Chapter 42: Wishes and Curses

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Wishes and Curses

Looking down at Marcus, who was clinging to him with trembling hands and a tear-streaked face, Aegon let out a quiet sigh.

?The arrogant cousin who had sneered at him during the journey, was completely gone. One brush with real death inside the Ironwood Expanse had stripped away all of Marcus’s sheltered noble pride.

?"Pull yourself together, Marcus. The puppets chasing you are already broken." he said.

?Just then, the bushes behind the boulder parted as Clara and Zane appeared.

Seeing Marcus alive and in one piece, both of them let out long breaths of relief.

?"Thank the heavens you’re still breathing, you idiot. When we heard you screaming from two hundred meters away, we thought you had run into a Giant Puppet."

Marcus wiped the sweat and tears from his eyes.

?"I... I almost died back there, Zane."

His eyes then involuntarily toward the two smoking piles of silver wood floating in the shallow stream, then back to Aegon’s unscathed figure.

His mind struck with a terrifying realisation..

"Wait... Did Aegon destroy both of those monsters in a single swing just now?"

Zane grinned proudly.

?"Don’t look so shocked. That’s nothing compared to what he did earlier. Aegon already has 260 points. He’s been crippling puppets along the western hill for the past twenty minutes just to feed Clara and me enough points to pass."

?"260?!" Marcus’s jaw dropped.

Looking down at his own registration badge, which still glowed with a pathetic [ 0 Points ], his face burned red.

?In their journey to the Imperial city, he had looked down on Aegon because his father was a commoner. Yet in this life-or-death trial where bloodline meant nothing, Aegon was the only reason any of them were still standing.

?"I’m sorry for how I acted on the journey, Aegon. From today onward, whatever you say goes." he said, lowering his head.

Seeing him becoming so humble, Aegon offered a hearty smile.

?"Save the apologies until we walk out of the canyon, Marcus. You are still sitting at zero points. Take a stamina pill and follow behind Zane and Clara. We will hunt six more puppets along the southern creek to get you past the cutoff line."

?While Aegon led his three cousins deeper along the creek bed to harvest points for Marcus, the atmosphere outside the Ironwood Expanse had reached a boiling point.

?High atop the northern cliffside platform, dozens of colossal water-mirrors floated in midair, broadcasting live scenes from the thousands of Scrying Beetles scattered throughout the forest below.

?Seated inside the shaded velvet pavilions overlooking the canyon were the deans of the Imperial Academy, the twelve grand scholars of the Scholar Council, and hundreds of powerful aristocrats from the capital’s Great Houses.

?DONG!

?As the golden sundial at the center of the cliff struck the two-hour mark, signaling the halfway point of the final stage, Chief Proctor Ronin uncrossed his arms in midair and grinned maliciously.

?"Two hours have passed! And only only four thousand examinees remain standing inside the barrier! To make the final two hours more interesting, the Academy will now project the Top Ten leaderboard across the sky of the canyon!"

?With a snap of Ronin’s fingers, a massive curtain of golden light unfurled across the clouds above the Ironwood Expanse, visible to every single observer on the cliff and every surviving applicant beneath the trees:

?[ 1st Place: Aegon Noiré (260 Points) ]

[ 2nd Place: Aria Everlight (250 Points) ]

[ 3rd Place: Veera (230 Points) ]

[ 4th Place: Prince Larsen Beliath (190 Points) ]

[ 5th Place: Julian Von Draken (170 Points) ]

?

Upon seeing the leaderboard, the aristocrats were in an uproar.

?"It’s that boy again! Aegon Noiré!"

?"First he shows Supreme Mana aptitude alongside young lady Aria, then gets a perfect score on the Scholar Council’s written test in thirty-eight minutes, and now he is sitting above Lady Aria and the Third Imperial Prince in the combat trial?! Just how?"

?"Look at Water-Mirror Seventeen! The Scrying Beetles just caught him cutting down two Seventh-Generation Combat Puppets by the creek in a single slash!"

?Up on the high dais reserved for the Academy’s faculty, a burly old dwarf with a braided iron beard slammed his heavy tankard down onto the stone table, all while staring at the replay on Water-Mirror Seventeen.

?It was Grandmaster Gorden himself, the creator of the combat puppets.

Currently, he was shcoked.

?"By the God of Machines! Did you see the angle of that brat’s sword, elder?! He didn’t brute-force the chest armor! He sliced straight through the secondary mana conduit under the left armpit! Even more, two of my Giant Puppets in the inner glade were taken down half an hour ago through their collar exhaust vents!"

?Beside him, Elder Vaelen of the Scholar Council stroked his white beard with a triumphant smile.

"What did I tell you, Gorden? Not only supreme Mana talent, Tthat child also possesses the eyes of a grand scholar! He spotted the structural flaws in your blueprints at a single glance! Once the entrance exam concludes, the Scholar Tower will be taking him in as a S-class student!"

?"Bah! Over my dead body, you old bookworm!

Don’t you see... that boy has the A-Rank Blood Berserker Grimoire. He can also wield a heavy blade. With such excellent speed and monstrous physical strength, he belongs to the battlefield, not rotting in your library! The Combat Department will take him first!"

Chief Instructor Wane, the Dean of the Imperial Combat Department, barked.

?At the same time, across the middle pavilions, dozens of neutral earls and viscounts immediately began whispering to their attendants, ordering them to prepare generous gifts and marriage proposals for House Noiré the moment the exam ended.

After all, a rising star who dominated both civil scholarship and martial combat was someone every smart noble wanted to befriend early.

?However, not every gaze fixed upon Water-Mirror Seventeen was filled with warmth.

?In the highest royal pavilion draped in black-and-gold silk, a tall cold-faced nobleman wearing the crest of House Von Draken crushed his crystal wine goblet in his gloved hand, letting the dark red wine spill across the marble floor.

?"Damn this little bastard! A mere country noble from a subordinate kingdom dares to step on the heads of the capital’s heirs twice in one day?"

Duke Von Draken’s eyes turned cold as he looked at his grandson Julian’s name sitting ninety points below Aegon’s.

"First he disrespectfully shows supreme mana capacity at the Pillars of Solomon, then perfect marks in Written test with his trickery, and now he displays physical strength that shouldn’t belong to his age. If such a disrespectful bastard allowed to grow inside the Academy, what face will the Four Ducal Houses have left?"

The mysteriously masked attendant beside the Duke shook his head gently.

?"There is no need for Your Grace to be troubled. By projecting the leaderboard inside the forest, Chief Proctor Ronin just painted a glowing golden target on that boy’s head. Just watch the mirrors. Things are about to get interesting!"

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