Chapter 22 – Examination

“Souta, don’t put your real name on it use your name if something real happens.” A man with a faint image said.

“Why?” The boy asked.

“You will know when the time is right. Just remember that our family was one of the strongest in ancient times.” The man calmly told the boy.

“Ieshi? But I have never read Ieshi in Japanese history.” The boy looked at the man in doubt.

“I’m not from this country. I’m from a far distant place. Go ahead and play.” The man looked at the cloud before he said.

“All right, grandpa.”

“Blood? Is this your chosen name here in this game?”

“Yes.”

“Next time when something similar happens then use your real name, Souta Ieshi. There will be people who will help you because you are an Ieshi.”

“I understand.”

“No matter what happens don’t forget what I had said today.”

…

Souta woke up early in the morning. He quickly got up and took a shower. Afterward, he came down and ordered breakfast.

“The same as always.” He said loudly for the waitress to hear.

The waitress understood what he was saying so the waitress went inside the kitchen.

After a few minutes, the waitress came out with Souta’s order. She put the food on the table.

“Thanks for the food!”

He quickly eats his breakfast. He’s in a hurry because today was the exam day at the Ladro Institute. Right, today the test will be held. He cannot be late on this test because it depends on whether he enters or not.

Since it’s the examination day, this only means one week had passed.

A lot of things happened this week. One of these was Souta becoming a Rank E adventurer. During this time he completed ten quests that needed to rise in rank. He has an outstanding record. The completion rate and completion speed were high. He quickly finishes the quests he had taken.

Within a week, he already became a Rank E adventurer. He completed the quests he had taken with Yuko. The Rank F quests are easy to complete so it’s not surprising that he completes it within a week.

After he finished his meal and paid the bill, Souta went to Yuko and he fed her the delicious food that she likes.

“Just stay here, for now, I will quickly finish the test,” Souta said to Yuko while patting her head.

“Muu.” Yuko stopped eating and she looked at Souta.

“Okay, I will bring you back the fruits that you like so much.” Souta smiled wryly at her.

…

He changed his clothes and went to the Institute to take the exam. He arrived in the place twenty minutes before the exam.

He opened the door and stepped inside. There, he saw a lot of people were already in their seats.

The other examinees looked at him and he just ignored those gaze. He took out his stab and looked at his seat number.

“Seat 52, huh?”

He looked around and found his seat in the back. He sat there and observed his surroundings. The people here were too tense as he could see sweat forming in the forehead, even though the weather was quite cold today.

The whole room was devoid of any sound as nobody dared to make a noise here.

Turning his head to the left side, he saw a beautiful girl seating beside him. She has beautiful silver hair that dr.a.p.es down to her shoulders onto her back. Her golden pupils that have a hint of red were like a piece of expensive gem. She was wearing a simple white blouse and a black mini skirt with red linings.

Souta could feel some sort of strange aura coming out of her. Yeah, it was really weird. It feels that was not her true appearance and she’s concealing her real identity.

The girl noticed his gazed so she turned her head and looked at him in the eyes.

“What is it?” She asked with a cold tone.

“N-nothing…” Souta gulped and turned his head. He was captivated by those beautiful eyes of her. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

After thirty minutes, a man with short orange hair wearing a black coat entered the room. He walked straight to the table in front which was reserved for the examiner.

He placed down the bunch of paper he was carrying on the table before looking around.

“Cough… I’m John Myer your examiner in written exam.” The man cleared his throat and introduced himself. “There are seventy examinees in this room so don’t cause any noise as you all could overwhelm me.”

Some of the examinees sighed in relief when they heard his words and tone. They were glad that he’s not a strict person like the other examiner. It feels like a huge burden has been lifted off their shoulders.

“As you have known, the entrance exam has two types. The written and practical exam. You need to pass these two for you to enter the institute.” John, the examiner, said while looking at every people’s face inside the room. “Alright, we will start the written exam now.”

John placed a stack of papers on the desk of the people in the front row. “Take one and pass the rest to your back.”

The examinees started to pass the test paper around. In just a minute, all the people here were holding a test paper.

“The passing score is 70 and below that is fail so answer it carefully. You all have two hours to answer the test, that’s it and good luck.” John said before sitting down in the front. He was observing every examinee looking out for cheaters.

Souta turned his attention to his test paper. He read it silently.

‘I don’t know some of the questions but it will not hinder me.’ he thought when he finished reading all the questions. He will still pass the test even though there’s a question that he doesn’t know the answer. After all, the passing score was 70.

Time passed by quickly and one by one the examinees finished answering their test papers. And he, Souta, was the first one who finished answering the test. Everyone looked at him but he knew that he had only answered all the questions that he knows. Why would he answer a question he doesn’t know the answer? So some of the questions in his test were blank.

“Since you’ve all finished before the time, you can go now to take the practical exam,” Jhon said as he arranged all the test papers.

The girl beside Souta stood up as soon as the examiner said those words.

Souta looked at her as she leaves the room. He then also stood up and leave the room. The others followed them and went to the place where the practical exam will be held.

The practical exam where the place were examinees going to showcase their skills and abilities.

…

They were in a very wide place. Dummies for practicing close combat were neatly arranged at the corner. There were also weights and shooting targets here. This place was one of the training grounds of the Ladro Institute.

Those things that needed in training were all made from tough materials. It couldn’t easily break or shatter.

Even using a yellow equipment wasn’t enough to break those things here in the training ground.

The examinees were gathered in the center of the training ground. In front of them was a man wearing a black tank top. His muscles were bulging out of his clothes.

“Yo! I’m the one that’s going to test you.” The examiner said with a smile on his face. “I’m going to record your abilities here and check if you’re really eligible for the institute.”

Souta knew that as long as a person knew some skills or have enough firepower that person will pass the exam. It’s a simple test to check the potential of a person.

Right now, he has three spells in his arsenal. [Ice Shot] and [Fire ball] were enough for this kind of test.

“Who wants to go first?” The examiner asked while looking at the examinees.

“Me.” Souta raised his hand while walking to the front.

“Okay, as long as you’ve hit me that’s enough. I will give you one minute.” The examiner said with a smirk. He then placed an alarm.

Souta nodded and the other examinees took a distance away from the two.

“I’m going,” Souta smirked and he dashed towards the examiner. He doesn’t need to defeat the examiner, he just needs to showcase his abilities. He knew that even if he used his full power he wouldn’t be able to defeat the examiner.

Souta opened both of his palms and casted two spells simultaneously.

[Fire ball]

[Ice shot]

The two spells went straight towards the examiner. He was surprised for a second but he quickly regained his composure. He lifted up his thick arm and waved it towards the two spells.

Bang! Bang!

The fireball and ice exploded in his arm. But it didn’t leave any scratches at all.

Souta expected so he once again dashed towards the examiner using the skill [Dash].

“You are going for close combat.” The examiner looked at Souta who arrived in front of him.

“Of course, after all this is my specialty,” Souta said and he threw a powerful punch containing his mana.

Swooosh!!

The examiner tilted his head and avoided the punch. Then he noticed a light above him. He looked up and saw two fireballs going straight at him.

“Good!” The examiner smiled and took a deep breath. Powerful mana burst out of him. Pouring his mana, he blew the two fireballs away. He then quickly waved his arm towards Souta.

Souta bent his body barely avoiding the arm of the examiner. He kicked the ground and using his feet as a medium, he casted [Ice Shot] twice. He then opened his mouth and [Fire ball] came out.

“This level of control…?” The examiner crossed his arm before him to blocked the spells.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Souta was about to attack again when a powerful aura swept out. He then saw a fist appeared in front of him.

“You’re still smiling, huh?” The examiner said as his fist was going straight to Souta’s face. The shadow of his fist slowly covered Souta’s smirk.

Suddenly…

Ringgggg!

A sound of alarm echoed in the whole training ground.