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Fahna was gritting her teeth as she stomped her way to the second examination grounds.

She knew that Rozenfall liked to change the examination each year regardless of difficulty, but she didn't expect to encounter the one she's most wary of.

The Grid maze was infamous for making even the strongest entrants forever lost should they lack enough braincells.

Two people even went ahead of her somehow. Her perfect record was broken once again, even though she used her speed and observation skills to the fullest.

Now, she came face to face with the two mysterious opponents who surpassed her.

The first who got her attention was a girl who wore ornate blue mage robes, engraved with lines of runes. She had a dark gray hair, a bangs covering her forehead and her face kept a forlorn expression as if she was on the verge of falling asleep.

'The Mage tower's jewel, Gumin Esolian.' Said to have a talent that is never seen before in the history of magic tower. A famous figure that remarked the beginning of a new era for magic.

She understood that she's a worthy and formidable opponent, with magic being a tricky power.

'And the other one…' As someone who maintained her absolute form at all times, she did her research regarding potential competitors in her spare time. She refused to leave even a smidgen of possibility to be in second place once the academy starts.

But, she didn't recognize him.

Someone with his kind of appearance was bound to stand out and even attract some trouble.

Sharp red eyes, toned jawline, short slicked back red hair with clean faded sides. Tall built and obviously muscular underneath his clothes that seemed to be a… Butler suit? His facial expression and overall appearance made her feel antagonized.

As if his gaze said 'what are you looking at?'

"Would you like to team up with us?" As Fahna observed his appearance, Xian invited her without much thought. Being recognized and leaving an impression with the starting heroine's would be ideal for future interactions.

"Team up?" Fahna tilted as she thought about Xian's invitation.

Meanwhile, as if she found it bothersome, Gumin let out a slight sigh.

'Great, another one just had to come.' She lamented that they got delayed now that she is somewhat energetic.

"Yes. There will be formidable foes in this labyrinth. If the three of us, the best among all the entrants worked together, then we can pass simultaneously." Xian knew what would've sounded good in Fahna's ears.

As a player, treating the heroine's he had 'conquered' before appropriately came to him naturally like breathing.

'The best… Simultaneously…' Those words echoed in her head already when it left Xian's mouth. Somehow, his offer was tempting right away but…

"Sorry but, I can do this my—"

"You can take first place."

Hearing Xian relinquish the first place easily, her mouth hung in the middle of what she was about to say.

"What? Really? What about her?" She pointed towards Gumin who was already leaning on her a staff with half lidded eyes, unconcerned with whatever conversation they were having.

Noticing that the two had shifted their gaze to her, she mustered an answer. "Mm… I don't really care either way."

"See?" Xian shrugged at Fahna, showing that both of them completely lacked interest on taking the first place.

Even though Fahna liked to maintain a perfect persona, she was flexible enough to shed some of it when it matters. Just like right now. More than being a perfectionist, she was also someone who took opportunities without hesitation.

In the name of being ranked first or being dubbed as the best… To eventually becoming truly the best. That's how she's always been.

"… Alright. Just don't pretend this conversation never happened later okay?" She spoke in a relaxed 'mask off' tone.

With that concluding, Xian had perhaps, made the strongest party he had ever seen. It was usually impossible to have both Fahna and Gumin in the party, since Gumin, being a mage evaded the protagonist through invisibility.

And Fahna could only be encountered if the player managed to take first place in the exams, as that would cause her to make a move and rush head on.

The three relied on three different things to go through the grid maze. Xian relied on his memory, he still remembered the pattern to reach the exit.

Luckily, the grid mazr itself didn't shuffle every exam. That was a missed opportunity on the devs side.

Gumin meanwhile, can see the trace of magic that led to the right path. With the examination grounds being a place partly conjured with magic and existing places, she could tell which direction leads to the path by observing.

All she needed was to focus on her eyes and she will see the way.

As for Fahna… She relied on speed.

Through trial and error only she could afford. She bolted through halls like a silver streak, doubling back only when absolutely certain the path was wrong. With sheer movement alone, she finished third place on the first examination.

Now, the three of them together will brave the second stage of the examination. Xian decided to lead the way and choose the most optimal exit they could go through.

"Let's speed this up shall we?" He was no slouch when it came to speed as Fahna strode beside him, meanwhile Gumin levitated from the ground with occasional bursts of momentum. Although it was low and she couldn't fly yet, it was enough to keep up with the two of them.

They encountered their first poor opponent, a humongous steam golem that creaked and rotated with each lurch it took. It's arms alone could crush a horse in one blow.

Nearing Xian, it raised one of it's arms and swung one massive fists towards Xian.

He didn't flinch as a barrier activated.

It cracked under the impact, but he remained in place, with one hand pressing on it's steel arm that had lost momentum.

He breathed in and pulled back his other arm as his muscles swelled, swinging the hammer he had brought earlier to its knee.

Crack!

A deep, metallic snap rang out as the golem's leg buckled inward, the joints clattering from the force of that single hit.

Fahna's mouth went agape at his display of strength but quickly took a stance, lifting her rapier. She dashed and leaped to the air towards the golem, striking at every exposed nodes and slicing glowing lines in its body with precise flurry.

Then Gumin raised her staff and with a quiet incantation, recasting the spell around Xian's body. The barrier reformed, and a second spell rippled outward, that rendered the golem's metal brittle and vulnerable to blunt impact.

Just like that, Xian broke it's other limb and delivered a blow to its chest, causing dents and crack to spread to it's body. Fahna, not missing this opportunity, delivered the final blow and pierced it's chest through the crack's made by Xian with the tip of her rapier stabbed at it's core.

The golem gave a final huff of steam... then collapsed.

…

Far from the examination grounds, was an area where professors observed each 'screens' of the entrants. A whole room was dedicated based on the category of entrants and it just so happens that Aleandro, was in charge of Xian's party all at the same time.

Behind him, Serika and Lucinelle had finished retelling their story with Celine, who had other monitors in front of her. They were watching other entrants take the exam, reminiscing on their student days.

And there was also a maid with a confused expression. Probably the sole servant that the duke had sent to be with his daughter.

The academy, had their own staff that took care of housekeeping matters and tended to the students with special background. Even though the academy boasted equality in its grounds, inevitably, some figures had to receive special treatment.

But that didn't mean the academy was a pushover.

It had been proven to retaliate fiercely to those that tried to push the boundaries of what its rules enforced. Hence, three servants was allowed to be brought in the dorms at most, but no more than that.

'They did find a way through subordinating lower nobles though…' The children of their parent's vassal's would always be at the mercy of their lords children in the academy. And even outside the academy after all that.

As if to mimic the society where their parents hailed from, It was like a rotten fruit that the academy was simply unable to rid of.

Surprisingly, that daughter of his sister and a madman had come with servants similar to her age.

Despite the infamy, there are people who still gabe their loyalty to her.

He didn't know what Renedon was thinking, letting such an ill natured girl out in the academy. The same went for the headmaster who let the admission.

'That kid is quite powerful.' He was watching Xian pummel through the steam golems that the academy found no use of. They were made by second years and were set to be disposed, but was put to use in the labyrinth instead.

The other two wasn't lacking, as Fahna, the said descendant of the sword saint flashed with an unreal speed for an entrant. Even among the third years, her speed would be a lethal weapon that took lives on the battlefield.

Next was what he's most curious about. The young mage, proclaimed by those obnoxious old wizards to be a genius appearing once in a millennium. That would almost guarantee that she's going to reach the level of an Arcmage.

As a mage himself, he wanted to see that potential in action.

Meanwhile, his eyes turned into another commotion, occurring in the grid maze.

'Carmillia…' He muttered, looking at the girl who stood comfortably, while being protected by a naive entrant.

…

"Please wait! Why are you doing this?"

Adrian Wylert cried out with a desperate voice, as he blocked a blow that nearly made him lose his grip on the sword.

As weak as his arms are, he parried another strike from his opponent.

They encountered a slightly short girl, with brown ponytail, holding a sword and shield, slashing at some small monsters. She was initially cheerful to see fellow entrants and ran towards them and began speaking in a weird way.

But suddenly, her innocence and cheerfulness disappeared right after his companion introduced herself. Her expression changed into a cold and unsettling one, making him shiver.

No, perhaps… It was directed towards the woman behind him. Someone he just met and had been kind enough to explore the maze together with him.

"…" She just stood there silently, looking at the two of them as they fought. He gritted his teeth, thinking that perhaps she had no ability to help.

'Even so!'

Another shield bash came from the girl with an effortless motion as he was launched from the air.

"Gah!" He fell on his back and felt numb in his arms. The simple sword he held fell on the ground.

"How futile. Why defend evil and stop justice from being delivered?" The girl uttered, in almost a whisper, before finally kicking Adrian in the head, making him unsconscious.

"All you had to do was to not stand in the way, pitiful weakling." Words she would've never said in her usual self came out from her mouth one after another.

Ruminaria, with the once cheerful and valiant persona gone, walked towards Carmillia.

"It's you. The evil that descended to our village…" She muttered something incomprehensible towards her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Once again, it was a sin that she didn't know of or remembered. Like always.

"Lies are useless." She dashed towards Carmillia with a smooth step and sword raised, her shield protecting her charge.

'Entangling dark vines.' Dark whips that resembled vines came out from the ground and surrounded Carmillia and underneath Ruminaria, a cluster poke out, almost hitting her exposed legs and stomach as she rotated her body sideways to dodge.

It followed her movements and she had no choice but to cut off the vines that were chasing her.

All the time, Carmillia had been stretching her magic throughout underneath the ground. She had accumulated enough to wear down the opponent in front of her. She reminded her of Serika and Lucinelle who fought with the same degree of focus, although she was way weaker.

But something told her that this girl was more dangerous than her two subordinates despite being inferior.

She prepared another magic, silently casting inside her 'Mind's Voice'. A technique that allow's thoughts to perform incantations instead of speaking them aloud, preventing enemies from predicting a mages next move.

At times, mages with enough practiced can incant instantaneously this way, the mind and body only needs to remember.

And Carmillia, had been blessed to learn magic at an early age, through the will of her mother.

'Darkness, surge and engulf my opponent in pain!'

She held the magic and waited for the right moment to strike, letting Ruminaria find an opening amongst the sea of vine's her magic had created.

"There!" Ruminaria shouted as she tore through multiple vine's and neared Carmillia, only for a magic circle to meet her in the way.

Seeing that, she still brought down her sword, but instead of Carmillia, it struck a barrier instead. Her expression conterted in rage realizing that she had fallen for a trap.

Darkness rained from above as she rang out a horrid screamed and bled in her orifices.

"AAARRGH!" But still standing, she gritted her teeth and threw her sword.

Just when, the sword was about to hit Carmillia, a figure flashed and held it at place.

"That's enough. Killing in the exam grounds is forbidden. You will be disqualified for breaking the rules." An instructor had come to stop the sword from killing Carmillia just in time and spoke in Ruminaria's direction.

But her unfocused gaze meant that she heard none of it as she fell to the ground.

"Tsk, tsk. The rules were clearly stated." He shook his head while lamenting the failure of a talented entrant and turned to Carmillia. "What about you, can you still go on?" knowing how powerful these students are, he purposely spoke in a harsh and annoyed tone.

But no answer came.

"Hey!" As he nudged Carmillia's shoulder lightly, she fell just the same like Ruminaria.

"Hup! Well, I guess you are tired and out of mana." He was about to lift her body when a hot streaming liquid was felt in his hands.

"Blood! But since when?" Right away he administered potion in her mouth and looked for the wound. She had been pierced at the back by a dagger that was given to the entrants at the start of the exam.

He tapped into a device in his ear and made a transmission. "We have wounded at the sixth room variation layer of the grid maze. I need a priest to heal one entrant on critical condition!"

Unfortunately, the potion did nothing to save her life. A figure watched it all transpire from afar, unseen even by the instructor. As if it was never present, it faded away into nothingness and left no trace, but Carmillia's dying body.

…

Everything was going smoothly and Xian was finally near the second exam's exit.

A silhouette was slowly being formed on an empty throne, creating a visage made of blue flame wisps.

A humanoid with a bulls head and a mans body sat before them, its a giant axe pierced in the ground. He was thrilled to finally face a lethal opponent apart from Serika. The other monsters they encountered were summon's that didn't give any exp.

'But this one monster does.' Unlike the other monster's, this summon were at a certain degree of strength already. It could be said to be a true monster in a sense.

A mimicked minotaur warrior. He remembered that only at this point would the level up and stat function appear.

Then on the third examination, would be a demonstration of strength against an instructor. This is why he wanted to at least save his strength, but he enjoyed way more than usual on the way.

'Oh well. Let's finish this.'

It was when he took the first step. He felt that familiar force pulling him back once again.

'Shit. Really?' He felt like an idiot, still surprised that something went wrong, somewhere he couldn't see.

That was his Sixth Regression.

REGRESSION COUNTER: 6