Mystery Tales Under the Moonlight

Chapter 34: Category Determination Exams at the Academy (11).

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After the first test, sorting the results will take some time.

Therefore, the students had the freedom to do as they pleased until the rankings of each person were revealed.

Just as there were categories for talent, the academy had different categories as well.

From category (D) up to category (A), the category determination exams were what determined which class a student belonged to.

A person's treatment varied according to the category they belonged to.

Category (D) is the dump, while category (A) is the treasure trove.

Naturally, the academy — which operates on merit, treats those at the top differently from those at the bottom.

At least, in terms of resources, that is.

"It was terrifying... when I remember those crazies, I get shivers down my spine...!"

"Yes...! The chaos that occurred was horrifying, not to mention that many fought each other as if they were insane."

"Still, I felt that I did my best, what a loss... I'm just a category (C) talent."

"You're better off! I'm a lower talent."

Many people discussed among themselves, recalling the events of the test.

For the seventeen-year-olds, the chaos that occurred was concerning, but most of them handled it well.

The source of fear — of course, was nothing but the battle between Leon and Logan, which ended with both facing imminent death.

Many were eliminated because of their fight.

The madness and obsession in both their eyes, risking their lives, forgetting the test that was of great importance to many.

That horror seeped into one's being.

After the two exited, there was a great commotion happening in the place.

The judging committee did not expect that.

And as the two expected, the academy did not risk leaving them to die.

They were healed while lying in the emergency rooms.

Six people.

The number who achieved the highest score.

The second daughter of Marcus Hardian, the ruler of the Kingdom of Cairo and the Saint of the Sword.

The kind princess Lucia Hardian.

The only daughter of the Kronos family, daughter of Samuel Kronos, known as one of the strongest people in Cairo.

The genius of the sword and the pen, Lilith Kronos.

The youngest son of the Mao Li clan, the boy who began to establish his reputation among young geniuses.

The Sword of Righteousness, Mao Li Chiu.

The Claudius family, which focuses on creatures and the environment, refining weapons and vehicles, not to mention medicines and poisons, the third daughter of that family.

The Princess of Poisons, Lina Claudius.

The only son of the patriarch of the Shin clan, the boy whose wisdom overshadowed those older than him, many thought he inherited his father's malice.

The Moon of the Shin clan, Shin Su.

And finally, the youngest son of the Harvey family, a talent that had not come to the family for decades.

The boy who was indisputably called a genius in Cairo.

The genius of the sword, Edward Harvey.

These six, all achieved high-level talent, talent (A).

An unprecedented incident for over a hundred years, it can even be said that this academy is the only place where this happened.

It is not unreasonable for talents to gather in one place, but for them all to be the same age?

It can be said that this is an incident that will be immortalized in history books for at least another hundred years.

Not one or two, but six.

The greatest expectations were to obtain three talents.

Never be deceived by numbers.

They may seem small, but in this world, where power overcomes groups, category (A) talents hold high value.

One might argue that resources are sufficient to reach it, but that is not possible with just that.

Of course, with some advanced methods, talent can be improved, at most, to category (B) with sufficient resources, that is possible.

But talent (A)? Hahaha, impossible!

If you give gold to a bird, it has no value; if you give worms to a human, it has no value either.

At least three out of four main elements are needed to reach high-level talent.

Magical energy, mental state, physical strength, and willpower.

Among these four, a person must possess three to barely reach the threshold of the upper category.

With abundant resources, perhaps one can possess physical strength and excess magical energy.

The mental state and willpower, however, cannot be possessed with those.

Those are things that a person decides for themselves, and no one can help them with.

The shock did not end there; there were quite a number of talents of rank (B) among the students as well.

Even so, many still had the worst talent and average talent.

"Did you remember the faces of those who have value?" Loki opened his mouth, with his usual cold voice.

"To some extent, yes, unfortunately, I still haven't seen anything interesting to that degree."

Firon replied in a sleepy voice, feeling a desire to sleep.

The only interesting thing in the first test was Logan and Leon's extreme movements, so it was somewhat boring.

"We're not done yet; we can go wild in the second test if my guess is correct, not as if the result matters anymore, now that we've been accepted."

While standing next to his students, Dio opened his mouth with a slightly excited tone.

"My hands are itching already... I really want to play!"

Lloyd was silent, as his thoughts drifted towards the horizon.

He seemed lost in thought.

The others were aware of the reason, so they did not involve him in the conversation.

"Anyway, let's go to Leon; while he's injured, let's keep an eye on him; those cunning foxes might try to do something."

"Given the strength he showed, there will be many complaints, and they might do something."

As they observed the chatter here and there, the group walked when Loki said that.

They were now heading to the infirmary, where Leon and Logan lay.

The talents of the six from the prestigious families? Hahaha, they didn't care even a little!

All the credit for one's success is their talent.

Talent and talent.

Loki smiled sarcastically.

If they hadn't lived a life of suffering, would they be such fools now?

At some point, when one lives through life's experiences, they will realize a few things.

Time catches up with a person in their living, and they do not know when they will die.

You might die suddenly from a heart attack, hordes of monsters might attack your village without warning, you might be killed treacherously by someone.

In short, life is utterly unpredictable, and one cannot foresee what will happen to them in it.

Why are so many creatures obsessed with talking about others and talent, attributing the credit for success to external matters?

Because the hardest thing in the world is to rely solely on yourself.

What you rely on may be your formidable strength, it may be your intelligence and wisdom, or perhaps you rely on your lineage.

When falling into trouble, you will have difficult choices, but they are always easier than "self-reliance."

And yet, reality is not that kind.

One day, you will realize this.

It is not wrong to rely on external sources, but the priority should be on one thing.

No family or help will benefit you at that time.

No friends or allies will be nearby.

No resources or talent can stay with you.

The only one who remains with you until the end.

It is none other than yourself.

In the end, the only one more reliable than others is that person, your own self.

All six in the group knew this deeply.

So it was possible for them to simply laugh at the ignorance of others.

The five young men and the girl disappeared through the crowd, heading to the place where the red-eyed boy lay.

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White.

As white as snow in the middle of winter.

No, it was even whiter.

An environment painted in white can be seen.

The walls and the ground, even the sky is pure white.

That color signifies purity, lack of pollution, and filth.

When a creature sees something, emotions naturally arise.

Things are just matter, yet everything in the world conveys some kind of emotion.

Even in this colorless place, there was no exception.

A strange emotion arises when you see it with your eyes.

Those happy emotions of seeing most things in the world... were absent.

Nothingness and emptiness.

The human mind becomes empty over time.

Fear and madness overwhelm the creature.

In this white environment... small children can be seen.

If the place bears an unblemished whiteness, naturally, the change of colors becomes very obvious.

The children wore white robes in the white field.

At first, the only bright thing that the eyes notice a little is the children's hair and their emotionless eyes.

Cold faces without emotions match the colorless environment.

But even in this environment, it was impossible not to notice the anomaly.

A dark crimson color stains the area.

The warm red liquid flowed through the body, reaching the ground, staining it.

The red color painted what resembled a canvas.

It was simply... beautiful.

Many of the children were expressionless with dead eyes.

The dead — eventually, their expressions gradually disappear until they become empty.

Fallen on the ground lifeless, these children died at a young age.

Alas... they will not grow any older to see the world.

Among the many dead, only two remained alive.

One was standing, his face devoid of emotions, the blood-red eyes were his only trait in the place.

His red eyes blended with the blood that stained the area.

Even with the white environment that drives one to madness, even with the numerous corpses around, his expressions betrayed no emotion.

Calm, a solid mass devoid of hatred or happiness.

The boy was young, everything happening seemed not to concern him, as if it were someone else's problem.

He looked at the other person in front of him with boredom.

The other boy was kneeling, holding where his left hand once was.

His hand grasped the air, the hand was not there, pure red blood flowed through the place of the hand.

He looked with complex emotions at the boy standing in front of him.

His red eyes glimmered darkly, as if piercing into the depths of the soul.

Those eyes instilled in him an instinctive fear.

"Do you have any last words?"

His voice was neither a whisper nor a shout, the red-eyed boy opened his mouth calmly.

The other boy knew that there was no use in whatever he did, he had lost the battle with the others by a wide margin.

There was no point in fighting anymore, his limbs were already broken, not to mention his severed hand.

In the end... even with his deep planning, he could not eliminate him.

"... Just one question"

After a moment of silence, the red-eyed boy said: "If that is your last thing in the world, then I will answer you."

The enemy had no more tricks left, he could kill him immediately, but while he was at it, he might as well answer him at least.

His positive response was not out of pity, he just wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

"... Why?"

Having grown up in the same environment, the small red-eyed boy understood the meaning behind his words.

Why did he fight them? Why did he kill them, those who lived with him in this wretched place?

Why and why? Why only?

The other boy had many questions, but he knew that this was all he could say.

"It's simple, really"

The red-eyed boy did not think much about it.

His answer was already clear.

"It's so I can win" his gaze was calm like still water.

Simple, and does not need complexity.

The boy actually had many excuses to say it.

Like that they had made numerous attempts to overreach against him, that from the beginning, only one person would be kept alive.

He even knew about the hallucinations that these other children suffered from because of the place.

They had become, without realizing it, like broken and distorted dolls.

But he did not.

Because in this place, what is the reason or excuse, all those things do not matter.

Only the results have the right to speak here.

The winner or the loser.

A person's value is determined in this world of pure whiteness by these two matters.

Now, he was the winner, and the others had already lost.

In life, there will always be conflicts of opinions and interests, and sometimes, they cannot be reconciled.

Therefore, there will be — of course, conflict.

The winner takes all, the loser loses everything.

In the end, those who were once, lost everything and died a miserable death.

There was not a trace of regret in his heart.

The only remaining boy had no special reason to keep him as the last person.

The matter was just... that their relationship was considered special.

Even so, there was no room for retreat, and he had no intention of backing down.

His heart was calm, and he spoke coldly.

"You have your own reasons, I do not blame you."

Everyone in this world has their own rules and judgments, their interests and aversions.

A person judges the world by their own rules.

The red-eyed boy was not particularly upset or angry.

They just did what they knew was right.

And on the opposite side, he also had his own concepts.

Their meticulous plan to escape this place, their plan to cooperate and eliminate him in this trial to save their lives.

All their intentions, he had already seen through.

The result was simple.

They paid the price for that decision.

"If you weren't weak, I would be the loser."

"All it is, is that I am the winner, it is that simple."

As he said his last words, the boy slowly approached the enemy in front of him.

"... Do you have a dream?"

As if accepting his fate, the injured boy did not retreat, but instead questioned loudly.

He did not expect an answer, but he said what was on his mind.

The boy in front of him understood more than anyone, at first, the emotions of fear and hatred had arisen from a feeling of betrayal.

But after knowing the reason, those emotions simply disappeared.

Unlike everyone here, the red-eyed boy was the only one who had that taken from him.

What makes one a unique creature.

Emotions.

That simple thing, the red-eyed boy had been robbed of his emotions.

After answering him honestly, the injured boy understood how empty this person had become.

A hint of sadness arose.

He had known from the beginning about the hallucinations and madness that had afflicted him and his companions, so they wanted to see the outside world once before dying.

He had ambitions beyond that, to destroy the facility, to wander the world and taste different kinds of experiences.

Unfortunately, that did not come to pass.

But that no longer mattered.

They were young, so it was not usual for them to be this mature.

Yet, in this inhumane environment, if one does not grow up and adapt quickly.

Getting rid of him is ultimately his only fate.

The boy was already calm, and he had seen through the situations of life and death many times, that forced him to mature early.

He understood his position perfectly, and his instinct had already told him, he would die here.

The hallucinations and madness due to the empty white environment, and the harsh training and strict way of living.

Many had been broken here because of that.

The only thing that kept many sane here was their desires and ambitions, hoping to one day escape.

Many died along the way, and many went mad and became like empty dolls.

And yet, he was the only one who remained sane, and he even became the strongest.