Seconds felt like an eternity as I watched the tree head straight for my head. Death. That’s what most people would think. But I didn’t think anything, I didn’t flinch, I didn’t move, I just watched as the tree phased through my head.

It was an illusion like everything else. I knew that from the beginning. The school was trying to initiate a fight or flight response and see what you would do, but I wasn’t scared. My skill kept me calm.

Suddenly, everything stopped. It was like time was frozen.

“Oh-That’s not fun. If you don’t treat it like it’s real, then how could we test you?” I heard a voice in my head, it was a low pitched voice. I couldn’t tell anything beyond that.

“What if I was frozen in fear and that was my actual response?” I asked the voice.

“But it’s not.” It sounded like the voice was spinning around in circles in my head, “You can fake a lot of things, but you can’t fake your heart.” The pitch of the voice started to rotate from high to low, “Your heart hasn’t changed since the gate.”

My heart? Could they see my heartbeat from a distance?

“From the gate? You’re that old man?” I asked.

“Ah-oops.” He replied before I heard a snap of a finger. Suddenly everything around me changed, I was no longer in the forest and instead in a cold building with the old man, “We’ll just skip that portion of the test and move onto the next part.”

Skip that part? Could he do that? Is this old man someone special?

 

Miles Bokeh – 63

Skills –

Talents –

Stats: C

Strength: C

Agility: C

Dexterity: C

Stamina: C

Mana: C

 

…Yeah, I’m not buying it…

“Come, right this way.” He led me behind some curtains onto a stage of some sorts. I could see three people sitting in seats as if they were judges. There was a lone microphone in the middle of the stage. When I looked back towards the old man, he disappeared.

I headed towards the microphone and looked towards the judges. The one on the far left was a girl that looked a bit older than me, she had long pink hair, and a smile on her face. She was a natural beauty. The judge in the middle was an older man, probably around his 40’s, he had slicked-back black hair, and a short beard. He looked kind of grumpy. Finally, the person on the far right was old. Just kind of like an old grandma.

I checked all their statuses, but I couldn’t remember who they were. From left to right, their names were: Rebecca Loin, Reinhardt Liles, Abigail Myers.

“Leo Vondheart.” Reinhardt spoke, he had a deep, raspy voice.

“Yes?” I replied into the mic.

“Why’dya apply to Heavensward?” Rebecca asked, she had a higher-pitched, bright voice.

Is this a job interview or something? Cause I wanna go to school? Cause I’d actually know how the story goes from Heavensward? So I could get stronger? There’re so many reasons I could say.

“It’s a school that fits my needs.” I replied.

“Oh? What’re your needs?”

“Huh? Do I need to tell that to you?”

“It could be a make-or-break based on whether we accept you or not.” She smiled.

“I don’t feel like it, next question.”

What? Why’d I say that? Those weren’t the words I wanted to come out…Something weird is going on…

“Second question, what matters most to you in your life?” Reinhardt asked.

“Family.”

“Interesting, why is that?” Rebecca asked.

“That’s a stupid question.” I covered my mouth.

What the hell? I didn’t even get to think before I answered. Wait…Is that what’s going on? Is this what happens when they ‘bring out your true personality’? How are they doing it? Is it a skill? Does ‘Peace of Mind’ not block their skill?

“Hm? What’d you say?” Rebecca asked with a smile. I knew they had heard what I said, she was mocking me.

Well…If this is how its gonna go. I’ll play your game.

I took a deep breath before speaking, “I said it was a stupid question. Isn’t the answer obvious? I care about my family, though I don’t know if you’d be able to understand that.”

I might as well go all out.

Rebecca flinched a little but maintained her smile.

“I heard you have a younger brother applying today as well? What was his name…Jio…Mio…Ria? Ah, yes, it was Rio. I do hope that he has a respectable figure he looks up to.”

…Okay.

“Third question, how would you describe yourself?” Reinhardt asked.

“Mm…How to describe myself…I’d say I’m a decent guy to most. The exception being to scumbags and fakers like-ah, pardon me.” I smiled while looking towards Rebecca.

“Interesting…” Reinhardt mumbled.

“Mm? What’s so interesting? I’d like to consider myself quite a normal guy despite how I grew up.”

“Oh? How’d you grow up to be like ‘this’?” Rebecca asked with a mocking tone.

“It was a little bit of luck, a little bit of work. You know, the usual, though I’m not sure if you’d know about that.”

“What could you mean? I grew up in a respectable house and worked hard until I got to my position.”

“Ah-I was just implying that someone like yourself wouldn’t know what it’s like to grow up living a difficult life. I’m glad you worked hard, but it seems like I wasn’t wrong.”

“What do you-” Rebecca’s sentence was cut off by Reinhardt,

“Fourth question, what values do you hold close to your heart?”

“Values? I’d have to say family is a pretty important one.”

“Maybe you should include dignity and humility.” Rebecca said.

“I’m glad you know your own faults well.” I replied with a smile.

“Fifth question, if your life was in danger, how would you react?”

“It varies on the situation, I’d probably run away in most cases though.”

“So, you’re a coward?” Rebecca asked.

“I simply know my own strength. I thought Heavensward was a school that taught you to be stronger so I wouldn’t have to run away, or am I wrong?”

“That’s right.” The old lady on the right replied. It was a little unexpected considering she hadn’t moved a muscle since I entered the room. I thought she was a statue to be honest.

“Sixth question, what do you hope to learn at Heavensward?”

“I’d hope to learn whatever they teach me. Though, it doesn’t seem like much if ‘this’ is the extent of your instructors.” I smiled while looking towards Rebecca.

“Oh? Are you perhaps disrespecting Heavensward?” Rebecca replied.

“Heavensward? Heavens no! Get it? I’m disrespecting the instructors such as yourself, you couldn’t even tell the difference. See? This is what I mean, your listening comprehension doesn’t seem to be the best.”

“Seventh question, in an emergency situation, let’s say…Monsters are attacking wherever you are, there are people all around you panicking, what do you do?”

“Mm? This is oddly specific, I mean, what could I do? I’m simply just going to try my best to survive.”

“As expected, I do hope Ria’s answers aren’t the same.” Rebecca mumbled.

“His name is Rio, you dumbass.” I smiled and her eyes widened, “I can’t believe a teacher would expect something different from an unqualified person. I’m in shock. A teacher at the prestigious school of Heavensward would rather a young teenager to endanger himself rather than focusing on surviving such a drastic situation.”

“You…” Rebecca lost her smile and started to speak before being cut off,

“Eighth question, what do you believe to be your strengths and weaknesses?”

“I’d like to think I’m pretty strong mentally. I’m pretty weak in most other places though. I do hope to fix my weaknesses while in Heavensward though.”

“Interesting.”

“You think that with these answers you’ll be getting anywhere close to it?” Rebecca had a mocking tone.

“I mean, if someone like you is in there, then I don’t see why not.”

“Ninth question, if you had to choose between your life and Rio’s which life would you save?”

“This is quite a useless to question to ask, no? What could you possibly learn about me from my answer? Since you asked, I’ll answer, Rio. But don’t waste my time.”

It was a really stupid question. I don’t know what that question had to do with ‘bringing out your true personality’.

“Selfless, aren’t you?”

“You can’t be selfless when it comes to family.”

“Tenth and final question, what did you think of this test?”

What did I think of this test…From my bluntness to my answers…To the questions they asked and to the judges…If I think of everything so far, it’s quite an obvious answer, isn’t it? Rather than bringing out my true personality, they just tried to tick me off.

“It was fucking worthless.”

“Thank you for answering our questions. You can follow him out.” He pointed towards the old man who reappeared just a second ago. As I started to follow the old man, Reinhardt continued, “Though, I do have a little curiosity myself, outside of the test.”

“Yes?”

“I’m sure you realized it, but the spell had stopped at the third question. Is there any reason you continued to respond like you were still under it?”

“It’s simple. Rebecca ticked me off. I’ll take my leave now, have a good day, Reinhardt, Abigail.” I smiled before following the old man outside.

“Huh…? Did we ever tell him our names?” Rebecca mumbled.

After the first question, I had remembered. Rebecca Loin, a student at Heavensward. She was probably only there to get people mad. Reinhardt Liles, a teacher at Heavensward, the main one to ask questions, he was the one that was actually judging you. And finally, Abigail Myers, a witch…

“You had quite some interesting answers, Leo Vondheart.” The old man commented as we walked.

This guy was the one who confused me the most. Miles Bokeh, who the hell is this guy.

“Were you looking at my heart the whole time?”

“Hm? Whatever do you mean? I was simply listening from the sidelines.”

“Is that so?”

“Indeed.”

“Then how much do you think I said was true?”

We stopped moving as he unveiled a curtain that had an orb behind it. The orb was on a table with cloth underneath it.

“You’re very interesting, Leo Vondheart.” He had a polite smile as he gestured me to walk inside.

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