Reincarnated as a failed hero?! Watch me Defy Fate! - Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Midterm Exam Begin!

Chapter 47: Midterm Exam Begin!

Midterm Exam Week Has Begun!

The midterm exams at Braveheart Knight Academy are divided into three stages.

The first stage is the written test.

Here, students tackle multiple-choice questions and essays for each subject.

Each subject consists of 40 multiple-choice questions and 10 essay questions.

And, to make things more challenging, incorrect answers result in point deductions.

The second stage is the practical exam, where students demonstrate their skills in swordsmanship or magic, depending on their chosen focus.

This stage evaluates how well students can apply the theories and concepts they’ve learned.

Finally, there’s the sparring test, the last stage of the midterms.

This test is similar to our sparring sessions with Instructor Morgan, but this time, the examiners are actual knights from the Kingdom of Braveheart, not academy instructors.

The goal of this stage is to determine whether we are worthy of advancing to Rank A.

Passing this test means the graduation exams will be much easier.

But failing?

That means going through another sparring exam during finals.

Knowing all this made my head spin-it sounded incredibly tough.

It’s like the equivalent of a high school final exam back on Earth, or maybe even harder.

I couldn’t help but grumble, cursing Arsene, the headmaster of Braveheart Knight Academy.

I’m convinced he deliberately made the exams difficult to weed out weaker students.

…

For now, I needed to focus on the written test.

While the exams at this academy were undeniably challenging, I felt confident about the subjects.

Boosting my INT stat had worked wonders-it improved both my learning ability and memory retention.

On the first day, we tackled Magic Theory, Mana Manipulation, and Spell Formulation.

Day two would cover War Strategy, Advanced Swordsmanship, and Magic Swordsmanship.

I had taken every available subject, so I needed to be ready for all of them.

Envi, my ever-sarcastic system companion, teased me for being so “greedy” as to study everything.

But in my opinion, it was the right move.

After all, I came to this world as a blank slate.

Envi might be a lazy system, but his existence motivated me to absorb every piece of knowledge I could about this world.

To me, these exams were a golden opportunity to learn.

The morning’s exam was Magic Theory, and it lasted until midday.

Luckily, this was one of my strongest subjects, so I breezed through the multiple-choice questions.

The essay questions, surprisingly, turned out to be easier than I’d expected.

Having used dark magic before, I already had a solid grasp of magical theory.

The key was aligning mana flow, the spell incantation, and the mental image of the desired outcome.

The principle behind spellcasting was similar to the Power of Incarnation, something I had mastered, so it felt natural to me.

For someone without hands-on magic experience, though, these questions would be a nightmare.

I thought of Marius, my roommate, who struggled with body-enhancement magic-a basic skill for swordsmen.

I remembered how he’d told me he was still far from mastering it.

Midway through the test, I glanced over at him.

His face was frozen in panic, and his answer sheet was still blank.

Even though I’d taught him the basics, his progress in magic was frustratingly slow.

But I had done my best to prepare him, so he should at least know how to start.

Was he just overwhelmed by the difficulty?

“Ugh, I have no choice!

I have to help him,” I muttered to myself.

“Are you really going to use that?” Envi’s tone was curious, almost amused.

“Yes!

This is exactly why I prepared it.

Marius already knows the code, so he’ll understand what I mean.” The “code” I referred to was a cheat system I’d created for sharing answers discreetly.

Back in middle school on Earth, I came up with this trick to help friends struggling with multiple-choice exams.

It was simple: one tap of the pen for option A, two taps for B, three for C, and four for D.

To switch to the next question, a single wink would do the trick.

When I’d taught Marius the code, he’d been so grateful he almost cried.

I warned him, though, that it was for emergencies only and that I wouldn’t help him often-he needed to learn on his own.

He’d agreed to those terms.

“This is an emergency.

I can’t let my roommate fail,” I decided, steeling my resolve.

I gave Marius a small cough to get his attention.

He looked over, and when our eyes met, he understood that I was about to signal him.

His panic melted into determination as he prepared to receive my codes.

One by one, I tapped out the answers.

Thankfully, no one noticed what I was doing.

The process went smoothly, and Marius quickly filled in his answer sheet.

By the time we finished the multiple-choice section, we moved on to the essay portion.

Unfortunately, there was no way I could help Marius here-he had to rely on his own knowledge.

I could only hope he remembered everything I had drilled into him.

To my surprise, he didn’t seem to struggle.

He wrote his essay with confidence, and I could tell he was drawing from what I’d taught him.

A wave of relief washed over me as I watched him work.

…

By midday, the written exam was over.

It was time for lunch and a much-needed break.

My classmates and I gathered to talk about how the test had gone.

Lyra and Freya were in high spirits-they’d done well since many essay questions aligned with what I’d taught them during our study sessions.

Even Luna and Marius seemed confident they had passed Magic Theory, despite their initial worries.

After our discussion and a quick meal, it was time for the next two parts of the day’s exam: Mana Manipulation and Spell Formulation.

Marius and Luna opted out since they hadn’t taken those subjects, deciding to head back and prepare for tomorrow’s tests instead.

That left only Lyra, Freya, and me to tackle the rest of today’s exams.

The next part of the written exam was Mana Manipulation.

Thanks to Lyra and Freya’s lessons, I had a solid grasp of the basics.

Surprisingly, I managed to finish this section smoothly, and the same held true for the Spell Formulation test that followed.

One thing about the Spell Formulation exam left me utterly stunned, though: I’d never once chanted when using [Dark Magic].

The formulas for the spells simply appeared in my mind, and the magic activated on its own.

Envi nonchalantly explained that this was the ability known as Magic Without Chanting-a unique trait tied to my innate powers as Naoki.

It was only now that I fully understood this, and I decided to keep it a secret from my classmates and professors.

If anyone found out, it could cause an uproar in the academy.

…

After finishing today’s exams, I met up with Lyra and Freya, and we walked home together.

They seemed overjoyed at how well they’d done, and their smiles were infectious.

The fatigue from the day melted away just from seeing them so happy.

“Ehh, Naoki-sama, why are you smiling?” Lyra asked, tilting her head innocently.

“Yeah, Naoki-dono.

What’s got you so cheerful?” Freya added.

“It’s nothing… I’m just glad to be with you guys.

I may have lost my memories of my first three years at this academy because of my amnesia, but there’s one thing I’m grateful for now-having friends like you two, as well as Luna and Marius.

Let’s keep working hard for the next exams!” I said with a soft laugh, feeling lighter with every word.

“Hehe, I’m happy to be in the same class as Naoki-sama too,” Lyra said, flashing me a radiant smile.

“All right!

Let’s give it our all!” Freya shouted enthusiastically, bursting into laughter.

With that, we each returned to our dorms.

…

The following day, we faced written tests for War Strategy, Advanced Swordsmanship, and Magic Swordsmanship.

Freya and I tackled all three subjects, while Lyra only joined us for War Strategy.

Marius and Luna opted for War Strategy and Advanced Swordsmanship.

To my relief, everyone performed well.

We gathered afterward to chat, and their excited expressions said it all.

Our study group had truly paid off.

However, one person seemed utterly drained: Kael.

From day one, he’d been looking worse by the hour-his gaunt face and shiny bald head were becoming almost comical.

It was clear he was overworking his brain to keep up with the exams.

I decided to leave him be; he’d bounce back on his own eventually.

“You only care about the girls, don’t you?

Just admit it-you’re only helping them because you want to get close to them!” Envi jeered inside my head.

“Hey, do you expect me to start doting on a big bald guy?

Absolutely not!

Besides, helping the girls is a gentleman’s duty,” I shot back confidently.

“Ugh, you shameless show-off,” Envi grumbled.

I ignored him.

…

After the written tests ended, I finally felt a bit of relief.

Now, we could focus on the upcoming practical and sparring exams.

That evening, I walked back with Freya since we were the only ones who had taken all three subjects today.

“Naoki-dono, you’re really diligent.

You take every single subject and still find time to teach us.

You could easily just focus on yourself instead of helping everyone else,” Freya said, her voice soft but full of sincerity.

“You know, focusing only on myself would be boring.

I’d rather spend my time with you all than be alone.

Even though I’ll probably have to shoulder a lot of responsibilities by myself when I become a hero, right now, I want to enjoy being with everyone.” I said this seriously, almost as much to convince myself as to answer her.

In truth, I was terrified of repeating my lonely life from Earth here in this new world.

That’s why I was determined to build bonds and make friends-at least with the people around me now.

Freya was silent for a moment, seemingly awestruck by my words.

“Hehe, that’s exactly like the Naoki-dono I know.

You don’t hesitate to help those in need.

It’s one of the things I really lo-” Her voice trailed off as she blushed.

But before I could hear her clearly, a sudden gust of wind blew past, carrying her words away.

“Sorry, what did you say just now?” I asked, tilting my head.

“N-Nothing!

Let’s head home!” she replied quickly, her face flushed as she smiled.

She looked stunning in the glow of the setting sun, and for a moment, my heart skipped a beat.

…

The next day, it was time for the practical exams.

I wasn’t particularly worried about them.

Instructor Morgan had already assessed me as being fit for Knight Rank A.

My real concern was the sparring test-who would we face from the royal knights?

The exams were divided by instructor groups.

Marius, Luna, and I had our practical tests with Instructor Morgan, while Lyra and Freya were assigned to Professor Aldin.

As the first to go in my class, I stepped forward confidently, ready to demonstrate my skills.

But to my utter surprise, Instructor Morgan stopped me before I even began.

“You don’t need to take this practical exam, Naoki.

You’ve already passed,” he announced with a grin.

The entire class erupted in gasps of disbelief.

…

…

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