Vell slipped through the examination hall doors just as the first bell rang out across the room, a sharp tone that made every student still standing in the aisles scramble for their seats.
He walked down the center aisle toward the front rows, conscious of eyes tracking him from both sides. The late arrival always got attention, and he could feel the stares digging into his back as he moved.
He reached the designated section for Group Seven and found his assigned seat near the front, marked with a small card bearing his name. He sat down hard, let out a breath he had not realized he was holding, and tried to slow his racing pulse.
'Just made it,' he thought, running a hand through his hair and noticing a few students nearby still looking at him with curiosity or judgment. 'One minute later and they would have locked the doors.'
The lights above the central stage brightened, and a figure in formal Saintfall robes stepped up to the podium. The murmur of conversation across the hall died down instantly as several hundred first-years snapped their attention forward.
"Welcome to Saintfall Academy," the woman said, her voice carrying to every corner without any visible effort. She looked to be in her forties, with steel-gray hair tied back and a posture that suggested she had spent decades making students uncomfortable. "I am Administrator Claire Veis, and I will be overseeing your class assignment examination today."
Vell recognized her from his first timeline. She had been the one to announce his Class D placement four years ago, reading the results with the same flat tone she brought to everything.
"Before we begin the practical examinations," she continued, "you must understand what is at stake. Saintfall does not coddle its students, we sort them."
She gestured toward the large ranking boards mounted on either side of the stage, currently blank but ready to show results.
"Your performance today determines your initial class placement. Class A, Class B, Class C, or Class D. These are not mere labels, they dictate your instructors, training resources, mission priority, and your access to the academy's facilities."
She let that settle over the room before continuing.
"The point system is simple. You will be tested on three components: combat aptitude, mana control, and tactical knowledge. Each section awards points on a scale of zero to forty, for a maximum possible score of one hundred and twenty."
A student somewhere in the back raised a hand, but Administrator Veis ignored it.
"To qualify for Class A," she said, her voice dropping slightly as if enjoying the reaction she knew was coming, "you must achieve a minimum score of ninety points."
The gasp that rippled through the hall was audible. Whispers erupted immediately, students turning to each other with wide eyes and nervous expressions.
"Ninety? That's insane."
"Nobody scores that high on their first exam."
"I heard last year only nine people made it into Class A."
Vell sat back in his seat, listening to the panicked murmurs swirl around him. The numbers were exactly as he remembered them.
'Class A is supposed to hold twenty students,' he thought, scanning the room full of nervous first-years. 'But they only had nine last year because nobody else could hit the threshold. That's how brutal this place is from day one.'
He remembered the feeling from his first timeline, sitting in a similar hall thinking he could scrape together enough points for Class B at least. He had been wrong, his forty-three points had landed him in Class D with the other disappointments, and that label had followed him for years.
Not this time.
Administrator Veis waited patiently for the whispers to die down, her expression unchanged by the student anxiety filling the room.
"Class B requires seventy points minimum," she continued. "Class C requires fifty. Below that, you will find yourselves in Class D."
She said the last word with a slight emphasis that made it sound like a diagnosis.
"Your examination begins in fifteen minutes. Use that time to compose yourselves. Nervous students make stupid decisions which lead to mistakes that cost points you cannot afford to lose."
She stepped back from the podium, and the hall immediately filled with the sound of students fidgeting, whispering, and trying to calm their breathing.
Vell looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers and feeling the faint warmth of mana already circulating through his channels. The Infinite Evolution Trait, the Throne System, the memories of four years of training and combat he had already lived through.
He had every advantage he needed.
'Ninety points,' he thought, setting his jaw and looking up toward the stage where proctors were already setting up the first testing stations. 'Class A, that's where I need to be, because from the info I remember, one of the calamities will be there.'
'Other then that, it's where the real resources are, and probably the best place to look for future seats currently.'
Around him, students were still panicking, convincing themselves that ninety was impossible and planning how to explain mediocre scores to their families.
Vell sat there with his jaw set, trying to project confidence he suddenly wasn't sure he felt.
'Shit,' he thought, the realization hitting him. 'I got ahead of myself. I have four years of knowledge but I'm still stuck in an E-Rank Mid body with barely any mana to my name.'
He wiped his forehead and found it damp with sweat, his heart starting to pound for a completely different reason now.
'Last time I failed because I was actually this weak, and the Null affinity reading made them think I had no potential at all. What if the system doesn't change that? What if I still scan as Null and they write me off before I even start?'
He looked down at his hands again, flexing his fingers and trying to sense the mana in his channels, but it felt thin, shallow, nothing like the reserves he remembered having in his final year.
'Knowledge doesn't give me the mana to power better techniques nor does it give me the physical conditioning I spent years building. I'm trying to run before I can walk and I might have just fucked myself.'
A proctor walked past his row carrying a stack of testing slates, and Vell felt his stomach drop at the sight.
'Fuck, fuck, fuck,' he thought, gripping the edge of his seat. 'What was I thinking? I don't have the Infinite Evolution Trait unlocked yet, I don't have any Seats sharing power with me, I'm just a first-year with some memories and a system that won't even work until I recruit someone.'
The bell rang again, and Administrator Veis stepped back up to the podium.
"Testing stations are now active," she said, her voice cutting through the nervous chatter. "Group Seven, combat aptitude section begins immediately. Proceed to your assigned stations when your name is called."
Vell felt his mouth go dry as he watched the first students stand up and move toward the testing area.
'No more time,' he thought, pushing himself up on legs that felt suddenly unsteady. 'This is happening whether I'm ready or not.'