Chapter 10: Department Test Part 3

“Ah, this is frustrating. What is he doing over there?”

Assistant Professor Alfren muttered to himself as he looked at the magical screen floating in front of him.

The screen was broadcasting various angles of a student inside an artificial dungeon, and the main subject was none other than Clayton R. Shane who was the rumored brother of Klein.

It had already been five years since he started his role as an assistant professor.

He had observed many students over the years but he had never seen anyone quite like this one.

“He’s been doing that for three hours now. Does he have some sort of mental illness?”

Normally, this would be an extremely busy period.

Professors and assistant professors were tasked with closely monitoring and scoring the actions of about sixty students.

Yet there on the screen, Shane had been staring blankly at the ground in the same spot for three hours.

Naturally, Alfren felt frustrated as he watched him; it was inevitable given the situation.

Being in a position where he had to document everything, Alfren had no choice but to keep his eyes glued on Shane, regardless of what he was doing.

“Haaah… they’re all busy.”

Alfren glanced sideways at his colleague seated next to him.

Contrary to his extremely bored expression, his fellow assistant professor was recording the situation while looking at a magical screen similar to his own with a serious attitude.

The student under the supervision of his colleague was Bernshtein Osten.

He was a student of unmatched intellect within the academy, yet he also bore a fatal flaw: he was a magical misfit who couldn’t use magical power.

He had a body that naturally could not absorb magical power.

Because of this, rumors said that his family had almost discarded him.

His attendance at the academy was, in truth, the last act of mercy from his family.

Some might say that if he was so intelligent, his family would surely find him useful.

However, the issue was that noble society was not so forgiving.

In most noble families, if one child was to continue the family line, the other siblings would often have to leave and live as commoners.

This was because there was no telling when one might stab another in the back to claim their place.

And to keep such an exceptionally intelligent person close?

What is more, someone from a Marquis family? And not just any noble family but one related to the king?

It was unthinkable.

Osten was a famous bookworm within the academy.

He was in the library every day without fail. He started his day there and stayed until closing time while borrowing several books daily.

So it was no surprise that dark circles were a permanent fixture under his eyes.

Osten’s diligence was well-known even among the assistant professors.

“There are times I actually envy such dedication…”

Driven by a restless desire to do something, Alfren absentmindedly licked his lips.

He could see another assistant professor observing a different student.

Perhaps it was a stroke of luck that around him were assistant professors monitoring quite talented students.

Alfren who was slightly distracted during these tedious hours glanced at a new figure that caught his eye.

“Lindberg J. Anais…”

The child of the commander of the Knights of Judgment who was famous in many ways.

Anais who was the daughter of the late Lindberg K. Robert was also a celebrity at the academy.

Had it not been for Klein, Anais would undoubtedly have been the top student at the academy.

In the past five years, her name had never dropped from the top ranks.

Although she often ranked just behind Klein and sometimes even fell short of Osten in written tests, her grades were always excellent.

Just then, Anais was advancing to the forefront with brilliant tactics and breaking through a horde of Curse Goblins at a pace even faster than Klein and Osten.

The fellow assistant professor looked as though he was on the brink of death as he diligently recorded her every move.

“I’m not really envious of that…”

It would take at least another two days before they could see a dungeon clear.

In such a circumstance, maintaining that pace would be physically and mentally exhausting.

“Still, this situation isn’t good, is it?”

Alfren sighed deeply as he continued to watch Shane who was still just staring intently at the ground on the screen.

Several hours later, a sudden change occurred in this situation.

***

“By now, Anais might be leading the race…”

Just after his 11 golems had neatly dealt with the surrounding Curse Goblins, Osten muttered to himself.

Osten was aiming for the top spot in this command department test, so this news wasn’t particularly welcome, but he wasn’t growing anxious at all.

After all, this was within his calculations.

Anais who was usually quiet and compliant showed no hesitation in her actions.

While others were wary of the traps laid by the Curse Goblins and cautiously advanced, her bold charge likely neutralized such dangers.

Just because she’s reckless?

Hardly.

Although Klein and Osten might have overshadowed her, objectively speaking, Anais possessed skills superior to those of many veteran adventurer party leaders.

Anais also had tremendous control over her magical powers, and because of her sharp intuition, it was unlikely that any ordinary trap could waste her time.

Besides that, various simulations based on the usual abilities of the students ran through Osten’s mind.

If anyone could have looked inside Osten’s head, they might have been frightened or even horrified by what they saw.

The outcome of his simulations was not significantly different from what was currently being discussed in the control room where the assistant professors gathered.

The students’ patterns, tendencies, and the types and numbers of golems they chose.

To Osten, all of this appeared as a future so predictable it hardly needed watching.

However, if there was one person he found unpredictable, it was Shane.

“Wh-What… might that person be doing now?”

He had some guesses.

But even Osten couldn’t confidently assert what Shane might have achieved by now.

“I-If… if what I’m thinking i-is correct….”

And if things were proceeding smoothly as he imagined,

Then Shane’s pace of clearing might soon become too fast for even him to catch up.

Osten made this assessment, and surprisingly, his prediction proved itself within just a few hours.

Several hours later.

In the meantime, not everyone could navigate the dungeon with Osten’s calmness or Anais’s speed.

Rather, most of the students were perplexed by the dungeon they were experiencing for the first time and often found themselves in predicaments that differed from what they had learned through books or tales told by others.

“Fu*k …”

Pollon was a prime example of this.

At first, he had confidently dealt with the Curse Goblins.

They were fierce but they were just goblins after all and the golems’ capabilities exceeded his expectations.

Pollon was confident that with the performance of the golems and his excellent command skills, he could clear the dungeon in no less than two days.

However, this was a great misconception.

Pollon hadn’t thought at all about how to manage the golems’ health, and as the “health” set by the golem master approached its limit, mistakes increased and the number of injured golems grew.

He realized this difference too late, and by the time he began to properly acknowledge it, he was already too deep into the dungeon.

From that point on, even if he wanted to rest he couldn’t do so properly.

The tunnels were filled with the stench of blood which attracted swarms of Curse Goblins.

The Archer Golems that were meant to erase traces were sent out for scouting without knowing the Curse Goblins were agitated and ended up being wiped out.

It seemed the Curse Goblins had already surrounded the area as even the golems sent to the rear hadn’t returned.

Consequently, only 15 of his golems remained.

Considering he had started with 21 golems when he first entered the dungeon, he had already lost 6.

And this happened before even a day had passed.

Moreover, only 8 golems remained unharmed.

“Nothing is going right!”

In truth, Pollon’s skills were certainly not bad.

Considering he had never directly entered a dungeon before and had no prior experience in commanding, he definitely qualified as talented.

It wasn’t just about losses; Pollon had also been among the faster ones to navigate the dungeon among the students.

However, Pollon was so anxious because the difficulty of this year’s test was much harder than last year’s.

“Tch… I bet the others are struggling just as much by now.”

While Pollon was irritably sorting out his thoughts for what was to come,

suddenly, an alert rang out in the air.

[Ding-dong—Notification for you.]

“Goodness! What, what is that?”

Pollon jerked violently when a sharp female voice rang directly inside his head but he quickly regained his composure.

“Wait a minute. I’m sure the manual said something about hearing a notification sound…”

As far as Pollon knew, such a notification wasn’t supposed to sound so soon.

Or had there been some accident during the test?

That thought flashed through his mind, but just for a moment.

[Current time: 11:55 PM.]

[We would like to inform you that the first dungeon clear has been achieved. That is all.]

“Are you kidding me?!”

The following notification continued in a calm voice as if there was nothing out of the normal happening, as if it was informing them of a fact.

At the same time, the expressions on the faces of the roughly fifty students who had not yet been eliminated turned to one of shock.

The only ones whose expressions did not change much were,

“Ha, as expected.”

Bernshtein Osten who had predicted the situation with almost prophetic accuracy,

And,

“…So fast.”

Lindberg J. Anais who continued to focus on commanding her golems while muttering softly.

And,

[Congratulations on your clear.]

Shane who was the only one listening to this notification.

This happened when the average progress in the dungeon had not even reached one-third.