[Frost Lock]: Releases a chain made of condensed frost. The durability of the frost chain is directly correlated with the caster’s Ice Elemental Affinity.
Vinny looked at his palm, still cold from the lingering frost, and removed his ice crystal earrings.
In the next moment, a spear adorned with a blue tassel appeared in his hand.
After testing, it was clear that his Ice Elemental Affinity was not low—far higher than that of the average person.
The enchanted spear, generously gifted by the angel investor known as the Crimson Demon Chieftain, was also of the ice element, and in Vinny’s hands, it would unleash power beyond the ordinary.
The higher one’s affinity, the stronger their magic became—and likewise, the greater their ability to control and master that element.
The same logic applied to enchanted items.
A fire-enchanted weapon, for example, would perform far more effectively in the hands of someone with high Fire Affinity than with someone average.
Vinny twirled the spear in his hand a few times.
Its weight felt just right, almost as if it adjusted itself to match the user’s strength.
That Crimson Demon Chieftain had truly given him a valuable treasure.
Cariliman Academy allowed freshmen to bring two enchanted items into the entrance examination—rings, weapons, whatever they liked—two slots total.
With these two treasures in hand, Vinny was fairly confident he could at least scrape by.
Still, he couldn’t afford to be careless.
The entrance examination at Cariliman Academy attracted geniuses from all across the continent—including several heroines from the original story. That alone was a massive variable in the exam.
They were called the Heroines of Destiny because they were inherently lucky.
Where others would stumble into danger nine times out of ten, the heroines would instead find opportunity in their misfortune.
Since his reincarnation, Vinny had never once thought of going head-to-head with the protagonist group.
They had the world’s luck on their side—how was he supposed to fight that?
He couldn’t win in terms of luck, and trying to oppose them would only land him the dreaded fate of "courting death."
After all, a person could make all kinds of mistakes, but there was usually only one they couldn’t afford.
Any self-aware side character knew what that meant.
Luckily, he hadn’t provoked many of the heroines so far... right?
Vinny fell silent.
Aesphyra’s favorability with him had started at -99. And the others?
In the original story, the Elven Queen was inexplicably hostile toward him.
And the Royal Princesses? They had flat-out ignored the childhood marriage contract—which, to be fair, was just a verbal promise between parents anyway.
In short, those two heroines already disliked him from the start—without even meeting him.
He could understand the Royal Princess’s distaste.
Arranged marriages were unpopular no matter where you went, and her family was descended from the noble royal bloodline of the ancient Cariliman Empire.
Vinny, by contrast, was just some failed heir of the Varelis family, expelled and scorned by the Church of Radiance.
The difference in status was immense. Expecting her to like him was like a toad dreaming of eating swan meat.
But what really confused him was the Elven Queen’s animosity.
They weren’t sisters. They had never met. Their relationship wasn’t even distant enough to be awkward—it was nonexistent.
So why did she start out with negative favorability?
Why him?
Did being pitiful automatically mean he deserved to be bullied?
Vinny understood. This world was full of malice toward him.
He had no rights in it.
One day, a heroine might just lose her temper and kill him with some random AOE spell.
That was why self-improvement was his top priority.
No matter what, he had to find skills he could actually use.
There were only a few days left before the entrance examination began.
Soon, all candidates would be boarding carriages heading to the secret assessment site.
Until then, his time would be devoted to mastering [Frost Lock], improving his physical strength, and maximizing his combat ability.
Everything seemed in order—but there was one big problem.
If he took the official carriage provided by Cariliman Academy, there was a chance he’d end up sharing it with a certain silver-haired problem.
The bad news was, Mirecia, a second-year student, wouldn’t be participating in the freshman assessment.
This meant Aesphyra would be even bolder in her behavior.
She wouldn’t do anything in public—but still...
Just the idea of sharing ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) a carriage with the protagonist, breathing the same air, made Vinny feel like he was suffocating.
Sitting in the same space as the original protagonist of the world—who also happened to have a personal vendetta against him—was practically a death sentence.
The psychological pressure alone could kill him.
Still, it was just like running into Aesphyra in the Dungeon—a low-probability event. Surely he wouldn’t be that unlucky, right?
Right?
Vinny recalled the specific rules of Cariliman Academy’s dungeon assessment from the original game.
After the written cultural exam, there would be the Dungeon Exam, which carried the most weight in the final score.
Many players in his previous life had jokingly called it the Cariliman Battle Royale.
The written test had minimal impact on the final result—it was more like a bonus round.
After all, many civilian geniuses hadn’t received proper education.
To avoid excluding them, Cariliman Academy had deliberately made the cultural portion almost irrelevant.
In a sense, the cultural test was a form of privilege for the nobility. But this particular privilege didn’t benefit Vinny at all.
The original Vinny had been a slacker who hated studying.
Like most commoners, he could only rely on the Dungeon Exam to earn points.
As for the rules: every candidate would enter a specially prepared dungeon made just for the assessment.
They were allowed to bring two enchanted items of their own.
And the rest... was eerily similar to a battle royale.
Inside the dungeon, candidates could earn points by defeating monsters.
But if monster hunting was too slow, they could also eliminate other candidates to steal their points.
The eliminated candidate’s score would reset to zero, and they would be forcibly teleported out of the dungeon.
They’d have to wait until the next year to take the exam again.
The assessment would last three days.
During that time, the accessible area of the dungeon would shrink rapidly, forcing everyone toward a final confrontation zone.
Each year, Cariliman Academy admitted no more than 500 freshmen.
That number was a hard cap. It would never be exceeded.
If too many candidates remained at the end, the lowest scorers would be eliminated—no exceptions.
Only the top 500 would earn admission.