Chapter 6

Lucy’s final arrow flew through the air, cutting through the wind.

That arrow—

“Aagh!”

“Kyaa!”

Hit the target.

‘Oh no.’

Yes, it hit… but…

“Everyone, stop—!”

The target exploded. With a boom.

She had barely hit the very edge, but because of the critical hit skill, it blew up spectacularly!

The startled people screamed.

“Candidate number 36, please wait!”

Haha…

That line feels strangely like déjà vu.

I let out a hollow laugh and looked at the popup window before my eyes.

!Warning!

: Excessive use of mana puts a strain on your body!

I figured as much.

I felt like I was about to collapse right then and there.

“C-Candidate number 36?”

3, 2, 1, pass out.

And so, I became the archer who fainted after shooting exactly three arrows in the exam.

* * *

Blink.

I lifted my heavy eyelids.

And what I saw was—

!Important Notification!

: You have completed all of the Krangbuiyer Academy entrance exams! A special reward has been prepared for you. Would you like to check it now? (Click!)

Whew, what a surprise.

I thought I’d been transmigrated somewhere strange again.

I turned off the popup for now. You’re supposed to check things like that after you’ve cleared your head.

Looking around, I was in the infirmary.

I remembered coming here before because of the candidate I knocked out during the close combat test.

But this time, I was the one carried in after fainting.

‘S-rank skills really do drain a ton of mana.’

Well, it was already a miracle I could even use an S-rank skill with E+ mana. If I’d been even slightly short on mana, the skill wouldn’t have activated.

‘Or maybe… would it have been better if it hadn’t activated?’

Thinking about it, the skill just made things bigger than they needed to be. If not for that, I could have hit the edge of the target and walked out of the exam site perfectly fine.

But regret, no matter how early, is always too late.

I got up from the infirmary bed and pulled back the curtain.

“Oh my, you’re awake?”

A pure-looking woman with long platinum blonde hair spoke to me.

I recognized her the moment I saw her.

‘Clara.’

She was the professor in charge of healing magic at Krangbuiyer Academy. Whether Clara was her surname or given name, I wasn’t sure—but something like that.

This character was the typical “innocent, voluptuous, pretty, and kind female character” common in fantasy novels. Add to that the awakened class of healer, and she was packed with pure and delicate elements.

The only problem was—

“I thought the candidate was going to die! Why did you collapse? Was the bow too heavy? Or the arrows?”

She was innocent down to her brain.

I squeezed my eyes shut at her dizzying airheadedness.

“No, it’s not that… Anyway, I’m fine now.”

Yes, even if the professor in charge of healing magic doesn’t know why her patient collapsed, it’s fine. As long as I know.

I waved my arms as if to show I was truly fine. My body felt heavy from mana depletion, but Strength A kept me upright. Strength-based characters are the best.

“Hoho, you really swing your arms well. Do you think I could do that too?”

I hurriedly shook my head.

No, Professor Clara. You’re designed as a frail character for the sake of ultimate purity!

How frail, you ask? Fragile enough that if she’s not careful, she might dislocate her shoulder just from swinging her arms. In the original story, there was actually a description of her collapsing because a textbook was too heavy.

Thankfully, Clara just laughed “hoho” at my intense reaction and said she understood. I let out a sigh of relief.

“Then may I leave now?”

“As long as you’re feeling well, of course. But really, why did you collapse? Won’t you tell me in secret? Just me?”

At Clara’s nonsense, I gave an awkward smile and backed away. If I stayed any longer, I’d end up explaining mana and everything else.

I gave a quick bow and hurried out of the infirmary.

I got away from the infirmary area and finally caught my breath. At least because I’d been here before, I somehow didn’t take a wrong turn down some strange path.

‘More importantly, I’m worried about the exam results.’

Here we have an archer who shot exactly three arrows and fainted.

So then, the question.

Was blowing up the target a bonus or a penalty?

(Except for the last chapter) I’ve reread this novel several times, but I still had no clue.

Since Lucy passed somehow in the original, it seemed like it might be a bonus, but because of the situation I’d created on my own, it also seemed like it could be a penalty.

‘Let’s go rest for now.’

The moment I came to my senses, I’d run into an overly intense character. The exam results wouldn’t come out right away anyway, so I decided to head back to the dormitory.

Fortunately, the dormitory wasn’t far. In the room, Sophia, who had arrived first as expected, welcomed me.

“Unnie!”

“Ah, I’m a bit late.”

Sophia nodded as if she’d been waiting. I’d left around lunchtime and only returned near evening, so it made sense.

But explaining would make the story long, so I just changed the subject to the exam.

“Was your exam okay?”

“Better than yesterday!”

Sophia’s exam today was combat support. Since she’s a spirit summoner, her main category must have gone decently. She certainly looked brighter than yesterday, so I smiled with her.

Then Sophia suddenly seemed to remember something and brought up another topic.

“Oh, unnie! Did you know?”

“Know what?”

“Someone fainted again today!”

Is it about me again?

Not knowing how to react, I rolled my eyes, and Sophia cleared her throat and whispered secretly.

“Was it you who knocked someone out again this time?”

No, does this kid think I’m some kind of knockout master?

Sure, it was related to me, but I didn’t knock anyone out, did I? I was the one who fainted.

In the end, worried it would get complicated, I explained the story I hadn’t wanted to tell.

“I didn’t knock anyone out—I fainted.”

“What?”

“I fainted. During the exam.”

At my words, Sophia’s big eyes went round.

Now do you get it? This unnie may have strong strength, but her mana is endlessly delicate.

“W-Who on earth did this to you—!”

“…This is driving me crazy.”

After that, I had to spend quite a while clarifying that “I fainted on my own, and today’s exam was ranged shooting, so it wasn’t caused by anyone’s attack.”

Surprisingly, Sophia understood my explanation quickly.

“As expected, there was no opponent capable of making you faint, unnie…”

She seemed to have understood it in a slightly strange way, though.

Anyway, after calming down the muttering Sophia, I quickly finished getting ready for bed.

Fainting earlier hadn’t relieved my fatigue.

“Are you going to sleep, unnie?”

“Yeah, you don’t have to turn off the light. I can sleep anyway.”

“No way! I’m going to sleep now too.”

We exchanged goodnights and the lights went out. I pulled up the blanket, turned my back to Sophia, and pretended to toss and turn while opening the system window.

!Important Notification!

: You have completed all of the Krangbuiyer Academy entrance exams! A special reward has been prepared for you. Would you like to check it now? (Click!)

Of course I should check before sleeping.

I immediately pressed the click button.

!Special Reward!

: We will continue to support your journey!

Stat Points 2 + Item Draw Ticket

Insane.

I couldn’t even see the item draw ticket written after it. Right now, the stat points I was receiving for the first time caught my eye.

So they do give these to me too. I thought they were saving them all for the protagonist!

Mindful of Sophia sleeping behind me, I pressed Accept. Then, remaining points began appearing below my status window.

Status Window

.

.

.

Remaining Points: 2

I wondered where to use them, then decided to save them for now. In my current state, it felt like raising anything would be good.

More than that, I used the item draw ticket to process the remaining reward. I didn’t have high expectations.

• Listening Posture (D): The other person says a little more to you when you listen. Active for 12 hours. Single use.

Having seen the draw effect twice now, I watched it indifferently and clicked my tongue at the item.

Perhaps because it was a D-rank draw, the probability of getting anything above D-rank was far too low. Still, like the Lucky Clover or whatever it was, this one could be used somehow too.

I decided to save this item as well.

‘Now I really need to sleep.’

My eyelids were too heavy. I closed the eyes I’d been forcing open to check the rewards. It was finally time to sleep.

I decided to leave the rest to tomorrow’s me.

* * *

And so, two days after the last exam.

The once quiet dormitory instantly became noisy.

“The passing results are out!”

It was certainly a matter worth the commotion.

Sophia, who brought the news, urged me to hurry and check, and I had no guts to act relaxed either, so I quickly got ready to go out.

“Where did you say it was?”

“In front of the central staircase on the first floor!”

With quickening steps, we arrived at the central entrance. Hundreds of candidates were already gathered.

Fortunately, it wasn’t posted on paper but displayed large with magic, so even from the back, we could see the list of passing candidates.

“Sophia?”

Somehow I lost Sophia in the crowd. But once I checked the list, I could meet her at the dormitory anyway, so it didn’t matter.

I was about to check the list from 1st to 200th in order, then changed my mind and decided to check from the bottom. There was no way Lucy Saint would be near the top.

‘200th, 199th, 198th…’

I read from the bottom, working my way up. But as the numbers went higher and the name didn’t appear as quickly as I expected, my pace began to speed up.

And then, ah.

“181st, Lucy Saint…”

I had passed.