Episode 28: The Academy of Dreams and Fantasy (2) Fin
While Lena, having swallowed the red pill she never wanted, was deciding that if she couldn’t avoid it, she might as well join the people enjoying it...
The mana measurement, which had begun amid cheers from everyone except Lena,
was providing exactly the dopamine-packed spectacle they had wanted.
“T-this is only because I’m nervous.
If I do it again, it’ll be different. Please, just give me one more chance!”
“No. I have no intention of letting you try again. Go back.”
“Urgh, so yellow is still my limit with my current ability...”
“This is rigged! There’s no way a genius like me could be only blue!”
People’s joy and sorrow alternated according to the color of the mana-measuring crystal orb, and they caused all kinds of commotions—screaming, begging the examiners, or insisting the results had to be wrong.
That was because this crystal orb, specially made by the dwarves and mages at the Academy’s request,
was a sliiightly shady and simplified version, but it did possess the function of measuring the subject’s mana and displaying it by color.
“Hiyah, having their level divided neatly by color makes it nice and easy to watch.”
“Exactly. It’s a shame we can’t compare the details, but in this crowd, we wouldn’t be able to look that closely anyway.”
“Ah, give me one popcorn here.
My eyes are having fun, but my mouth’s getting bored.”
Without long-winded analysis or numbers, the evaluation that went from blue to green, yellow, orange, red, and finally gold was extremely intuitive.
Thanks to that, one could instantly understand not only the examinees’ level but also their joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure, making it quite a splendid show to watch.
Of course, the Academy wasn’t stupid, nor had it truly transformed into a military training camp.
There was no way they would select students based solely on the results of this mana measurement.
After all, the Academy taught subjects that had nothing to do with mana as well.
This was merely a service of sorts to entice incoming students and satisfy their dreams and fantasies.
But since the applicants and spectators were quite satisfied with it, one could say it was a great success either way.
The one disappointing point was that, even after the measurements had gone on for quite some time, most of the colors were more or less mediocre, with no particularly high color appearing.
And just as people were starting to get tired of seeing only colors below orange...
“Waaaah! Red! It’s the first red!”
“As expected of Lord Joshua! He calmly does what we cannot! That’s what sends shivers down my spine! I can’t help but admire him!”
Joshua, who had stepped forward confidently and, unlike everyone else, lightly placed only one hand on the crystal orb, was the only one to draw out red.
And immediately, everyone’s attention began to gather on him.
“As expected of the famous genius of the Grandel family.”
“Well, if he’s a genius just like the rumors say, it’s no wonder red appeared.”
“Hmph! Something like this is simple and only natural.”
After responding arrogantly to the people’s reactions, Joshua continued confirming that no color surpassing his appeared.
Then he swept back the red hair characteristic of his family and wore a fierce smile.
‘As expected, I have no rival!’
It was the smile of a victor certain he had taken first place in the mana measurement.
The Saintess, whom he had considered his only rival, used divine power rather than mana, so measuring her with the mana-measuring crystal orb was ambiguous, and she had been excluded.
In that case, at the very least, wasn’t Joshua himself surely the final victor of the mana measurement?
‘If Author Wei hears about this, he will surely acknowledge it too.
The title of Tian’s Second Coming belongs to me, Joshua Grandel!’
In the midst of an atmosphere where his victory seemed certain,
just as Joshua was thinking such thoughts inwardly and burning with fan devotion toward Author Wei and his work...
“G-gold!”
“No way! It really is gold!”
“What did you say?!”
Cold water was suddenly poured over those flames.
A grade above Joshua’s own red, and the highest grade the crystal orb could display: gold had appeared!
Tap!
Tap!
When Joshua hurriedly pushed through the crowd and approached,
there truly was a man standing there, giving off the impression that a certain griminess had soaked into his very body, while the crystal orb glowed gold.
“...That guy made gold appear?”
Joshua was momentarily flustered.
Unlike himself, with his masculine, well-trained body, that fellow looked terribly frail, as if he had grown up without enough to eat.
He also didn’t particularly look as if he had studied magic for a long time.
And someone like that had made gold appear, when even Joshua himself had not? How?
“What is he? Some secret weapon another family kept carefully hidden away?”
At the fact that first place had been stolen from him by someone whose identity he didn’t even know, Joshua felt his pride being scratched and his temper rising.
But apart from that, his heart—one that had nearly grown bored to death at the level of applicants who seemed unable to oppose him—began to pound.
“Interesting. I thought there would be no one capable of opposing me besides the Saintess.
To think I would begin with a defeat from the very start...”
Licking his lips, he began shooting a gaze filled with competitive spirit toward the man who had delivered him his first defeat.
And the man with golden mana, who received Joshua’s fiery gaze,
‘Benefactor. Would this result be enough not to shame the name Bei, which you gave me?’
did not notice that gaze at all and was lost in other thoughts.
Thoughts about the benefactor who had rescued him from the slums and even given him the name Bei.
Yes.
The man named Bei, who was now receiving the attention of everyone at the entrance ceremony, was a talented individual from the slums whom everyone had ignored and despised until just recently.
‘No, he really had this kind of talent?!’
‘As expected, Author Wei was right!
There were talented people hidden in the slums who had never seen the light!’
‘We saved the real-life Tian with our own hands!’
The excuse Wade had put forward to reform the slums—
a talented orphan rotting away in the slums—had actually existed!
Of course, he did not possess talent that could be called the greatest in history like Tian, the protagonist of an overpowered novel.
‘Huh? This child seems to have talent not only in magic but also in swordsmanship?’
‘What? Then does that mean he could become a magic swordsman?!’
‘A genius magic swordsman from the slums? Damn it, that’s too cool!’
But he was a hybrid talent born with aptitude not only for magic but also swordsmanship.
And as one could tell from the measurement just now, his innate mana was also considerable.
Thanks to that, he had even been given the special opportunity to enroll in the Academy.
Along with a new name, Bei, from Author Wei, who had saved him and become the catalyst for reforming the slums.
‘I will definitely succeed at this Academy like the protagonist of the book you wrote, Benefactor.
And I will repay the opportunity and name you gave me!’
Was that why?
Bei began to regard Author Wei, who had saved him, as his benefactor.
And he cherished the name he had bestowed upon him above all else.
On top of that, he had happened to come to the Academy.
So he was burning with resolve to live a perfect and enterprising Academy life like Tian.
Because the more he, who was in a situation more similar to Tian’s than anyone else, succeeded at the Academy,
the more it would prove the foresight of Author Wei, who had foreseen such a situation and written his story, and the more his reputation would rise.
Thus, though their origins and reasons differed, two geniuses began to burn as they aimed for the same goal.
It was truly the moment when a rivalry for the ages was born... perhaps.
And while Joshua and Bei were diligently burning with will and determination,
“Ah, there was a message from above saying that Lady Lena is to be passed regardless of her exam results.”
“What? Why?”
“Hahaha. You are the younger sister of Author Wei, who has helped our Academy so much, so of course we must take proper care of you.”
Lena succeeded in having her admission confirmed before anyone else, regardless of her exam results.
As expected, blood ties were truly wonderful at times like these.
***
Even after the mana measurement, where the noisy and extraordinary main character of an upset had appeared, the entrance exam continued.
Whether for safety reasons or because it was realistically impossible, no one knew,
but the content was adapted little by little from what had appeared in the novel.
Already soaked in dopamine, however, the people neither cared nor complained and were simply busy enjoying themselves.
And then came the long-awaited final exam.
It was time for the practical combat test against monsters, in which Tian had left a deep impression in the novel by clearing the highest level in the shortest recorded time.
This, too, had been changed for safety reasons so that they would face the principal’s summoned beast rather than a real monster.
And instead of fighting alone, it had been changed to a party hunt.
And as a result of the party assignment...
“No... why am I included here?”
Lena ended up in the same party as Joshua, the Saintess, and Bei, the only one who had shown gold during the mana measurement.
Lena, who had been feeling relieved, thinking, ‘Still, thanks to Oppa, my admission is confirmed,’
felt the tension swelling again at the sight of these incredible members, and then realized one fact.
‘...Isn’t this basically a group made up entirely of people to watch carefully?’
The fact that this party was a scrap-bin party gathered only from important people who needed to be watched.
No, since they had gathered important people, perhaps calling it a scrap-bin party was a little inaccurate.
But it strongly gave off the feeling that, since splitting them up elsewhere would be troublesome if problems or accidents occurred, they had simply gathered them all in one place.
The problem was that Lena herself was included in that treatment.
‘This is probably because of Oppa too.’
Of course—what reason would they have to gather her separately when she had shown no particular ability?
Since she was the younger sister of the important Author Wei, they must have put her in together.
‘And that means, from now on, there’s a high chance parties will be formed like this whenever possible...’
“Got it! This body of mine landed the final blow! I’m the top incoming student!”
“No! It’s me! My magic swordsmanship was slightly faster!”
“Haaah? What did you say?! No matter what anyone says, I was one second faster!”
“I was 0.5 seconds faster!”
“Damn it! Then I was 0.1 seconds faster!”
“Ahem. Everyone? You mustn’t forget the effect of the blessing I added, you know?”
While Lena had been briefly lost in thought, the three had already cleared the highest level and were childishly competing, each insisting they were first.
Looking at them, Lena somehow had the feeling she would be seeing these members for a long time.
“Sigh.”
Unable to tell just what would become of her Academy life from now on, she ended up letting out a sigh.
***
Meanwhile, while the incoming students were in the middle of diligently proceeding with the entrance ceremony,
Wade was making a single proposal, wearing a solemn expression, to the dwarves and mages who had carried out the Academy remodeling work that made the newly changed entrance ceremony possible.
“Everyone. Would you perhaps be interested in making something called a game?”
He was inviting them to take part in the birth of a new culture called games.