Gaming Sword Magician

Chapter 237: Yearly Assessment Exam (a)

"This is the F-rank dungeon. I guess I got to complete it before I can return to the academy."

Whittaker was teleported back to the exact same place, from where he teleported to Zachary's palace.

He instantly picked up his pace and jumped at the dungeon boss.

Gain +10 royal credits.

The big and fat goblin didn't even know what happened before it was cleanly chopped into two.

Vroom!

Instantly, a return portal opened besides Whittaker.

He recalled Blood Drinker before jumping inside the return portal. In the next moment, Whittaker returned to the Frost Fall Academy's Quest Hall!

A student suddenly appeared in the quest hall.

This certainly surprised the quest hall manager.

"Eh, young student, what are you doing here? You should immediately go to the first training ground; it's the assessment examination. The first exam is about to start. It will affect your grades negatively if you missed it,"

The old manager of the quest hall was surprised to see that there was a young boy in the quest hall, but he was more worried about the snowy-haired student's future. Thus, he urged Whittaker to get to the training ground no.1.

As soon as he heard the old man's words, Whittaker felt relieved. He thought,

'I have made it in time!'

"Thanks for the info." Whittaker said, "I'll immediately head to the training ground."

There was no one else in the entire quest hall. It's because everyone was attending the strength gauging exam.

With a single step, Whittaker's figure turned blurry before he disappeared, and in the time it takes for one to blink eyes, he had rushed out of the quest hall.

Whoosh! Only a while later, did the sound of his step reverberated throughout the entire quest hall.

This was his self-created skill Sonic step!

Sonic Step

[Rank: Rankless

[Description: A self-created skill created by combining ghost step and bodily strength-enhancing method. Externally applies bodily strength enchanting on the feet, and at the same time, internally applies battle energy on the feet and sends the user blinking through the battlefield! Mana and battle energy consumption will vary depending on how many steps are taken and the speed]

The combination of battle energy and pure mana has created this skill. This skill can be utilized by externally focusing mana on the feet, and at the same time, internally pouring battle energy on the feet.

Old Miller's squinted eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Heck, am I seeing things? Did I just see a ghost?" Old Miller exclaimed in bewilderment. "No! I am not a senile old man. It certainly was a student in the academy. But how can a young boy be faster than a high-rank battle master? It seems like this year's assessment exam will be shocking the hearts of many."

Old Miller, the manager of the quest hall and a good friend of Headmaster Yeon thought that it will be extremely interesting to watch this year's assessment exam. Thus, for the first time in dozen decades, the quest hall was closed.

Soon after, old Miller could be seen flying through the air and making his way towards the first training ground of Royal Frost Fall Academy.

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It didn't take too long before old Miller arrived at the entrance of the first training ground. Whittaker was the last to arrive at the training grounds. On normal days, the training ground would be littered with puppets of various kinds and students would come here to train their techniques and spells, but today, this training ground was set up differently.

'Wow! This is the first time I have seen such a huge crowd. There are so many students at the training ground today. Did they all come to take the assessment test?' Whittaker exclaimed internally, feeling amazed at the sight in front of him.

He scanned the massive crowd that had gathered for the yearly assessment exam with a smile on his face. There were at least a thousand students gathered there, and every single one of them was staring at the teachers, more specifically, the assessment stone on the raised platforms with anticipation in their gazes.

Many of the students had worked hard just for this day and they couldn't wait to get on one of the many raised platforms and prove their worth!

The assessment examination contains three stages. The first stage test was just about assessing the student's rank on the fourth month of every year and distributing resources according to their improvement.

The not-so-rich but talented and hard working students depended on these resources. That's why passing the assessment examination with flying marks was their goal.

"Students, presumably, many of you have been waiting to take the assessment test today, but before that, there are many things that the Academy's Headmaster wants to say to everyone."

Dean Frankenstein announced. As said before, the students proved their worth on the assessment test. Worthy, talented, and hardworking students will receive a lot of resources for free.

Under the claps of thousands of people, Headmaster Yeon made his way to the biggest wooden raised platform to make his speech.

"Students, today I will be talking about a sensitive topic. Do you know what it means to be awakened?" Headmaster Yeon said, "It means that you have responsibilities to fulfill. Responsibilities that the Gods allocate to us. We must not forget that our basic responsibility is to safeguard our lands and the unawakened from the savage magical beasts and the threatening races that reside in the awakened continent. We must also complete important missions of humanity, eradicate the natural dungeons and conquer the territories of the Magical Beasts outside of the Kingdom. Do not forget that outside the boundaries of the Kingdom, there exist countless dangerous and hazardous dungeons. We must also clear them before a dungeon can grow too big and a dungeon break occurs. Only then you can be considered worthy enough to be considered a hero!"

Natural Dungeons are like an endlessly stretching spider web. It grows bigger and bigger as time passes. When it grows to a suitable size, monsters and magical beasts pours out of the dungeon to cause destruction and mayhem outside. Thus, the main duties of the awakened were to eradicate the natural dungeons.

His speech motivated a lot of students. They wanted to become heroes who are worshipped. Some were entirely innocent and just wanted to help the civilians!

As the Headmaster's speech came to an end, Dean Frankenstein took over.

"With that said, let's begin the assessment exams. You guys better give it your best!" Frankenstein flashed his blinding smile. "This will determine the amount of resources you get. In the future, you guys can graduate from the academy with flying grades and enter whatever field you like. Even becoming a royal magician and serving the imperial court is possible if your grades are high enough!"

He directly came to the part everyone was looking forward to most.

Hearing Dean Frankenstein's words, the students on the grounds could no longer hold back the joy in their hearts.

Who doesn't want to become a royal magician? It was the greatest honor in the entire kingdom! The royal magician directly served the Emperor. Who didn't want resources for free? They will become faster than before, and it won't require a single penny from their own pockets. The passionate and patriotic ones wanted to serve the cause Headmaster Yeon mentioned. Protect their lands and the people from all the threats. Help their Kingdom resist the invasion of savage races and magical beasts!

Nevertheless, everything is going to start from this assessment test. This was especially true for the newly enlisted students, just like Whittaker. Most of them were going to take their first step into their life's journey.

Soon after, the thousands of students, new and old, were divided into various groups.

"Group 1! Come on platform number 1!"

"Group 2! Step on platform number 2!"

"Group 3! Come on platform number 3!"

Along with these announcements, dozens of groups were called to attend the first stage of the examination on the various raised wooden platforms.

The wooden raised platforms were placed all over the training ground. There were two examiners on each platform for assessing the improvement of the students. The first stage of the exam was pretty simple. The students just had to place their hands on the assessment stone tablets placed on the center of the wooden raised platforms, and the examiners would be able to determine their improvement from the past year from the number that appears on the stone tablet.

The assessment stone tablet looked no different than an average sized boulder. However, it was an excellent conductor of mana and battle energy. Furthermore, it was a Magical Technology created by using various rare materials and resources.

"To the new students that don't know, you just need to pour a tinge of your mana or battle energy into the assessment stone tablets, and it will reflect the total amount of mana in your mana pool and the total amount of battle energy in your battle core!" Teacher Ruka, Whittaker's homeroom teacher, announced with a face full of passion and expectations.

She believed that the little muffins she taught in her class will be able to show their worth to everyone today, and earn their respects!

Will the failure class rise like the failure and glorify their homeroom teacher's name?

"Yato, I'm sorry; I am feeling weird from just standing here! I think I need to go to the nurse's office!" Ruth said as his eyes darted here and there, nervously. This was the first time that he had to stand in such a huge crowd. It was eating an antisocial youngster like him, alive.