The Retired Hero is an Extra

"What did he mean?" Jash muttered contemplatively as he exited the room where the second trial occurred.

"Trial of Mind and Might, what's next?" he mumbled in a slight daze, his mind focused on interpreting the vague words from Leonard.

'Is it related to my sword mastery?'

Thinking so, Jash mulled over the words, repeating them again and again, "Let the flow take you... flow take you..."

Moving absentmindedly, it finally clicked in his mind as he blurted out, "I see. So that's what he meant..."

'Well, I do know the wall blocking me, but it's not so easy to rid myself of my ingrained habits and let the sword flow.'

Despite his thought, a sigh escaped his lips as he knew it was something that must be done for the next stage.

In the world of Aeternis Ājānia, the mastery of weapons was divided into 7 levels: Fundamental, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster.

Of course, those were the known and classified realms, many more might or might not exist.

Currently, Jash was on the brink of Intermediate sword mastery, and the advice Leonard gave him was wholly applicable throughout.

'So troublesome,' Jash thought, grappling with the complex details of so many power systems.

"At least the Master and Grandmaster realms have nothing to do with me..." he sighed, feeling relieved about it.

The Master proficiency required, at minimum, A-Rank, but only the talented ones could take that step.

Most could only achieve it at the Integration-Rank, which naturally distanced the Grandmaster level.

It could only be a pipe dream for most as the minimum requirement was reaching S-Rank, a major hurdle so to speak.

Though the hurdle of crossing the levels of different proficiencies remained, he was confident in his talent, memories and abilities to achieve it.

Even the highest realm was within reach as long as he lived to see that day and increased the amount of effort into it.

Anyways, Jash shook those thoughts out of his head as they didn't matter at all for now.

The last test awaited him.

'It will be the major deciding factor about the representative rank,' he mused, recalling its details as he walked in random directions.

He didn't mind as the scenery was quite serene, something he admired along the way.

Fresh green grass, the oxygen-rich air, and long trees provide shade with colorful flowers on both sides.

Small paths were made through this garden-like area to move around and Jash did exactly that.

"This is... paradise," Jash mumbled in praise, feeling relaxed at the scene.

Unfortunately, he had to bid farewell to it as he finally found a shimmering portal in the middle of his path.

'I'll be back,' he told himself as he stepped into the portal.

"Ah, this is the same," he unconsciously blurted out, feeling the difference in teleportation compared to the normal ones.

Looking around, Jash found himself back in the same area where they had first arrived before the first stage.

'Interesting,' he mused, intrigued by the place where the first two tests had been conducted.

However, his inner thoughts were cut off as a shadow appeared in his peripheral vision.

"Wait for the others before the last one begins."

A calm, declaring tone was all he heard as he turned around to find the professor from the center of the stage behind him.

"Yes," Jash replied, nodding respectfully as his eyes darted to the three stars on her shoulder.

Unbothered by his gaze, she vanished in front of his eyes, reappearing on the empty stage where a single chair was placed for her.

'Where are the others?' Jash wondered, curious at first but soon came up with a hypothesis himself.

'They're probably conducting the Trial of Might,' he thought to himself and nodded at his conclusion.

Now, he had no other option than to wait for others to arrive, so he did just that.

Meanwhile, the other participants were struggling to do their best and not fail at the first two rounds itself.

There were obviously thousands of examinees from each race, with humans having the most participants as well as dismissals.

Elves and dwarves had the least dismissals as they focused on the basic education quite a bit and their racial traits helped them.

For example, elves with adequate talent easily figured out the illusion while dwarves easily understood runes and machines.

In return, they could find the point with maximum impact and get a higher score, even if only by a small margin.

Still, the passing score in the second test was a bare minimum of 100, so no one could theoretically fail it.

In essence, it was conducted to distinguish the examinees before the third test.

After all, if one couldn't even damage the other person and could get easily knocked out, how would it even be a match?

That's why the Academy came up with this method this year to test the upcoming examiness.

Naturally, the only ones aware of it were in the confines of the Academy, observing the entire process through holograms.

The third test would still occur inside the Academy grounds, and the first two were nothing short of a prelude.

Hence, most professors appointed were on the lower end of the spectrum.

Only 3 SS-Rank Professors with 3 stars of authority were sent, one for each race to maintain safety in the rare event.

Of course, the accompanying professors were all S-Rank professors, be they 1 star or 2 star.

"He completed it faster than we anticipated," one professor with three stars on his shoulders commented with a rare hint of praise.

Another professor chuckled, "That's why it's fun to teach and watch the younger generation."

"I agree," the first one said, a small smile tugging at his lips.

Despite the casual conversation, several professors also stood respectfully at the side.

They were merely 1 star professors, not having the right to speak or disturb the professors so high-up in authority and strength.

Naturally, this area was different from where the Principal or Vice-Principal would be staying in.

If they were here, the 3-star professors would behave the same as the meek 1-star professors in front of them.

Not that it mattered to anyone as they were just arriving to check the results and leaving, being busy with the preparations of the Graduation Ceremony.

Obviously, if one batch of students was arriving, another batch would be leaving.

"This batch will be wilder than the one that's leaving," a 3 star professor said as she stood up, taking her leave.

Her comment hung in the air but no one denied it as they looked at the results of both the trials.

Not only the humans, even the elves and dwarves had very talented students and when such students faced each other...

"Their egos would no doubt clash and it'll be annoying to deal with childish tantrums," another older professor said with a frown.

"Maybe we can apply the new rules this year?" a professor suggested, but the room fell silent.

Even the professor about to exit stopped and turned around, her gaze locking on the one who spoke.

Despite her strength as an SS-Rank, the ones staring at her were her equals, if not stronger. It was enough to overwhelm her.

The professor who suggested it wasn't as bold as the others and usually kept quiet.

Currently, she blamed herself for being a loudmouth when she could've easily escaped this moment if only she kept quiet.

"That's a good idea, let's refine them and propose it," the female professor about to exit said as she put her stuff on the table and sat back down.