Chapter 150: CH 150

The written test was much more complicated than Nemo thought.

The written test was preceded by an identity verification. It turned out that Jesse Dylan did have some uses— The letter of introduction was verified and inspected more than a dozen times by various means, and the inspector even contacted the bishop who signed it himself. Before getting the “pass” answer, the two of them were sweating bullets and almost sheepishly began to plan their escape.

The next day, they were truly qualified to participate in the written exam. Participants weren’t allowed to bring any items. Even the ink and quill pens were prepared by Clementine Academy itself.

Nemo stared at his pseudonym “Nemo Murkos White” above his seat and felt nervous for the first time.

If anything, Nemo guessed that it would take a lot of time to remember such an unlucky name. This was completely Ann’s idea…

“No one can remember such a long name and it wouldn’t seem suspicious for Oliver to call you ‘Nemo’.” The female warrior patted him on the shoulder and suggested sincerely. “As for Oliver… The name ‘Oliver’ shouldn’t matter. After all, in a place like Alban, there’s at least one Oliver among ten men, and if you’re lucky, there’ll be at least two here. For your last name, we’ll have to choose one that both of you can respond to… Well, since our captain likes bones so much…” She glanced at the skeleton helmet and the Rest in Peace.

Oliver sadly became “Oliver Borne”.

Right now, Oliver was sitting not far from him biting the end of the quill pen with his lips. His expression was a little empty. Nemo actually felt a little relief, even though their current situation wasn’t easy. The plan to enter the Clementine Academy still allowed Oliver to revert back to how he used to be.

The young people who came to participate in the written test sat down in the lobby. Nemo glanced around roughly. The people around him were dressed in ordinary clothes. Half of the bright and shiny young people couldn’t be seen at the moment. He surmised this was the examination room provided for commoners.

For himself, mixing into this pure peace also had some effects. The feeling of being overwhelmed by reality and unable to breathe was much lighter. Looking at those “peers” with pure breath and no scars, he occasionally forgot his true identity.

But when the exam papers were sent out, this ease was instantly shattered. Nemo only thought a few sheets of paper would be sent out, but now a book was resting in front of him.

…This wasn’t the written test that he was aware of.

Nemo did receive an orthodox education and even learned well, but Roadside Town was just a small town. At first, he only wanted to die in that town by the border. Like most ordinary townspeople in town, after learning the basics, Nemo decisively gave up the idea of continuing his studies. The truth was, according to the level of poverty in the Light Orphanage at that time, even if there were extra funds, they were reluctant to carry out the most basic education. Old Patrick fought for his life to be able to provide for so many…

Nemo, who had not been taken away by any mercenary groups, took on the task of saving money. As the oldest one, when he came back from school ever day, he had to repeat the course to the group of little kids who couldn’t even wipe their noses clean. They saved a lot of money this way; at least the children of the Light Orphanage were literate.

Many people gave up from the beginning.

Geniuses were in the minority, and most families knew that their children wouldn’t go far. It was better to simply save this expense and add more meat to the table— Although nobles everywhere would subsidize a little education. As long as it wasn’t too poor, the school in town could provide the simplest of education, but if you want to continue, not only were educational institutions limited, but the tuition fees required would also sharply rise.

Once the basics were learned, only businessmen with small savings and well-off families could afford their children to continue studying. Those who were richer would send their heirs to private schools from the start. As for an institution of higher learning at the level of the Royal Military Academy of Clementine, there was only two ways to enter.

Either pay the tuition yourself— Generally speaking, only nobles and wealthy businessmen could afford this. The families of ordinary townspeople couldn’t save enough money for a single year’s tuition let alone for the entire major program in their lifetime.

Or accept funding. Many lords or bishops would find gifted children around their own areas, fund them and incorporate them under their command. Even if it they had low combat or magic ability, if their mind was clear enough, they could try to apply for a special grant from Clementine Academy. Although only people who majored in auxiliary had subsidies, once they enter Clementine Academy, they had the opportunity to reach out to their peers from the upper echelon of society…

The best result is to form relationships with certain families or major tycoons, obtain funding, and become a vassal for their descendants. If one’s lucky enough, they may be able to get a good reward, or get a decent enough official position in a prosperous city.

This is the limit that civilians could reach, and the person who could reach the end could be said to be one in ten thousand.

At the beginning, he didn’t seem to have any mana, and he was carrying the life and future of a lot of little kids on his shoulders. Nemo never thought about doing whatever it takes to get money to continue studying and gamble on luck.

And now, as the source of abyssal magic, the Demon King at the bottom of the Abyss, the idea had never patronized his head again.

Nemo opened the book used for testing with a bitter face and was relieved to find that there was a catalog in it. There was a lot of instructions on the title page— In general, the time was limited to one afternoon, and the papers were allowed to be submitted in advance so he could answer everything he wanted.

The combatant part probably included contents such as combat magic, analysis and application of combat techniques, command and tactics, and the likes. Nemo simply glanced at the long list of catalogs, decided to skip it, and turned directly to the auxiliary personnel section. He wasn’t here to show off his reserve knowledge, so he should keep a low profile.

He glanced at the page number, and directly skipped most of the book.

The remaining catalogs were slightly shorter— The practical application of healing magic, battlefield logistics instructions, nursing basics, research on the theory of surface and abyssal magic, and the pathology of surface and abyssal magic.

Nemo’s movements paused for a moment. Then he quickly opened the “nursing basics” section by page number and wrote quickly, answering all the questions in almost half an hour.

Then he hesitated for a while and finally opened the part to the pathology of surface and abyssal magic. He knew he shouldn’t do superfluous thing, but he deeply cared about what Telaranea mentioned in the Withered Castle…

[No wonder Ramon was able to dissolve the Trent Plague curse.]

It was this year that Oliver received his own strength, and at that time, he didn’t look like he was being eroded by a curse. According to the information he got in the Church of Silence, the Trent Plague had been gone for hundreds of years— The curse was extremely fierce. Once a patient was ill, 100% of them wouldn’t be able to walk, let alone jump like Oliver.

Although Oliver was completely fine now, Nemo couldn’t leave this strange thing behind.

He pondered for a moment and finally dipped the nib of the pen into the ink bottle and began to answer questions.

“I’m done.” After sunset, they were finally released from the examination room. Oliver wiped his face and glanced at Nemo several times before he got some wonderful comfort from the identity of the other person. “I hope I can pass… How about you?”

“I did okay,” Nemo replied vaguely, patting Oliver on the shoulder. “There’s only the aptitude test in the evening. Don’t be too frustrated… As long as we don’t expose ourselves, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

Anyways, they must score at the bottom for the aptitude test.

They weren’t allowed to eat before the aptitude test. However, compared to the slightly exaggerated written test, the aptitude test itself wasn’t shocking. Of course, it may be because they only participated in the first half.

Nemo easily sealed off all the power in his body and passed the test without any risk. Oliver’s side was a bit unusual…

His lover seemed to want to suppress his ability to a very low level and make himself look more “ordinary”, but the response from the crystal cube was a clean zero.

Whether it was a mage or a warrior, Clementine Academy stipulated that a certain magic power limit much be reached. Therefore, after confirming their physical health, they must leave with other people with low abilities and can no longer participate in deeper combat aptitude tests.

“From the results, there shouldn’t be a problem.” Ann had changed into a dress now. She was no longer wearing strong leather armor, and for the first time, she had changed into loose ordinary clothing. The female warrior stood guard in the alley near Clementine Academy and tossed them two hot bread rolls.

The one she tossed to Nemo, she put into his mouth herself.

“But our magic is too low. Isn’t this too conspicuous?” Oliver broke the bread roll apart worriedly, staring at the mustard sauce squeezed on the meat. “One is fine, but if Nemo and I are the same…”

“No.” Ann waved her hand. “Although Clementine has money, they wouldn’t take out such a sophisticated item just for you to play with. Those with too low mana will all be classified as zero. Don’t pay attention to it too much. As long as Oliver doesn’t suddenly act stupid, there isn’t a problem. As for Nemo, if even a superior demon can’t sneak into Clementine Academy, then humans truly don’t need to be worried at all.”

Oliver looked in Nemo’s direction without pause.

You are reading story Stray at novel35.com

“What about the task? We have less than a month to complete another task.” Nemo hurriedly tried to change the subject.

“Clementine will have an outing, and we can take that time to complete one nearby. This can buy us another month.” Ann touched her chin. “However, this method can’t be used a second time. Otherwise, they’ll definitely find the connection. We can’t afford to give out any clues.”

At the same time, the old site of the Withered Castle.

The Gatekeepers had lost their department for conducting live research and training death row soldiers. Although all the researchers survived, the Gatekeepers were unable to rebuild a second Withered Castle in such a short time. All the data had been destroyed and the researchers were trapped in nightmares all night long. Not to mention continuing various research projects, it was difficult to solve the problem of those researchers themselves.

The death row prisoners were sent back to their home country for retrial and sentencing. The weak prisoners had no intention of resisting, and many even showed a relieved smile.

Such a strange situation.

Horizon leader, Godwin Lopez, wrinkled his brows. His face was flat, and his fingers crushed the scorched soil, turning his face a little pale.

“I know I shouldn’t ask you to leave Clementine now, commander, but this situation… You must take a look with your own eyes.”

A huge creepy pit was embedded in the ground. The original huge fortress was gone, not even leaving any ashes behind. Only faint fire glowed at the bottom of the pit.

“Different.” Godwin’s tone didn’t fluctuate. “It’s different from previous times. I can feel it.”

After receiving the task, the first he did was to thoroughly investigate the trajectory of Tumbleweed. From the Black Chapter test, Hailem’s prison, Vincent’s Bluebird, Caleb’s Witch, to the recent fall of the Church of Silence and the Withered Castle, Tumbleweed’s destructive behavior was rapidly upgrading.

In fact, since he met them in Caleb, he felt that something was wrong with his nominal cousin. His cousin seemed to had a subconscious alienation from the rules of this world. The Church of Silence struck the Abyssal Church, so no one was currently investigating it, thus Godwin was able to barley ignore it.

But he couldn’t ignore the destruction of the Withered Castle.

Of course he knew that many rules weren’t reasonable, but if the world was to operate as usual, it would inevitably cause necessary sacrifices. All “kindness” should be based on the well-being of mankind itself. The rest was just a stupid and useless excess of emotions. Godwin’s face was getting darker as he looked at the deep pit in front of him.

Horizon almost missed this clue. Oliver Ramon may have something to do with this incident in the Withered Castle, which the client specifically told them. After all, as soon as the matter of the Withered Castle happened, the old guard in charge of contacting the Insular Court “died of illness” the very next day. It took him several days to collect countless confessions before he truly determined Oliver’s whereabouts.

The surviving researchers were in extremely poor mental state, and even had amnesia. The death row prisoners were also unable to provide any valuable clues. The researchers and death row prisoners all lost their memories of the attackers.

But one thing was certain, they all have fluctuations of abyssal magic left on their bodies.

And Oliver Ramon did escape from the army that rushed in immediately— Cleanly from this catastrophe. Of the surviving prisoners, excluding those who were incompetent or too weak, there were few left. Oliver’s companion, that Nemo Light, also happened to be involve with demons.

The evidence wasn’t sufficient, but Godwin had a faint premonition that all this was definitely related to his extremely powerful cousin. He didn’t know what Oliver had done; he only knew that his only remaining relative was probably still heading in the wrong direction…

The remaining power didn’t belong to any know system. It was cold and chaotic. Godwin was pretty sure that this wasn’t a derivative of surface magic. Perhaps on a physical level, the leader of Tumbleweed was still a human being… But if the master of this power is really him…

Then Oliver Ramon could be regarded as a monster in human skin; a new kind of “other creature”.

Tumbleweed was very smart. Except for the two who were left in the Clementine Cathedral, he didn’t know how the others got wind, but they had cleanly disappeared and left behind various traces that only confused them.

If he were to change this to someone else, Godwin would even feel excited at this moment. This was undoubtedly a worthy opponent. He hadn’t encountered a target such as this in a long time.

But at this moment, only cold anger and a vague tingling disappointment was left in his heart.

That was his only remaining relative. Even if he didn’t have a good impression of Oliver Ramon himself, he at least hoped the other party would live well.

He had already killed the “only remaining relative” once before, and such a repeat was not interesting. With a sigh, Godwin quickly left the pit left by the Withered Castle.

But that memory still caught up.

“That’s it, my son.” Emanuel Lopez, his father, gave him a cold hug soaked in blood. Those abnormal dark purple liquid spewed out from the wound, quickly blackening the shiny armor of the Knight of Judgement. “That’s it—”

“If you find something wrong, take action immediately… You didn’t hesitate, very good.”

“Don’t cry. Tears are useless. It’s good that you didn’t cry.”

“No matter who the opponent is, as long as it threatens the peace and stability of the world, they will be killed… Even if it’s me. Very good.”

“…So I can rest assured that you must be the one in the prophecy. You must be, you must be, you must…”

Godwin stepped on the teleportation array and forcibly used the loud sound of the teleportation to get rid of the voice in his mind. When he opened his eyes again, the boisterous sound of people in Clementine filled his ears.

The residents of Clementine would not forget this event. ‘On the contrary,’ he thought, ‘it might count as some kind of small talk in taverns—’

Nine years ago, born in Alban, Emanuel Lopez, the commander of the Knights of Judgement, who believe in the old school of the Laddism Church, died of an acute illness. His son left Clementine and founded the Horizon mercenary group.

Such tepid news.

The author has something to say：

Horizon: Tumbleweed vandalism is escalating.

Tumbleweed: We’re obviously a HE squad_(;””∠)_

————

Godwin: Oliver Ramon escaped beautifully from that catastrophe.

Oliver: …Actually, I was carried away. You should stop talking about it…

Kinky Thoughts:

It seems Godwin has a painful past as well.

You can find story with these keywords: Stray, Read Stray, Stray novel, Stray book, Stray story, Stray full, Stray Latest Chapter