On the day of the announcement of the entrance exam’s results.
After Dekan woke up, he didn’t go and get breakfast right away.
Instead, he washed up and immediately pulled open his window curtains to immerse himself in the morning sunshine.
He extended his hands and kept his wrists at a 90 degree angle.
His palms faced the front and his elbows were staying still.
Then, starting from his pinky finger, he started to slowly bend his fingers one by one.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Done.
Then, he started to raise his fingers one by one again.
As a magic card maker, being able to draw the cards was a fundamental skill.
It was extremely important for him to maintain flexible fingers.
It was all so that he could draw a prettier wife in the future.
Ah, no, it was all so that he could draw higher quality cards.
……
After putting on his jacket, Dekan picked up a thick book on the table and left the room.
He had been staying in an inn close to the campus since his arrival at the capital.
But, he will be able to move into the school dormitory tomorrow.
Once the scores are publicized, the examinees that passed would be able to move into the dormitory.
Even though Dekan did not bother to check out the scores, he knew that he would be the top scorer.
After all, he received SSS tier evaluation.
He was too lazy to take a trip to the campus just to check out his scores.
Starting tomorrow, he will be able to save 200 cast coins per day!”
Thinking about it, Dekan couldn’t help himself from smiling.
After walking downstairs, Dekan left the inn and started to slowly wander the streets. He had gotten familiar with the capital during the past couple days.
All of the buildings were extremely grand.
The inns were nice, the shops were nice and even the houses were nice.
For a young man from a frontier village like him, he received quite a mental shock upon arriving at the capital.
This is truly a dashing city.
But everything is so expensive here.
Maybe those who always live in the city would have a different sort of impression toward money.
Thought Dekan.
He arrived at a bread shop recommended by Theresia. After he finished purchasing his breakfast, he continued to slowly wander the capital’s main street with a paper bag in his hand.
His destination was the capital’s library.
The library wasn’t far from the inn.
By walking, it was roughly forty minutes away.
Dekan enjoyed the cheese-filled beard while breathing in the fresh morning air. Unwittingly, he arrived before the library.
The square building occupied over ten thousand square meters. It had a classic style.
Upon stepping into the library, the enormous reading area behind the front desk appeared before the eyes. The first floor was tens of meters long.
These past couple days, the inquisitive Dekan had become a frequent visitor of this place.
He was extremely satisfied with this place.
It was worthy of its title as the largest library in the kingdom.
There were far more books in this library than the frontier library.
If possible, he would love to live in this library.
After walking to the counter to return the book he borrowed yesterday, Dekan walked to the reading area.
With familiarity, he walked toward the books pertaining to the theories of magic. He squatted down and began to search through the books.
His master had told him that his equipment cards and summoning cards were able to get by. But, his spell cards were still too trash.
Because of that, Dekan placed his focus on researching the making of spell cards.
After searching around for a while, Dekan found three books. Contentedly, he brought them to a desk and started reading them.
<<Principles of Detoxification>>
<<Strategies for Resisting Mind DIsturbance Magic>>
<<Methods Against Curse Magic>>
As the saying goes, know yourself, know your enemy; only then could you emerge unscathed through a hundred battles.
The afternoon sunshine sprinkled through the window and landed on the face of the earnestly reading Dekan.
“Look, isn’t that young man extremely good-looking?!”
“He would be sitting there reading books everyday these past couple days.”
“He must be a diligent student who just finished taking the Hevenlit Magic Academy’s entrance exam.”
“I saw the books on his desk earlier. They’re all books about removing poisons, curses and whatnot. He must be a heart of light.”
The girls seated behind the front desk were whispering to each other. They would even sneak glances at Dekan.
……
Hevenlit Magic Academy. Knight College.
Professor Arnold was sitting in his office looking at the ranking for the newcomers. He had a very complicated expression on his face.
He pinched his eyebrows.
When he saw the name ‘Dekan,’ he felt a sharp pain entering his head.
His brain was trembling.
Arnold had seen the broadcast recorded by the College of Alchemy and learned what Dekan did on the exam and why he suddenly fainted following a sharp sense of pain.
No matter what, Dekan had passed the exam with an absolute first-place score.
But, no matter what, he does not resemble a martial artist.
Even those unconventional martial artists appeared normal when compared to him.
That guy was utterly a cultist.
“Exactly what was the problem?”
He couldn’t help himself from suspecting that there were issues with his understanding of martial artists.
Or could it be that this new student was too extraordinary?
Or perhaps too crazy…
……
At the entrance examination scores announcement board.
“Are you sure it’s not an issue with the Artificial Shadow World?”
“There’s no malfunction at all. I’d recommend you to check out the replay for the Knight College’s fifth round of examination; it’s marvelous.”
“Is he that ‘cultist’ who defeated the professor?”
Many students were surrounding a corner of the announcement board and commenting about the scores.
There were many older students that were not examinees that came to join the excitement too.
The region where the Knight College’s examination scores were posted had the most students surrounding it.
The reason for that was because the top scorer’s score was simply too outrageous.
The announcement board clearly stated the examinee’s ranking as well as their scores.
[Rank 1. Dekan. Total score 1.557x10^13. Assessment: SSS]
[Rank 2. Cornelia. Total score: 199563. Assessment: SSS]
[Rank 3. Gavin Brest. Total Score: 22367. Assessment: S]
[......]
Not far away, a red-haired girl was looking at the scores with her head raised.
She had no expression on her face but her fists were tightly clenched. Creaking sounds could be heard.
Because of that, the people surrounding her couldn’t help but keep a distance from her. They were scared as they looked at her fists.
Even though she looked petite, she was emitting a terrifying air.
If she was to suddenly wave her fists, they would die if they were to be struck by them!
“De… kan…”
Her eyes were shining brightly. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly.
Her rosy lips opened softly. With some difficulty, she pronounced the two syllables.
Many people in the surrounding area were able to recognize her. She was the other marvel of the Knight College’s entrance examination, the ‘valkyrie’ who was chasing after and beating up the examiner.
Judging by her looks, she must be feeling indignant.
Was it because of Dekan who took her top scorer spot?
The surrounding students were curious but scared to ask.
The girl continued to stare at the top of the announcement board without moving her sight away.
Her eyebrows started creasing more and more.
One. Ten. Hundred. Thousand. Ten thousand…
She started counting in her heart.
Finally, she lowered her head and started to gesture with her fingers.
1.557 times 10 to the 13th power…
Exactly how many digits place was that?!!
