I Became the Only Healer in the Academy - Chapter 18.2
Today was the day of the academy exam.
“Hope everyone gets good grades.”
After the brief farewell from their homeroom teacher, there was the first test: assessing physical abilities and situational analysis.
As this exam determined the class representative, it wasn’t an easy one.
All academy students headed towards the open gate since there was no better way to showcase their physical abilities and situational judgment than facing monsters directly.
“Everyone should be aware, abilities are strictly prohibited. If any usage is detected, you’ll receive the lowest score, so be cautious.”
With the proctor’s instructions, those who would take the test were arranged based on their first-semester grades to determine the starting order.
Ten students entered at once, and since supervisors were already inside, there were no issues regarding encountering or not encountering monsters.
“Each of you has 15 minutes. If you can’t handle it within that time, you’ll also receive the lowest score.”
As the academy exam day limited gate access for other hunters, having ten individuals entering simultaneously didn’t create a shortage.
“For a perfect score, you need to retrieve five essences. Each lower essence deducts those grades.”
Seonghyun’s turn was almost at the very end.
‘How many did I bring back in the first semester?’
At that time, Seonghyun had brought back four essences.
Considering that only one or two students in the grade typically scored perfect, just below that was Seonghyun’s score, quite high and among the top in the class.
“Next students, please enter.”
Time flew by quickly in the 15-minute limit, and soon it was Seonghyun’s turn to enter.
“Good luck.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Hayeon, who had already finished the exam, gave a light greeting to Seonghyun, who slightly nodded before entering the gate.
“They seem quite tense.”
Seonghyun wasn’t particularly nervous as he had performed well in the first stage. However, the others entering with Seonghyun seemed uneasy, probably due to not performing well in the first stage and relying heavily on his abilities.
‘Five essences… It should be easy.’
Seonghyun had already pushed the limits of his physical abilities in the previous solo gate.
The monsters that appeared from the opened gate were not much different from the enemies encountered during the first night at the temple.
“They’re over there.”
Conveniently, five goblins appeared in Seonghyun’s sight.
In the past, they might have been relatively challenging opponents, but now they were monsters that didn’t even measure up to the challenging side.
Seonghyun immediately drew his sword and appeared in front of the goblin group.
“Keyeak!”
The goblins, noticing Seonghyun, also began to take a combat stance.
“What’s going on?”
Seonghyun looked down at his own hands.
In the blurry sight beyond the sword, the corpses of five goblins were already sprawled out.
“Am I this strong?”
Before facing the goblins, Seonghyun had been greatly mistaken.
The goblins were not at the same level as the enemies from the first night.
In fact, the enemies from that first night had been much stronger.
With swift swings of his sword, Seonghyun effortlessly severed the goblins’ limbs as if cutting tofu.
It took barely three minutes to deal with the goblin group.
“Shall I head back in soon?”
Seonghyun, after extracting all the goblin essence, pondered for a moment.
Anyway, the supervisor must have witnessed everything by now.
“There’s probably no need to worry anymore.”
He hadn’t wanted to attract attention, up until now because things were different.
To become the representative, then the grade representative, and eventually the national tournament representative, he needed to tread a different path.
To secure the full support of renowned guilds and associations, he couldn’t solely rely on the scarcity of his abilities.
His rare talent was merely a starting point. Apart from that, he had to display other abilities in a unique way compared to others.
“Let’s go back.”
Seonghyun precisely gathered five cores and headed for the gate in three minutes.
“Hmm? Student Kim Seonghyun?”
“Yes.”
“Did you forfeit the test? Why didn’t the supervisor come out?”
The proctor found it a bit odd; this situation was different from the usual process of forfeiting a test.
To forfeit a test, one had to convey the intention to the supervisor inside the room and then immediately leave outside with the supervisor upon forfeiting, but that wasn’t the case here.
“No, I didn’t forfeit.”
“Really? Then will you hand over the essences?”
The proctor had expected candidates to bring back around two essence cores if they did well.
The ones who had just entered were those with the lowest grades in the first semester, and in front of them stood Seonghyun, a student known solely for their healing ability.
“Excuse me.”
Seonghyun retrieved five essence cores from their pocket and handed them to the proctor.
“Five… cores? In three minutes…?”
The proctor checked the records.
It was the shortest time since three years ago when a student had retrieved five essence essences in 1 minute and 18 seconds.
However, the student back then had been someone with no abilities—a student whose lack of ability was their ability.
An extreme ability solely concentrated in physical prowess.
While there was a time difference of more than double, considering Seonghyun’s ability, it was an astounding feat.
“Kim Seonghyun… gets a perfect score.”
Those who hadn’t been particularly interested in how many Seonghyun would get alternated glances between him and the proctor at the mention of a perfect score.
“Three… in three minutes and a perfect score?”
“Wasn’t Kim Seonghyun a healer…?”
“…What would happen if the great healer gets a low score?.”
Most reactions were of surprise, but there were quite a few who doubted that Seonghyun had achieved a perfect score through legitimate means.
“Hmm… considering the person who elevated our national ranking, it’s natural to expect a perfect score.”
“Exactly. Probably going to ace the second test and head to the competition as our representative.”
Despite having saved their lives, Seonghyun shrugged off the divergent reactions with a bitter laugh.
