Ch. 359 - Freshman (13)

As soon as the entrance exam began, the scenery inside the Stella Dome transformed in an instant.  

Some sections transformed into towering mountain cliffs, while others became dense jungles, icy glaciers, molten lava fields, murky swamps, and endless grasslands.

The five thousand students were scattered randomly across these terrains. Cooperation with other students they met along the way was allowed, but doing so would split their points in half.  

This seemed to be a consideration for support-type students, who might struggle to manage on their own.

Moreover, attacking fellow participants was strictly forbidden. Using magic against others could lead to point deductions… or, in more severe cases, disqualification. The exam was designed to test skill and strategy alone.

“Oh...So this is what it feels like.”  

Scarlet gazed at the shifting Stella Dome with eyes alight with wonder.

To ordinary mages, it might have seemed as though the empty space was simply conjuring natural landscapes. But Scarlet saw more… she could peer into the intricate magical mechanisms at work.

She could tell how much complex magic Elthman had used to create this space, and that realization filled her with excitement.  

However—  

“... Why did he set it up like that? Wouldn’t it be better to refine this formula? Isn’t this design a bit outdated?”

As a mage whose skills rivaled Elthman’s, Scarlet couldn’t help but notice the flaws scattered throughout the enchantment.

“Well, anyway, let’s get going.”  

With steady confidence, Scarlet set off. She had landed in the jungle terrain.

For students with weak physical strength, it was a treacherous area filled with humidity and uneven ground, enough to cause an early elimination. But for Scarlet, it hardly posed any challenge.  

Her only concern was whether the hem of her pristine white skirt might get dirtied as she strode through the undergrowth.

‘What am I even supposed to do here?’  

If Baek Yu-Seol had given her any clues, things might have been clearer. Yet all he had said was, ‘Hold back a little.’

She had no idea what that actually meant.  

Even so, holding back wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

‘How much magic should I use to match the level of these kids?’  

Trying to picture an adult restraining themselves to match the strength of a newborn baby seemed ridiculous.

Yet pretending to struggle like a baby exerting its strength? That was something she could easily manage.

Though a slight increase in effort could lead to disastrous results, Scarlet remained confident.  

— Growl...  

“Hm?”  

While wandering the jungle absentmindedly, she suddenly locked eyes with a beast.

“Huh?”  

It had been so long since something like this had happened that Scarlet momentarily froze, caught completely off guard.

If this had been the real world, most monsters would have instinctively fled, overwhelmed by Scarlet’s sheer presence. However, since this was a virtual realm crafted by Elthman, such an absurd encounter was made possible.

‘Well… I guess the goal is to hunt monsters, right?’  

Had she bothered to spare even 0.001% of her usual mental energy, Scarlet could have easily deduced there was more to this test than mere monster hunting.

However, in this playground for babies, she didn’t feel like putting in the effort.  

Just as she raised her hand, prepared to dispatch the creature with minimal effort, she suddenly sensed movement behind her.

“Wait! You can’t handle that thing alone!”

“Huh?”  

Turning around, Scarlet found herself face-to-face with three boys approaching her. Their neatly-pressed uniforms and polished expressions screamed wealth and privilege.

“Nice to meet you. You’re Scarlet… Right? We haven’t met before, but your name’s been making the rounds, so I remembered it.”

“Oh? And what business do you have with me?”  

“Haha! You sound like my grandmother. Look closely at that monster… it’s a Red-Clawed Swamp Crocodile. A Risk Level 3 beast. Do you seriously think you can take it down by yourself?”

“Uh…”  

Scarlet paused, unsure how to respond.

“See? Even you know it’s too much to handle on your own, right?”

“Uh! Oh, yeah! I can’t handle it!”  

The truth was, she found it difficult to judge whether such a low-level creature - practically a baby’s toy - was something to be concerned about.  

‘Seriously? Is this what counts as the level of human kids these days?’

Scarlet sighed, recalling how Baek Yu-Seol had easily dispatched dark mages without breaking a sweat.

Of course, Baek Yu-Seol was an exceptional case… far from ordinary.

“So, how about teaming up with us? That monster won’t attack unless we step into the swamp. We can work together to bring it down.”  

“… Do we really need to cooperate for this?”  

“Of course we do. We’re only seventeen-year-old genius mages who barely reached Class 2. A risk level 3 monster is too much for us to handle alone.”  

Reaching Class 2 at seventeen was already considered impressive.  

However, Stella Academy had deliberately released higher-level monsters to force students to cooperate.  

In other words, teamwork was an essential part of the test.  

Any student capable of overcoming this challenge alone…

Would be guaranteed a spot in Class S. 

"Still, I think there’s going to be an advanced phase to this test. But I won’t tell you what it is—unless you agree to cooperate with us."  

“Oh, is that so? Sure, I’ll cooperate.”  

Scarlet agreed without hesitation. She figured it wouldn’t hurt to observe how these so-called baby mages measured up.

Seeing her quick acceptance, the boys lit up like festival lanterns, grinning as though they had struck gold.

“Alright! Then let me show you what I can do first.”  

Stepping forward confidently was a boy with brown hair.  

His name tag read ‘Hae Seon-Woo.’  

That’s right.  

He was none other than Hae Seon-Woo, another disciple of Hae Seong-wol, the master of the Full Moon Tower.  

Although he had always been overshadowed by Hae Won-Ryang’s extraordinary talent, Seon-Woo was still a prodigy in his own right. By the age of twelve, he had already mastered two elemental attributes and had reached Class 3 at seventeen.

Rumor even had it that his total mana capacity had already surpassed Hae Won-Ryang’s.  

In short, within the current second-year students, he occupied the same position as Ma Yu-Seong. He was a rising star.  

The top genius among the freshmen!  

— Crackle! Swoosh!  

With a brief incantation, Seon-Woo froze the swamp, trapping the monster in solid ice. Then, he summoned razor-sharp blades of wind, slicing through the beast and ending its life in an instant!

As he effortlessly wielded two attributes, his display of skill was more similar to a battle-hardened mage than a high school freshman.  

However, there was just one problem.  

‘Oh-ho? So this is the average level of babies here?’  

To Scarlet, it seemed only natural to think so.  

After all, he was just a plain-looking boy, who used plain and average magic.  

“Whew! What do you think?”  

“Hmm. Nice job!”  

When Scarlet gave him a thumbs-up, Seon-Woo grinned from ear to ear.  

It’s often said that nothing makes a man happier than demonstrating his strength in front of a pretty girl.

Having lived in the shadow of Hae Won-Ryang for so long, always feeling like second best, Seon-Woo, for the first time, felt that all his years of studying magic had been worthwhile.

— Karrk!  

“Ugh?! There’s another monster!” 

Their excitement was short-lived.  

From behind, an even larger crocodile-like monster emerged, causing Hae Seon-Woo and his companions to immediately brace themselves for battle.  

However, Scarlet had already reached her conclusion. She’d perfectly(?) assessed the average level of these so-called prodigies and no longer felt the need to hold back.

BOOM! BOOM!  

Scarlet extended her finger, causing the very air itself to explode. The monster was instantly blown to pieces.  

Blowing lightly on her fingertip, Scarlet smiled sweetly at Seon-Woo and asked,

“What do you think? Pretty similar to your level, right?”  

But the boys couldn’t respond.

Because what she had just done… wasn’t something that could be described as ‘similar.’ 

“Haah…”  

***

Meanwhile, in the heart of a dense forest—  

Walking along the riverbank, Anella licked her lips and let out a soft sigh.  

It had already been two hours since the entrance exam began, and she was starting to grow anxious, having achieved little progress so far.  

Her stamina was far weaker than it had been when she was a dark mage.  

But she didn’t long for those days.  

In fact, the slight exhaustion she felt now only reinforced her joy at being human.  

‘The goal of this test… Isn’t the monsters.’  

Hunting monsters might increase her score, but risk level 3 monsters weren’t something average students could take down so easily.  

‘The real target is probably the Summoner behind the monsters. That has to be it!’  

Summoners were infamous for calling forth powerful beings from other dimensions, yet their own bodies were exceedingly vulnerable.

This meant that even freshmen at an average Class 2 level should be capable of taking them down.  

If this were a real-life scenario, the most powerful monster would likely be protecting the summoner.  

But this was the Stella Academy entrance exam. Surely, they wouldn’t set the bar that high for new students.

‘I need to find the summoner’s location.’  

Hints were scattered throughout the area—  

She just hadn’t discovered them yet.  

Despite the tremendous growth Anella had achieved over the past six months, there was still one major issue.

She lacked real combat experience.

Her studies had come almost entirely from textbooks, leaving her ill-equipped to respond to unforeseen situations.

And that… was going to be a challenge.

Drawing on her past experiences as a dark mage wasn’t so simple either. After all, she had never once fought against a monster Summoner back then.

Rustle!  

Suddenly, the sound of snapping branches echoed through the forest. Anella jumped and raised her staff, ready to attack.  

“Oh my, Miss Anella.”  

“Young Lady Mirinae…?”  

To her relief, the figure stepping out from the thicket was none other than Young Lady Mirinae.

The moment Anella saw the familiar face, her expression lit up with a radiant smile.

“So you were here after all. I tracked your traces after seeing that unique magic you used earlier when fighting the monster.”  

“Ah… You heard the battle earlier?”  

Anella looked slightly surprised.  

She had engaged in a fight with a monster just thirty minutes ago, but she thought it had been a fairly quiet battle. She hadn’t expected it to be noticeable.  

‘Was I really that loud, even from over thirty minutes away?’  

Using Class 3 binding magic, Anella had immobilized the monster and buried it underground. She hadn’t expected the resulting mana waves to be strong enough to be detected from such a distance.

“Anyway, what luck! I can’t believe we both ended up in the forest area.”  

As Anella spoke, her eyes wandered to Young Lady Mirinae’s pants.  

No one in their right mind would wear a dress to an exam, so Mirinae was dressed in light combat attire.  

However, her pants and shoes bore faint scorch marks.

‘Lava…?’  

Anella briefly wondered if Mirinae had come from the lava zone, which was about an hour’s distance from here.  

But she quickly dismissed the thought.  

There was no reason for Mirinae to have traveled such a long distance just to find her.  

Choosing to trust her, Anella smiled.

“Meeting you like this is a stroke of luck. How about we move together from now on?”  

Anella’s straightforward trust brought a soft, almost relieved smile to Mirinae’s lips.

“Of course. That’s why I came to find you.”  

And then she added—  

“We’re friends, after all.”   

With that, Anella and Young Lady Mirinae began moving forward together.  

Meanwhile—  

“… Huh?”  

About 45 minutes away from their position, something began to stir.

Far removed from the others, Scarlet wrinkled her nose as she walked, her steps in sync with a noticeably dispirited Hae Seon-Woo.

‘What is this? What’s that awful smell?’  

She sniffed the air and narrowed her eyes, expanding her senses outward to scan the entire Stella Dome.

‘Over there…’  

It didn’t take long to pinpoint the origin of the foul odor.  

‘A sickly yellow stench…’  

Two girls were walking along the riverbank, surrounded by tall grass.

One of them was a familiar face—the frail dark mage girl Scarlet had once locked inside the Persona Gate and tormented.  

‘Oh…?’  

But something was off.  

Scarlet could no longer sense any trace of dark magic from her.  

Instead, the girl’s presence felt purer, clearer, and cleaner than even that of an average human.  

Scarlet couldn’t hide her surprise.  

‘Is this… Another one of Baek Yu-Seol’s spells?’  

Her gaze lingered on Anella for only a moment before shifting to the girl beside her.

And that’s when Scarlet felt it.  

‘Oh-ho… Now this is interesting.’  

A knowing smile crept across her lips.  

“Miss Scarlet? Why are you suddenly smiling like that? Ah, of course, your smile is lovely as always.”  

Seon-Woo’s flustered words barely registered as Scarlet raised a finger and pointed toward the direction where Anella and Mirinae were.  

“It’s nothing. I just noticed something… Amusing. So how about this?”  

She flashed a grin.  

“Let’s head over there. I have a good feeling about it.”  

Scarlet had no intention of offering help.

Nor did she intend to interfere.  

But—  

For someone who had lived hundreds of years, watching something interesting unfold nearby was an irresistible temptation.  

‘This is going to be fun!’  

Baek Yu-Seol’s two protected girls—  

And yet, despite their presence, there was an unmistakable sense of foreboding in the air.  

Scarlet’s curiosity burned hotter as she wondered what fate awaited them next.

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