Jobless Transmigration: I'm the only one who loves monsters.-Chapter 114
Chapter 114:
He worked piece by piece, fitting together what he could, building the foundation of the image that slowly revealed itself with every successful connection. While he was engaged in this methodical process, it was not long at all before even more frustrated sounds started emanating from the other examinees scattered throughout the hall, their earlier confidence completely evaporated as they confronted the reality that their boxes no longer yielded the pieces they so desperately needed. Although there were a handful who kept searching and searching, such actions would eventually prove futile.
Lucuis paid them no heed whatsoever and continued to piece his own puzzle together, one piece at a time, his movements calm and unhurried despite the rising tide of frustration all around him.
When eventually he reached the point where he too started finding it difficult to locate the right pieces within his own wooden box, like everyone else, his own supply seemed to run dry of what he needed.
He did not panic as so many others had done. Nor did he sit there rummaging hopelessly through an apparently endless space. Instead, he simply rose from his position and walked calmly over to where Leo and the others had gathered, their own faces wearing varying expressions of confusion and concern.
His brother looked up at his approach, a question forming on his lips. "Brother? Is something the matter? Have you figured something out about this test that we’ve missed?"
Lucuis did not answer directly, rather than explaining himself or his theories. Instead, he merely smiled, revealing a calm and confident expression that Leo had come to recognize as a sign that his brother was operating on a level that others could not quite perceive.
The very same smile he revealed during their dual days ago. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"Brother, are you interested in passing this exam right here and now?" His voice carried that same calm tone, but there was something beneath it, that brimmed with absolute confidence in whatever plan was forming behind those shimmering eyes.
The tone made Leo’s expression turn perplexed, uncertainty flickering across his features as he tried to understand what his brother was implying.
Before anyone could respond further, a gruff voice interrupted the conversation between the two brothers.
"Boy, I don’t know what you’re planning, but, if you’re thinking of cheating your way through this test, I’ll warn you right now not to bother. I’ve been watching you young nobles for years, and I know exactly how your kind thinks as well as how you’ll eventually end up at the end of the stage."
The speaker was an old man positioned not too far from Leo’s group, a stout figure with a head of grey and black hair that spoke to his advancing years.
While old, his figure looked full of vigor as he stared at Lucuis from across the short distance separating them.
He had clearly reached his own bottleneck and was in no mood for whatever games he assumed this young noble was playing and yet, he still saw it fit to offer some words of advice, as for whether they would heed his words, he cared not in the least.
Even Gunter, who had been silent throughout most of this ordeal, suddenly found his voice enough to add his own concerns.
"Young master Lucuis, I think the kind, Sir, might have a point worth considering." His voice trembled slightly as he spoke, the uncertainty of the situation clearly weighing on him.
Even he had reached a bottleneck in his own puzzle, unable to find the pieces he needed, and the worst part was that the wooden boxes seemed to contain some kind of endless space within them, a bottomless depth that offered no guarantee that the right pieces would ever appear no matter how long one searched.
The uncertainty of it all had already begun to drive several examinees to the edge of madness, their composure cracking under the pressure of not knowing whether success was even possible.
Lucuis turned to face the old man directly, and what happened next stunned nearly everyone who witnessed it. Rather than flaring up in anger as everyone expected, or responding with the a cold contempt that the Morningstar heir was famous for, Lucuis instead bowed deeply in apology, his posture radiating genuine respect rather than forced politeness.
"I’m afraid you misunderstand me, sir." His voice carried no trace of offense or irritation, only patience as he went on further to explain himself. "I never once had any intentions of cheating, nor do I have any desire to lose this test through dishonorable means."
The sight of that bow caught the old man off guard, to think a day would come when a young noble would be humbling himself before a common old man like himself.
This naturally stunned quite a few people throughout the hall, Although Leo wasn’t all that surprised, after all, he’d already come to accept his brother’s change of heart.
Lucuis straightened and allowed his light smile to return, that expression of quiet confidence that seemed so at odds with the desperate atmosphere surrounding them. "I never once had any intentions of losing at all, you see. That’s the simple truth of the matter."
Elsewhere, in a room that none of the examinees could see, hidden away behind walls that might as well have been made of solid illusion, the old examiner who had overseen their arrival was gazing at the students through a mirror that showed every corner of the hall simultaneously. When he saw what Lucuis was doing, a strange glimmer flickered across his eyes, something that might have been interest or might have been recognition or perhaps might have been simply been a form of acknowledgment.
Rather than explaining himself further to those around him, Lucuis simply began to move. He went first to Gunter’s pedestal and carefully selected a single piece from among those scattered across its surface. Then to Leo’s, then to Amy’s, Snow’s, Grey and Emma’s, each time taking one piece and only one piece, adding them to the small collection growing in his hands.
