The Academy’s Doomed Young Lord Dies Ten Thousand Times

Chapter 23 - Practical Test (1)

Right after Yuna and Regina’s introduction, the professor in charge opened the door and entered.

If he had been even 3 minutes late, Yuna would have been thoroughly swayed by Regina and become her toy…… so it was a good thing.

Anyway, the professor in charge of Monster Hunting C who opened the door and entered was Paige.

His role in the original wasn’t very big, but I remember him being a very affable and decent person. He was less tainted by elitism, and his reputation was also decent.

“Welcome, students. I am Paige Butler, the professor of Monster Hunting C who will be guiding you for one semester. Hoho, let’s get along well.”

Paige was that kind of professor. The type of professor who always used polite language to any student, and his teaching skills were also quite good, so he was popular.

It was also one of the two reasons why I specifically chose Class C among the more than ten Monster Hunting classes, because I was confident that he was not a person who would give disadvantages because of my and Yuna’s standing.

“What is Monster Hunting, hoho. In fact, it’s a content that you can intuitively understand just by hearing it, right? The efficient way to hunt monsters that occur naturally and threaten the people of the continent, and knowing the commonly known habits of monsters is the…… of this lecture.”

While Paige was reciting the outline of the lecture, I briefly organized my thoughts and looked around at the faces of the students who would be taking the lecture with me.

‘There’s almost no one to be wary of.’

The other reason for choosing Class C was the composition of the class. Except for Regina, there were almost no exceptionally strong students.

In the game, this class assignment was decided randomly, and I remember that the progress was particularly easy if you were assigned to Class C.

“For the past 30 years or so, the number and strength of monsters have been increasing rapidly. Their behavior patterns have also changed, making it difficult to deal with them using traditional methods. In this lecture, we will also cover the updated monster response methods and the patterns of subspecies……”

I started listening again after my thoughts, but Paige was still busy explaining the outline.

After confirming that, I briefly glanced at Regina.

‘This one is quite strong too.’

Her position as a princess, and her character that emphasized cunning and intelligence, had overshadowed it, but…… as the mid-boss of Part 2, she was also quite strong.

She was the owner of one of the two mana properties that only appeared in the direct royal line, the ‘Violet Flame’, and her mana amount was also among the top in the world.

‘Still, at least she’s a friendly one.’

As I was thinking that.

“Alright. That’s about it for a simple outline of the subject…… so let’s move on to the next thing. Hoho, as you all know!”

Paige’s orientation was over. And…….

“From now on, in order to gauge your monster suppression skills, we will conduct a simple practical test.”

It’s finally here. Today’s main event.

“You all did indeed take the monster suppression test during the entrance examination…… but in fact, it’s a bit ambiguous to see that as a measure of your true monster suppression skills. Monster suppression is not simply a battle against monsters, but a single process that includes grasping the habits of monsters and searching for them.”

The monster suppression practical test. In the original , it was the first event after the start of the semester, and the items it gave were quite good.

It was the only route to obtain items that were hard to get in the early game, so that said it all.

“Of course, since this is a level test before the semester officially begins, this test will not give any advantages or disadvantages to your future grades. However, that wouldn’t be motivating, would it?”

Paige said, and began to write something on the blackboard with a piece of chalk.

Tap, tap-tap. Tap-.

[1st Place Prize : Mandragora Extract

2nd Place Prize : B-grade Magic Stone

3rd Place Prize : Lesser Elixir]

“Alright, what I just wrote are the rewards for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in this test.”

As Paige recited that, murmurs were heard from all over.

-The 1st place prize is a Mandragora?

-Isn’t that something that goes for 5 million crescents at auction?

-The sword my father uses is made from a B-grade magic stone…….

Of course, some of the well-informed children of influential families already had a look of knowing, but even so, those rewards were quite extraordinary even for the students who were from noble families.

“……Hey, is that Mandragora thing that amazing?”

When Yuna, who had overheard the other students’ conversation, asked that, I nodded readily.

“It’s said that there are individual differences, but if you drink that concentrate, your physical abilities will develop quite significantly.”

“Then can’t rich people just buy it all up and drink it?”

“……There’s a resistance to that increase, so if the same person drinks it multiple times, the efficiency drops sharply.”

Hearing that, Yuna licked her lips and muttered.

“I want it, but I probably can’t get it……”

What do you mean you can’t get it? It’s about to be yours. Or so I thought to myself.

“Points will be automatically calculated for the number of monsters subjugated, and the ranking will be measured in the order of the highest points. Needless to say, higher-grade monsters will give more points, right?”

Paige continued to explain the test, and began to leisurely write the score distribution per monster on the blackboard.

[Stage 1 : Imp - 1 point

Stage 2 : Hound - 2 points

Stage 3 : Zombie - 4 points

Stage 4 : Skeleton - 8 points

Stage 5 : Owlbear - 16 points

Stage 6 : Ogre - 32 points

Stage 7 : Golem - 64+10 (high-rank bonus) points

Stage 8 : Living Armor - 148+20 (high-rank bonus) points

Stage 9 : Gargoyle - 316+30 (high-rank bonus) points]

In the practical test, there were broadly two choices.

Whether to earn points by dealing with a large number of weak monsters with low scores, or to earn a large number of points at once by hunting high-grade monsters.

Well, my choice was already made.

“Then the explanation is roughly over, so we will go to the otherworld through the gate.

Please follow me!”

I organized my thoughts and stood up according to Professor Paige’s words.

***

Archenia Academy is located in the city center of Endinium, the second largest city in the empire. Of course, due to the site conditions, it’s not in the very center, but it’s still in the middle of the city.

Now, if you know that fact, a question may arise. In actual combat, you often have to fight in rough terrain, so where do you do the training to prepare for that?

The answer to that question is the ‘otherworld’.

Through the magic engineering device provided within the academy, you can move to a sub-space with a completely identical structure to reality, the otherworld, and train there.

When heading to the otherworld, you could also set a transmission point, so you could set the location to your liking, whether it was an empty city center or a forest.

Since there are also monsters in the otherworld, it was common to transmit to the habitat of monsters.

Fwoosh-!

After the blue light peculiar to magic engineering flashed once, the students of Monster Hunting C arrived in a secluded forest. They had been at the school just a moment ago.

“Alright, it seems everyone has arrived safely. We will now begin! The time limit is 1 hour.

Please move immediately and subjugate the monsters.”

Then, a voice came out from the bracelet on every student’s wrist. It was a bracelet with the same design as the one they wore during the entrance examination. In fact, it was the exact same thing.

Yuna clearly remembered Professor Paige saying that if you took a fatal blow here, you would be transmitted back to reality.

Dash-!

Anyway, with those words from Professor Paige, the students began to move busily. The professor had said it was an individual competition, but the students were naturally moving in groups of three or five.

‘Didn’t he say it was an individual competition?’

But Yuna, who was thinking that, was not moving alone either. Though it was not intentional.

“Why are you following me!!”

When Yuna turned around with an annoyed expression, Rain was following her with a natural expression.

“I’m going to move with you.”

“Didn’t he say this was an individual competition……?”

Yuna broke out in a sweat. But at the same time, she was inwardly relieved to have a companion.

“If you heard the story, you would know that in a joint subjugation, the points are divided by the number of contributors. It’s also a strategy to cooperate and catch a strong monster.”

“It sounds like you’ve already anticipated this test as well……?”

“Of course.”

As if it were natural, Rain replied readily. His face said it was all within his expectations, as always.

“Of course……”

Yuna let out a small, dry laugh. She was a bit dumbfounded that this situation was also within his expectations. She was starting to wonder how far he had thought ahead.

It had only been a week, but Rain always seemed to have every situation in mind. Honestly, that aspect was a bit strange and scary, but it was true that he was reliable.

“So, what are we going to hunt? An Ogre?”

Yuna recalled the list of monsters that Professor Paige had explained and said so. He had said that the list of monsters that appeared was the same as during the entrance examination, so it wasn’t very difficult.

‘This guy, he’s definitely strong…… so he’s probably caught an Ogre or something.’

She had a thought that she might hold him back, but since he seemed to be a guy who thought a lot, it would be fine. Or so she thought.

But the answer that came out of Rain’s mouth completely shattered Yuna’s expectations.

“We’re going to hunt a Gargoyle.”

“Ah~ a Gargoyle……”

As the conversation was about to move on naturally, a single word flashed through Yuna’s mind.

Gargoyle.

“A-a Gargoyle??”

“Yes.”

“Whose dog’s name is that!!”

Hearing the word Gargoyle, Yuna recalled what she had studied for the past week in her mind.

No, she couldn’t help but recall it. Because a certain sentence in the ‘Monster Hunting’ book had left a strong impression on her.

[A monster that is considered a formidable enemy even among the formidable intermediate-to-high-level monsters. A solo subjugation is difficult even for an active knight. Be sure to form a party of 2-3 or more and systematically attack it.]

Seeing that sentence, Yuna thought. At least I won’t have to face it until I graduate.

“How are we going to catch that!!!”

Although she was being a bit sharp, Yuna’s concern was a realistic one.

In fact, in this practical test, the existence of a Gargoyle was more of an untouchable existence that was ‘theoretically possible’ rather than a test target like the other monsters.

One might think that. Couldn’t the students who passed stage 9 during the entrance examination subjugate it alone?

Even if that’s not the case, isn’t it possible if the students who passed stages 7 and 8 joined forces?

But, that was a rather one-dimensional idea.

The Gargoyle didn’t have any tricky patterns that could leave you combat-incapable or in a similar state if you got caught up in them. There was no ‘if you don’t know, you’ll get hit’ type of strategy that you absolutely had to know.

But what made the Gargoyle be evaluated as being close to a high-level monster even among the intermediate-to-high-level monsters was nothing other than its simple raw specs.

And among those high specs, its stamina stat was even higher.

A high stamina stat, this meant that you could spend the entire test time just trying to beat down the Gargoyle. Even if that wasn’t the case, the Gargoyle was

“Isn’t that the one from stage 9 of the entrance examination? I was at stage 3……!”

“It’s alright. I was at stage 8.”

“Uh, that’s amazing…… no, that’s not it, then we can’t win!!”

While such a conversation was going on between the flustered Yuna and the calm Rain…….

Rustle-.

A rustling sound was heard from the side of the road, from the direction of the bushes.

Screech-!

And, as soon as he heard that sound, Rain drew his sword.

“What, what is it. A monster?”

“……No, it’s different.”

“Huh?”

At the sudden sound, Yuna also drew her sword and was about to look at the bushes.

Clang-!

A human-sized figure appeared from the bushes, and the sound of weapons clashing was heard.

‘……Wait, a weapon?’

Yuna felt a sense of incongruity at that sound and looked to her side…….

“You guys are going to hunt a Gargoyle?”

A blonde boy in a student uniform was facing Rain with their swords crossed, wearing a triumphant expression. The sarcastic voice, as if it were absurd, was a bonus.

“That’s right.”

And even in this sudden situation, Rain just answered calmly.

“Why don’t you try to understand your place a little? Did you get all high and mighty just because you got lucky and beat Lord Milo? No, even then, Lord Milo had basically won.”

“Did you come all this way just to say that?”

“Of course not.”

The confusion didn’t end there.

“Get them!”

When the blonde boy gave the signal, about three more people jumped out from the bushes and…… started running towards where Yuna and Rain were, with their weapons drawn.

‘Is this for real…… they’re going to fight? Here? But why?’

Yuna couldn’t understand the situation. In a test where they had to hunt monsters, to do something like this that had no benefit.

“Wh-what is this……?”

Yes, literally, Yuna just couldn’t understand this situation.