CHAPTER 8 - WELCOME TO THE ACADEMY 5

After that, they watched some of the other pairs.

Some succeeded through brute force. Others... didn't. One noble boy was being carried out on a stretcher after taking a bad hit from one of the dummies, mumbling about his father hearing about this.

"Break time before the magical showcase," the proctor announced. "Fifteen minutes!"

Scarlett collapsed beside Aegis on the bench, half-breathless, wiping sweat off her forehead.

"That was the most fun I've had since the time I got banned from the market fights!" she declared, voice carrying over the low buzz of the exam floor. "You're a genius, Mouse. No, like, I mean it. I've never fought with my eyes closed before but you made me feel like I could win a brawl with a blindfold and both hands tied behind my back. Maybe just using my—"

""I'm glad you enjoyed it. Just a... neat strategy I thought up."

"What?" Scarlett grinned, then leaned in to whisper, not whispering at all, "Come on, give yourself more credit here! That was amazing."

Aegis shrugged, tossing her hair like it was nothing. In truth, she was riding the high of performance, heart still racing.

"It's mostly remembering patterns," she said. "Nothing special."

Scarlett stretched, cracking her neck with a noise that made Aegis wince.

"If that's nothing, I'd hate to see what you call 'impressive.'"

At that moment, a little notification came up:

[RELATIONSHIP UPDATE: Scarlett Lionheart]

AFFECTION GAIN: Scarlett Lionheart +10

[❤️🤍🤍🤍🤍]

[Status: Acquaintance → Friendly Acquaintance]

[Note: Subject finds your cunning attractive.]

[Well hello there, first heart! And she thinks I'm smart? Nice.]

Aegis grinned, scanning the room. The benches were packed. She caught a flash of black hair and gold trim on the far side and, oh, yes.

Princess Talia was watching her.

For less than a second, their eyes locked. Aegis didn't blink, didn't look away, just lifted her chin in the kind of careless nod that said, Yeah, I saw you. Talia's gaze narrowed, then flicked away with contempt so pure it was almost elegant.

Aegis smiled.

[... Soon.]

"One moment, ladies," Aegis told Scarlett and Lune. "I need some space."

Aegis found a corner and activated her Maid's Earring again. Conversations flooded in:

"—heard Princess Talia's going to show off her ice magic—"

"—that commoner girl may have succeeded in the combat exam, but she doesn't stand a chance in—"

"—you see? There are so many props! Staffs, wands, echo crystals, and—"

[Echo Crystal,] Aegis sighed with relief. [They do still show up here. Good.]

The break ended too quickly. Students gathered in a performance hall with a small stage. Various magical props lined the walls. Wands and staffs, as Aegis heard a moment ago, along with orbs and crystals.

"Magical showcase!" The proctor looked bored already. "Display your magical talent. Any spell, any style. Impress the judges... or don't."

This was going to be equally as problematic as the first test. Aegis could train, once the semester began properly. She could level up, she could develop her skills.

But, here and now, she had to find some way to pass this without being able to cast any magic at all.

Students went one by one. Most were mediocre. A few water spells here, some fire there. One girl accidentally set her own robes on fire and ran off stage screaming.

Then...

"Princess Talia Stone, please, come forward." The proctor called.

Talia took the stage.

Her heels clicked against the floor. Her eyes were closed.

Aegis took a deep breath, preparing herself. She had a somewhat good guess at what was about to happen, of course.

She stopped at the stage's center. The crowd gawked up at her. The anticipation in the air was tangible. Then, those amber eyes of hers turned sapphire.

"Frozen Arsenal." 

As soon as she said that, figures of knights were conjured behind her, all made of ice, all carrying varying forms of pointy sticks.

"Summoning magic?" Some guy asked.

"T-That's extremely high-level!"

"She's manipulating them perfectly with her mana!"

"Amazing!"

Aegis just shook her head, smiling.

[Yep, still just as OP.]

"PERFECT SCORE!" The judges didn't even deliberate.

Talia left the stage without acknowledging the applause. Her eyes met Aegis's for a split second and gave the most sublte, softest scoff Aegis had ever seen.

[Challenge accepted.]

More students performed. Liora wasn't in this group, apparently scheduled for later. Finally—

"Aegis Starcaller!"

[Showtime.]

Aegis strutted onto stage like she owned it. She scanned the props and spotted it.

The Echo Crystal. Her ticket to victory.

She grabbed the crystal. Nothing happened.

The audience started whispering. Someone laughed.

[Come on... Come on...]

Aegis kept her eyes on it, holding the small orb in front of her. If this didn't work, then this test would simply be a failure and Aegis would be left with nothing to do but go cry in a corner.

But, just as the embarrassment was beginning to settle in, it finally exploded in color.

Not just any color, a rainbow kaleidoscope that painted the entire hall. Red, blue, yellow, black, silver, green. The crystal sang in the palm of Aegis's hand.

Aegis held the crystal high. The judges leaned forward, eyes wide.

[That's right. You know what this means.]

The reason all this was happening was simply a result of what the Echo Crystal did. An Echo Crystal was a type of magical measuring stick. And, what it measured was a mage's potential with various forms of magic.

That was the trick. Aegis had a 1 in Intelligence. She literally couldn't even cast a spell.

But, her potential?

[My potential has no limits!]

The light show climaxed and faded. Aegis set down the crystal with deliberate slowness, letting the effect of what just happened sink in. Even Talia looked a bit shaken.

[Naturally, my Charisma will have to bring this home.]

"Hmph." She tossed her hair, pouting. "Enough! My true power is wasted on such mundane displays."

And on that note, Aegis strutted off stage, leaving nothing but stunned silence behind.

The judges didn't skip deliberation like they did with Talia, but Aegis knew what they were thinking.

[Two for two. Eat your heart out, Valdris.]

---

The final test, the artistic display, arrived shortly after. They moved to a smaller room filled with instruments, canvases, and writing supplies.

"Final test!" The proctor looked ready for a nap. "Show us your artistic talent. Music, painting, poetry. Whatever moves you."

This group included Liora. As her name was called, Liora chose a lute and began to sing.

And Aegis promptly forgot how to breathe.

In the game, Liora's singing was just text descriptions.

But here? Her voice was like honey for the ears. She sang about home, about dreams, about love that transcended station. Every note was perfect without being polished, earnest without being naive.

[Do NOT start crying. Do NOT start fangirling. You're supposed to be cool.]

Once Liora finished, the crowd hesitated for just a moment before giving back thunderous applause. She blushed, clutching her lute, and... unfortunately caught Aegis staring.

Her smile was shy but pleased.

[I'm going to wife that girl so hard she won't know what hit her.]

Other performances blurred past. When Lune was called up, she painted an image of a beach in the night, with actual moving waves thanks to her Illusion magic. That was another one of the standout performances.

But, finally, it was Aegis's turn. She grabbed a canvas and black paint.

Like with the magical assessment, Aegis couldn't paint. Aegis couldn't write. Aegis couldn't sing.

So...

[Time for maximum bullshit!]

Stomping on the floor like she was in a bad mood, she approached the canvas.

"Hmph."

She took a brush, dipped it in black paint, and...

GASP

She splattered paint randomly, making an absolute mess! The crowd murmured to themselves. As confidently as she could, Aegis swiped her brush at the canvas. Once, twice, three times. Soon, the canvas looked like someone had sneezed ink all over it.

[Perfect.]

"This piece," Aegis announced, turning toward the crowd and channeling every pretentious art student she'd ever met before she was hospitalized, "is called 'Chaos of the Heart.'" She pointed at random splatters. "See how the darkness swirls here? That's the weight of societal expectations. And this splash represents the wild freedom of true desire. The negative space symbolizes the void between who we are and who we're told to be." Aegis touched her chest dramatically.

She made eye contact with each judge. Slowly, their skepticism melted into thoughtful nods.

"When I look at this piece," Aegis's voice cracked with fake emotion, "I see every broken dream, every stifled scream, every moment we've been told we're not enough. This isn't just paint, IT'S THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE MADE MANIFEST!!!"

[I'm so going to hell for this.]

"A messy, chaotic event. That's here one second and gone the next, like paint dripping onto the wood. That, ladies and gentlemen, is life. This is life."

One judge wiped away a tear. Another started clapping.

And soon, the whole room erupted in applause.

"PERFECT SCORE! SO MOVING!"

Aegis bowed. Out of courtesy but mostly just to hide her face.

[HOLY SHIT, THEY BOUGHT IT!]

She couldn't believe it. Looking up, she found Talia glaring from across the room, arms folded, but silent. But Liora looked genuinely moved... which made Aegis feel weirdly guilty.

With this, Aegis had done it.

She'd performed literally to the best of her ability in all three exams.

The rest was in the judges' hands.

---

An hour later, all students gathered in the main hall. The magical board, looking almost like a holographic screen, lit up with rankings.

"FIRST YEAR ASSESSMENT RANKINGS:"

Names scrolled past. Bottom tier, middle tier, upper tier... then the top ten.

10th: Varyn Duskbane

9th: Mirielle Frostbloom

8th: Kanna Greaves

7th: Scarlett Lionheart

6th: Some noble Aegis didn't recognize

5th: Another noble

4th: Lune Solana

3rd: Liora Vale

2nd: Talia Stone

And...

1st: Aegis Starcaller

The hall went dead silent.

Aegis felt every eye in the room turn to her. Nobles whispered furiously. Talia's glare could have melted steel.

Her HUD chimed:

[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: THE IMPOSSIBLE COMMONER]

[REPUTATION: UNKNOWN → NOTORIOUS]

[WARNING: YOU HAVE DRAWN SIGNIFICANT ATTENTION]

Aegis kept her face neutral, but internally?

[Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I just made myself the biggest target in school.]

The headmistress appeared on stage, smiling.

"Congratulations to our top performers. Classes begin tomorrow. Have some rest, everyone. You've earned it."

She left. Chaos erupted. Nobles demanded recounts. Commoners stared at Aegis like she was their new god. And Princess Talia Stone, second place for probably the first time in her life, stared a hole right through Aegis's forehead.

Aegis turned away from them all.

[... It's done.] She sighed. [All I can do now is continue trying to survive. No, continue trying to thrive. Tomorrow, my new life truly begins.]