I'm the best?

I looked up at the gray ceiling.

Light spilled in from my left side as it passed through the window.

I shifted my gaze to the bed sheets.

They were quite dirty—probably my fault.

I was breathing slowly, as if all my energy had been drained from me.

Then I remembered what I had done.

An evolution had occurred within my aura.

I raised my fist into the air. I was genuinely happy. Even in my first life, I had never managed to shape my aura into something truly useful.

Now that my dragons possessed another form, I no longer needed to create a completely new shape from scratch just to achieve a different effect.

The dragon form was a technique passed down by my great-grandfather. However, it only had a single, standard form. That meant if I wanted to use other aura forms, I would either have to learn entirely new techniques—or abandon other aura techniques altogether.

My great-grandfather had become the monster he was using nothing but the dragon form. And it made perfect sense. When you focus on a single form, it grows stronger and stronger over time. That single-mindedness was precisely what made him so terrifying.

The door opened, and a woman with a plain appearance and indifferent eyes stepped inside.

“Well, look who’s awake—the record breaker.”

I was confused.

What does she mean by that? And saying something like that with such indifferent eyes feels strangely disconnected.

It seemed she noticed what I was thinking, because she quickly smiled.

“Sorry if I seem expressionless. That’s just how I am, you know. After witnessing so many deaths up close, my body developed this kind of defense mechanism. Still… I’m honestly surprised.”

“What’s so surprising? Even if I broke a record, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.”

She crossed her arms, then stepped closer and placed a hand on my head.

“You don’t seem to have a fever. That’s odd.”

Huh?

I didn’t understand anything. What kind of record could be impressive enough to warrant this reaction?

“Well, you’ll find out once you leave. I’ve already healed your body, so get up already. Even though this academy is huge, a lot of students were injured today.”

I left the room where the wounded were being treated—there were several like it throughout the academy.

Outside, I heard murmurs.

“Was it him?”

“That’s incredible!”

I had no idea what was going on, so I started thinking about who held the previous record.

There weren’t many possibilities. Eventually, I came to a single conclusion.

My great-grandfather.

I slipped past the other students. Since it didn’t seem like I’d been unconscious all day, the rankings wouldn’t be posted until tomorrow.

I headed straight toward a door marked with a massive book engraved on it.

The book rotated like a wheel, stopping, then spinning in the opposite direction.

The library.

That book was a mechanism designed to prevent intrusions. If someone attacked it, it would generate a violent wind that blasted everything away. And if someone tried to force their way through the door, the book would spin and sever their hand.

Those weren’t even the scariest parts—or so I’d heard.

Helene once told me that the book could also swallow people whole, and those who were consumed would suffer the destruction of their minds.

I grabbed the library’s doorknob and heard the book speak.

[Touch me. Touch me.]

I ignored it. At that point, I knew Helene hadn’t been lying.

[Touch me. Touch me, and you will regret it.]

The book sounded desperate—but it wouldn’t fool me.

If I already knew the trap, I refused to fall into it.

The tables inside the library were arranged to seat groups of eight.

The bookshelves were made of well-preserved wood.

I walked past them, searching for the record book—but I couldn’t find it.

I approached a young girl seated at the librarian’s desk.

“Excuse me. Do you know where I can find the record book?”

I glanced at the badge on her blouse—Assistant.

She must have been a student helping out in the library.

She adjusted the papers in her hands and began writing.

“All copies are currently being updated. However, if you want information related to academy records, I still remember most of it.”

She continued writing.

“The record for the first test,” I said, holding onto a faint sense of hope. People had been acting strangely all day.

“Oh, that record that was broken. It stood at thirty-nine minutes. The sealing technique of the Black Sword descendants was incredibly powerful. Very few students managed to escape the phoenix. It sealed both aura and movement, so the student had to be exceptionally driven to break free.”

My expression fell apart.

Thinking back, I remembered it hadn’t even taken me three minutes to get out.

I had wasted a lot of time dealing with the explosive hummingbirds.

Did that mean that if I’d known about them beforehand, I could’ve skipped that part and finished in two minutes?

No—there had to be some mistake.

“Whose record was it?” I asked.

I had a bad feeling about this.

It couldn’t be my great-grandfather… right? He probably never even attended the academy. He must’ve been so strong that he didn’t need to. That had to be the explanation.

“Jung Sagan,” she said flatly.

My great-grandfather.

Cold sweat ran down my body.

Had I really become that strong?

I hadn’t realized how much stronger I’d grown.

My body had the same amount of muscle, and my aura had been the same up until the start of the test—no, actually, it had increased slightly during my fight with Helene. I just hadn’t noticed.

Now it was even greater.

So this was what it meant to have above-average talent.

I thanked the assistant and left the room.

I felt like I’d stepped into one of those stories where someone is summoned into the world of a book they wrote—where the protagonist is absurdly strong yet thinks he’s weak and ends up in first place.

I always thought those stories were ridiculous.

But now… I felt exactly like that.

Taking first place was a problem—but the gap seemed far too wide.

No—what if they changed the test method to something easier? Maybe second place finished in five minutes, or four. That would make sense.

I walked toward my room.

Tomorrow, I’d see the results on the ranking board.