmth itself was a privilege to be earned later. The beds looked uncomfortable in a very honest way. No false promises.
An examiner stood at the entrance, checking numbers.
When my turn came, he glanced at his list, then at me.
“No. 317. Room fourteen. Left wing.”
I nodded
Inside my room, I didn’t even think.
I fell onto the bed.
Not collapsed. Not rested. Just… surrendered.
The mattress was thin, the frame stiff, but my body didn’t care.
The moment my back touched it, the tension I’d been holding since the gate finally loosened.
A short while later, the door opened.
My roommate stepped in.
He stopped just inside the room. His eyes moved from me, to the two beds,
then slowly up to the ceiling.
He stood there longer than necessary, as if replaying the last ten minutes in his head.
“…Was that actually a waiting room?” he asked at last.
I opened one eye.
“No,” I said. “It just looked like one.”
He exhaled, the sound small but relieved, and sat down on the edge of his bed.
Carefully. Like the room might still be watching.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then he said quietly, “This academy doesn’t waste time.”
I turned my face toward the wall.
“No,” I replied. “It wastes people who don’t pay attention.”
What’s your name?”
Louis" I said. After a moment, “Louis Casper.”
I am Lucen Gray
A soft ping appeared in my vision as Lucen Gray looked me over: -3.
I’d never met him in my life so Why the negative affection?
Ding !
Reason: Low charisma.
Great
Low charisma?
Really?
I wasn’t that ugly…
I am just little plain.
We both sank into our beds, wordless. No greetings, no introductions
just exhaustion hanging between us. The quiet was heavy but familiar. Even the walls seemed to sigh.
For now, that was enough for me
No one needed to speak.
