I Became the Must-Have Character of the Academy City

“!”

As Rohan’s longsword sliced cleanly through the training golem,
a flicker of shock flashed through the eyes of the previously disinterested instructor.
The hand scratching his head froze mid-motion, and even the yawn lingering on his lips was abruptly cut off.

The students watching from behind were no different.
Having experienced the formidable hardness of the training golems during their education, they struggled to process what they had just witnessed.
If someone famous had demonstrated such a feat, it might have inspired awe or admiration.
But Rohan, with his unfamiliar face and unheard-of name, left them in utter bewilderment.

“...”

The one person who found the silence and stares most unbearable was the man himself.
Avoiding the piercing gazes of the students on his back, Rohan twirled the longsword and returned it to its sheath.
He glanced at the frozen instructor and spoke.

“Instructor, may I step down now?”

“Oh, yes. Number 99, your name is...?”

“Rohan.”

“All right, step down.”

The instructor underlined the name "Rohan" on his list and added a star beside it,
rubbing his stubbly chin as his earlier lethargy completely evaporated.

“This year’s first-years are going to be much more exceptional than I expected. Keeping them in check is going to be a challenge.”

Even the promising students he’d already noted down weren’t just one or two.
Typically, having one prodigy in a class was remarkable, but this year, it seemed as though the Academy was overflowing with them.

“Among them, there are even two students who could be considered legendary... and they’re both in this gymnasium.”

He didn’t even need to see the faces of those two.
The information listed on their profiles alone was enough to give him a headache and sap his energy.

“Ugh... what a headache.”

The instructor sighed deeply as he reviewed the next student’s name and ID photo.

The northern kingdom of Tigrova, a land where 90% of the population were beastfolk,
boasting vast, eternal snowfields and expansive coniferous forests.
Its princess, Noah Frozenheart, youngest daughter of the Great Snow Tiger Emperor.

And from the eastern federation, Samhwa,
Yui Ichinose, heir to Tianwai Tian, the nation’s most powerful corporation.

“I’m already feeling burnt out. Maybe I should take a leave of absence.”

As an instructor, there was only one thing he could hope for.
Though the odds were slim, he prayed these students could quietly make it through their two years at the Academy without causing any trouble.

“...”

But the reality was that the storm was already upon him.

“Next, number 252.”

“Here!”

Noah, sitting beside Ichinose, jumped to her feet and raised her hand enthusiastically.
She strode confidently toward the training golem, not bothering to choose a weapon from the wall,
her round ears twitching as she stood before the golem and waited for procedural questions.

“Ahem... Name?”

“Noah Frozenheart!”

Her voice echoed spiritedly through the gymnasium, and the prestigious name caused a wave of murmurs among the students, like rippling waves in a night sea.
The instructor swiftly quelled the predictable reaction.

“Any student disrupting the exam with idle chatter will receive demerits.”

After silencing the crowd, the instructor returned his attention to Noah Frozenheart.
She seemed utterly unconcerned with the buzz behind her, a confident smile on her face as if to say, Hurry up and give me the signal.

The instructor gave her a formal warning,
noting her lack of a weapon.

“There are no bonus points for fighting barehanded, nor are there opportunities for a redo. You are also prohibited from using any personal artifacts. Do you understand?”

Noah nodded cheerfully as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, her tail swishing energetically up and down.

“Then... begin within one minute.”

The moment the instructor gave the same starting signal he had given Rohan—

“Hah!”@@novelbin@@

Noah, as though she had been holding back all along, launched her clenched fist forward without hesitation.
The moment her fist connected with the golem, an explosive sound and an icy chill filled the air.

BOOOOM—!!!

A thick white mist spread out like clouds, completely obscuring the gymnasium.
It was as though a massive block of dry ice had been shattered and released its cold vapor.

Rohan, watching from the sidelines, silently marveled, flicking frost off his uniform as he processed what he had just seen.

“Oh, crap, that scared me!”
“What... what just happened!?”
“So this is the power of Tigrova...”

The astonished murmurs of the students filled the air until the instructor raised his hand, gathering mana to amplify his voice.

“Quiet.”

The dissipating mist gathered in his palm, condensing into a pure white ice sphere before falling to the ground with a soft thud.
The scene finally cleared, revealing Noah Frozenheart and the remnants of the training golem.

In front of her, only the lower portion of the golem remained,
while the rest had been reduced to a fine powder scattered across the floor.

“May I step down now?”

“Yes, step down.”

This time, the instructor had anticipated the outcome, so his reaction was composed.
He simply reviewed the scene, marking Noah’s name with a star and tapping it with his pen.

“As expected, you can’t hide your bloodline...”

The overwhelming display of power Noah had shown wasn’t the result of clumsily uncontrolled mana.
Just as others might channel mana into bullets, arrows, or throwing knives,
Noah was honing her natural talent and immense power into an ideal form.

“Next, number 253.”

“Yes.”

Ichinose Yui rose gracefully, holding her katana close as she headed toward the weapons wall.
With her eyes closed, she walked steadily forward, stopping at the wall to gently place down her own blade.
She then selected a familiar-style sword and stepped into position.

“Name.”

“Ichinose Yui.”

Her quiet voice carried her name through the gymnasium, stirring up another wave of murmurs among the students.
This time, however, they quickly fell silent under the instructor’s watchful eye.

“Begin within one minute.”

“Understood.”

With a slight nod, Ichinose shifted her left foot back.
Her upper body leaned forward just slightly,
and with a flick of her pale thumb, the blade slipped out of its sheath with a sharp click.

“...”

Without a single shout or flourish,
her movements flowed like water as she unsheathed her sword and struck.

Whizz—!

The blade sliced cleanly through the golem at an angle.
It was a precise, elegant cut—entirely the opposite of Noah Frozenheart’s explosive power.

With a sharp sound, the blade had already returned to its sheath by the time her strike ended.
The severed upper portion of the golem slid smoothly to the ground with a soft thud.

“May I step down now?”

“...Yes.”

The instructor kicked aside the golem fragments, scratching his head with the end of his pen.

“How did I end up with so many exceptional students at the start of the roster?”
It was enough to make him pity the students who would follow.

“Next, number 103.”

“A-ah, y-yes...!”

As the instructor expected,
none of the students following Ichinose managed to cut or severely damage the golem.

A few of the students already looked defeated, their faces betraying despair at the overwhelming gap in skill.
But the instructor knew all too well—
this level of performance was actually the average at Orion Academy. It was the norm.

***

The practical exam ended without any issues.
No students raised objections to their scores.

Yet, one person lingered in the gymnasium.

While Noah Frozenheart had left to satisfy her hunger, Ichinose Yui remained in the gym where the exam had taken place.

“...”

She walked toward the pile of training golems set aside after the exam.

According to the reviews posted in Orion Academy’s community forum,
only two first-year students had managed to slice through the golems with swords.

If one included other weapons, there were perhaps five students who had managed to cut or destroy a golem.
Even Noah, who had used only her fists instead of her primary weapon, had pulverized a golem into dust.

But with swords, there were only two.
Ichinose Yui herself and one other man she’d never seen before.

“...99.”

She remembered how, at first, she and Noah had been the subject of his blatantly open gaze.

While she was accustomed to being stared at and usually ignored it,
his eyes weren’t filled with lust but rather a warm, clear curiosity. Oddly, it hadn’t bothered her.

“Noah must have noticed it too.”

She didn’t know why he had looked at them like that.
But she vividly remembered the moment he swung his sword.

The warmth in his gaze disappeared entirely.
His cutting motion carried an almost tangible sense of killing intent,
as if he were someone deeply experienced in the act of taking lives.

“Whether it was a skill or not doesn’t matter.”

What did matter was that attack skills only truly shone when built on solid fundamentals.

“...”

Clicking softly, Ichinose stepped forward, her eyes still closed.
She stopped in front of the golem that had been split apart by number 99’s strike and ran her hand along its severed edge.

The cut was clean.
The smoothness of the surface caused her to bite her lower lip in an unfamiliar feeling resembling impatience.

Click.

Stepping back, she placed her own weapon gently on the ground.
Without hesitation, she grabbed one of the swords hanging on the wall.

She swung the blade without pause.

Whizz!

Her sharp strike split the already severed golem in two once more.
Ichinose immediately ran her hand along the new cut surface.

“Ah...”

It wasn’t nearly as smooth as the one made by number 99.
The jagged edges screamed of forceful tearing rather than clean separation.