“Well, that part of the exam is done.” Scarlet said, glad to have the full completion for her practical magics class out of the way for the next eight years.

Not that there was ever any doubt. It was just nice to have it confirmed. 

The tests for getting out of standardized education had never been that rigorous in her previous life, and she was glad to find that the same held true in this world too. Now all she’d have to do is pass her combat exam and she would be able to attend school without ever having to go to a single class. The best kind of attending school.

All she was after was the Labyrinth. The rest of the school didn’t matter.

“Please, you don’t have to do this. Please just settle for the mage’s track and give up on fighting.” Professor Hamlie begged Scarlet as she headed towards the location of the combat exams. “If you do, I can see to it that you get your own personal research lab.”

“We already have one of those back home, as well as two interns.” Branwen said, dismissing the man for Scarlet. “We came here so that we could grow levels and become stronger, and that is what we are going to do.”

“But… A magic user doesn’t stand a chance against a martial class in single combat.” Professor Hamlie said. “You could get seriously hurt.”

“I’ll be fine.” Scarlet said as she walked up to the desk that had been set up to register for the exam.

“Name?” 

“Bran Silvana.” She said easily. The man behind the desk started digging through the files for the paperwork that always came up when there were risks of serious injuries.

It gave her enough time to look at the people currently taking the exam and see how it was.

The examiners were all eighth-year students who had volunteered to test the incoming first-years. They did it either out of the goodness of their hearts, or because they could sabotage the progress of people of different factions, or help those from their own faction along, depending on who they were paired up with.

Most students, either first or eighth-year, had Tier 4 Classes, and a match between two of these came down to difference in base level and skills, as well as knowledge of how to take advantage of their own relative sizes. In a match between two of these, the eighth-years had a sizable advantage, a difference in stats of about 50%.

But there were a few with higher Tier Classes on both sides, which tended to make things go a bit different.

Scarlet spotted the light blue hair of Lloyd, the boy who had received a Tier 7 skill at his Class Selection, who was quickly overwhelming the student he was paired up against.

Getting a Tier 7 Class meant that Lloyd’s skills were pretty damn good, and his Class bonuses were nearly 4 times those of his Tier 4 opponent. The difference between their general levels wasn’t as great as some either.

With his great shield and longsword, Lloyd was pressing forward, keeping up a solid defense and leaving the older boy with no way to retaliate.

Lloyd’s movements were slowed by his equipment, letting the other boy manage to slip away from some of his attacks with just grazes, but for this fight, the writing was on the wall.

‘Hm?’ Scarlet looked more closely at Lloyd’s clothes, and found that the spot where most children wore their badges to indicate their faction allegiances seemed to have been cut off. This was curious, but Scarlet didn’t know what it meant.

Moving on, she spotted Prince Isaka, who was starting to fight at another section of the field.

He was… struggling. 

It didn’t look like he had gotten an unlucky draw, but he was having difficulties facing off against the older boy, who was significantly faster than him, despite seeming to be only a Tier 4. But even if he was at a disadvantage in speed and strength, he was still holding in there through skill and finesse with his twin blades. Using momentum tricks to stave off the stronger attacks and create openings.

‘Looks like he took the gambit too.’ Scarlet quickly realized.

Made sense that a son of two members of the Big 10 would take the gambit, but it did set him at a huge disadvantage. Even though he had the bonuses from Class Changing to Tier 2, a higher base level and high skills, his stats were only around a half of his opponent’s, who was an unimpressive Tier 4. Though he’d be even worse off if there weren’t rules against using one’s Bond in these exams.

It was curious that the boy had only reached Tier 2, but she supposed that her method of using synthetic Magic Crystals is a little... expensive. Each crystal was worth a few hundred gold coins, comparable to the cost of a diamond, and they had used thousands of them. Her homemade magic equipment was also worth a King’s ransom. 

If Scarlet sold them all, she could have probably bought herself an entire territory. The raw materials to make them had certainly been a large fortune, but what was money for if not for stuff like that?

While Dukes and Kings were technically more wealthy than she was, they weren’t able to spend it as freely as she could, and there were only 12 people in the entire country who could make magic items, and their methods weren’t as sure fire as hers was. And they had to support the demands of all of the nobles in the entire Kingdom.

Still, Isaka was skilled, and once he progressed further, he would likely be quite strong. The growth bonuses he had inherited from his parents was nothing to scoff at and he appeared to have a liking for battle against strong opponents, if his wild grin was anything to go by. Plus, he was Racheal’s uncle.

A prime target for recruitment.

“Would you sign here?” The man at the desk asked, not bothering to even tell Scarlet that it was a disclaimer.

“Yeah. Sure. I accept all the conditions and understand all the risks.” Scarlet said, signing off with her fake name. Her signature was horrible looking enough to get a raised eyebrow from the person in charge of the paperwork.

Just like accents stuck with you, so did handwriting, and the characters in her old world were drastically different than this one, resulting in horrible handwriting, which luckily didn’t seem to translate into the runes when she drew them. For some reason, runes just felt natural to her.

This did mean that no one would look at her chicken scratch and think it came from a girl.

“Alright. Please draw a lot to see who your opponent is.” The man instructed her, pointing to a box of papers.

Scarlet nodded and put her hand into the box… and decided to cheat, using her [Magic Appraisal] to read the papers and pick the one she wanted.

Looking over the field, she searched for what kind of opponent she wanted and found one that made a grin spread across her face. 

She pulled out the desired paper and read it off. “Number 42.” 

The man behind the desk looked at the sheet in front of him, his eyes going down the who that was and then winced. “Oh… I’m so sorry.”

---

Charles walked up to his test giver, a large man who based purely on appearance looked like he was 25 rather than 18. He had massive shoulders that hardly seemed to be able to contain his uniform and a massive smile on his face that seemed to emphasize the scars he had on it. Two on his chin and one on one of his eyebrows.

He had the same kind of short spiked hair that King Edmar wore, probably deliberate, since he had the star of the Heroic Faction on his shoulders.

“Hey there. You the rookie I’m supposed to be fighting with?” The man asked cheerfully.

“Yes. I will be in your care.” Charles said politely with a bow of his head. 

“That’s great! I saw what you did with that ass back in the lunch hall. That was some good shit.” The older boy laughed before pointing a finger to his own chest. “Names Chad. Nice to meet you.”

“Charles. And it is nice to meet you as well.” 

“So Charles. I heard you took on a Tier 1 Class. You trying to follow in your Grandpa’s footsteps?” Chad said, showing that he knew exactly who Charles was.

“...No. I don’t plan on following in his footsteps. I am going to surpass him.” Charles replied.

“Hahaha! You’re going to surpass one of history's greatest heroes? That's a good spirit you’ve got.” Chad laughed, but his smile became more apologetic. “Sorry kid, but you know that starting at Tier 1 comes with its setbacks.Otherwise, everyone would do it. I know you want to go into the Labyrinth, but even the weakest monsters in there are level 50. If you go in there now, you’ll get squashed. Wouldn’t it be better to head back and do some more hunting elsewhere until you are ready for it?”

“I’ve already done my extra hunting.” Charles said, lifting up the heavy blade he was borrowing from the school. “I am ready.”

“Well, I guess I’m supposed to be the one to test that claim.” Chad said, lifting his own bastard sword. “Whenever you are ready, kid!”

Charles took the first move, closing the distance and doing a high swing, which Chad easily stopped, accepting the blow and started pushing it to the side.

Since he was a Tier 5 and Charles was supposed to be a Tier 1, he wasn’t taking things that seriously. Wouldn’t have felt right to beat up on someone weaker than him. But when Charles blade suddenly shot out Wind Mana in order to rapidly change directions, shooting along the surface of Chad’s weapon, towards him instead of away from him, he had to react more quickly.

He flicked his sword in order to disengage and took a step back before swinging down with both hands, Charles blocking the counter attack and stopping it cold but putting on hand on the flat of his blade, pushing forward with all his weight in an attempt to compromise Chad’s balance.

He then used [Mystic Body] to launch an eruption of Mana from the hand on the flat of his blade to overcome Chad’s strength and push his own sword forward. Moving Chad’s sword to the side and giving him an opening. An opening he was just a little too slow to take advantage of.

“Oh wow. Looks like I’m going to have to take this one more seriously.” Chad said as he regained his composure and went back on the offensive.

He was impressed with Charles’ swordsmanship. Very impressed. 

Despite the fact that he was a good three times faster than the younger boy, Charles always seemed to manage to guard in time to save himself, and found creative ways to counter attack using his [Elemental Weapon Arts]. What kind of Class did he give up on when he chose to take the gambit?

Their little tussle started to gather the attention of those who had already finished as the fight stretched on, Chad being unable to clinch a victory, despite his advantages.

And as that time dragged, Chad started to realize that something wasn’t right.

Despite the slowness of Charles’ attack, his defenses were extremely solid, showing nearly as much strength as he himself had. But that didn’t make sense. If he had that much strength, he should have been faster.

Then, something clicked in Chad’s head and he disengaged from the boy as he was overcome with a fit of laughter. “You…! I should fail you right here and now for being so damn cheeky!” Chad laughed, confusing the onlookers. 

“What do you mean?” Charles asked.

“What do I mean? You’re wearing training weights, aren’t you?” Chad laughed.

The man’s comment was met with the sound of four people facepalming. “Young Master, you aren’t wearing your training clothes underneath your uniform, are you?” Nico asked in a hopeless voice.

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” Charles said, completely perplexed why anyone would want him to not be wearing his training clothes.

“You’re supposed to be taking an exam! Why would you do something that hinders your performance!?” Nico shouted.

“Because it is good training.”

“Kid, you are absolutely nuts. Do you really intend to take this exam while slowed down by training weights? You know it determines whether or not you get to go into the Labyrinth, right?” Chad said.

“...It does? I thought it was just a placement exam. So long as I score above the first-year, I should be fine until next year's exam.” Charles said hesitantly.

“Nope. You need to score at least third-year in order to be allowed entrance.” Chad replied. It wasn’t that third-year was a high mark. First and second-year was more for the mages who never learned to swing a sword properly. But someone who only had the speed of a Tier 1 would normally be dropped in a first-year class regardless and have to go to the same hunting fields that they did prior to the academy until they were stronger.

“...I see. Forgive my lack of foreknowledge.” Charles said, reaching into his shirt and pulling out a magic stone the size of his thumb before tossing it aside. “I’ll be sure to take it more seriously now.”

As Charles’ strength increased, the demands of his resistance training clothes increased with it, requiring the use of an external battery in order to fuel the enchantment. So when the stone left his possession, the mana it had been feeding to his training clothes was cut off.

Charles’s next move was far faster than anything that had come before it, and Chad was left shocked as the imagined stat difference between the two of them completely vanished in an instant. 

Where before, the resistance in his close had been more than doubling the amount of force that Charles needed to put into his limbs to achieve the same movements, now that he was unimpeded, his speed was nearly equal to that of Chad’s Tier 5 Wild Swordsman Class, despite speed not being Charles’ speciality.

And where [Elemental Weapon Arts] and [Mystic Body] had been allowing him to hold on before, now they were giving him the edge he needed to push Chad into a corner.

The older boy was shocked. He had realized that Charles’ strength and his speed weren’t adding up, but experiencing it uninhibited caused him to realize he wasn’t dealing with a Tier 1 or even a Class Changed Tier 2.

But that didn’t stop the mad grin from spreading across his face. ‘I see! So this is the blood of heroes! Let me have a taste of its power!’

Mana serged up inside of Chad’s body, his muscles expanding and causing the already struggling school uniform to give up and get ripped to shreds as he acted his Class Skill, [Wild Frenzy]. 

His strength and speed dramatically increased, his sword swings becoming a blur as he attempted to counterattack, pushing Charles back onto the defensive with a rain of blows. Charles was still holding himself there, switching to a defensive and evasive strategy as he planned on waiting out the effects of the Class Skill, when Chad would be weakened and leave an opening.

The number of incoming attacks increased even further as Chad activated a second Class Skill, [Wild Slashes], making the already blur of a blade seem to split into three as it rained down on Charles, too many attacks to defend again. The force of the attacks added together until they knocked Charles backwards, forcing him to use [Mystic Body] to correct his stance.

But even as he was regaining his footing, Chad was rushing forward.

“Enough.” Charles said, swinging his blade in a wide swing that was charged with a good deal of Charles’ remaining mana.

His attack caught Chad’s weapon, and as the two blades clashed they both shattered from the force of Charles’ Class Skill, [Rending Blow].

Chad was shocked as his blade was shattered, but Charles took advantage of it, stepping into his opponents’ neutered attack range and slamming the pummel of his weapon’s remains into the man’s gut as hard as he could, knocking all the air out of Chad’s lungs.

The older student was sent backwards, falling onto his back as his frenzy was brought to a sudden and lurching end. He looked up to see the remains of Charles’ weapon pointed at his face. “Do you yield?” Charles asked, standing tall over his much larger opponent.

Chad looked at him in disbelief for a few moments before he started to laugh. “Yes! I yield! You have beaten me! Congratulations!” 

“Yeah!” “Why to go, Young Master!” “You’re the best!” Charles’ friends cheered for him as Charles helped Chad back to his feet.

He then went to retrieve his magic stone, returning it to his neck and reactivating his resistance training clothes.

“That strength. Your base level alone doesn’t explain it. How are you this strong?” Chad asked, still in a daze.

“I told you, I already did some extra hunting.” Charles said. “I might have started as a Tier 1, but I have already grown to Tier 4.”

“Ah…” Chad gapped in disbelief. Charles had only received his Class just two months ago. How could he possibly…? “He really is planning on surpassing his grandfather.” The buff man was filled with an overwhelming sense of determination as he watched Charles rejoin his friends. “I need to grow stronger as well!”

“Where is Bran? He shouldn’t have been more than a few minutes behind me in line, so he should be fighting by now.” Charles asked his friends looking around the field.

“Don’t’ know. We’d all just come over to check on you. We haven’t seen him.” Sidney said before looking around as well. “Think he finished his fight already? If so, we should probably just check the cafeteria again.”

“Come on, it's only been thirty minutes since lunch. He’d probably just be back at the dorms having a ‘snack’.” Nico said.

“Ah, guys. I think I found her… him…” Garci said, accidentally saying her before correcting himself, as he pointed off in the direction of the middle of the field.

Charles looked towards where he was pointing and saw Scarlet standing across from one of the older students, a tall boy with sky blue hair and a massive tower shield. 

The Tier 7 Exalted Paladin, Alexander Rivia de Vaulthelm.

“Oh.”