Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Chapter 167: Familiar face

After the end of the theoretical exam, things started changing in the academy city.

Before, the crowd in the city mostly consisted of children her age, but now a lot of men and women could be seen.

Apparently, the academy city had become open to the general public who wanted to watch the practical exam, which was going to be held in a month or so.

Evangeline had wondered why there was a one-month gap, and according to Adrian, it was to set things up since it was going to be more of a public event than an exam. This was to allow the students to showcase their skills to the world.

And since a lot of merchant guilds and other institutions were watching this event, children had the opportunity to get hired by someone even if they somehow failed to make the cut.

The practical exam was going to consist of two phases. The first phase was the examination phase, where the abilities and skills of an applicant would be evaluated and graded. Combining those grades with their theoretical examination grades, their score would be revealed.

And only those whose scores were within the top twenty percent were going to make the cut.

At first, Evangeline was horrified when she came to know that fact. But from what Adrian told her, it was not too low a number.

Simply becoming a mana user was not too big a deal. Even a commoner who didn’t have a single mana user among their ancestors could sometimes reach the Phase One—Origin Phase. But simply awakening the ability to use mana didn’t mean that they were skilled as a mana user.

Moreover, since the literacy rate among the commoners was extremely low, most wouldn’t even be able to pass the theoretical exam.

In that sense, the goal of the Academy’s entrance exam was to filter out those worth teaching.

And so, a month went by, and Evangeline was now walking alongside Adrian and Ravian, heading towards the venue where the practical exam was going to be conducted.

’I’m feeling kinda nervous now.’

Since learning about the existence of other Phase Three applicants besides the two of them, Evangeline had forced Adrian to teach her hand-to-hand combat to make up for her glaring weakness as a caster.

And so, she had spent the entire month sparring with Adrian without using mana.

At first, it had been extremely hard, and she couldn’t last even a second. This went on for about five days, and then she became able to last for one or two exchanges of blows before being defeated. She kept improving the more she sparred with him, and by the end of the month, she could last more than an entire minute against Adrian!

From what she had learned, hand-to-hand combat was more about reflex than about skill. Because in close combat, the exchange of blows happens too quickly, and one doesn’t get the time to think, so dodging and counteracting have to be done mostly through reflex.

Soon, the three of them arrived at what appeared to be a structure that was a mix of a stadium and a coliseum. It reminded her of the arena where Adrian had a duel with his younger brother. But this arena was much larger than the one in Ravenshade Estate.

Ravian scanned the seating area.

"Hmm... looks like most of the seats are already taken. Well, that was to be expected since both the applicants and the spectators are sitting here."

His brows slowly furrowed.

"...Hmm? Why are there so many seats empty in that part of the area?"

Both Adrian and Evangeline turned in the direction he was looking.

Indeed, a certain part of the seating area had a lot of vacant seats.

"I see," Adrian said flatly. "Looks like that area is reserved for nobles."

Indeed, now that she looked at it, the people sitting in that area were all wearing noble attire. The three of them went to sit in that area. Luckily, they were able to get front-row seats too.

Evangeline turned to Ravian.

"What do we have to do to showcase our abilities as mana users? What are they going to make us do?"

He looked at the group of people standing near the elevated platform in the center of the arena.

"From what I know, the first test is rather simplistic since they have to keep the unskilled commoner applicants in mind."

Slowly, more and more people arrived in the arena, and the spectator seats were almost full. Evangeline even spotted her parents sitting in the other corner of the seating area that was reserved for nobles. She wanted to greet them but chose to focus on the practical exam for now.

’...Huh?’

Evangeline’s eyes suddenly paused on someone.

Sitting a few seats away was a girl with long navy blue hair tied into a long braid. She seemed to be looking ahead, but had her eyes closed for some reason.

Evangeline nudged Ravian and pointed in the girl’s direction.

"Hey, Ravian, isn’t that the girl from back then?"

He looked at her for a bit, then nodded.

"Right, that’s the weird girl who was sitting beside us during Adrian’s duel."

The girl had changed quite a bit, but at the same time, she hadn’t changed much at all. Her sharp facial features had become even sharper, giving her an elegant yet intimidating vibe.

"Ravian, any idea who she is? After all, she is a noble, right?"

Ravian hesitantly shook his head.

"I’m afraid I don’t know, Miss Evangeline..."

Just then, Adrian turned to look at her as well. But he frowned the moment he did.

"I see... so she is the only daughter of House Mythrien."

’What?’

Evangeline’s eyes widened in shock. Only now did she notice that the nature of the girl’s presence was extremely similar to her own.

Considering that she was sitting in the area reserved for the nobles, she had to be a noble herself. Of course, that was obvious since the girl had attended the Fiducia festival banquet, which only nobles could’ve attended.

Paired with the fact that she was a Phase Three like Adrian and her, there was only one description that fit her.

The only daughter of House Mythrein, one of the two Phase Three applicants aside from Adrian and her.

’What the hell? That strange girl from that banquet was actually a duke’s daughter?’

Just then, the girl suddenly frowned and turned her head in their direction. Even though she had both her eyes closed, Evangeline felt as though the girl were looking at them.

But after a few moments, the girl simply turned away.

Evangeline, too, stopped staring at her and focused her attention on the center of the arena. But the girl was still on her mind.

’So she is going to be our opponent, huh?’

Soon, the people standing beside the elevated platform in the center—probably academy staff—slowly began to move.

One of them began casting a spell that looked rather complex.

Evangeline couldn’t make out the individual’s presence, but judging by the structure of the spell’s formula, it looked to be at least a Tier Four spell.

A rock, the size of a person, began materializing above the platform. The rock slowly changed shape and soon turned into a suit of stone armor.

Another person cast a different spell on the stone armor. And the next moment, the stone armor began to move.

A tall woman came to stand beside that suit of stone armor and announced to all those sitting in the spectator seats.

"It is finally time to begin the practical part of the Valcarion Academy’s entrance examination!"