The Novel's Professor

A sense of distrust lingered over the atmosphere. The students stared at one another, filled with caution and wary. The heavy, tense silence stretched — until a voice eventually shattered it apart.

"Oh, well..." Eugene chuckled, his hand patting over Arcuied's shoulders.

Arcuied raised his brows, curious. At that moment, everyone's attention was directed at Eugene.

"Goodluck, Arcuied." Eugene smiled, his body taking a step forward. He snapped his fingers — calling out to his teammates. "Ali. Warringson and Veena, follow me. We'll go on ahead."

In the crowd of students, three distinct students suddenly moved to Eugene. Under everyone's gaze, he continued walking forward, the three other students following his lead.

All the students — whether noble or civilian were speechless in disbelief. They tried to shout out a complain, but the rational sense of mind stopped their mouth — the man was a Pendragon.

Seeing this, Arcuied sighed. Typical Eugene... Then again, it was in-character for the man to use his own background to make his life easier.

'Oh well, that was one slot filled. Now only twenty four are left.'

Arcuied shook his head, his eyes staring at the other students. None of them had moved an inch ever since Professor Guile's projection fizzled out — all of them remained static, staring at each other in wariness.

He was about to say something, however someone got ahead of him first.

"Alright, there's no use staying silent and just staring at each other like fools."

Arcuied eyes widened in surprise, his gaze shifting to where the voice came from. It was a black-haired woman with emerald green eyes — Amber Hong.

"Since no one bothered to talk, I'll talk first, then." Amber commented, her body stepping forward. "Now that Eugene took the first slot — we only have twenty four other slots left. As much as possible... I want this to be a calm, and rational discussion... but I don't think that's possible."

Arcuied nodded. There was no way anyone would forsake their chances of advancing. Internally, he was surprised at Amber taking the lead — just from her background, no one would even object if Amber decided to get her own entrance slot like Eugene.

It was easy to understand why; it was because of thei background. Amber and Eugene both hold the strongest or most reputable family names in the world. The act of offending them for a mere test result was beyond stupid.

"I suggest that the civilian teams should just stay here and the noble teams should advance," A noble student remarked, offering a ludicrous suggestion.

"Impossible!" A civilian student shouted. "I thought of a better idea. Why not you 'proud and generous nobles' instead give us the chance?"

"Don't be a buffoon, you mongrel." A noble student commented. "It's the civilians duty to serve the nobles in the Kingdom, so kindly... shut up and let those of us with smart minds decide."

"Smart minds?" A civilian student remarked dryly. "All I see are just spoiled inflated egos. The brain cells are completely lost."

At that moment, a heavy silence descended. Amber sighed, her head shaking. The noble, who was insulted, erupted in silent fury, their hands gripping over a thin blade.

"You..." The noble student muttered, rage seeping in their voice. Their hands rose, pointing at the civilian student in anger. "Tak—"

"Ehem." A cough suddenly echoed, disrupting the noble. In the corner of the room, a thin, frail man — accompanied by a green haired man walked forward. "Funny performance and all but it's kinda boring. I'm going to go on ahead, alright?"

All the students immediately shifted their gaze to the corner, staring at the thin, frail man in disbelief. The noble who was speaking glared at the person, their body shuddering.

"...Eh? What's that shocked reaction for?" Kojiro widened his eyes, surprised.

"It's because you disturbed them." Xiao answered, yawning in response. "It was getting to a good part. Noble A insulted Civilian B. Noble A gets angry. Noble A attacks. And civilian B, well...defends themselves."

"Theres no way that's a good part! That's hella cliche!" Kojiro shouted out, his head shaking. "I swear, were people really excited about that...?"

"Not cool, leader. Everyone has different preferences, y'know?" Xiao shook his head disappointedly.

"That's not prefences! That's just straight up bad taste!" Kojiro shouted incredulously.

"Did you just shit on the entire society of the Kingdom?" Xiao chuckled. "You're brave, leader. Don't worry, I'll bury your body in a nice, luxurious grave once you commit suicide with twenty stabs in your body."

"Hey, don't say something like that... It sounds ominous." Kojiro muttered, his body shuddering in response.

"W-what are you two doing?!" an anxious voice shouted out behind them. Fallio hurriedly walked towards them. "Why are you attracting attention to yourselves?! Don't you guys have any shame?!

All the students nodded, sharing the same sentiment as they stared at the thin and frail man.

"...." Kojiro stared at Fallio strangely. "Bold of you to say that when you just suggested we sneak to one of the entrances while they are fighting against one another."

In that instant, all the student's eyes shifted to Fallio — staring at the man in distaste, their faces scrunching up into disgust.

"Ah...that..." Fallio chuckled, his hand dropping as he fidgeted nervously.

"Well, anyway. We'll just do it the easier way as the handsome blonde dude did," Kojiro waved his hand in dismissal. "Right, back to the point. We're gonna go on ahead."

The students stared at him silently, their expressions stupefied.

"Eh... No farewells? Goodluck?" Kojiro sighed. "Well, that's alright. Come, Xiao, Fallio and Venice... let's go."

Under everyone's gaze, Kojiro walked forward to the entrances, three other students following his back. However, before they could continue — a group of students suddenly obstructed their way.

"Hold on..." One of the students reached out their hand, grasping towards Kojiro. "Who de—"

Woosh—! Shngg—!

The wind suddenly blew as the beautiful thin sound of a blade unsheathing echoed. In that instant, a katana was drawn — stopping in the neck of the student.

"Hey, hey... watch your hands," Kojiro frowned, his hand pointing the katana directly at the student's neck. "I don't appreciate physical contact, y'know? I'm a thin and frail man. I'll easily tumble down."

The student slowly widened their eyes. It took a while for the student to process the situation — once it did, however, sweat poured down their head as the fear of death suddenly grasped onto them, making their body swayin terror.

"Haa..." Kojiro sighed, his head shaking. He immediately withdrew the katana, putting it in the sheath hanged on his waist. He patted the student's shoulder. "Don't be a kitten. I'm not gonna kill you, y'know?"

The student nodded as their face quivered, their body falling to the ground. A loud thud resounded. Kojiro smiled softly, his hand waving as he continued walking to the entrance. This time none of the students decided to obstruct his way.

From a distance, Arcuied watched the scene in surprise. How was that possible? There was no indication of the blade being withdrawn — there was not even the slight delay of unsheathing the katana. It just... appeared. His eyes only saw the student's hand move slowly, and in that instant — the katana was in the other student's neck.

'It's more than fast... It wasn't even a blur to begin with. How did he do that...? And most importantly...how can I dodge that?'

Arcuied lowered his head, deep in thought. He could try doing that....No, that wouldn't work at all. He simulated the scene in his mind multiple times, and in the end, no answer to dodging the instant attack came into mind.

'It's possible that the student was using an otherworldly amazing technique...'

Arcuied mused. It was possible... but some part of his mind thought the opposite — what if it was just the sheer sword mastery of the student that produced that attack? That would be extremely terrifying.

However...that was impossible, unless the student was the greatest sword prodigy in the world. Arcuied shook his head, muttering. "It could be possible... In any case, there's no doubt that the student is strong. I wonder who he is?"

"That student is Kojiro Murasaki." Sophia suddenly answered, her voice soft. "He's part of the elite members of the clan, being one of the most talented prodigies inside the Murasaki Clan."

"Murasaki Clan..." Arcuied mused. How interesting... It seemed there were a lot of strong students besides Eugene in the academy. "In any case, let's follow them."

Before he walked forward, Arcuied glanced at the black-haired student standing in the middle of the room. Amber noticed his stare, her brows raising in interest as she waved her hands in a greeting. Arcuied nodded, his gaze shifting to one of the entrances.

...He had no interest in fighting the other students for a slot in the entrance. It was just going to tire him and his team out. So, he was going to do what the last two did — get his own slot instantly. He stepped forward, walking straight to the entrance.

"Sophia, Elise and Thomas. Follow me."

The three other teammates widened their eyes in surprise, their head slowly nodding as they followed behind the snowy white haired student.

The other teams were about to react and complain, however, once they saw the snowy white hair and golden eyes of the student, they immediately back down.

It was the most strongest student in the year — not only that, but most importantly, a friend of the Pendragon heir.

As soon as Arcuied indirectly announced his slot for the entrance, the other top ten teams followed after. However, this time with no recognition and big reputation — the mediocre and weak teams began to respond and obstruct the other top ten teams.

It didn't take long before a battle inevitably started in the room. The crackling sounds of lightning; clanging sounds of blades; explosive echo of flames; all of which descended into the room.