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‘Finally, the first team to pass!’

She had been worried that Frondier might have injured the students too much, preventing them from passing, but the students who passed didn\'t seem to have any serious injuries.

A few bruises were noticeable, but considering it was a skill test, such injuries were expected regardless of the proctor.

However, they all seemed completely exhausted, and all five of them had heavy footsteps. Aten could even see them sighing as they looked at the door to the third stage.

It was probably a sigh of anxiety, thinking, ‘The second stage was so difficult, can we even pass the third stage?’

‘Will they come to me?’

Aten waited for them with a slightly nervous heart.

Because Frondier had failed all the students in the second stage, the number of students taking the third stage was smaller than initially expected.

Therefore, not only Aten but also other third-stage proctors had many people waiting without tests.

‘If they come, I\'ll talk to them and ask about Frondier.’

It wasn\'t just the freshmen who didn\'t know much about Frondier.

Even those relatively close to him, like Aten and Sybil, still didn\'t know much about him.

Especially about Frondier\'s activities during the winter break, only Selena knew.

Others were highly interested in Frondier, whose Mana had grown incomparably compared to before.

Winter, which was becoming incomparably harsher than summer.

Frondier, who once again headed towards the barrier.

Elodie, who suddenly refused the Mage Tower\'s work and conquered the dungeons in the central continent.

Aster, who juggled his pro internship with closed-door training.

What these three had gained during the vacation was already a topic of interest not only among the second-year students but also throughout Constel.

Perhaps the ones who knew Frondier\'s current skills best were the Dier team who had just fought him.

By asking them, she might be able to grasp the changes in Frondier.

...Of course, that was Aten\'s wish, but.

“Ah.”

Unfortunately, the Dier team headed to a different testing area. Their trudging steps were the backs of those who had already sensed failure.

“That\'s a shame.”

Meanwhile, another team entered Aten\'s testing area. Aten got up from the chair she was using during her break and greeted them.

“Welcome to the third stage.”

She would put Frondier\'s matter aside for later.

Now was the time to focus on the task at hand.

* * *

“Huh...?”

Dier pressed the last button and turned around. He checked on the other team members.

A mission where five buttons had to be pressed sequentially, and all five members had to be pressing the buttons.

All the team members\' hands were accurately pressing the buttons.

Pielott, Homas, Roxy, and Nether were all a bit out of breath, but they were fine. They were all looking at each other with bewildered expressions.

“Congratulations. You passed the fourth stage. You all did well.”

Lunia, the proctor for the fourth stage test, applauded and praised them.

“Uh, we passed?”

“Yes. Pielott, in particular, has exceptional movement. Just as I heard. It\'s also amazing that you\'re already using Aura. Many second-year combat students can\'t even do that properly.”

“...Thank you.”

Pielott replied somewhat dryly. It wasn\'t that he was ignoring his senior\'s words. He had the ambition to prove his true skills in this test, so he was honestly happy with the test proctor\'s praise.

If only he could be honest.

“Excuse me, senior.”

Roxy, who was next to him, spoke cautiously.

“Yes?”

“Did the difficulty of the test decrease while we were taking it? Was there a student who got injured?”

“Huh? No, nothing like that happened.”

Despite Lunia\'s words, the team members still looked unconvinced.

Lunia tilted her head.

“Are you perhaps thinking that I went easy on you?”

“... .”

“I heard that this year\'s freshmen are quite confident. Especially Pielott von Ribanche. Why are you underestimating yourself when you\'re not like that at all?”

“Is, is that so?”

“Yes. You guys did well. I did my best, and I didn\'t go easy on you or anything, so feel confident in yourselves.”

Lunia patted the team members on their shoulders.

That\'s right. They passed the fourth stage.

After forcibly passing through Frondier\'s second stage, which seemed like an impregnable fortress, they entered the third stage, already intimidated by how difficult the following tests would be.

After being severely scolded by Frondier, the team members, who had already become accustomed to strategizing with Dier at the center, easily passed the third stage.

Until then, they thought this:

─The third stage is a break!

Since the first and second stages weren\'t that far apart, the challenge was to manage the stamina they had consumed in those two tests and clear the relatively easy third stage. As expected, Constel seems to have a cold-hearted side, but they also subtly take care of their students!

But after passing the fourth stage as well, things felt strange. It was definitely more difficult than the third stage. The upperclassman in charge was also skilled.

However, it was a 5 vs 1 fight from the beginning, and the fact that all five buttons had to be pressed meant that Lunia had to keep an eye on all five buttons.

Dier quickly caught on to this difficulty and succeeded in disrupting Lunia\'s focus by throwing off the timing at the end.

“Alright, next is the fifth stage. Congratulations, Aster and Elodie. You\'ll definitely meet one of them.”

“...Thank you.”

Still with unanswered questions in their minds, they left the fourth stage testing area side by side.

Next was, as expected, the waiting room. There was no one else in the waiting room besides them. This meant that very few people passed the fourth stage.

“...Right.”

As if suddenly remembering something, Dier spoke up.

“Yes?”

“Being a team of five people naturally means a 5 vs 1 fight.”

“Well, that\'s right.”

“So, the mission should be designed to be advantageous for the upperclassman.”

The third and fourth stages were like that.

In the third stage, like a simplified version of the first stage, various obstacles flew in, and the team had to dodge them while advancing.

Of course, the upperclassman\'s role was to hinder them. In the fourth stage, they were already at a disadvantage in terms of power because they had to press different buttons.

“...Naturally, the easier the mission, the more advantageous it is for us. No matter how skilled the upperclassman is, it\'s a 5 vs 1 fight. It\'s not a fight where we risk our lives and injure each other. We just have to clear the mission. Of course, the five of us have a significant advantage.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Only the second stage, the mission was actually advantageous for us.”

At Dier\'s words, everyone\'s expressions changed.

The condition of the second stage mission: Touch the key hanging high up. By any means necessary.

“...Isn\'t that because it was the second stage? The missions should gradually get more difficult.”

Nether, who had been listening, said.

“That\'s right, that\'s right! The missions got progressively harder! From the second stage to the fourth stage!”

“...?”

The others looked puzzled at Dier\'s excited voice. Why was he getting so excited?

Pielott, who had been watching, sighed and said,

“So, what this guy is saying is that the reason our perceived difficulty is strange is not because of the missions.”

“What?”

“We didn\'t realize it then because we were giving it our all, but think about it calmly. The mission was to \'touch\' the key hanging on the wall, by any means necessary. Who can\'t do that? No matter who\'s in front of us, there are five of us.”

“...But it was really hard for us.”

“Right. Because the test proctor was \'Sloth\'. There\'s no way such a mission would be possible for just anyone. Right after we cleared the second stage, we thought this was the level of Constel, but thinking calmly, that doesn\'t make sense. There\'s no way a skill level like \'Sloth\' is that common.”

Pielott\'s inner pride made him resistant to the idea that he could be that weak, but the content itself wasn\'t wrong.

Dier also nodded.

“...In other words, that mission was only possible for Senior Sloth.”

“...It was a mission just for that senior?”

“It probably wasn\'t like that at first, but it ended up that way in the process of adjusting the difficulty level several times.”

Everyone seemed to understand and nodded at Dier\'s words.

And in the meantime, Dier had one more thought that he hadn\'t spoken about.

‘If they knew Senior Sloth was that strong, Constel wouldn\'t have placed him in the second stage.’

From Dier\'s perspective, he hadn\'t reached the fifth stage yet, but the fifth stage would have been entirely possible.

‘When we first met Senior Sloth in the second stage, I wasn\'t surprised by that itself. Sloth is famous, but he didn\'t have the image of being incredibly strong. In other words, the way Constel as a whole and the freshmen view and evaluate Sloth is almost the same.’

Constel hadn\'t fully assessed Frondier\'s level. That\'s why they placed him in the second stage.

Constel evaluates students\' levels through various tests and training.

So there are plenty of places and opportunities to show off one\'s strength. Yet, Frondier was in the second stage.

This was undoubtedly intentional on Frondier\'s part.

‘If Senior Sloth being placed in the second stage was his own intention, then of course he would have acted according to his self-assigned role as the \'second stage proctor\' during the test.’

As Dier\'s thoughts progressed, his eyes gradually became clearer. Sparkling thoughts reached his eyes, and his heart pounded with excitement.

‘So, in other words, Senior Sloth didn\'t use any of his power at that time, and that was the \'second stage\' he envisioned...!’

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