The Retired Hero is an Extra

"Hoh?" Jash remarked, impressed by the smoothness of the teleportation.

At the end of the sudden passageway that appeared out of nowhere was a lone portal.

After entering it, Jash felt an exhilarating sensation instead of the disorienting sensations he felt every darned time he used teleportation.

It was the same for when he arrived in Adonia, making this one truly a marvel in his eyes.

"Maybe I should learn how it's made," he mumbled to himself, his eyes shining with interest and greed as it would sell like hot cakes.

"Haha,"

A sudden laugh put Jash on his guard as he didn't expect any response, having sensed no one nearby.

'What am I getting tense for?' he thought, well aware that there were thousands of people who could kill him with a mere sneeze in this world.

The next second, he dropped his guard as the person appeared in front of him.

'Hoh, what an interesting kid,' the man thought before appearing in front of Jash.

Currently, the same person had appeared in front of everyone as soon as they teleported, scrutinizing each and every participant.

It was difficult to say anything about this person, but Jash seemed to have a hint of recognition.

'Now that I think of it, isn't he...?'

Just as the thought struck him, Jash relaxed, knowing nothing would happen to him and it was just another minor test.

"Oh? Why did you give up, kid?" the man asked, his brows raised in intrigue.

"Because this is the Entrance Test, and there has been a zero death toll in it," Jash replied calmly.

"Also," he added, "No matter what I do, it would make no difference in your presence."

"Hmm. Aren't you curious why you're here instead of the written test?" the man asked after accepting Jash's answer.

Looking at the man nodding to himself, Jash shrugged, "I was asked to come here for the test, so who knows? Maybe it began already?"

"Hmm?" the man hummed questioningly, wondering what nonsense Jash was spouting.

"Well, if I get delayed because of another test proctor, that's not my fault, right?" Jash said, a smile blossoming on his face.

It turned out he was planning to use the guy as a scapegoat for his reason for delay and saving himself from taking any blame.

"You're a smart kid, I'll give you that," the man praised, stunned by Jash's bold response. "But... time to go and write that test," he declared.

In the next instant, Jash opened his eyes and found himself seated in a classroom, if it could be even called that.

'This... This is more like a freaking lecture hall!' he exclaimed inwardly, looking at the steps in the classroom and the huge board at the lowest level.

The desks were wooden and seemed fixed to the ground with strange wires around them.

'Is this the futuristic classroom?' Jash pondered, recalling how the author described them.

The wires functioned to display live holograms instead of books, and even the Professors used the same holograms to teach the entire class.

Before he could take a good look around, Jash noticed that all the seats were filled with random people.

'Nearly 200?' he guessed, remembering the class strength and how these rooms actually were the same.

In the next second a person wearing a similar uniform to the officials entered, silencing the nervous participants with their aura.

Her fierce look stunned the children speechless as she directly began the test, skipping any formalities.

Deep inside, she was cursing that old man for taking so long to test the students of the Golden Generation.

"Now then, without further ado, we'll begin the first phase of the test." She began, not even giving anyone enough time to sort through their thoughts.

Jash didn't care, though. His mind was in its right place.

He didn't recognize her, but it didn't matter; what mattered was that the test would begin soon.

The woman snapped her fingers, creating a loud clicking sound, catching the attention of everyone, irrespective of their inner turmoil.

—Click!

'So forceful,' Jash noted her use of mana to form a spark and burst it to start the first phase, disliking the annoyingly loud sound.

However, his eyes suddenly caught something in front of him—on his desk, to be precise. 'A piece of paper...?' he recognized, looking at the clear white sheet.

"You should all have received pieces of paper, one page each, correct?" The female proctor announced.

Jash's eyes inadvertently darted across the room as he found the same sheet present at every desk, be it at his side, the front, or the back.

'Everyone indeed received the same piece of floating paper,' he observed, turning back to the female proctor.

'With the snap of a finger... impressive...' he thought half-heartedly.

After all, it was nothing more than a parlor trick in his eyes.

'To think the Academy resorted to such petty methods to impress students...' he lamented their lack of originality, ignoring the impressed crowd.

'It is but a simple trick once figured out,' he mused, waiting for further instructions.

"You are to pick up the paper before you. Written on it is a simple ID," the instructor continued.

"The paper is enchanted and responds to mana, so don't even try being smart or you'll end up disqualified," she said with a smile.

However, her smile appeared more demonic than even demons themselves to the participants there.

"Also, you don't need a pen to write," she added, and the desks transformed to a hologram of a keyboard.

"Answer the questions written on the screen before you, using the keyboard," she finished, turning silent.

Everyone mechanically obeyed her instructions, already used to the keyboard-screen mechanism as it was commonplace everywhere.

'This... Isn't this similar to computers? Just a tad too advanced,' Jash mused.

If he had noticed it, surely Amael would've too. Just like him, Amael had also spent some time with the old observing man.

However, his approach was to keep his guard up until the end to impress the man and even giving vague answers of their location.

Although both were aware of his identity, it would be foolish to reveal it as they didn't have any bias for it.

While one might think their family could've told them, it was entirely false.

The Academy isn't so stupid, they change the entrance test every year, except one of them.

Obviously, it was the fighting to decide who would be the year representative and other things.

Still, it was a long time away as just the written test was about to begin.

As the participants turned in their ID, they had to use a password.

[Type in your name.]

Seeing the prompt, they all followed it and easily got access to the exam screen, which showed a reducing timer.

[00:04:59]

All the participants focused on the screen, well-aware that it would definitely have a time limit once it began.

"I would desist from engaging in any form of malpractice since this place is being monitored entirely," the proctor said, breaking the tense silence.

She suggested, "Also, the questions assigned for every examinee are in random orders and the time allocated for this stage is fifty minutes!"

The bewildered students tried to express their displeasure concerning the sudden rush of information.

However, the moderator couldn't care less. It wasn't her duty to babysit the students and listen to them whine.

"Your time starts now!" She shouted as the timer reached [00:00:00]

[Written Test Begins! Good luck!]

Everyone instantly buried their faces into the screens, not wanting to miss even a second and end up failing this test.

It would be better to die of embarrassment if they actually failed in this test!