Final exam week was approaching.
Most professors opted to substitute written reports or portfolio assignments, but of course—there was always one stiff-necked professor who insisted on holding a test no matter what.
For instance, someone like Professor Dante Hiakapo.
“Hey Hwaru, did you hear?”
“Mm?”
But this time, the exam setup was a little strange—every student enrolled in illusion-related subjects was to take a joint final exam.
“Dominic, what’s going on?”
“From what I heard—‘in our line of work,’ anyway—”
According to Dominic, there might be a huge illusion exam organized at a much higher level—possibly even at the academy headquarters.
Headquarters? Not the Department of Assassination?
That meant—
Shockingly, even the Magic Department’s illusion students—from first-years to fourth-years—were gathering for a joint exam.
The location? Hiaka Academy’s most remote territory: District 9, also known as the Forest of Magic.
And just as Dominic said, it became reality.
“Whoa... there’s so many people...”
“Is this for real? We’re all taking the exam at once?”
On the day of the test, more than 1,200 students had gathered in District 9. About 450 assassin students, and an overwhelming 750 mage students.
They maintained some physical distance, but that didn’t stop everyone from gawking at each other in curiosity.
The mage students were all wearing hilariously wide cone hats.
Meanwhile, the assassin students looked like they were all wearing matching bondage harnesses.
A battle of Birthday Clowns vs. Perverts...
Just then, a professor stepped forward before the gathered crowd.
“Ahem! Attention, everyone! I am Elite Senior Professor Kollider, instructor of Illusionary Assassination Studies!”
He looked like a man permanently fed up with the world.
Then he shouted until his voice cracked.
“Let me tell you about my credentials! Ranked #1 at the Baron Lemontree Academy! Top graduate of the Class of 475 at Hiaka’s Department of Assassination! Ranked #1 in the Royal Academy’s Illusion Aptitude Test, Flower of Confinement! #1 in the Empire’s Student Exchange Program! Global Ranking #6,001—Hey! Why aren’t you clapping?!”
Clap, clap... A hesitant wave of applause followed.
Mage students glanced over at the assassins.
The assassin students had to look away in shame.
“Ah, fuck, why’s he here...”
“God, this is embarrassing.”
And just like that—Assassination Department: Loss #1.
But tensions were already high. And not everyone was in the mood to play along.
Mages are categorized into four student ranks:
Étude → Toccata → Sonata → Symphony
A fourth-year mage student of the highest rank, Symphony, raised their hand.
“What is it!”
“Why are you the one presenting this?”
“To explain the exam.”
“Then just explain the exam.”
The plaza fell silent.
...The fuck did he just say?
Every assassin student simultaneously felt irritated.
No matter how much of an idiot Kollider was—
Hearing an outsider insult one of their own? Yeah, no.
But since time was limited and the remark wasn’t technically wrong, Kollider swallowed his frustration and looked up, fists clenched behind his back.
“...Fine. I’ll explain this term’s Illusion Studies final exam!”
Snap—!
With a flick of his fingers, a single point of light materialized in midair.
“The test is simple! You will now expand this origin point. You’ll build your illusion atop it, adding to it like flesh on bone! Of course, that doesn’t mean you can just stick anything on there!”
Snap!
Another gesture—this time, a small pebble appeared. Kollider brought it to the origin point—
Clink!
The pebble shattered instantly.
“The illusions that can attach here are predetermined. You’ll have to discover them using your illusion sense! The more illusions you connect—the larger, more complete your construct—the higher your score will be. Eventually, it will form a cohesive shape!”
“What the hell. That’s lame.”
“......”
Again, the same loud voice rang out.
That same fourth-year mage—Symphony rank.
“It won’t be as lame as you think! This test is intricate, difficult, and designed to take extended time to solve!”
“Not like it matters. Once I put mine down, the others will just copy me anyway.”
“......”
Kollider closed his eyes.
It was fine.
He’d been getting heckled for over three months by a certain gray-haired someone, and his patience had leveled up enough to survive this too—
“The fuck did you just say, you arrogant piece of shit? Want me to kill you?”
Suddenly, a female voice rang out loud and clear from the assassin side.
Everyone whipped around in alarm.
The speaker, with slightly uneven teeth bared in frustration—
Was Gray.
“Hey. You. Were you talking to me?”
The mage student pointed. Gray answered:
“Nope.”
“Don’t lie. You said that for me to hear.”
“I said no. Also, what—your professor’s your buddy now?”
Hmm.
Is he your buddy though...?
Someone thought that to themselves.
“What’s your problem?”
“I’m your mother. And you’re talking shit to a professor who came here to help? You wanna die?”
“Get lost, you filthy brute. Illusion originated from magic. What business does some assassin professor have explaining this?”
“Got a problem? Go fetch your mother.”
“...Did you just say that to me?”
As the tension between the two escalated, a quiet hostility began to build between the two entire departments.
But then, one student looked toward the podium.
And froze.
That gaze started to spread like an infection. One by one, students turned their attention to the platform. Even Gray and the mage had no choice but to look.
Because everyone else was.
Gradually, silence fell over the field.
On the podium stood a professor with pink eyes.
Pinned to his chest—a senior professor’s badge.
“......”
“......”
It was Professor Dante Hiakapo.
The mage students, despite not knowing who he was, instinctively shut up.
The atmosphere demanded it.
Only after the entire group of 1,200 students fell into utter silence—even their breathing muffled—did the professor finally speak.
“Anyone who makes noise from now on forfeits the right to take the exam.”
His voice rolled across the plaza, low and heavy.
“Go on. Try me.”
A slow, weighty cadence. The kind of tone that smothered you. Each student felt a primal pressure—like a deer in the jaws of a tiger.
As the testing field went utterly still—
“Alrighty, I’ll take over the rest. You little shits.”
From beside Kollider, Head Professor Galois appeared.
“This exam was crafted by a genius of Illusion Studies, Professor Kain, whom ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) we’ve invited to Hiaka in complete secrecy. So don’t even think about underestimating it.”
Kain? Who’s that?
Whispers of curiosity began to spread.
Because the students knew—Hiaka’s [Illusion Studies] was in shambles.
Then Professor Dante opened his mouth.
“Copying is impossible. Once the exam begins, you’ll each enter your own illusionary realm—your own personal subspace. You’ll be solving the test alone. Does that answer your question?”
“...Yes.”
The very same mage student who challenged Kollider—nodded.
Galois continued:
“The test lasts 48 hours. That’s two nights and three days. You can choose how much time you spend each day—it’s up to you. Depending on your results, the Magic Department will award dean and head professor recommendations, while the Assassination Department will grant multiple graduation waivers.”
The students stiffened.
This was no ordinary final exam.
Murmuring began to stir.
Galois added:
“Oh, and for the first-place student—there’s a special prize. You’ll get to learn a secret technique from the professor of your choice. One-on-one. Whoever they are, whatever it is. Every professor in every department has agreed.”
The murmur exploded.
To be taught a professor’s secret magic or special skill?
From anyone?
Students immediately began imagining their dream scenarios.
“......”
Even Gray swallowed hard.
It was unreal. Too good to be true.
She had to confirm it.
Gray couldn’t hold back and raised her hand.
“Anyone? Even the Department Head or the Director?”
“The Director is excluded.”
The students gasped—and turned their eyes to the Department Head.
So he’s not excluded.
That meant: a personal lesson from someone in the top 200 of the global [Challenger] ranking.
“......”
But Gray was focused on just one professor.
Professor Dante Hiakapo.
She had to speak with him. She had something to ask.
“......”
At the same time, someone else among the assassin students was also staring at Dante.
Someone who couldn’t care less about the test.
It was Elize.
Bracelet...
When she could meet the professor and give him the bracelet—that was the real dilemma for Elize.
“Skill matters. But solving this test with raw ability alone will be difficult. This exam’s focus lies less in illusion technique and more in identifying your ‘core strength’ and whether you can ‘break past your limits.’”
Head Professor Galois’s speech stirred many of the students. After all, if the goal was to push beyond their limits, then everyone felt like they were starting from the same place.
“Now then, let the exam begin.”
***
The exam commenced.
All students entered the [Illusionary Realm], a subspace.
Inside that realm of pure white, they began shaping the ‘point’ that had appeared before them.
I opened the “aperture” I had created. Mana spun clockwise in the air and formed a mirror. Within it, the illusion realms of every student came into view.
Galois said it wasn’t about talent...
But that wasn’t entirely true. There’s no field untouched by talent. And more often than not, the most talented were also the most relentless. Even overcoming limits is often an act of talent. Unfortunately.
As expected, the Symphony-rank students from the Magic Department and the elite Scholar-rank students from the Assassination Department started pulling ahead.
Some had begun solving the initial phase—adding the form of a tree to the point. They had good instinct. Because the final form was, indeed, a tree.
But amid the growing shapes, one peculiar thing stood out.
Hm.
Truth be told, I already knew who the winner of this exam would be.
It was obviously supposed to be Gray.
Not just because she came from the prestigious Habanero family.
But because her overwhelming potential—engineered specifically for professor assassination—should have naturally led her to victory.
So what was going on?
“Ummm...”
Elize waved her hand beneath the point, and the previously blank white floor began to sink inward. Gradually, the shape of roots began to emerge.
“Hmm? Is this it...?”
She scratched her head and casually started deleting the surrounding space—seemingly unaware of what she was even doing.
Elize was erasing the background of the illusion. If the tree was the main figure, then she was digging up the earth to reveal its roots.
It was a fusion of [Illusion] and [Concealment]—something that could only be attempted after reaching at least [Grandmaster] rank, followed by intense mental refinement.
A hybrid technique: [Subtraction].
Outright insane talent. She wasn’t just dismantling some low-grade illusion—she was unraveling a [high illusion] I created myself.
“Hmm... Is this right? I don’t know...”
And yet Elize, half-grimacing, continued erasing space wildly, digging toward the root-and-tree structure.
“Oh? A score!”
She smiled, heehee, upon receiving a point.
The mental field included a scoreboard shared among students, and her result startled me.
1st — Elize: 84
2nd — Parhan: 26
3rd — Gray: 21
And that’s when it hit me.
Could this be the reason?
Elize Xikos [2.8]
Gray Habanero [2.7]
Seriously... was it because of that 0.1 difference?
“Ah, come on...”
On the other side, Gray, baring her teeth in frustration, continued trying various illusions.
“Why does it keep breaking...?”
Something was off with her illusions. She was impatient, unable to focus at all.
The problem was—this required delicate execution, and she was hammering through it like a brute.
Each student was assigned a part of the tree. If Elize had the ‘roots’, then Gray had the ‘branches’.
But Gray kept trying to stick on the ‘trunk’.
It wouldn’t work. My illusion realm rejected any illusion not aligned with its intended answer, no matter how skilled it was.
Clatter—!
Gray’s illusions kept shattering.
“Eh? What...? The answer’s a tree. I made a tree. Why’s it breaking...?”
Because you need finesse.
Finesse.
Leaving aside the personal disappointment that Gray—our prized Dormant Dragon Cadet—was underperforming,
There was another problem.
“Your ace seems a little slow, doesn’t she?”
Head Professor Galois came up beside me with a smirk.
“A great vessel takes time to craft.”
“That’s true for pottery. But aren’t we just digging up dirt?”
An unspoken battle of wills flared between us.
Because—we had a bet riding on this.
Assassination vs. Magic.
This was the natural extension of the earlier department tension.
Especially in fields like Illusion, Alchemy, and Magic (there are assassination-specific magics as well), the rivalry was fierce.
“Parhan’s already at 35 points. Arrogant bastard, but a genius in Illusion. What’s your girl at?”
He could only see the Magic Department’s board.
And Parhan—was the name of that arrogant jerk from earlier.
“...Mine’s at 25.”
“Oh dear. That’s a 10-point gap already.”
“We’ll see. This is just the beginning.”
“Still, just because you’re a genius illusionist doesn’t mean your student is. Illusion is a magician’s domain, after all.”
I didn’t tell him Elize was already sitting at 91, 92, 93 points...
Because I wanted Gray to win.
She was supposed to. Parhan’s potential was maybe a [2.3], tops.
“Don’t forget our bet. Every 10 points’ difference, I get one elixir. You work one day as my assistant. Remember?”
My scalp prickled.
Assistant.
That meant: lucky grad student.
I could not let that happen.
“Agh, come on... why...”
But Gray was still digging, shovel in hand.
Time passed, and the score gap widened.
And Galois—this old bastard, despite being 90—was ridiculously petty.
“Heeheehee!”
His laugh was weird enough to get under your skin.
Once the score gap passed 100, he actually brought over a chair to sit beside me.
“Can you believe this? A hundred-point gap already! That’s ten full days of assistant work for my little genius! Heeheehee!”
“Professor, please. Would you mind...”
“No can do! I physically can’t resist watching something this amusing! Hieeeh!”
After nearly 30 minutes of this, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Is that so? Guess that explains why you couldn’t resist copying someone else’s thesis 30 years ago.”
“...?”
Like a gut punch, Galois stopped laughing and turned toward me.
Accusations of plagiarism—his Achilles’ heel.
“At least I didn’t kill my fellow professors.”
“......”
That... also struck a nerve.
A non-nerve nerve. Even though I didn’t do it, people still wouldn’t shut up about it.
“......”
“......”
We stared each other down.
Sparks crackled between us. A single misstep would mean blood.
“I didn’t kill anyone.”
“And I didn’t plagiarize.”
“Pretty sure you did.”
“I fucking didn’t, you little shit.”
“We’ll see.”
“What a low-tier assassin line. Know this, kid—I never back down.”
“Except when it comes to retracting papers.”
“...Y-you little...”
The old man started trembling.
I had landed a solid hit—but what mattered was what came next.
I turned my eyes toward Gray, deep in the illusion realm.
She had to pull through.