Chapter 110: Additional Evaluation and the Night of the Dungeon (1)

The Colosseum bustled with the ongoing power evaluation. At its center stood a large magic-engineered device studded with numerous magic stones. Dozens of artificial gates were installed around it.

On one side of the evaluation arena, several reserve squad instructors were engaged in conversation.

“Four hours have passed. Will we see anyone completing the evaluation soon?”
“I think it’ll take a bit longer. The graduate student who created the evaluation dungeon said it would take at least five hours, no matter how fast they are.”

Instructor Mythos responded to this.

“No, this class has quite a few skilled students. I don’t think it’ll take five hours. We might see one or two students emerge from the gate soon.”

Instructor Mythos pondered. Especially Rosette and Chloe. They were outstanding. Among the best in Pantheon’s history, excelling in both magic and alchemy, with a keen battle sense.

‘Of course, Rosette has the edge right now.’

Indeed, during the opening ceremony’s sparring match, Chloe was significantly outmatched by Rosette. Although it was officially declared a draw due to certain circumstances, it was effectively Rosette’s victory.

Rosette possessed an innate abundance of mana, allowing her to unleash a barrage of high-powered offensive magic.

Furthermore, her aerial combat, characteristic of witches, made her unconstrained by terrain or altitude. Chloe fought valiantly, but her opponent was a tough match.

‘But this evaluation might be different.’

A few days ago, late at night, Instructor Mythos had visited the Colosseum to check the completion of the evaluation dungeon.

There, he witnessed an interesting scene.

The graduate students working overnight were acting differently than usual.

‘Having tea time with expensive mint choco tea and pricey late-night snacks at this hour.’

They claimed they bought the snacks with their own money, but that was nonsense. Graduate students weren’t that well-off.

Upon further inquiry, a familiar name surfaced, as expected.

The Marquis’s daughter of Aetern. Chloe. It seemed Chloe had provided snacks to the graduate students. That cunning Chloe wouldn’t have done so without a purpose.

‘She must have extracted information about the evaluation dungeon.’

Inwardly, Mythos praised Chloe. While such actions would be frowned upon in Pantheon’s theoretical exams, this evaluation was for the reserve squad.

The reserve squad’s duty was to battle magical beasts. In other words, to step onto a battlefield where carelessness meant losing one’s head.

‘Fair play doesn’t put food on the table. And you can’t turn a fair-playing corpse into an undead to fight for you.’

Necromancy was illegal in the Empire. In any case, information warfare was essential on such a battlefield. Obtaining prior information was also a part of one’s ability.

Moreover, no matter how much information one had about the dungeon, ultimately, it was up to the individual to conquer it. Without fundamental skills, that information was just scraps of paper.

That’s why Mythos was looking forward to seeing who would take first place. Of course, even with Chloe’s information advantage, Rosette was still favored.

‘However, as a genius witch, Rosette lacks desperation.’

She wasn’t lazy, but she wasn’t the type to push herself to her absolute limits.

If Chloe won this time, it might serve as a stimulus for Rosette. Mythos would be delighted if both of their skills improved.

“Then who will take third place? Leif from the Combat Order, as expected?”
“Leif? I suppose so. As the representative student of the Combat Order, his skills seem decent.”

Leif. A swordsman of common birth. He was currently a 3rd Tier Mana Swordsman. Mythos knew him, of course.

‘He’s been known as a skilled student since his first year.’

Of course, Rosette and Chloe overshadowed him, and he was less prominent than even Princess Lillia if support students like healers were included.

However, his recent performance in the reserve squad missions wasn’t bad. Based on the post-mission reports, he dealt with the magical beasts very methodically.

‘But he’s too methodical. No flair. No unpredictability.’

Therefore, a different student came to Instructor Mythos’s mind. He spoke,

“Unexpectedly, another student might take third place. For example, Count Julian.”
“Julian? That scoundrel… I mean, the Count? I know you’re close with him, Instructor Mythos, but aren’t you overestimating him?”

One instructor spoke dubiously. The other instructors agreed.

“He’s the heir to the noble Lord Margrave Wilhelm, but… his combat skills were so poor that it was a waste of Reinhardt blood. Ever since his first year, he’s been obsessed with strange arts…”
“Hmm. Strange arts, you say? The world of art is open to free interpretation. Even for someone like me who uses magical beast corpses for art.”
“Ah, I misspoke. Anyway, Count Julian in third place? That’s unexpected.”

However, another instructor countered the previous one.

“No, Instructor Mythos’s words aren’t entirely without merit. I hear that scoundrel Count has changed in his second year. He consistently attends Combat Order training. Above all, the report from the recent mission in the Niver territory, which caused quite a stir, was successfully completed by Count Julian.”
“The Niver territory? That’s where the special gate appeared. But didn’t he pair up with Chloe for that mission? In that case, it was probably the Marquis’s daughter’s achievement…”

Mythos immediately refuted this.

“That’s not the case. According to the report, Count Julian delivered the final blow to the dungeon boss. Not just the boss, but other magical beasts and monsters as well.”
“Hmm. The Marquis’s daughter of Aetern… as the heir to that massive trading company, she’s exceptionally clever. Perhaps she took care of everything and intentionally gave the credit to Count Julian? To curry favor with the Margrave family.”

That was also unlikely. Mythos had heard from Darren, a highly skilled instructor from the Combat Order with whom he had a personal connection. Unexpectedly, Count Julian could already use Lionheart Swordsmanship.

Moreover, he displayed remarkable skill during training, surpassing other Combat Order students.

‘The famous swordsmanship of the White Night Knights. And to meet the strict standards of Instructor Darren, simply imitating it would be counterproductive.’

However, it seemed Julian had fully met Darren’s standards.

Darren was an instructor who never offered empty praise. He even confided in Mythos that Julian’s potential might surpass Leif’s.

Furthermore, after reviewing Mythos’s mission report from the Niver territory, Darren seemed even more convinced of his assessment. And that was coming from a very discerning individual.

The instructors’ conversation continued.

“Well, Instructor Mythos might be right. After all, a Reinhardt is a Reinhardt. The Count is the grandson of the great Lord Wilhelm and the son of Saint Agnes. Blood will tell, as they say.”
“That’s true, but his performance last year was so underwhelming. But if Instructor Mythos thinks so, is there a possibility?”
“Hmm. Come to think of it, I heard Count Julian is attending lectures in various Orders. His name has been coming up frequently among other professors recently, so I wondered… has he truly changed?”

The instructors debated back and forth, most of them skeptical. It was understandable. It wasn’t easy to shed the image of last year’s scoundrel overnight.

Mythos clapped his hands to calm them down.

“Now, now. Well, we’ll see whether it’s true or not based on the results of this evaluation. More importantly, this isn’t the end of the power evaluation. Let’s stop slacking off.”
“Instructor Mythos is right. We need to conduct the additional evaluation for the students who haven’t retired. We should start preparing.”

The instructors, having finished their chatter, were about to move. Just then,

A student emerged from one of the artificial gates. The instructors fell silent for a moment. Then one of them shouted,

“That student is…! That… Instructor Mythos, you were right! It’s Count Julian!”
“Really? Did he retire and come out early…?”
“I don’t think so. Look. Doesn’t he look perfectly fine?”
“Then are you saying Count Julian actually took first place?”

The instructors all looked at Instructor Mythos with astonished eyes, expecting an explanation. But Mythos himself was taken aback.

‘Wait. I thought third place was possible, but first place?’

Mythos observed Julian’s expression. He seemed unfazed, as if taking first place wasn’t surprising at all. He calmly raised his hand and called out to the instructors.

“I, Julian von Reinhardt, have completed the power evaluation dungeon!”

And he presented the dungeon core he held in one hand. The artificial core that generated this test gate. Undeniable proof of clearing the dungeon.

The instructors were once again astonished.

I successfully completed the power evaluation. First place, as I had aimed for. The Undead Knight, the dungeon boss, wasn’t much of a challenge.

‘According to the cheat sheet, the process of getting there was more important than the boss itself.’

The various buffs that increased the boss’s difficulty. I had dealt with all the troublesome subordinate magical beasts responsible for those buffs.

Even the Undead Knight boss was just a slightly stronger Type 3 magical beast.

‘And I had White Night.’

With every magical beast and monster I cut down, the Reinhardt blood surged even more. Maintaining that sensation, I unleashed the secret technique, White Night.

The Undead Knight couldn’t react to the attack at all. The result was, as seen now, first place. The expressions of the instructors who saw me emerge from the gate were quite a sight.

Even the usually laid-back Instructor Mythos couldn’t hide his surprised expression. He approached me and said,

“Count Juli? Are you alright? Are you injured anywhere? It must have been a nauseating dungeon.”
“Yes, I’m fine. Instructor Mythos.”
“Oh… I see. Good work. And you can speak informally like usual. Anyway, why don’t you wait nearby for now? The other students haven’t come out yet.”
“Alright.”

Then Instructor Mythos whispered to me,

“Count Juli. Actually, this power evaluation… what you just did isn’t the end. Once two more students emerge, we’ll conduct an additional evaluation. So, please rest for a bit.”
“An additional evaluation?”

Of course, I already knew that the artificial dungeon I had just cleared wasn’t the end of the power evaluation. But I pretended not to know and listened to his explanation.

“It’s a kind of endurance training. You’ve already exerted yourself in the evaluation dungeon. We’ll group the top three students based on their clearing times and throw them into a separate artificial dungeon. And it’ll be a higher-grade dungeon than the current Type 3. It’s a pretty useful training method, and serves as an evaluation as well.”

If one’s condition wasn’t good immediately after exiting the gate, they could forgo the additional evaluation.

However, that didn’t apply to students aiming for squad leader positions. If they didn’t undergo the evaluation, even if they cleared the previous dungeon within the top 10, they wouldn’t receive the squad leader qualification and badge.

“Anyway, it’s a dungeon where students are deliberately thrown in to suffer. It’ll be tough. What will you do?”

Of course, it was a question not worth pondering over.

“I’ll participate, of course.”
“Oh? Count Juli. How curious. You were interesting in your first year too, but your eyes have changed quite a bit. Could it be…”

Mythos whispered with a sly expression,

“Did you perhaps experience the taste of a woman during winter break? A man truly becomes an adult only after knowing a woman. Count Juli. Actually, for a scoundrel, you lacked sexual experience, didn’t you? I knew it all along.”

His words struck a nerve. The reason for my increased strength wasn’t unrelated to that. More than that, it seemed Julian was unexpectedly a virgin.

‘Come to think of it, Eileen was a virgin too.’

However, I didn’t know he hadn’t gone all the way even at the debauched parties he supposedly enjoyed with Fabian. It was also surprising that Mythos knew about this.

I calmly replied,

“That’s absurd. I’m not some depraved demon. I simply trained diligently.”

Instructor Mythos patted my shoulder vigorously.

“As expected of Count Juli. As expected of someone who shared artistic discussions with me. Splendid!”

Having shared artistic discussions with this crazy instructor who performed with magical beast corpses… the original owner of my body truly had unique artistic tastes.

As I was chatting with Instructor Mythos, another student emerged from the gate. Chloe, as expected. And following closely behind her, another student appeared. It was Rosette.

“Oh dear. The Marquis’s daughter barely managed second place. That’s a shame. If it weren’t for Count Juli, she would have been first.”

He was right. Chloe, upon confirming her victory over Rosette, raised both hands in the air, unlike her usual self. But then, she saw me already there and her expression turned subtle.

“Anyway, now that three of you are here, let’s start the additional evaluation. Oh, and Count Juli. The additional evaluation dungeon is quite nasty. I’ll explain it again, but clearing it isn’t the objective.”

He wore a sly grin.

“It’s a near Type 2 dungeon. And you’ll be thrown into the gate with your Holy Power sealed. Try to survive until the designated time. Oh, and as befits a Type 2 dungeon, there’s nighttime there too. Be careful.”

Even that was exactly as I knew. Of course, my highest record in Demon Survival was 5th place, so the additional dungeon I entered was easier than the one Mythos described.

Soon, Rosette, Chloe, and I entered the new dungeon as instructed by the instructors.