Chapter 10: The Headmaster Watches Over the Students on the Day of Destiny
May 1st.
Some call it The Fated Day.
Some call it The Deadline.
For any sixteen-year-old without a Job, if they let even a single day slip past, they are forcibly assigned the Job of 【Beginner】.
Laugh or cry, today is the final chance to choose a Job.
It is the day people call the Final Measurement Day.
Naturally, it’s one of the busiest days of the entire academy.
Every staff member is mobilized for Job measurements. Classes for upperclassmen are suspended so they can help with the workload.
Special venues are set up across campus, and all first-year students without a Job are required to enter one by 8:00 p.m. sharp, where their Job measurements will be performed.
The 8 p.m. cutoff exists for a reason. Otherwise, some students would keep grinding until just before midnight, hoping for a last-minute Job awakening.
In the past, this caused massive traffic jams at the measuring stations, and hundreds of students missed the deadline and were forced into the 【Beginner】 Job. It was a tragedy repeated too many times.
Since then, the rule has been strict: 8 p.m. is the deadline. Those who miss it through their own selfishness are penalized.
The students are also bombarded with reminders via their Student Handbooks. And for those who can’t move—whether bedridden, ill, or too weak—faculty or upperclassmen deliver a <Dragon Statue> right to them, ensuring every possible safety net is in place.
The academy as a whole runs on a single motto: Don’t let a single 【Beginner】 be born. Faculty and upperclassmen alike are racing around the grounds to make it happen.
It’s chaos.
And not only for the faculty—for the new first-years, it’s also the most important day of their lives.
Will their efforts bear fruit? Their entire future is at stake.
The pressure is worse than any college entrance exam—this day truly determines the course of one’s life. There are no do-overs. (…Well, technically there are. The art of "Job Change" exists.)
The freshmen have been pushing themselves to the limit for the past month.
Those who don’t work hard can only obtain low-rank Jobs—or worse, fall into a mere Standard Job.
But those who give it their all can rise to mid-rank Jobs. And so, the new students have been fighting tooth and nail.
That morning, dreaming of the lives ahead of them, they lined up in long queues.
Every one of them had been working toward their chosen Job.
Their faces were filled with unshakable determination.
And watching over them were two men—an elderly one, and one just past middle age.
"They’ve all got good eyes this year," the old man said.
"Indeed! And more than that, this year they’ve taken their efforts unusually seriously. Something—or someone—must have inspired them. You can see it in their eyes!"
"Could it be because your team discovered the conditions for High-Rank Jobs, Miston?"
"Fuhahaha! No doubt that played a part, but more than anything, the influence of promising guilds like <Eden> and <Machos> has been tremendous. It’s always students who inspire students, Headmaster!"
The elderly man was none other than Vandamud, headmaster of the <National Dungeon Exploration Support Academy, Main Campus>—a man with such a magnificent beard that he could be mistaken for Santa Claus.
The other was Miston, director of the academy’s research institute. He had recently uncovered part of the conditions for awakening High-Rank Jobs, a breakthrough that had guided countless students upward. His results had earned him widespread acclaim, and now he was becoming a man of the moment. A self-proclaimed "handsome man," at that.
"<Eden>. And the 【Hero】. I never expected he would have such an influence on this academy."
"Neither did I. The conditions for High-Rank Jobs he conveyed indirectly—monster subjugation, mastery of subordinate Jobs, the very concepts of Job lineages and branching routes… The list goes on. Thanks to his knowledge, our researchers feel as though we’ve climbed several steps closer to the truth. At this point, we barely have a reason to call ourselves researchers! Hahaha!"
"To laugh it off like that is itself a gift of his generosity. But how in the world did he gain such knowledge?"
"That’s the baffling part! We investigated, but in his village, he was just an ordinary child. Nothing remarkable. No signs of having studied anything in particular. I believe he simply has an extraordinary ability to perceive things more keenly than others. Or perhaps… it is the power of being a 【Hero】."
"…The Hero, hm."
Does the 【Hero】 truly possess some innate power to guide others? Vandamud couldn’t be sure. But the possibility was strong. After all, there was no other explanation for how a mere village boy could transform an academy that had stood unchanged for centuries.
"Is there nothing more we can learn of him? I would dearly like to know the full breadth of the 【Hero】’s knowledge."
"There surely is. But unfortunately, we don’t have the capacity to accept it. The information he’s already given us is so vast that our researchers are struggling just to process it. The 【Hero】’s knowledge carries too much weight. To absorb it fully, we would need many more scholars with solid foundations—and vast amounts of time."
"…That much, eh."
Vandamud could only let out a low groan at the sheer magnitude of what the 【Hero】 had brought to them.
At this point, nearly every researcher and scholar across the Kingdom of Shiyatna had converged upon the <National Dungeon Exploration Support Academy, Main Campus>.
The conditions for awakening High-Rank Jobs—just the revelation of a portion of them had caused this upheaval. And yet, even with every researcher in the kingdom gathered here, they still lacked the capacity to process the next batch of information. No wonder Headmaster Vandamud could only groan in frustration.
And all this had come from merely an hour’s conversation with the 【Hero】. Terrifying.
Even if more knowledge could be drawn out, decoding and digesting it would still require both manpower and time.
Curiosity remained, of course—who exactly was the 【Hero】, and what kind of knowledge did he possess? But asking carelessly could spark trouble.
This wasn’t the sort of problem that could be solved by simply adding more people. The information was massive and could only be grasped by those who already possessed a vast foundation of Job-related knowledge.
Letting out a long breath, Headmaster Vandamud decided it would be best to refrain from approaching the 【Hero】 until they were truly prepared to receive what he carried.
Besides, the King’s eyes were on him as well. Recklessly drawing too close risked provoking His Majesty.
For now, observation was the wiser path. With that conclusion, Vandamud shifted the subject.
"So, how many of this year’s freshmen will reach High-Rank Jobs, I wonder?"
"Hard to say, but at least twenty percent for certain. If we look at combat-oriented students alone, close to forty percent should be able to attain them. Production and other non-combat Jobs, however, show a marked tendency to resist High-Rank manifestation. Perhaps the condition of defeating monsters applies only to combat Jobs. Clearly, we still lack sufficient research."
"Remarkable numbers all the same. And you’ve taken on quite the expression, Miston. Much better than when you used to smolder in gloom."
"Ah—how embarrassing. But thanks to him, I’ve regained my old passion. I’m truly grateful to him. I’ll continue pouring my utmost efforts into this work."
"Good. Work hard, Miston. I have high hopes for what you’ll achieve."
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