The Retired Hero is an Extra

Meanwhile, in the Academy's deepest room...

A man casually flipped through pages and files as he sat at a large mahogany table inside a room big enough to easily fit tens of cars.

His expression was calm and serene as if nothing could disturb him, but he raised his head from time to time to look at a screen on the wall.

There were three screens in total, and his gaze darted to all of them in less than a second before focusing back on the huge pile of papers.

As if used to the process, he appeared unperturbed and continued to perform his duties before a frown appeared on his face.

His pursed lips parted as he commanded, "Enter."

The person outside the door flinched, then entered with a deep breath, hoping it would go well.

"Good morning, sir," the entrant greeted politely yet the man didn't even glance at him.

However, the new entrant seemed used to this behavior and carefully approached the desk, stopping half a meter on the side.

"Sir, someone broke the record for the Entrance Test," the new entrant explained his reason for disturbing the man.

Hearing this, the man's hand paused for a fraction of a second before he replied, 'Naturally. Who was it?"

As if the man knew such a thing would occur, he asked for the identity of the person despite the guesses in his heart.

'Avon, Amael, Sylvie, Zaos, Grunghin...'

The man listed the names of the most talented examinees, expecting one of them to be the record breaker.

That's why when the new entrant said a different name, he didn't believe it for a second and raised his gaze to the entrant's face.

"Jash," the person reported again, "Jash Ramille."

"Hmm. He has two monsters of a grandfather and even that elder brother of his..."

The man said so and returned to his work, though, a small smile of anticipation was plastered on his face.

'It would be interesting to see how you perform in the final test,' he mused with interest.

—Knock Knock!

Right at that time, another person came and knocked at the doors as the man regained his calm and allowed her to enter, "Come in."

"Greetings, principal," she said, bowing slightly in respect of the man opposite her before turning to face the man beside the desk.

As if sensing her gaze, he immediately said, "I'll take my leave, sir."

"So, what happened for you to show up?" the man, the principal of the Solarnelle Academy, asked.

"These are the new rules we wish to implement this year," she said, placing a thick document on the table.

Despite the advanced technology allowing ease of access and making it hundreds of times faster, the Academy still used papers.

Of course, everything was available online, it was just a formal procedure.

"So, you finally put it into action, huh?" the principal commented as he picked it up and perused the file.

He was aware of the professors wanting new rules ever since the current graduating batch, however, it wasn't so easy to change them.

"I see, so you want to use the next test as justification, right?" the principal asked as she nodded before he added, "How sure are you?"

"If things continue as they are, 100%."

Hearing her confident tone, he smiled and focused on all the altered rules and new ones being introduced.

As events unfolded in the Academy's depths, the examinees began returning to the first venue they had arrived at.

At least the ones that made it through the first two rounds, the rest were sent into spectator stands in the Academy.

Though those examinees were unable to even qualify to take the exam, they were able to enter the Academy grounds and enjoy spectating.

As time ticked by, almost everyone had arrived, but this time only hushed murmurs and whispers were being exchanged.

The imposing presence of an SS-Rank professor was unsettling for many, even if all they did was a silent staredown, especially since they were hegemons.

And the three of them stood up at the respective venue of each race.

"Congratulations for being one of the examinees to take the last test for the academy," they began with the same line.

"If anyone's curious to not see some faces around you, then they were most likely disqualified."

The words stung but the examinees strained their focus to hear them, unwilling to miss anything and end up getting disqualified.

As long as they could enter the Academy, not only themselves, they could even live for their friends.

'Fools,' Jash thought, noticing their expressions and he was sure the ones coming from power thought the same as him.

Not just the examinees, even the professor viewed them as immature fools.

Still, she maintained her professionalism.

"Out of the 17,680 candidates across the three races, only a thousand would truly enter the Solarnelle Academy."

Her words only made the students more nervous as they realized the number was at an all-time high, a strange coincidence, or was it really?

'It's the world itself or some nonsense like that. It's always that kind of thing, Jash cursed inwardly, finding it stupid.

If the world thought more children—talented ones at that—could help the situation, it was surprisingly stupid.

It would only aggravate human greed as they wouldn't want anyone to oppose them. Rather, they would prefer the strong to serve them.

However, now was not the time to think about that as even Jash found himself caught up in the participants' heightened emotions.

'Damn, it's really hard to not get caught up,' he lamented, unable to extradite himself.

"...your next test will be explained to every examinee at the same time. Take this portal to the academy."

She finished saying what she wanted and stepped aside as a freaking portal materialized on the stage.

'It should allow many teleportations at once,' Jash guessed, roughly calculating its size to be enough for 4 examinees to go side-by-side.

'Hm?' Jash turned his head in confusion, feeling someone's heated gaze but found no source.

"Weird," he muttered, looking around to find anyone suspicious but he only caught the sight of the examinees going into the portal.

Unlike the first time when they hesitated, they were rushing over.

No matter what the results, they would still be able to claim that they had stepped into the sacred academy grounds.

"Slow down!" the female professor shouted with a frown on her face and immediately all the rushing examinees froze in their spots.

"One last thing, while only 1000 would become the academy's students, there are other academies as well. Also, a few scouts."

Her meaning was clear, some might like your performance and give you admission into an academy or sponsor your education.

It just depended on who you could impress.

Naturally, the ones who understood it beamed at the thought and shared it with those next to them, making them excited as well.

However, they still carefully and in a disciplined manner entered the teleportation portal.

"Tch. How dare these filthy things ignore me," a noble cursed as he wasn't allowed to go first, but that was a common sight.

No one cared about your damned identity at this moment as there was no way anyone would remember them.

'Such a dumbass,' Jash scoffed at their idiocy internally.

According to him, anyone with a functioning brain would keep their disdain hidden, alas, not everyone could use their brain.

Rather, a smile appeared on Jash's face as he observed the scene and waited in the back, unlike the first time.

He had already spearheaded the way once and the order would change nothing.

'They aren't going to start it without explaining the rules now, can they?'