Kain and Bridge ran into the twins again the next morning at breakfast.
Thankfully, none of the awkwardness from yesterday remained.
“I’m sorry for yesterday. Sometimes I speak without thinking, but Aiden let me know that my question was completely inappropriate given the circumstances.”
“Uh it’s fine…no problem.” Kain was slightly flustered by the sudden apology. He had actually expected them to be upset at his refusal to answer after they gave him information yesterday.
Together they walked towards Dark Moon College.
It was a giant castle with Gothic architecture like the rest of the city, and similar to Starfire College it was also the tallest building in the city, with its tallest spires being visible even from the edges of the city.
Arriving at the gates of the College, all 4 of them received a tag with their registration number. Kain and Bridge were #3666 and #3667, respectively. While the twins had arrived in the city and registered the day before them and were numbers 2942 and 2943.
After confirming their attendance, they followed the long line of students to a circular building with many pointed arches.
When they entered, he could tell that it was a theatre that could accommodate at least 10,000 individuals, with all of the seats arranged in a ring surrounding the central stage.
They had to go up two flights of stairs before they could find available seats.
30 minutes later, when it appeared as though nearly 7000 students had arrived, a beautiful woman wearing glasses and a dark blue dress suit went on the stage.
“Hello everyone. I am Assistant Professor Nightingale. The instructor for the mandatory Introduction to Spiritual Skills course that all first-years must take.” Spiritual skills! One of the things Kain most wanted to learn in college.
“I will now introduce the conditions for entering Dark Moon College.”
‘Wow she’s getting right to it, huh? Usually these kinds of stuff start with some long speech by the educators, but I guess they can’t be bothered to waste their breath on students who 99% of them they’ll never see again. That’s also probably why a first-year Assistant Professor is the one here overseeing the exams, rather than the Dean, Vice Dean or even just a full Professor attending.’
“Due to last year’s beast-tide which we used for the exams, the surrounding wild spiritual beasts are not currently at a great enough number to cause another beast-tide. Therefore, this year’s exams will be taking place in one of the College’s relics”
Immediately the students broke out into panicked whispers. Even Kain and the other three looked at each other with wide eyes.
Didn’t nearly 600 examiners die in one of their relics in previous years? Their number of applicants had just been restored to the numbers before that whole debacle, and they’re going straight back to their old ways?
“Everyone please be quiet”
Chatter Chatter
“SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BRATS!” The refined-looking women suddenly shouted, spiritual power infused into her voice.
“Ugh!” Kain and majority of the students looked as though they’d been hit. The teacher’s level was clearly far above theirs, a level so high that Kain had never met it before.
“Ahem…We are aware of your concerns and we can assure you that the site of the examination will not be the same as the one from THAT year.” They all knew what year she was talking about.
“In the relic, you will be brought to an artificial world in which two islands are connected by a bridge. Your job is to cross that bridge. Easy right?” She said with a wide reassuring smile. But it didn’t look the least bit trustworthy in the applicants’ eyes.
“However, do keep in mind that any injuries received in this world will be sustained by you once you leave. So if you do not think you’ll be able to pass, do not be stubborn and just request to leave. The relic will immediately sense your intentions and you will be ejected.”
“All students that pass the bridge will meet the minimum conditions for admittance. If more than 99 students pass, then the score for your performance, as assessed by the relic, will be used to determine the top 99 applicants.”
“Your ranking in the entrance test will also be your ranking when entering the school, so try your best!” She didn’t say what the point of such a ranking was, but Kain was sure there was some kind of benefit to ranking highly in this test.
“Now you may all leave your seats and follow your seniors to the entrance of the relic.”
Kain and the rest of the applicants did as directed.
Their group of 4 was towards the middle of the line. Although there were thousands of applicants, the line was moving forward rapidly. When he got closer to the front he could see why. There didn’t appear to be a limit to the number of students that the relic could accommodate, every second another student entered.
He could see the green-haired second year that he’d previously met treating a student with a gash across his abdomen. His contract looked like a dandelion that was continuously blowing spores to the wounded. It was a contract Kain had never seen in a textbook before, meaning it was likely extremely rare.
He also saw a large stone tablet with the names of the students that had successfully passed the test. So far over 1000 students had entered, yet only 9 names were listed.
Kain wondered if the order of the names meant anything. Was it the order in which they cleared the relic? Or was it a reflection of how high their individual scores were?
After another 500 students entered the relic, and 5 more names appeared, he got his answer. The order of the names was most likely the ranking of their individual scores.
He wished he knew how the score was determined. Is it timing-based? How few injuries they received? Their ability to cope with dangers?
From some of the injuries he was seeing the students leave with, he could guess that there were spiritual creatures in there. Does how many we kill affect the score?
‘Haa… There’s no use in worrying. I’ll just have to do my best’