SRS 4

“……”

“……”

–Grrrk…

Ssshhh!

Through the silent, stunned students, Suhyeok and Kylas stepped forward and finished off the hydra, whose body still twitched with breath. Even then, no one spoke. They could only stare in disbelief at the colossal monster that had just died before them.

They were confused.

Only moments ago, that creature had been roaring and terrifying everyone, but now it had died without warning. While they looked at one another with eyes asking Was it you?, a sudden commotion broke out among the healers.

“Yohan! Yohan!”

Everyone turned toward the sound. The priests and healers were carefully lifting a person who had fallen, blood trickling out of his mouth.

Those who still had strength used divine and healing light on Yohan’s body, but when his eyelids didn’t even twitch, their faces turned pale.

“It’s no use! The divine power isn’t working!”

“Healing power won’t take, either!”

“Hey… my system’s showing ‘Unhealable Status.’”

“What?”

The murmuring among the priests grew louder.

“Ah.”

Suhyeok let out a short breath. He realized what must have happened and pushed through the crowd toward the healers.

“Hey. Mind telling me what happened?”

The healers carrying Yohan toward the examiners frowned.

“We’re not sure. But the light that hit the hydra just before he fainted was divine power. That’s all we know.”

“That’s enough.”

Satisfied that his guess was right, Suhyeok looked down at Yohan. The sight of his face covered in blood was terrifying. It had flowed from his eyes and ears, and Suhyeok, unable to say anything, stepped back as the healers hurried him away.

“Im Suhyeok.”

“Kylas. Did you hear? …That was Yohan’s doing.”

When Suhyeok pointed his chin toward the fallen hydra, the light in Kylas’s eyes dimmed as he turned around to look at the hydra.

“With that level of divine power, he wasn’t an ordinary priest.”

“Right?”

“He must have been something like a pope. Though he looks too young for that.”

“If he had the power, that’s all that mattered.”

“Even so, dying that young is strange.”

Kylas sounded dissatisfied. Suhyeok clicked his tongue and shrugged after sheathing his sword.

“Come on. Everyone here’s got a story. None of us died in a normal way. You and I included.”

Kylas fell silent.

“Everyone, gather around.”

Before the two could say more, the examiners, who had been watching everything in silence, finally spoke.

When all the students assembled, they announced the end of the test and began ranking everyone based on their contribution to the battle.

“Up to rank five hundred will pass. The rest fail.”

“What?”

“Wait, my name hasn’t been called yet!”

“Are you kidding us? What’s the point of this?”

“After all that fighting?!”

Even those who had survived to the end shouted in outrage at the result, but the examiners didn’t react. With a snap of their fingers, the ones who failed were instantly expelled from the space.

“……”

Under the strict silence, the remaining students nervously looked at each other. Then the examiner raised his hand.

“For the next thirty minutes, we will accept applications for withdrawal. This will be your final chance to cancel enrollment without being marked as a dropout. If you wish to withdraw, raise your hand now.”

Flash, flash

Students who had barely survived the absurd battle with the hydra quickly raised their hands, as if they had woken from a trance. 1, 2, 3… the number spread like an infection until it reached one 190. More than had even died in the battle despite the healers’ desperate efforts.

The examiners dismissed them as well, without hesitation.

“……”

When the thirty minutes ended, the examiner looked around at those who remained.

“Congratulations. The 310 students here have earned the status of probationary freshmen of Fantasmademia.”

“P-probationary freshmen?”

One pale-faced student asked. After all they had gone through to enter Fantasmademia, being called probationary instead of full students was a cruel blow.

Ignoring their confusion and protests, the examiner nodded.

“Yes. You will spend one month as probationary students to adjust to Fantasmademia, after which you will undergo the formal admission process. Now, we will begin dormitory assignments.”

The examiner, clearly too tired to entertain questions, called names one by one, assigning dorms with a look that said “Speak and you’re expelled.”

No one dared to say a word.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

“Ugh…”

His whole body was screaming in pain. Yohan frowned and opened his eyes.

“Oh, he’s awake! Kylas! Yohan’s up, come here!”

Suhyeok, who had been cleaning his weapon beside the bed, jumped up and thumped on the headboard to call his friend.

Kylas, who had been replacing a damaged blade, gave him an irritated look and stepped out from the other side.

“…You seem fine.”

“He says it’s good that you’re okay.”

“When did I say that?”

“Kylas. How many times do I have to tell you to be honest?”

The two young men bickered. Yohan watched quietly. The serene atmosphere was so different from the chaos before he fainted that it left him bewildered.

There was no hydra, and this wasn’t a battlefield. What was this soft, luxurious bed? As he was pondering in a daze Suhyeok, upon seeing his confusion, chuckled and explained.

“Welcome back, Yohan. You’ve been out for about eight hours. We passed the exam and became probationary freshmen. This is our assigned dorm, West Tower, Room 304. The room’s passphrase is ‘There is no soul.’ Say it at the door, and it’ll open automatically.”

“…?”

Yohan raised his eyebrows at the rapid flow of words. Too much had happened for him to have been unconscious for only eight hours.

But he was glad that they had defeated the hydra and been admitted.

As he slowly processed Suhyeok’s words, his eyes turned toward the darkening window. There were four beds in Room 304, one still empty.

“Ah, that one’s for our fourth roommate, but he hasn’t shown up yet. We haven’t seen him.”

…He’s perceptive.

Yohan hadn’t said a thing, yet Suhyeok had read his thoughts exactly. Impressed, Yohan thought that kind of awareness must be why he’d survived as a mercenary.

Come to think of it, he had fought well in the final test too. Among the one on the front line, Kylas and Suhyeok had both stood out.

Assuming they’d earned high marks, Yohan slowly got out of the bed.

“I’d recommend staying down a little longer,” Kylas said monotonously.

Yohan shook his head. “I think I’m the only one who hasn’t looked around the school. I’ll go take a look.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No. I’d rather go alone.”

“All right, then.”

Suhyeok didn’t insist, which surprised Yohan a little. Suppressing the groan that rose from the pain in his body, he got up carefully.

After getting directions from Suhyeok, he left the room and found a long corridor before him. He placed a hand on the wall and moved to the right. Supposedly, if he didn’t move like that, the corridor would change shape, trapping him inside the dorm.

“So this is Fantasmademia… Looks like they’ve cast illusion or mirage spells even on the dorms.”

Feeling the distortion in the air, Yohan sighed. He couldn’t help but think that he had enrolled in a very strange school.

When he finally stepped outside the dorm at his slow pace, a rose garden entered his vision. Beside its entrance stood a large bulletin board.

〈Freshmen’s Paradise – Guide to the Land of Dawn〉

Curious, Yohan took a step closer. It was a directory showing all the areas within the Land of Dawn, from the four dorm towers to the training facilities, gardens, and several halls.

Even though this was a space reserved only for new students, Yohan was surprised by its large scale, and slowly entered the garden.

“Ugh…”

He still felt uncomfortable when moving. After only a short walk, pain spread through his legs, and he frowned before quickly sitting on a bench near the entrance.

“Haa…”

He exhaled a long breath and looked up at the night sky. His golden eyes that reflected the stars flickered with anxiety.

He had prayed for divine descent with mixed feelings, yet God had answered. Did that mean his deity existed here, in the Nameless Realm?

“…Hmm.”

He wasn’t sure yet. Uncertain, he rubbed his brow and sighed.

Then he felt som. A presence behind him, and it was very close. So close that it made no sense he hadn’t noticed until now.

When he turned, ready to react, someone behind the bench caught his chin.

A white hand gently tilted his face up.

As that hand guided him to lift his head, Yohan reflexively followed, blinking at the pale face looking down at him from directly above.

It was a beautiful person with white hair that reached his chest and gray eyes tinged faintly with blue. The clouded depth of those eyes made Yohan feel entranced, and before he realized it, he had been staring for a while.

Their gazes met, gold against gray, and time passed by until Yohan’s neck began to ache.

“Hmm…Pure,”

A young man in a loose-fitting white shirt raised the corners of his mouth as he spoke. No, could he really be called a young man? He looked young, but he possessed an inexplicable maturity.

Yohan raised his eyebrows in question. The stranger released his chin without a word, turned, and began to walk away. His soundless steps felt strangely ethereal, and Yohan, stared blankly at his back as he left.

It wasn’t until after the figure disappeared from his sight that Yohan realized he should have asked who he was.