Chapter 141: The other two

[Earlier during the test: ]

"That first test was quite something." Lexie was confused right after finishing her first test.

She didn't actually do much in the test since it was all about planning an efficient way to help someone as their maid.

She had been doing that for a long time already so she breezed through the test, however, at the end of the test, she was asked to go to the (Level-2).

She didn't know what it was all about, so she just continued on and there, she was presented with different scenarios where she needed to serve someone who was designated as her master.

The little puppet did strange things, put itself in danger, and as a maid, she was restricted to a choice that moved her body on its own.

She made choices that seemed the best in the position of a maid, and she made them in the most efficient way possible to help the puppet as much as she could.

She passed that second test and then she was asked to move to the (Level-3) of the test.

She did not know the limit of these tests so she just kept going since she had no other choice.

She needed to move forward but she could only do so after she was done with the first test and skip through the rest of them.

So, in her third test, she was once again a maid.

However, this time, she was playing with the younger version of Prism, her dear young master.

"That was… too much."

The young Sam, as simulated in that trial, was playing with strange toys.

She had never seen those strange toys and how he was playing with them, but she played along whenever he offered it to her with a smile on his younger face.

"He looks so different now…"

She understood that her young master was not the same person she knew in his younger days.

He had gone through some unpleasant experiences and he had lived through them by himself.

All the things that he was doing right now were different from what he would have done if he had a good past life, but if that were the case, she would not be seeing him like this in the first place.

He looked too different from how he was a few months back as well… but she liked the younger one who was happy with silly things and did strange things just for fun.

He was young and he was innocent back then. But the burdens of the unknown future had changed him a lot.

"Haaa…"

At the end of the third level, he was about to play with something that was obviously too dangerous.

She knew as a simple maid, she should not be stopping him doing something he wanted. At the very least, not something that she herself did not actually know to be dangerous or not.

She liked the way things were before that point, but the test made her too comfortable after that and even though she was asked if she wanted to go past to the fourth level, she stopped and prepared herself for whatever outcome she would face.

"Haaa… what am I supposed to do then?"

Was being a maid all there was to her? She did not think so since her dear young master treated her far better than a servant.

She was a family and the family was supposed to stop the foolishness of the children. And as the older one, it was always her responsibility to look after him.

"Anyways, looks like I'm stuck here."

She finished the first test and moved to the next one without any choice.

Perhaps it was because she refused to continue with her level or perhaps it was something else. But she still did not have the choice about this test, it seems.

"Well, then there's only one way to get through this."

She was stuck in the second test area with no option to get out, so the only way out seemed like moving forward.

So, she continued on with her second test.

She seemed to be in a place full of testing tools that'd give her points based of her various stats.

From what she understood, she did not have unlimited chances.

If a test tool measured strength to give potential points then, as one was done, the stat tests that were similar to the previous results would disappear.

"If someone uses muscle strength test many times, they will lose the chance to use the muscle flexibility test and the tests that are here to measure how much of the strength comes from muscles alone and how much energy cells are using for an exercise."

The tests were pretty unique so if someone were to engage in a number of too similar or too different tests in the given time, they would miss the chance to get the most points.

"But then again…"

She did not want to get too many points.

That wasn't her goal in the first place so she tried to hide herself as much as she could.

But things weren't going to work in the way she wanted.

[Point rankings will be revealed at the end of the test.]

She didn't even have any way to see the points right now, so she wouldn't know where she was even if she tried a few of these test machines.

Being somewhere in the low ten-thousands was one thing, but maybe that would be too high as well.

Giving up was not going to be an option either so even though she knew the points she had compared to the people that are already part of the academy, she'd have to trust her guts.

Her young master would get a great score himself so if she can't hide in the shadows to be with him, as his maid, she might as well try and stick as close to him as possible.

She was here for him… and much like her, the young Serulian was here for the same.

"Welp, that was easy."

Not just the first two, he was done with the third test as well.

He was given a seemingly impossible test as his first test: one where he had to choose the future of his family over keeping his oath to Sam.

He had cured him of an illness that would have otherwise haunted him for the rest of his life. And he was thankful for that.

But was Sam, a Sungrade, an enemy, really worth going against his family.

'Maybe, maybe not.'

He thought about not the son of the Sungrade patriarch when he thought about Prism but about the kind of person he was.

'He is what all of us knights aspire to be.'

Kind, a little overly selfless, and powerful. There are few reasons to question whether he was worth more than his family but few that'd stop him from actually giving his life for that boy.

He was honorable. And he moved for the greater good.

'Few like him are left now.'

His father figure asked him to stick close to him and he had not understood the deeper meaning behind those words.

But the happenings of the airship and the things that transpired over the next few days were something that he had not experienced at all.

The fact that his beasts were so devoted to him to how he would come out of the impossible. They were all very good at keeping their calm in the middle and the chaos and if not for their admiration and consideration for their master's wellbeing, then he did not know what it would be called.

Anyways, he was now better and doing well. Hopefully.

He was here to change the way the world saw the different things about the way he taught and he had seen the way his taming worked.

So, if his taming and what he needed to do in this world were important for the greater good that he protected so fiercely, then he must not get in his way.

"This much is enough."

He could have gotten a better score but he stopped at the bare minimum that he could get through the system, even going as far as convincing the system why he must be in the much lower rankings than what he was assigned.

He didn't know if it would be possible at all but then again, the fundamentals were the same even though the system seemed a little different from what he had known.

His third test assigned him into a rather free category that he can go up or down depending on what was needed, so going from this point, he would chase the shadow of the younger boy that carried a greater burden than anyone else.

'I'm not very close to him yet.'

He wanted to know more about him and follow him closer, learn why he did the things that he was doing.

But only time will tell where things go from here on out…