The examination began.
The numbers were assigned at random, with no order by name or anything of the sort.
Geon-mu's number was 52.
Only after fifty-one people had taken their tests beyond that glass window would his number come.
Until then he watched at his leisure to see how the examination was conducted.
"Please let it be C-Grade, please, C-Grade......."
A man beside him was muttering with his palms pressed together.
He was number 51, seated to Geon-mu's side.
Unable to let it pass, Geon-mu asked the man a question.
"Is getting a C-Grade your dream?"
At Geon-mu's question, the man looked him up and down and answered curtly.
"Is that even worth asking?"
"I don't know much about this world's business."
Geon-mu shrugged as he answered.
"Any Awakened would know at least this much...... If you get C for your first grade, well. It means your road to success is literally open. At a first grade assessment, twenty percent get F, and seventy-four percent get D. And four point nine percent get C. That means the top four point nine percent among greenhorns. Love calls from the big guilds would come flooding in. You'd never have to worry about money again."
"Then A-Grade and B-Grade together make one point one percent?"
"Yes, but B-Grade is effectively impossible. Really. You're better off hoping for C."
"Hmm...... In that case, A-Grade?"
He had already asked Kang Ho-seok about it, but he was curious what the young man thought, so he threw the question out.
At that, the man gave Geon-mu a sidelong look of disbelief.
"If you become A-Grade, would success even matter? You could leave this Hell Joseon, get scouted abroad, and live like a king. Well, it's impossible anyway."
He let the last words trail off slightly, but Geon-mu heard them clearly.
"Why do you think it's impossible?"
"These days getting A-Grade at a first grade assessment is impossible. With the tests now, you're lucky to make B even if you pass all five."
"If it's a tiny minority, then it means someone has managed it. Who is there?"
"Uh...... Gwak Min-seo, the Swift Wind Sword? Part of it was that his Patron Star's support was loaded, and part of it was that he'd secretly raised his level, but he's probably the most famous one."
"Is that so? And who is his Patron Star?"
"That's never been made public, so nobody knows."
Gwak Min-seo, the Swift Wind Sword.
Geon-mu made a rough note of the name.
"Come to think of it, you and I have not exchanged names. I am called Cha Geon-mu."
"What? Ah, right......."
At the sudden exchange of names, the man looked away.
Ordinarily, during a grade assessment, everyone was a stranger to everyone else.
Most were looking at their phones or checking their equipment.
There was no sort who struck up conversation as easily as Geon-mu did.
"In any case, if someone became A-Grade with a single test, then it is worth challenging once. I will take an A-Grade in this examination."
It was the mindset of a man holding a single coin and dreaming of a jackpot.
Good if it worked, and no loss if it did not.
Number 51 found Geon-mu's declaration absurd.
'How lightly does this guy take an A-Grade?'
In elementary school, Seoul National University looks easy to anyone.
Only in high school do you learn there are people who fly, face reality, and go looking for a university that fits you.
Geon-mu was exactly that shape.
The type who believed, like an elementary schooler, that he had limitless potential.
"......Good luck to you."
The man rolled his shoulders and moved away from Geon-mu.
They were strangers anyway, so there was no need for harsh words, and that ended the conversation.
The grade assessment began.
Geon-mu watched to see how it proceeded.
In the Simulation Room, the assessor and the Awakened stood side by side.
He had been told that the monsters were not made by computer graphics but by the assessor's ability.
'The one the assessor contracted with was called the <Lion Statue That Loves Riddles>?'
The assessor's ability was publicly disclosed, so it was possible to learn beforehand what kind of ability it was.
An Awakened contracted with the Patron Star <Lion Statue That Loves Riddles> could only exercise the ability with the other party's consent, or within a certain area he had designated.
The conditions for activation were demanding, so it was a disadvantageous ability in dungeons or trials, but for an examination such as a grade assessment it was an outstanding and objective one.
There were five bouts in total, and insect types, humanoid types, and fish types alike appeared.
Some people got a familiar monster and passed easily, while others met one for the first time and could not properly bring out their ability.
"Wow, they really weren't kidding about this being a luck-ruined test......."
"Fuck. I went to all that trouble practicing how to kill orcs, so why does that thing come out?"
Joy and despair crossed paths.
But Geon-mu did not agree with them.
'Whether it's the assessor's discretion or the ability of that Patron Star, I don't know, but.......'
If Geon-mu's judgment was correct, this examination looked random, but there were things determined by its underlying nature.
Five battles took place during the examination.
Two were against familiar opponents, two were against opponents you had seen or fought before, and the last was against an opponent you were meeting for the first time.
The order did not matter.
They simply mixed it skillfully so that the Awakened could not read the pattern.
The crux of a grade assessment was the ability to handle a crisis.
"You there."
Geon-mu nudged the man seated to his left, number 51.
"Yes?"
"Have you practiced killing monsters at all?"
"Of course. I took an intensive crash course at a swordsmanship academy in Gangnam. C-Grade is as good as in the bag."
"In that case, I think you will most likely receive a D-Grade."
"......Sorry?"
"It would be best to prepare yourself in advance."
The man stared at him in disbelief, and Geon-mu swallowed a private feeling of satisfaction.
To Geon-mu, that had been said out of consideration.
'Better than being disappointed with no warning.'
But it was hard to take it that way.
The man wore an exasperated face and vacated the seat next to Geon-mu.
Yet just as Geon-mu had said, number 51 was given a D-Grade and boarded the elevator with a hollow look.
"Number 52, please come up."
Next came Geon-mu's turn.
Leaving the crestfallen man behind, Geon-mu went inside and faced the assessor.
The assessor read his profile in the dry tone he always used.
"Mister Cha Geon-mu. This is your first grade assessment."
"That is correct."
"Er, could you use polite speech, if at all possible?"
The assessor frowned as he pointed it out.
Geon-mu scratched his head, looking sheepish, and apologized.
"My apologies. I am not accustomed to polite speech."
"So you are saying you will not use it?"
"Do not take it badly."
"......."
Assessor Kim Cheol-mun blinked.
What sort of oddity was this?
A man approaching his late thirties was being looked down on by a kid barely into his early twenties.
Kim Cheol-mun was displeased, but he did not press the squabble any further.
As a civil servant belonging to the state, the most terrifying monster was the flood of public complaints.
Treating it as having stepped in dung and ignoring it was the best method.
"In that case, we will proceed as you are."
Just as Kim Cheol-mun was about to gather mana to begin, Geon-mu raised a hand.
"Ah, I think I should mention this in advance."
Kim Cheol-mun tilted his head, and Geon-mu declared.
"I am going to take an A-Grade in this grade assessment."
"Sorry?"
"So there will be no need to go easy on me the way you do with the others."
Kim Cheol-mun could not get a read on what sort of oddity Cha Geon-mu was.
There were many people who wanted an A-Grade.
It would be strange if there were not.
Someone who said they disliked a road to success would either be a strange bastard or a hermit who had left the mortal world behind, one of the two.
But there was no human who set out to seize an A-Grade on a first attempt the way Geon-mu did.
C at the very most.
And frankly, C was not a grade you could get easily either.
That was Kim Cheol-mun's experience from overseeing grade assessments for more than thirty thousand people.
'The fuss over the Tapgol Park business seems to have gone to his head.'
He seemed like a frog in a well, puffed up without knowing his own place.
It was laughable.
Swallowing a scornful laugh, Kim Cheol-mun warned him once more, as the manual required.
"It would be better to take the first test at a level suited to your own."
"I know my own skill well enough, so it is fine."
Geon-mu refused again.
It was the situation the assessor most feared, since one misstep could see the man carried off to an emergency room.
"Understood. We will do it that way. However, I will have a medical team standing by."
"Do as you like."
It meant they were creating a sufficiently safe environment for Geon-mu.
But Geon-mu interpreted it a little differently.
'It seems he will die if I go at it seriously.'
He took it as something Kim Cheol-mun was doing for his own safety.
It had never occurred to him from the start that he might be in danger in this examination.
"In that case, I will conduct the screening at A-Grade standards. Do you consent once more?"
[Do you accept the <Riddle of Death>?]
The message that appeared in front of Geon-mu was Kim Cheol-mun's ability.
Geon-mu nodded.
In that instant the Simulation Room began to shake.
Having concluded the agreement with Geon-mu, he had released his power.
[Conditions satisfied. <Riddle of Death> has been activated.]
At the same time, the entire building began to rumble.
RRRUMBLE—
"What is it? What's happening?"
"There isn't an earthquake somewhere, is there?"
The people sitting quietly in the waiting room grew flustered, then turned their attention as one to the Simulation Room.
The latticed room was shaking.
An enormous quantity of mana flowed out of the mana stones that supported Kim Cheol-mun's magic and gathered before him.
The object he shaped startled everyone.
"That's a Minotaur!?"
"That's a semi-boss class monster at the very least! He summoned that!?"
Semi-boss class monsters did not appear unless the subject requested them.
Which meant the person being measured inside had requested a semi-boss class monster.
"Who is that man?"
"Is he someone famous?"
"No idea. I've never even heard the name??"
Even those with no interest in other people's business turned their attention there.
More than Geon-mu's clothes or his face, it was his stance that provoked them.
That stance tickled at their memories.
A memory of having seen it somewhere.
"Tapgol Park!"
"Ah! That's the man who beat eighty goblins to death alone!"
As people began to recognize him, the glass at the front of the waiting room fell out of all control.
The star of the video they had only heard rumors of had appeared like a reclusive master.
"Fuck, how did I not know!?"
"Camera! I have to film this on camera!"
Outside it became bedlam as cameras came on, but Geon-mu paid it no mind.
Focusing on the one Minotaur in front of him was the task at hand.
-GRAAAAWRR!!
The summoned Minotaur let out a roar.
Geon-mu's hair blew back in the wind.
"What a foul-breathed bastard you are."
[<Myriad Phenomena> sees through the Minotaur.]
[Minotaur]
Race: Tau
Lineage: Beast
Rank: Chief
Level: 50
Strength: 270
Agility: 260
Perception: 230
Stamina: 300
Magic Power: 0
<Skills>
<Berserk>, <Roar>, <Vanguard of War>.......
Its level was the same as Nandi's.
In specifications its Strength and Stamina were lower, but its Agility and Perception were relatively higher.
It meant the thing moved more nimbly and had enough intelligence to make judgments about Geon-mu's actions.
So what of the difficulty?
"Tsk."
Geon-mu clicked his tongue.
"I told him not to go easy on me, and he has set out to hand it to me."
-MOOOOO!!
The Minotaur ran toward where Geon-mu stood.
The pounding tremors climbed up through his feet.
The Minotaur swung a huge axe back over its shoulder with one hand.
Geon-mu read the axe's trajectory in advance.
A red, force-laden line was heading for Geon-mu's waist.
Geon-mu kicked off from where he stood and leapt into the air.
The Minotaur's axe came flying toward the point where Geon-mu's waist had been.
As though in slow motion, very slowly, it cut through the place where Geon-mu had been.
At the instant the axe handle came to the center, Geon-mu stamped down on the handle precisely with his heel.
THUD!
The Minotaur's axe trajectory bent and its balance collapsed.
Its opponent was semi-boss class, so it did not follow through into a fall.
Even so, it was enough.
He drew out a short sword and severed the Achilles tendon of the left foot, where the weight had shifted.
The foot supporting the body gave way.
-MOOOOO!
The Minotaur's roar rang out thunderously.
The Minotaur, on its knees now, swung the axe again with all its might in a frenzy.
It did not touch Geon-mu's body in the slightest.
'A humanoid type is actually easier.'
Geon-mu had learned his martial arts fighting humans.
The closer the form was to a human's, the wider the range of movements Geon-mu could bring out.
The reason the Minotaur was far easier than Nandi, despite their similar levels, was its form.
"I know your measure now......."
Geon-mu brought his hands together.
"Now it is my turn."
The cultivated force stored within his body gathered into both hands.
HUMMMM—.
An air current bored between the layers of air and blew a bleak whistle.
The Minotaur felt it instinctively.
That it must not stand by while Geon-mu gathered energy like that.
The Minotaur let out a roar and charged forward.
It brought the axe in its hand down at Geon-mu's head.
The first form of the Heaven-Breaking Divine Art.
Geon-mu rolled his shoulder lightly and stepped his left foot forward.
The blade that had been aimed at his head grazed past his body.
The turn of opportunity had passed entirely to Geon-mu.
He realized the prepared motion perfectly.
"Air-Breaking Palm."
The small sphere gathered above his hand touched the Minotaur's head.
THOOM—!
The skin of the Minotaur's head began to ripple.
The waves that rose, as though a drop of water had fallen on a deep, wide lake, bored down into its skull.
CRUNCH, CRRRUNCH—
The hard skull could not withstand the waves and shattered.
The broken skull bone drove into the brain, and the Minotaur's body, struck in a vital point, went rigid.
-Uraaagh.......
Frothing blood at the mouth, the Minotaur collapsed where it stood.
There was nothing more to see.
Instant death.
THUUUD!
Dust scattered as the massive body fell.
The stillness that came at the end of the battle was immediately colored by Kim Cheol-mun's cry of shock.
"Hah!"
Having watched it all, Kim Cheol-mun looked back and forth between Geon-mu and the Minotaur with an expression of incomprehension.
The monster he had brought out was one for a test held to A-Grade standards.
And he had brought out the second most difficult of them right away.
'And he...... sent it off in a single blow?'
He could not believe it.
When a Minotaur's health fell below thirty percent, it activated <Berserk> and sharply strengthened all of its stats.
Its defense in particular rose enormously for several seconds during <Berserk>.
That was why it was effectively impossible to kill in one go.
'That means he ignored all of that defense?'
Could such a thing happen?
That an attack this powerful existed while also ignoring defense?
Even seeing it with both eyes, he could not believe it.
"What?! What just happened!?"
"Did the Minotaur just die in one hit!?"
The onlookers outside began to go wild as well.
Geon-mu, by contrast, wore a thoroughly relaxed face.
Taking down a Minotaur was no reason for Geon-mu to get excited.
"Four left."
Geon-mu had merely counted off a number, as though running a countdown.
But to someone, those words could sound like a provocation.
[<Lion Statue That Loves Riddles> rises from its seat.]
For Patron Stars with strong pride, it was by no means something to be let pass.
A message rose before the flustered Kim Cheol-mun.
[<Lion Statue That Loves Riddles> descends into the contractor's body.]