Chapter 47: Heart of Snow
“Professor Ferdinand”
“Oh, Dean Gale, you’re here?”
Approaching the burly old man standing before him, the dean of the knight department, Gale Walker, waved his hands in greeting. Ferdinand, slightly bowing his head, acknowledged his superior with a respectful nod.
“I didn’t expect to see you here, Professor Ferdinand. I thought you would be watching over Celine as usual.”
“Hoho~ I would like to, but I know she’ll do well, just like last semester,” Professor Ferdinand replied with a hearty smile. “Professor Yuki is recording her progress for me, so it’s not really a problem.”
Right now, they were in the monitoring room, where hundreds of magic crystals projected live video feeds of the ongoing exam happening in the forest. The room buzzed with activity, as each crystal monitored one to two students, and academy staff busily took notes and recorded each student’s progress.
Dean Gale glanced around the spacious room, noting the intense focus of the staff members.
“The coordination here is impressive,” he remarked, his eyes sweeping over the array of crystals, each displaying a different part of the forest and various students’ performances.
“By the way, is something up, Dean? It’s pretty rare for you to come out of your office,”
Professor Ferdinand remarked, slightly surprised to see Dean Gale here.
As someone who used to be the dean of an entire department himself, he knew just how busy they were during events like this, to the point that sleep could even be considered a luxury.
The fact that Gale could leisurely come out like this meant there must be some kind of special attention needed his presence.
“No, there’s nothing going on, so rest assured,” Gale replied with a reassuring smile. “I just wanted to see the first-years’ progress, that’s all.”
“I see…” Although Ferdinand was curious about how Gale managed to get some free time, he decided to let the matter go. There were a few different ways to avoid work, some of which he was quite guilty of himself.
“Looks like all of them are doing well,” Gale commented as he watched the scenes unfold on the crystals.
They displayed students from both the magic and knight departments effortlessly dispatching monsters left and right.
The test had only started a few hours ago, yet the points racked up by some students had already reached impressive numbers, well into the thousands.
“Yes, it’s impressive,” Ferdinand agreed, his eyes following a particularly talented student who skillfully took down a formidable beast and monsters.
“We’ve got a very promising batch this year. It’s always rewarding to see their hard work pay off in real-time.”
It was indeed an impressive bunch this year.
“But… if you look at the bottom of the rankings, you’ll see some real trouble right there,” Ferdinand retorted.
He touched the holographic screen, changing the focus to certain individuals struggling to even kill a mere goblin.
The screen also highlighted some mid-ranking students using the lower-ranking ones as bait to get the last hits on certain kills.
Gale watched the scenes with a furrowed brow. “Just as each star shines with its own brightness, every person has their unique brilliance to offer,” he said thoughtfully.
“It seems that these young stars have failed to expand their light. Whether they’ll rekindle or not is ultimately up to them, Ferdinand.”
Although Gale felt a pang of sadness for the students struggling at the bottom or getting bullied by the stronger ones, he knew this was the reality they had to face.
Whether it was within the academy or out in the real world, overcoming these challenges would define their future.
This exam was ultimately designed to test the students’ adaptability and survival skills. If they couldn’t face challenges like this, they probably wouldn’t make it past the second semester, even if they wanted to.
Each semester, the number of students at the academy dwindled down, due to various reasons, but the most notable of all were the special and mandatory missions that were in place.
The academy wasn’t just a safe haven designed to nurture and develop students; it was also a guardian institute designated to accept missions from various guilds and countries.
These missions involved defeating monsters and any malevolent beings, human or otherwise.
Students were required to prepare for mandatory and specialized missions that might risk or even take their lives in the process.
That was why, if these students failed here, it was only for the greater good. It would serve as a bitter lesson about the harshness of the world outside the academy.
But…. that doesn’t mean the academy will just tolerate such actions.
“Are their scores properly assessed?” Gale asked.
“Yes, I don’t think they’ve even realized it, but their scores have reached negative now! HAHAHA!” Ferdinand laughed heartily.
“Good”
Although it wasn’t explicitly mentioned to the students, their moral conduct was also being assessed during the exams.
Depending on whether their actions were deemed right or wrong, their scores could either rise significantly or plummet drastically.
Gale nodded at Professor Ferdinand’s words, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Good. It’s important they understand that their behavior has consequences.”
With that, Gale turned his attention back to the holographic screen. He wanted to check on a particular student who had piqued his interest.
Clicking on the section displaying the top-ranking students, his eyes scanned the list, searching for the name he was looking for.
“Are you curious about a certain first-year, perhaps?” Ferdinand asked, noticing Gale’s focused expression.
“Yes,” Gale replied without looking up.
This specific monitoring room was designated solely for observing all of the first-year students.
For reference, there were four rooms designed and designated for each of the school years, from first to fourth, but out of all of them, this room was the largest and the busiest.
The first-year students always had the highest numbers, making up at least one-third of the entire specialized student body.
As a result, zipping through the list of names was quite daunting.
The sheer volume of students meant that the evaluators had their work cut out for them, constantly assessing and recording performances.
“Ho~ so someone managed to get your attention? Haha, looks like Celine is about to get a rival, eh?” Ferdinand said with a smirk.
Only a handful of students had ever managed to capture the dean’s attention, and all of them were extraordinary in their own right—monsters even Ferdinand couldn’t defeat. He had a good idea who the dean might be curious about.
Not long after, the face of a young man appeared on the screen.
His golden blonde hair danced in the wind as he cut down three orcs simultaneously with a swift, graceful movement.
His technique was flawless, his strength and speed impressive.
“So, it really was Riley, huh?”
“He got your attention as well, Ferdinand?”
“Well, you did ask me to pay attention to him last time… but to think you were asking me to monitor a literal monster. Those eyes of yours really are quite something, Gale.”
With Gale’s purple eyes scanning the young man on the screen, he smiled at Ferdinand’s comments.
His mystic eyes might have the ability to see through things with more precise details, but finding out Riley’s hidden strength didn’t come from him. It was Ferdinand who had noticed it first.
To be honest, the reason Gale came to monitor Riley in the first place was because of Ferdinand’s comments about him. Initially, he had only tasked Ferdinand to properly monitor Riley in case he got hurt, since Riley was connected to the duke.
But after what was reported back during the placement exams, Gale’s curiosity about Riley piqued.
Especially after Professor Yuki secretly gave him the recording stone of what happened that day.
There was something more to Riley than met the eye, something that even Celine, a literal sword genius, didn’t possess. Riley had a hidden depth, a potential that was still unfolding.
“Looks like the top students are already reaching the ten thousand score points now,” Ferdinand commented as he watched the point accumulation on the side of the screen.
[Rose – 8,890 points]
[Seo/Clara – 7,540 points]
[Lucas/Janica – 5600 points]
[Riley/Snow – 2,560 points]
[Lillian/Lilly – 1,840 points]
[Susan/Elen – 1,190 points]
…
…
…
…
“So the golden child is going at this solo? impressive….” Gale said, curiosity gleaming in his eyes.
Although it wasn’t exactly against the rules to take the exam alone, it was still surprising to see a student do so.
And to top it all off, she was the top-ranked among the first years.
On each and every screen among the top-ranking students being monitored, Gale knew that monstrous geniuses were being born and nurtured right at this moment.
Just the thought of it made him smile in satisfaction.
Celine, Seo, Lucas, Janica, Riley, there were many promising knights that was worthy of his sword.
This time…… ‘Can I finally pass it on?’
…..
[Note:]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
‘What the?’
Surprised by the sudden system messages, I almost stumbled across the tree branch I was jumping on and nearly fell off. Trying to regain my balance, I flailed my arms in the air before letting out a big sigh of relief.
‘That was close!’
Regaining my focus, I stared at the surprising notification.
‘I leveled up?’
Wondering what was up, I suddenly realized something.
‘Ah, that’s right. Snow and I are in a party right now.’
Did she kill enough monsters, perhaps? Considering that I ignored most of the level-up notifications while I was in the heat of battle, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that some of those levels probably came from Snow’s efforts as well.
[Available status points: 37]
Considering the amount needed for me to gain just one single level, the number of monsters she killed might be similar to mine as well, if not even greater.
Now I slightly felt bad.
As strong as she is, dealing with a bunch of monsters all this time must’ve been a hassle.
As someone who has experienced what D-rank Endurance can only get you in this forest, she must be having a hard time just breathing right now.
Considering she’s a mage, the amount of stamina she used must be similar to mine.
Although they don’t move their bodies as much, the amount of mana they use does strain their mind, so it wouldn’t be weird if she had a high fever right now.
Well, at least that’s what I thought…
“Hmm? Oh, my, you’re back….”
In front of me stood a statue… No, a monster encased in pure white ice, frozen solid down to its very core.
Dozens of more monsters scattered along the frozen ground, all standing in place as Princess Snow casually greeted me with her gentle smile.
Crossing her legs in front of me, she looked at me with eyes showing a mix of annoyance, surprise, and pride as she sat upright from her icy throne.
My worries for her were constant ever since I left her, but now, I was properly reminded of who she was. This woman wasn’t someone I needed to worry about.
“I believe you need to say something to me, right? Mr. R-I-L-E-Y?”
Haha… Feeling the cold frost locking my feet in place, I knew I was screwed.
