Mist Mountain came into view.
After racing neck and neck with the direct descendant of the Circulation Cha family for the lead, Min Arin had somehow entered the airspace above Mist Mountain.
‘The fog is too thick.’
Min Arin frowned.
The fog blanketing Mist Mountain was spreading outward, cutting off her vision.
She could barely see ahead.
‘Where did the direct descendant of the Circulation Cha family go?’
With visibility like this, finding her would be difficult.
Min Arin gave up on searching for the girl who had disappeared into the fog, and decided to focus on flying instead.
Since she had no idea what might come flying out from where, she had to be especially cautious.
‘…I can’t see anything.’
Meanwhile, the closer she drew to Mist Mountain, the thicker the fog became.
Now there was no difference between having her eyes open and closed.
Her vision was nothing but a pale haze.
Fog here, fog there.
As she kept flying through the fog, she felt as though her sense of direction was becoming blurred.
“…”
How far had she climbed by now?
Was she heading upward?
Could she really be certain of that?
Was she not, in fact, heading downward?
Unable to perceive anything, she could no longer be certain of anything.
‘Can’t I clear the fog?’
She might not be able to clear all the fog covering the entirety of Mist Mountain, but surely she could clear enough to secure her field of vision.
Min Arin activated magic with a gesture and immediately put it into effect.
“Damn…”
But it lasted only an instant.
The fog scattered for a brief moment, only for the surrounding fog to rush in at once and fill the thinned area.
When the situation did not go as she wanted, Min Arin bit her lip in frustration.
But she had to rein in her emotions.
Emotion certainly added power to magic, but it also made it that much harder to control.
An excellent mage had to be able to control their emotions, maintain rational judgment at all times, and dominate their magic.
“Phew.”
Recalling her family’s teachings, Min Arin stopped flying and entered meditation.
In a situation where she did not even know which way she was flying, trying to move blindly would be meaningless.
‘If clearing the fog is impossible… then I’ll use a detection net.’
Min Arin spread out waves of mana.
The waves spreading from her analyzed the surrounding space.
Only then did she realize it.
“…So it was a barrier. No wonder I couldn’t clear the fog with magic.”
The fog filling the surroundings was not simple fog.
It was magic that dulled a person’s sense of direction and made them lose their way.
A kind of barrier magic.
Because the magic was mixed into natural fog, she had been late to notice it.
‘I probably can’t dispel the magic covering the entire mountain with my power… In that case, I have no choice but to find the predetermined path to leave the barrier.’
There were broadly two types of barrier magic.
One completely trapped its target without an entrance or exit, and the other twisted the paths while leaving only the entrance and exit intact.
In this case, it was likely the latter.
Then she had to find the path.
‘I can’t reach the summit of Mist Mountain by flying.’
With her detection net, she could grasp the ground, but not the sky.
That likely meant there was no path in the air.
So even if she kept flying any further, she would only wander aimlessly.
Thus, Min Arin, who had been gliding in the sky, released her magic and landed on the ground.
“I don’t really like using my body, but I have no choice.”
Had she landed somewhere around the middle of the mountain?
Min Arin stretched.
Then she spread her detection net across the ground and began searching for the path leading “up.”
* * *
Fog lay thick all around.
Getting into Mist Mountain itself had been fine, but the farther we climbed, the thicker the fog became, making it difficult to secure our vision.
“Gyeonu! Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
The fog was so thick that I couldn’t even see Yeon Haneul, who was nearby.
Because of that, as we climbed the mountain, we had to keep calling out to each other desperately.
In that situation…
Kieeeek!
[You have encountered monsters.]
[Goblin (Rank. 01) x 3]
We had to deal with monsters that sprang out from beyond the fog.
“Haneul, be careful! Goblins!”
“I just confirmed them too!”
Normally, I would have been able to sense their presence even from a distance.
But while wandering through the fog, I couldn’t notice them unless they came close.
In truth, the same went for them.
Kiek?
[You have encountered a monster.]
[Kobold (Rank. 01) x 1]
“Haneul, one more! I’ll handle this one!”
“I’ll leave it to you!”
They couldn’t secure their vision either, so they had trouble perceiving our presence.
As a result, both we and they occasionally ran into each other unexpectedly.
At those times, the side that moved first by relying on split-second judgment seized the advantage.
Slash.
Stepping back, I spotted the kobold and cut off its head.
Then I quickly shifted my footing and spun around, taking down the goblin that had already approached right behind me.
Kieeek…!
Yeon Haneul took care of the remaining two, sparing me the trouble of fighting them.
But the dangers in the fog were not limited to monsters.
There were also traps.
Click! Whoooosh!
An artificial sound came from somewhere, and suddenly the sound of wind grew fierce.
I turned my head in the direction of the sound and shouted loudly.
“It’s a trap! Dodge!”
The fog churned violently, and from within it, a log came charging toward us.
I hurriedly rolled to the side.
The log passed through the spot where I had been, slammed into a tree in that direction, and stopped moving.
If I had been hit without knowing, I might have died.
I clicked my tongue.
“Fog, monsters, traps… We’re only climbing one mountain, but this isn’t easy. Haneul, are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine. But doesn’t it feel like the fog’s gotten even thicker than before?”
“That’s true. At least until now, I could roughly figure out your position by your ears, but now I don’t think I’ll be able to find you. Don’t try to get too far away from me.”
“…You were finding me by my ears this whole time?”
“Your ears are long, so they stood out.”
“Mm… Well, fine. Being visible is better than not being visible.”
“More importantly, the barrier? What happened with it?”
“I don’t think dispelling it is possible. After looking over the structure of the formula, it seems like it’s being activated through mediums installed all over the mountain.”
“So we can’t dispel it unless we destroy those. If we’re not careful, we could end up just wasting time trying to find and break them.”
“Right. And I don’t think the examiners want that kind of situation either.”
“In the end, we have to keep going like this… You don’t think you can clear the fog?”
“I’ve been trying since earlier, but it isn’t going as well as I thought. Sorry.”
“It can’t be helped. Why are you apologizing for something like that?”
I had expected that it wouldn’t simply be a matter of climbing the mountain, but it seemed there truly was no such thing as an easy task in this world.
Regrettable, but I decided to give up on that.
Rather than hoping for luck, we would have to keep pushing through the fog and climb the mountain as we were.
I knew the way.
I lifted my head.
‘We just have to follow that flow.’
While part of the formula of the barrier covering Mist Mountain entered my sight, I could also see the atmospheric mana.
Even within the thick fog obstructing my vision, the mana was giving off a blue light.
The light was not flowing aimlessly; it advanced toward one place in a consistent current.
‘If Haneul and I are right, it must be flowing toward the direction that serves as the barrier’s exit.’
That exit was surely the summit.
It was the path leading “up.”
In a situation where even my sense of direction was growing faint, the only signpost for finding the mountain trail was the dozens of streams of light passing overhead.
As long as that signpost was there, I was confident I would not lose my way.
“How much time is left?”
“1 hour and 27 minutes now.”
“I don’t know how long it’ll take to reach the summit, but we’ll need to speed up.”
“In this situation? Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
“It’s fine. My instincts are incredibly good. Haneul, you just stick close behind me. So we don’t get separated by mistake.”
“Phew, fine. Whenever things were dangerous, your instincts have never been wrong, so I’ll trust you.”
* * *
If the process of entering Mist Mountain’s climbing route existed to evaluate the examinees’ resourcefulness and stamina in solving problems, then the process of going from the climbing route to the summit existed to evaluate other factors.
[Haven’t we been going in circles for a while now?]
[Is this even the right path!?]
[Are we really going up right now?]
First, the ability to distinguish one’s sense of direction and find the path within a barrier.
[I can’t see ahead…]
[Guys, where are you!?]
[You want me to keep a detection net active the whole time? How am I supposed to do that!!]
Second, the ability to spread a detection net into the surroundings, grasp the spatial structure and presences, and also maintain that detection net for a long time.
[Keugh!]
[It’s a trap! Be careful!]
[Kieeek!]
Third, the ability to respond instantly to attacks one had failed to perceive.
And so on.
Many factors could be evaluated from the examinees climbing the route.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that passing the second practical exam was, in effect, decided during this process.
As a result, the examiners’ interest naturally turned toward the examinees who had entered the climbing route.
“Forty percent of the examinees have entered Mist Mountain’s climbing route.”
“Let’s turn the Screen Eyes that way and observe the examinees. And are the cameras installed throughout Mist Mountain in advance working properly?”
“They’re all operating normally without a single exception!”
Although the mountain was thick with fog.
Unlike the actual site, the screens showing the climbing route were not very foggy.
That was because a considerable amount of the fog covering the site was an illusion created by magic, and the video-transmission artifacts at the site were filming while excluding the fog created in that way altogether.
“Hmm, they’re all struggling.”
Thanks to that, the examiners could observe the examinees even within the fog.
At that moment, Min Arin of the Arcane Min family appeared on the largest screen in the center.
[Huff, huff… Why is this mountain so high? Isn’t this too much…]
“That examinee… her stamina is hopeless.”
“Indeed.”
Min Arin was climbing the mountain, constantly breathing hard.
Her steps even staggered.
Compared to when she had been flying toward Mist Mountain, her appearance was strikingly different.
“Well, she must have consumed quite a bit of the mana inside her body too. At this point, it’s only natural that her strength would be drained.”
“And the altitude is high. At that level, she’s probably suffering from altitude sickness.”
When altitude increased, oxygen grew scarce, and various symptoms were bound to occur.
The barrier magic covering Mist Mountain interfered with the examinees’ subconscious so that they would feel the altitude as being higher than it actually was, causing those symptoms to occur with high probability.
That was Min Arin’s current state.
In that situation…
[Click!]
[…Huh?]
Her judgment was bound to decline, and because of that, she was inevitably more vulnerable to illusion magic.
The examiners evaluated that as well.
The ability to see through illusion magic.
[Whoooosh!]
The logs rushing in from her side right now were nothing more than illusions.
An ordinary examinee would fail to see through the illusion in this situation and flinch.
[I feel like I’m dying here, and now they’re really getting on my nerves.]
But Min Arin did not belong among ordinary examinees.
Seeing the illusion, she did not panic and continued staggering forward.
The logs passed through her without inflicting any harm at all.
“She is still from the Arcane Min family, after all.”
“Judging by her condition, it seems she hasn’t realized that her subconscious has been exposed to magic, but she recognizes illusions at a glance.”
“Since her stamina has already dropped, she probably hasn’t realized she’s under a spell that induces altitude sickness.”
The examiners highly evaluated Min Arin, who had instantly seen through the illusion.
Then, one instructor changed the subject.
“Then is the examinee from the Arcane Min family currently in first place?”
“No, after checking the locations of the exam tickets, examinee Min Arin is currently in second place.”
“Then first place must be that child, the examinee from the Circulation Cha family.”
“Ah, she’s appearing now.”
The large screen in the center changed.
Instead of Min Arin wiping sweat with the back of her hand, Cha Eunsol of the Circulation Cha family appeared.
The examinee with striking green eyes was…
[Yum, yum.]
“…What is she eating right now?”
“She’s eating it so happily….”
Cha Eunsol was eating a sausage.
The evaluators stared in disbelief at her as she leisurely climbed the mountain, chewing on a sausage.
“You’d think she’d lose her way in the fog at least a little, but she’s showing no sign of that at all. Even the examinee from the Mado Min family seemed to hesitate for a moment.”
“She’s distinguishing the illusions well, too.”
“And she doesn’t seem to have any symptoms of altitude sickness. By the time she’s climbed that high, her stamina should have dropped, at least. Impressive.”
“Isn’t it because she’s a spirit mage?”
“Maybe the spirits living on Fog Mountain are showing her the way.”
“Well… if she’s receiving help from spirits, then barrier magic wouldn’t be very effective. No wonder she’s currently in first place.”
[Nom nom.]
“So what is she eating?”
“It looks like a sausage.”
“It does look like a sausage.”
“I think it really is a sausage?”
“No, where did she get a sausage from? Didn’t she bring it in from outside?”
“Well, food isn’t prohibited, so let’s let it slide. Devices, potions, and other tools are allowed, so what’s the big deal about a sausage?”
[Nom nom.]
“But… she really eats a lot.”
“She’s a big eater.”
As far as the evaluators knew, those who inherited the name of the Cyclic Cha family were generally rich in emotional expression.
Yet watching Cha Eunsol eat a sausage with an almost expressionless face made that perception seem as if it might crumble.
She’s an eccentric.
That was what the evaluators thought.
“So who’s in third place?”
“Third place is the examinee from the Yeonseong Nam family.”
“And fourth is… ah, the examinee from the Divine Sword Do family and Instructor Hong Yena’s disciple.”
“A tie for fourth, then.”
“They’ve just entered the illusion zone.”
“They’re on the screen at the perfect time.”
And so Cha Eunsol’s eating show passed by.
The screen shifted once more.
Do Gyeonu and Yeon Haneul were climbing the mountain path at a higher altitude.
No, they were running up it.
Without even showing symptoms of shortness of breath.
“Did those two drink potions or something?”
“It would still be hard even if they had….”
“Perhaps they broke through the magic that interferes with the subconscious?”
“No, who could possibly break through that? Even the examinee from the Mado Min family didn’t seem to have noticed the magic itself.”
“There’s Instructor Hong Yena’s disciple, isn’t there?”
“Huh….”
Was that examinee, whose rabbit ears were swaying vigorously, really that deeply versed in magic?
The evaluators let out sighs.
It was then.
[Click! Vroooom!]
A trap activated.
A pile of logs, mixed between illusion and reality, came rushing toward Do Gyeonu and Yeon Haneul.
[Gyeonu!]
[Just trust me and follow.]
“Can he tell the illusions apart?”
“There are too many traps that activated, aren’t there? And some real ones are mixed in among them.”
“If he makes a mistake, he could get hurt.”
The evaluators focused on that moment.
Soon, their eyes widened.
Do Gyeonu was….
“No, what the….”
Without the slightest sign of flinching, he dodged the real ones and passed through the illusions, escaping the trap zone.
“How did he realize they were illusions without even looking at them properly?”
He was different from Min Arin and Cha Eunsol.
They had at least looked at the illusions.
But Do Gyeonu did not even cast a proper glance at them.
As if he had known they were illusions even before seeing them.
“….”
As if answering their questions, Do Gyeonu’s voice flowed out from the screen.
[See? I told you I’ve got good instincts.]
[Yes, yes. You did very well.]
[…Why do I feel like I’m being treated like a child?]
[I’ll trust only little Do Gyeonu―.]
“….”
Those who inherited the name of the Divine Sword Do family generally spoke as heavily and prudently as they swung their swords.
But Do Gyeonu seemed to be an exception.
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss
(50) [Illustration]
Though we were in a fog so thick I couldn’t see ahead, if I spread out my detection net, I could grasp my surroundings to some extent.
And I had my Gift.
Even if I didn’t consciously perceive it, my Evasion Instinct allowed me to instinctively sense danger and immediately avoid it.
If I focused on Evasion Instinct’s warning—
Crackle!
“Watch out! Something’s coming!”
It wasn’t hard to perceive danger.
It didn’t matter even if I couldn’t see ahead.
Feeling as if an electric current were running down my spine, I immediately twisted my body to the right.
Crack! Rumble….
The sound of a tree breaking rang out, and from beyond the fog, a massive boulder came rolling down.
But it was no threat to us, since we had already moved out of its path beforehand.
We passed by the rolling boulder and continued forward.
Click! Fwee!
Crackle!
Evasion Instinct activated again.
Something was flying toward us at high speed.
I quickly shouted.
“Haneul, barrier!”
“O-okay!”
There was no way Yeon Haneul would panic and fumble in a situation like this, but you never knew.
Instead of trying to dodge blindly, I struck away the things flying at us with my sword.
Ting!
They were arrows.
The arrows were flying from the same direction at regular intervals.
There was a trap installed ahead that automatically fired arrows.
At least one of them.
Since we had to pass through that place anyway, the existence of a trap that kept firing without being a one-time thing was nothing but troublesome.
Yeon Haneul seemed to judge the same.
“I’ll take care of that.”
Yeon Haneul stepped forward, spreading a barrier.
She extended her right hand in the direction the arrows were coming from.
Formulas drifted around her, and a magic circle formed in the air a short distance from her palm.
Bzzzt!
Light gathered in front of the magic circle.
In the fog, the light glowing black became a sphere too large for her to hold in one hand.
First-tier darkness elemental magic.
A spell that fired darkness-attribute mana compressed into a sphere in a straight line from the palm.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Until the trap stopped operating.
Yeon Haneul fired magic in rapid succession.
Each time the spell left her hand, a sound like air bursting rang out.
“It doesn’t seem to be working anymore.”
“Then let’s keep going.”
Thanks to that, the trap had been neutralized.
We quickly passed through that area, preparing for another danger.
Click!
‘It’s coming.’
A sound came from somewhere.
Having sensed danger through my accumulated experience, I sharpened all five senses.
Immediately after, the fog to our left and right swayed.
Vroooom!
Logs were rushing in.
Even so, I did not respond.
“It’s fine.”
Even though I perceived it that way, Evasion Instinct did not.
That meant it was not danger.
They were illusions, not real objects.
Having already experienced illusions several times while climbing Fog Mountain, I did not panic and advanced into the illusion.
Vroooom!
Every now and then, real ones were mixed in.
But nothing changed.
If Evasion Instinct activated, it was real; if it didn’t, it was only an illusion.
‘Illusion magic won’t work on me.’
I was confident.
I would not be deceived by things like illusions.
However, even Evasion Instinct, which could discern illusions, was not invincible.
Click!
“…!”
“Gyeonu!”
Evasion Instinct did not activate if something was not dangerous.
And because of that.
“…Damn it.”
Something like this happened.
I ended up stepping on a trap.
A trap whose nature was unknown until activation, and which did not threaten my life, was not a target for Evasion Instinct to react to.
Especially when that trap was not a land mine or the like, but a trap that sent whoever stepped on it flying far in the direction they had been walking, there was no way to respond.
As I was launched into the fog-filled air, curses naturally spilled out of my mouth.
It would be nice if nothing else happened here.
Whoosh!
Crackle!
Of course there was no way that would happen.
While I was defenseless in midair, something flew toward me from all directions.
Sensing danger through Evasion Instinct, I called to mind a sword technique I could use in this situation.
‘That should be better.’
I twisted my body in the air.
My face turned toward the ground.
I released as much strength from my body as possible.
“Whew.”
Not in order to let go.
But in order to let the attacks flow past.
Regulating my breathing, I wrapped my whole body in the mana inside me.
Lion Whirling Thunder (獅子 旋雷)
A sword technique blending speed and flow.
At last, the things that had been shooting only through the air reached me.
At the same time Evasion Instinct activated, I twisted my body toward the direction the attack came from.
Then I brought the Ultramarine Sword to meet it.
Clang!
The Ultramarine Sword could not withstand the force.
The sword was pushed in the direction of the attack.
Naturally, my body turned as well.
My body, falling through the air with nowhere to set my feet, began to rotate.
Crackle!
For an instant, azure lightning flared.
The mana imbued in the Ultramarine Sword was creating friction with the mana in the atmosphere.
In that situation….
Clang!
I received the second attack.
Rotational force was applied in the opposite direction.
I spun even faster, and the azure lightning rising from the Ultramarine Sword swelled even greater in intensity.
The azure lightning flashed within the fog.
Clang!
Three times.
Clang!
Four times.
Clang!
Five times.
At some point, azure lightning coiled around my body, and following the direction in which the Ultramarine Sword rotated, the azure lightning stretched outward.
Whoo… crack!
As they came into contact with the azure lightning sweeping around me, the incoming things were annihilated.
They no longer reached me.
By then, the ground had drawn close.
Thud!
Crackle!
I landed safely on the ground.
But my sword technique was not yet over.
Lion Whirling Thunder was a defensive sword technique, while also being a counterattack.
I had to quickly release the azure lightning gathered to its limit in the Ultramarine Sword.
I swung my sword up above my head.
Grrrrr!
A thick bolt of azure lightning surged upward.
A lion’s roar resounded.
The fog above my head scattered, and for a brief moment, the blue sky was revealed.
Crackle….
Only then did the Ultramarine Sword calm down.
Fragments of azure lightning drifting around me were trying to melt into the atmospheric mana.
This much, I could handle.
With the Ultramarine Sword’s second skill.
I absorbed the azure lightning that was about to dissolve away.
It seemed better to strengthen the Ultramarine Sword while taking the second exam.
‘That aside….’
Soon, I looked around.
When I spread my detection net down beneath the ground, I could grasp the traps that could not be confirmed with the naked eye.
They were the traps I had stepped on just now.
“You make me so nervous…. That’s why you should’ve checked under your feet properly.”
“Haneul.”
“Hm? What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere? Let me see! I’ll use healing magic….”
“No, I’m not hurt.”
“Then what is it?”
“The trap I stepped on earlier.”
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
I said it to Yeon Haneul, who had come close enough that I could make out her face.
“Don’t you think we could use it somehow?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“So what I mean is….”
After hearing my explanation, Yeon Haneul’s mouth fell wide open.
“What?”
“Don’t you think it’s possible? We don’t have time, and with this method, we could save quite a bit….”
“No, it’s not impossible, but… still, something that reckless is….”
“If it’s you and me, couldn’t we do it? First, get on my back.”
“…Are you really going to do it?”
“I am.”
“Think it over one more time.”
“Just hurry up and get on.”
“Sigh….”
I crouched down, showing her my back.
Yeon Haneul, who had been conflicted until then, seemed to finally resign herself.
She carefully grabbed my shoulders and pressed herself against me.
“Heave-ho!”
“Kyaa! Where are you touching right now!?”
“Your butt. I have to hold on if I’m going to carry you.”
“Ugh, the fact that you can say that so shamelessly is driving me crazy.”
“More importantly, get ready. I’ll leave the explosion and landing to you, Haneul.”
“Got it. You’d better jump well too.”
“And hold on tight. What are you going to do if you fall?”
“O-okay….”
Explosion is the butt.
No, art.
* * *
The summit of Fog Mountain.
The evaluators recording the examinees’ arrival times glanced at the “Gate Clock” installed near the gate.
“….”
03:22:18
3 hours, 22 minutes, 18 seconds.
It meant that much time had already passed since the start of the second practical exam.
“They should be arriving soon.”
The remaining time to receive a first grade on the exam was now 37 minutes and 42 seconds.
While not a single examinee had yet reached the summit, it was about time for at least one to appear.
The evaluators waited for that moment.
Not long after.
Rustle.
The bushes off to one side shook.
And the first examinee appeared.
It was Cha Eunsol of the Cyclic Cha family.
3:29:57
“Ah, she’s here.”
“…”
After spending several hours reaching the summit, one might have expected her to feel something.
Cha Eunsol, with her green eyes, showed only an indifferent reaction.
Even so, a somewhat exhausted look could be seen on her face.
No matter how much help she had received from spirits, there was no avoiding fatigue.
The examiners greeted her.
“Examinee No. 11586, Grade 1.”
“Congratulations on being the first to arrive. Examinee No. 11586 is in first place.”
“Can I leave now?”
“Yes. The second exam is over with this, so you may exit the gate. Outside, the assistant proctors will probably explain the third exam scheduled for tomorrow…”
She wasn’t happy about taking first place, and instead was thinking of leaving right away.
The examiners smiled bitterly, but they understood how Cha Eunsol felt.
She was tired and wanted to rest properly.
They were about to step aside so she could pass through the gate.
It was right then.
3:34:38
Rustle.
The second examinee emerged.
The examiners’ eyes turned toward the examinee coming out of the bushes.
“I-I made it…”
“…”
An examinee with leaves stuck all over her hair, practically hanging off her staff.
It was Min Arin of the Mado Min family.
Her body trembling, unlike Cha Eunsol, she seemed deeply moved to have reached the summit.
Though only for a moment.
“I’m… not first…?”
“…”
“Yum, yum.”
“I, Min Arin…?”
Min Arin discovered Cha Eunsol standing among the examiners and was flustered.
Her eyes shook so much that it was obvious even from a distance.
Soon, the look in her eyes changed.
“Tch.”
Min Arin clicked her tongue in frustration.
Then, planting her staff firmly with each step, she dragged her trembling body over to Cha Eunsol.
“You.”
“Yum?”
“Don’t think you’ve won with this. The exam isn’t over yet.”
Ignoring the presence of the examiners.
Min Arin snapped at Cha Eunsol, who had somehow put a sausage in her mouth.
“In the third exam, I’ll…”
“So can I go now?”
Cha Eunsol, for her part, remained indifferent even to Min Arin’s reaction.
“Did you just ignore me!? You must think I’m a joke because you got first place, but next time I’ll definitely take first…”
“Yeah, you take first.”
“…What?”
“I don’t have to. I don’t need it.”
“No, what are you…”
“They said I only need to pass.”
“…”
What is with this kid?
Min Arin lost her words as she looked into those green eyes, unable to tell what the girl was thinking.
It seemed that, to her, Min Arin’s existence was not even worth noticing.
Thinking that made her displeased, and hurt her pride.
So she was about to snap at her in anger…
“Anyway, I can go now, right?”
“Wait! Hold on!”
“Bye.”
Cha Eunsol turned on her heel.
She left through the gate.
“She’s looking down on me…”
“…”
“Just you wait. Just you wait and see…”
Looking at the gate Cha Eunsol had left through, Min Arin ground her teeth.
As if she had now forgotten her exhaustion, she huffed angrily and entered the gate.
And so she, too, exited.
“…She left.”
“Right. We hadn’t even explained yet.”
“Well, still… she passed.”
“She did pass with Grade 1.”
The examiners stared at the gate Min Arin had entered, dumbfounded.
However, with the appearance of the third examinee, thoughts of her vanished.
03:48:52
“Ah, that was more fun than I expected!”
“…”
Nam Yuri of the Yeonseong Nam family.
Unlike Cha Eunsol and Min Arin, she showed not the slightest sign of fatigue.
She was even smiling brightly, as if something had been that enjoyable.
While drenched in monster blood.
“Examinee, are you hurt anywhere…”
“Hm? Oh, this isn’t my blood! How could human blood be blue?”
“I know that, but your condition right now…”
“I’m not hurt anywhere, though?”
“…I see.”
An examinee who was barely around 160 centimeters tall.
She had gray hair and pale skin, and on top of that, she was wearing pure white clothes, so the blood she was covered in stood out even more.
Because of that, her innocently smiling face only felt somehow eerie.
Feeling unsettled, the examiners changed the subject.
“Examinee No. 1145, Grade 1.”
“You have passed. Once you go outside, the assistant proctors will explain the third practical exam to you.”
“Yes! Thank you for your work!”
Nam Yuri left through the gate.
Only then did the examiners let out a sigh.
“What in the world happened? To be covered in that much blood…”
“I’ve never seen a kid like that before.”
“Don’t try too hard to find out. In my experience, that type is very dangerous. It’s better not to get deeply involved.”
“We’ll have to watch her carefully.”
“More importantly, is that it for Grade 1?”
“How much time is left?”
The examiners checked the remaining time.
03:56:11
There were now only a little over three minutes left to obtain Grade 1.
Once that time passed, the examinees would receive Grade 2.
“There isn’t much time left now.”
“Will there be any more?”
“I’m keeping my detection net spread out, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone nearby.”
“So there are only three Grade 1s.”
As they exchanged those words.
The examiners looked at the gate clock as if counting down.
03:57:23
A little over two minutes remained.
03:58:07
A little over one minute remained.
The possibility of an examinee appearing within that time was extremely slim.
And as less than a minute remained.
03:59:12
“Looks like it ends with three.”
“A shame, but so it seems.”
The examiners’ attention shifted to the examinees who would receive Grade 2.
03:59:20
Now 40 seconds.
03:59:30
Now 30 seconds.
03:59:40
Now 20 seconds.
That was when the anomaly occurred.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
“Wh-what is that!? What was that sound?”
“Did someone step on a trap!?”
“That’s too large-scale for a trap!”
A massive explosion erupted from somewhere.
Startled by the sound, the examiners turned their heads.
“…”
03:59:48
Within the mist, black smoke born from the explosion writhed.
White mist and black smoke churned together in a turbulent mix.
Whoooosh!
03:59:50
And from within it, something shot upward and was falling toward the examiners.
03:59:52
“…”
The examiners’ eyes widened.
At first, they thought it was debris from the explosion and considered deploying protective magic.
03:59:53
But the examiners who had spread out their detection net realized that what was falling toward them were examinees.
03:59:54
“…”
Just what kind of people were they?
What trick had they pulled?
The examiners couldn’t understand it.
03:59:55
Those incomprehensible examinees.
Now they could be seen with the naked eye.
03:59:56
“Haneul, now!”
“Y-yeah!”
“…”
A female demi-human with rabbit ears.
And a young man carrying her on his back.
The two were about to crash into the ground.
03:59:57
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Shouldn’t we help them land…”
“…No, it seems there’s no need.”
Immediately afterward, a fierce wind swept through.
03:59:58
The examinee with rabbit ears had created wind with magic.
In doing so, she softened the impact before they crashed into the ground.
03:59:59
They landed safely.
It was right then that the gate clock’s alarm rang.
04:00:00
Beeeeeeep!
A sound announcing that four hours had passed.
Letting the sound pass by them, the examiners stared at the place where sand smoke was rising.
“…What are those kids?”
“Seriously…”
At last, the cloud of sand cleared.
The examiners were able to find the two people lying sprawled on the ground.
“W-we’re alive, right…?”
“See? I told you it would work…”
Examinee No. 1532, Do Gyeonwoo.
And Examinee No. 5784, Yeon Haneul.
Second practical exam, Grade 1, passed.
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss