The Retired Hero is an Extra

As soon as Jash punched a tree with all his might, a loud thudding sound echoed followed by a screech.

Turning around, he stared dumbfounded at the figure of the 1-foot small monkey, scratching its red butt after falling on it.

Soon, the monkey also noticed Jash and started shrieking and hooting at him, "Kii! Kieeek! Ki Ki Ki!"

"I don't know what you're saying but..." Jash replied before a chilling smile blossomed at his lips.

—Shwaa!

Unsheathing his sword, Jash put it in front of him and completed his sentence, "...you've arrived at the perfect time."

On the other hand, the monkey trembled visibly at the crazy sight of Jash, wondering what this two-legged creature was talking about.

Yet the fight was inevitable the moment Jash saw the skin of a banana fall alongside the monkey.

'If I can't get him to take me there, I can just chase after it,' Jash smirked, believing his plan to be foolproof.

With full confidence in himself, he dashed at the monkey, kicking up a small dust cloud and swinging his sword.

However, he changed its trajectory to only leave cuts on the body of the monkey.

Only... his sword cut nothing but air as the monkey was already far away.

Despite his hunger gnawing at his sanity, Jash knew better than to underestimate an enemy who could easily dodge his attacks.

"Ki ki?" The monkey whined, tilting its head in confusion as its red tail formed a question mark '?' sign.

In the next second, its tail formed an exclamation point '!' mark as it moved away yet again, using its hindlimbs to jump.

"What?" Jash blurted, struggling to believe the monkey was dodging his attacks so easily..

With his emotions in disarray, he missed the snorting and playful demeanor of the monkey as it toyed with him.

Although it could slightly understand Jash's animosity, it didn't care and made even more fun of him, mocking him with its tongue.

Each time Jash's sword neared, the monkey dodged at the last second, as if mocking him to try harder.

"Damn you," he cursed, unable to cut even a hair strand of the green-colored monkey despite so many attempts.

Unknowingly, the incongruency within his brain and body with relation to the sword mastery was slowly getting resolved.

With each focused swing, his sword improved and the monkey was finding it harder and harder to dodge despite Jash's increasing anger.

He was gritting his teeth to the point of his gums bleeding as he really couldn't stand it, hunger really took a toll on him.

Not only did it lower his energy and stamina, it even deeply affected his mental state, making him nothing more than a monkey chaser.

However, only the monkey knew that it was barely dodging the attacks despite using its long tail.

Even though it had a prehensile tail it was having a hard time to actually grasp branches and jump away.

Jash forced the monkey to stay grounded despite his crazed state.

It was more of a subconscious instinct to take down the monkey and achieve his goal with the highest efficiency.

Unfortunately, Jash couldn't see himself or how stupid his actions were getting as the monkey even got a few hits in.

Though all it gave Jash was a few bruises and nothing more than that.

'Seems like it only has high agility,' Jash noted, feeling the damage being done despite the attacks.

While it may seem stupid to allow an unknown enemy to attack, he needed to gauge the monkey's rank.

No matter the number of monsters and their discerning features he knew about, there were just way too many to know them all.

Unless he chose to go deep into research about Monster Zoology, there was no way to figure out the monkey without a few exchanges.

Even if it could be potentially dangerous and his conclusions could even be false, he wasn't functioning at full capacity.

Hence, he really believed the monkey was just an agility-type annoying monster.

"Now, you're done for!" He yelled, using mana to boost his speed at the last second, taking the monkey by surprise.

In the next second, Jash found himself being pushed backward while a few strands of red flow in the air.

The monkey's tail easily deflected Jash's full-powered sword slash as if it was no big deal.

"Huh?" Jash let out a confused sound at the sight, utterly perplexed before his gaze came across the monkey.

Or its lack thereof.

Only its enlarged tail was visible, slowly returning to normal as the monkey reappeared.

It was even smaller than 5 inches and Jash stood there for a while, dumbfounded and astounded.

"What the hell!?"

Those were the first words he spoke as he realized he'd been had.

'This... is just a stimulated monster,' he concluded upon seeing it disappear shortly after becoming even smaller.

Fortunately, he stabilized his swordsmanship with its help, serving as a whetstone to increase his sharpness and agility.

Of course, he himself didn't know all of it yet and was busy cursing whoever arranged this damned test.

However, his complaints turned to all smiles as a bunch of bananas appeared at the place where the monkey dematerialized from.

"Wait!" he stopped himself at the last second, choosing to slice them apart with his sword before kicking away.

"3... 2... 1..." Jash counted, closing his ears and hiding behind a tree, waiting for something.

"Hm? Did I guess wrong?" he mumbled to himself before taking a peek from the tree's side to really find the bananas.

He was doubtful if it was another test or not, but it didn't turn out to be so as he ran towards them, instantly swallowing a handful.

He couldn't care less about them being poisonous, it was a trouble for his future-self either way.

Thankfully, they weren't poisonous and the professor who made that test was smiling satisfactorily with the data from the fight.

Also, Jash's cautious side won brownie points from the professor as he generously graded it.

Yes, most trials were created by the professors and had to get approved by the Principal before making their way into the Entrance Test.

And the decision to decide the grade, passing or failing the tests fell directly into their hands.

Naturally, there were some professors who didn't do it, choosing to take other roles in the Entrance Test.

Though Jash didn't really know about the behind the scenes of the Entrance Test, not being a professor or having talked to one.

Even the novel only mentioned the female professors sacrificing themselves for the protagonist or their sisters entering his harem.

They could be villains or just brothers taking revenge for their sister's misery yet the world labeled them differently.

Fortunately for them, Jash was going to change the entire novel or its plot by surviving and before that, securing First Place in the Entrance Test.

At least those were his aspirations, even though he remained unaware of the weight they carried.

As it not only changed the fates of those directly involved, but even of those unlinked to anything.

And it would be really hard to imagine Jash being such a person with how zealously he ate a dozen bananas in one go.

Feeling satisfied, he licked his lips, "Now, just a day remains... I should head there."