Episode 239: The Exam (1)
The day of the annual exams had arrived.
As Damian strolled through the academy, he found himself face-to-face with a group he would have preferred to avoid.
It was none other than Headmaster Altman Bedefulite, accompanied by several other teachers, all heading somewhere together.
“Ah?” Altman raised an eyebrow upon spotting Damian.
“Sir Damian, the exams are about to start. What are you doing here?”
“I was just on my way to take care of something,” Damian replied, his tone calm.
The teachers around the headmaster chuckled at his response.
“Sir Damian, you seem awfully relaxed.”
“Or have you already given up?”
“Even if you’re just a temporary teacher, you shouldn’t act like this.”
Despite the teachers’ mocking, Damian’s eyes briefly turned cold.
“Sir Damian, you haven’t forgotten our agreement, have you?”
“Of course not. If Class 13 doesn’t perform well in the exams, I’ll leave the academy of my own accord.”
“Good to hear you remember. I was worried you might pretend otherwise.”
A peculiar smile played on the headmaster’s lips.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how Class 13 performs.”
With those words, the headmaster and the teachers moved past Damian. Once they were out of earshot, the teachers spoke to Altman.
“Headmaster, it seems the day has finally come to get rid of that troublemaker.”
“I’ve been holding back my frustration, watching that upstart cause chaos in the academy.”
The teachers were visibly relieved, as if a weight had been lifted. The headmaster smiled as well.
However, there was one teacher who didn’t join in the laughter—Delong Müller.
The headmaster glanced at him and asked, “Sir Müller, why the long face?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Are you still dwelling on your defeat to Damian Haxen? Let it go. He may lack pedigree, but he did win the Helian Tournament. He must have some talent.”
Despite the headmaster’s words, Delong Müller’s expression remained unchanged.
“Headmaster, what if Class 13 actually does well in the exams…?”
“Hahaha!” The headmaster couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re worrying over nothing. Do you really think Class 13 could pull that off?”
“But ever since Damian Haxen arrived, Class 13 has been…”
“They’ve been training hard, sure. But how much can change in just a week?”
The headmaster’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Besides, wasn’t all that training forced upon them by Damian Haxen? It’s unlikely to be effective.”
The headmaster spoke with unwavering confidence.
“Stop worrying about nonsense and prepare to see Damian Haxen out.”
“Quite the gossip session they’re having,” Damian muttered, watching the headmaster and teachers walk away.
Though they were some distance away, Damian’s heightened senses had caught every word of their conversation.
“If it weren’t for Slara, I’d turn this place upside down.”
But with Slara still to be found, he couldn’t afford to cause a scene. Suppressing his anger, Damian quickened his pace.
As the headmaster had said, the exams were about to begin. He needed to finish his preparations.
Damian burst into the training hall, calling out, “I’m here! How’s the training going?”
Inside, he found students sprawled across the floor.
“Ugh…”
“Argh…”
It wasn’t the first time students had collapsed during training, but today they looked particularly worse for wear.
They were utterly exhausted, their faces pale as if they might faint at any moment.
“Oh, you’re here,” said Blanca Roche, greeting Damian with a weary smile.
“Wasn’t it tough staying up all night to oversee the training?”
“What do you take me for? One night is nothing,” Damian replied with a grin.
He had pushed Class 13 relentlessly, not letting them sleep for the two days leading up to the exams, all to bring them up to the required standard.
“Ugh…”
At Damian’s feet, Oliver let out a strange groan, dark circles under his eyes making him look like a zombie.
“Complaining after just two days of hard work?”
Damian dismissed their suffering with a wave of his hand.
“You’ve been too harsh… We’ve been through so much,” one student protested.
“Yeah, it’s too much!” another chimed in.
Unable to hold back any longer, the students of Class 13 began to voice their grievances.
But a stern look from Damian silenced them all.
“The exams are about to start. Get ready.”
The students of Class 13 looked up in shock. How were they supposed to take an exam in their current state?
“First, let’s get you all back on your feet.”
Damian approached the sword, Dawn, which was planted in the center of the training hall, and grasped its hilt.
Using the power of jealousy, he converted his mana into divine energy and infused it into Dawn.
A resonant hum filled the air as Dawn absorbed the divine energy, emitting a brilliant light.
As the light spread and enveloped the students, their complexions quickly improved.
“Wow,” Blanca murmured in awe.
“No matter how many times I see it, it’s amazing. Truly a remarkable sword.”
This wasn’t the first time Blanca had helped with the training.
Thanks to Blanca overseeing the sessions, Damian had been able to search for Slara’s whereabouts.
“This should be enough to get them ready for the exams.”
“It’s not quite enough,” Damian replied.
“Is there more?” Blanca asked.
Damian called out to the students, “Line up, one by one, in front of me.”
The students approached him, puzzled.
Damian began pressing his fingers into various points on the first student’s body.
“Ugh!”
“Bear with it.”
Soon, the student’s muscles began to relax, accompanied by unsettling cracking sounds.
“Ah! What’s happening to my body?”
“Help!”
“Mom!”
The terrifying sight made the students of Class 13 cry out in fear.
Yet the student undergoing the treatment looked surprisingly at ease, even relieved.
“You cowards,” Damian chided.
He had used a technique to infuse mana into the student’s body, loosening the muscles that had tightened from training.
“Next.”
Damian worked his way through all the students, and by the time he was done, they looked as refreshed as if they’d just woken from a deep sleep.
“Now you’re ready for the exams,” Damian said with satisfaction.
“Well done, everyone.”
His words brought tears to the students’ eyes, as memories of their grueling training flashed before them.
“Thank you for sticking with the training.”
Hearing praise from Damian for the first time, the students were taken aback. Some even wondered if he had lost his mind.
“The training you endured over the past week was harsh enough to be called torture. You’ve earned this praise.”
The students were overwhelmed with emotion, struggling to hold back tears.
“I don’t have much more to say to you,” Damian continued, looking each student in the eye.
“If any of you fail to make it into the top 60, you’ll have me to answer to.”
The students were left speechless. This wasn’t quite the motivational speech they had expected.
Unbeknownst to them, Damian was still fuming from his earlier encounter with the headmaster.
The thought of Class 13 failing and him being expelled from the academy was enough to make his blood boil.
“Let me be clear. Top 60… or else. Understood?”
The deadly seriousness in Damian’s eyes left the students nodding in nervous agreement.
After that, Class 13 headed to the exam hall.
The exam consisted of three parts: endurance, imperial swordsmanship, and sparring.
The first test was endurance.
There were several components to the endurance test, and the first was a long-distance run.
The task was simple: complete ten laps around the central field. The faster you finished, the higher your score.
Though the central field was large, it couldn’t accommodate all the first-year students at once.
So, the test was conducted in groups, with five students from each class taking their places on the track.
Five students from Class 13 lined up at the starting line, flanked by students from other classes.
“Hey, Class 13,” a boy from Class 3 sneered, turning to them.
“Last year, you didn’t even show up for the exams. Feeling confident this time?”
“Is it because you like that Damian Haxen? That nobody?”
“I heard he just made you run around aimlessly.”
The taunts from Class 3 made the students of Class 13 grit their teeth.
“Aimless? Watch your mouth.”
“Oh, defending your teacher, are you?”
“He’s not aimless; he’s insane!”
The outburst from a Class 13 student left the Class 3 students dumbfounded.
“He’s a madman!”
“If you cross him, he’ll beat you with a stick!”
“And that’s not all! He pushes us to the brink of death!”
The students of Class 13 vented their pent-up frustrations, while the Class 3 students looked on, bewildered.
“Everyone, take your positions at the starting line!”
At that moment, the teacher shouted at the students. Instantly, they stopped talking and prepared to sprint.
“Go!”
With the teacher’s command, the students took off in unison.
Class 13 surged forward, overtaking others. Their training hadn’t been in vain.
Yet, they couldn’t take the lead. Some students were faster.
“Damn it.”
The faces of Class 13 darkened.
Damian Haxen had set a condition: they needed to place within the top 60 overall.
If they didn’t secure a top spot in this group, making it into the top 60 would be impossible.
“One week just wasn’t enough time.”
Just then, Damian Haxen came into view. He stood off the track, watching them.
Slowly, he raised his thumb.
Class 13 couldn’t help but feel moved by his gesture.
“He’s saying we’re the best.”
“Yeah, we’ve worked hard.”
“Even if the results aren’t great, at least we tried…”
Suddenly, Damian drew his thumb across his throat. The meaning was clear.
—You’re dead.
In that instant, the hearts of Class 13 dropped.
Faced with the fear of death, a fierce will to live surged within them. They gritted their teeth.
“Argh!”
“Raaah!”
Class 13 clenched their jaws and sprinted with all their might, overtaking the students in the lead.
“What the—?”
“What’s gotten into them?”
The leading students shouted in confusion, but Class 13 had no time to worry about them.
“Out of the way!”
“We can’t die like this!”
Class 13 charged forward as if foaming at the mouth.
In the end, all five crossed the finish line among the top ranks.