My Roleplay System-Chapter 231: Third Year Exam

The room was dark, illuminated only by the faint glow of a holographic screen. Lake sat at his desk, scrolling through information relevant to the next day’s exam. Behind him, the soft sound of steady breathing filled the quiet. Lilia had naturally claimed the bed and was already fast asleep.

After reviewing the private announcement he’d drafted, he sent it through the staff channel to all relevant students. He leaned back in his chair, gaze tilting upward as he got lost in thought.

Beep-beep!

A soft notification, different from the usual academy ringtone, chimed from his wristwatch. His eyes flicked back to the screen where a private message window had appeared.

Curious, Lake opened it. It was a progress report from Bloom.

....

[Bloom’s Project Report]

Progress to completion: 80.04%

Expected time of completion: 18:47 Tomorrow.

All systems running smoothly.

....

Glancing over the brief report, Lake scanned the contents before closing the interface. Bloom would finish its data scan around the same time the exam concluded.

’Seems I won’t have to wait long before I can start implementing the plans.’

With a quiet sigh, he was about to get up when his wristwatch chimed a second time. Slightly surprised, he opened it to find an incoming video call from Kate.

He glanced toward the sleeping Lilia, then stepped out onto the dorm room’s balcony, sliding the glass door shut behind him. Only then did he answer.

"Lake?" The interface shifted instantly to show Kate sitting at her desk. From the background, Lake could tell the lights in her room were off.

"What made you decide to call me so late at night?" Lake smirked as he leaned on the railing, propping his head on his hand.

He watched Kate roll her eyes, but she didn’t acknowledge his teasing. Her tone was serious.

"Is Lilia still awake?"

Lake froze for a moment at the unexpected question.

"No. She fell asleep a while ago."

"Are you alone?"

"Do you see anyone around?" As he finished speaking, Lake panned the camera to showcase his solitary surroundings.

"Hah..." Kate sighed. "This isn’t the time for jokes, you know?"

"Hm," Lake smiled faintly. "So, what did you call me for?"

Kate looked up at him through the screen, her amber eyes glowing dimly in the dark room. Her expression tightened briefly before settling back into calm.

"It’s... about your sister. You haven’t told her yet, have you?" Her voice was surprisingly gentle.

"Not yet," Lake answered honestly, his gaze drifting away from the interface. He didn’t need to ask to know what she meant.

"Do you plan to tell her?"

Lake sighed. "Eventually. But for now, there’s too much to deal with to sit down and have that talk. Besides, I don’t even know all the details yet."

"Mhm." Kate nodded. "Let me know when you feel it’s time. I’ll be there to help."

The corner of Lake’s mouth lifted slightly. "Since when were you so nosy?"

"Since this matter concerns both our families. I thought it only appropriate," Kate huffed, folding her arms as she leaned back in her chair.

"Oh? When you say it like that, it sounds almost like we’re discussing a marriage proposal." Lake chuckled, waiting for her to retort.

But when several seconds passed without a reply, he couldn’t help but feel something was off.

"Hm?"

His gaze dropped back to the holographic interface. Kate’s cold eyes were staring back at him, her expression completely void of emotion. Yet Lake felt a shiver run through him when he met her gaze. Unlike usual, her face showed no disgust or aversion—just a sheer, icy anger simmering beneath the surface, palpable even to him.

Before he could apologize or brush it off as a joke, the interface window suddenly closed. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

She’d hung up on him.

Lake stared blankly at the space where the window had been, momentarily at a loss. After a few seconds, he snapped out of his daze and smiled awkwardly.

’Seems like I’ll have to make it up to her later.’

With that thought, he turned and re-entered the bedroom.

In another dorm building, with all the lights off, Kate stared at her empty desk, lips pressed tight in annoyance.

"Asshole..."

***

The next day, the stadium roared with excitement as the third-year exam reached its crescendo. The colossal main screen split into sections, showcasing the brutal final push.

"The Sage of the Great Library has just fallen!" Sheldon’s excited voice narrated over the scene portrayed on the screen. It showed the interior of a massive library, filled with shelves upon shelves of books stacked on numerous floors reaching high into the sky.

At the center of the room was a clearing with an open skylight. Surrounding the collapsed figure of a blue-haired woman was a group of third-years.

They were clearly all injured and breathing heavily, having barely defeated the Sage, who had used telekinesis to pick up and launch countless books and entire shelves at them. The battle had been one of avoiding the flying projectiles while trying to close the distance to finish her off. More than a dozen students were lost here.

On another screen flashed the defeated images of another two Horsemen.

In a dark dungeon lay the figure of a ghastly creature covered in black rags: the Ghost of the Dungeon. It had been defeated after a student figured out its weakness to light. Before that, it had constantly melted into the shadows, popping out to attack when they least expected. Thirteen students fell here.

In a sprawling garden on another side of the castle, the image of a lady made of bark and leaves was pinned against a tree, a blade run through her chest. This was the aftermath of another grueling battle, this one against the Great Nymph of the Garden. She had used roots sprouting from the ground, summoned Ent-like creatures, and even manipulated the garden itself to trap and separate students, leading to devastating casualties. Almost half of the third-years had been eliminated here.

"Now, All of the Three Horsemen have been defeated! All that remains is the Gatekeeper who guards the entrance to the Demon King’s Throne Room!" Sheldon’s voice boomed with excitement as the screen shifted once more to show the intense battle currently raging before the throne room entrance.

The fight took place on a wide stone bridge that stretched across the chasm between the Demon King’s throne and the rest of the castle.

BOOM!

A massive explosion shook the entire bridge, sending a chunk of it crumbling into the abyss below.

"ROOARR!"

Gwen and her teammates fell back to assess the situation. Blocking their path was a ten-foot-tall Wolfman, a giant stone hammer resting on the ground while its hand gripped the handle.

It stared at the group of third-years with bloodthirsty eyes.

"Awoooh!"

With a loud howl, it dashed forward, dragging the massive hammer across the ground and using the momentum to raise it high into the air.

"Dodge!" Gwen shouted as she jumped aside, barely avoiding the hammer as another explosion erupted where it landed, sending rubble and debris flying.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two arrows flew out in rapid succession, but the Gatekeeper raised its arms to block at the last second. The arrowheads barely sank into its thick hide before being easily snapped off.

The Gatekeeper roared and picked up a chunk of rubble, flinging it back at the archer.

"Shit!" Hannah barely managed to jump out of the way, her shoulder nipped by the speeding boulder. The impact ripped her armor apart and left a nasty gash.

Just then, Landur dashed in from the side, his form a blur as his blade thrust ruthlessly forward, impaling the Gatekeeper in its side.

It roared in pain and swung its claw where Landur had stood, but all it hit was an afterimage. It didn’t even register the blade being pulled from its side before a devastating force rammed into it from behind, causing it to stumble forward. A silver flash of light appeared before its eyes.

Before it knew it, it was staring at the headless corpse of its own body, its vision quickly growing dim.

The group collapsed after the exhausting fight, struggling to catch their breath.

"Hah... hah... what the hell is up with the difficulty of the exam this year?" Landur complained, leaning heavily against the stone railing. He had been fighting on less than ten percent of his mana reserves for some time now, barely restraining himself from collapsing into total exhaustion.

"Urgh, tell me about it." Jayce sighed, stretching as he ripped off another piece of shattered armor, leaving him topless. As the party’s main tank, he had taken the brunt of the damage, and the results were written clearly across his body in a lattice of deep claw marks and slashes.

Gwen sheathed her blade and took stock of her own condition.

’Less than thirty percent...’ She thought with an inward sigh after checking her mana reserves. Her eyes then flicked to Hannah, who sat slumped against the railing, gripping her injured arm as blood still seeped through her fingers.

"Urgh, I don’t think I’ll be able to use my bow like this..." Hannah’s expression was grim. With her arm this badly damaged, she doubted she could even draw the string, let alone aim.

"There are only thirty-six third-year students left. Including us," Landur sighed, reading the elimination counter on his wrist. "I doubt we’ll be able to defeat the Demon King like this."

Another round of weary sighs circled the group as the reality of their situation settled in. Even if every remaining third-year rallied here, most would be injured or teetering on the edge of mana exhaustion just like them. In that state, facing a Demon King purported to be stronger than the Three Horsemen and the Gatekeeper that they’d barely overcome... victory seemed impossible.

A crushing sense of defeat began to weigh on them.

Beep-Beep!

Just then, a synchronized chime erupted from every wristwatch on the bridge.

Outside, in the roaring stadium, Sheldon’s voice swelled over the din, his tone shifting from play-by-play excitement to grave, epic narration.

"The Strike Squad has achieved the impossible!" he began, his voice echoing through the stadium’s speakers and the students’ own comms. "The Three Horsemen lie defeated. The Gatekeeper slain. The path to the Demon King has been open and his sources of power have been severed, weakening him on the eve of what may very well be the final battle!"

The main screen showed the battered group on the bridge, highlighting their injuries and exhausted stances.

"But at what cost?" Sheldon’s voice dropped, thick with dramatic gravity. "The battle has left our champions drained, their forces decimated. They stand before the final door, not as conquerors, but as survivors—weary, wounded, and facing a foe that may yet be beyond their reach."

"The situation," Sheldon announced, letting the word hang in the air, "looks dire."

A hush fell over a portion of the stadium.

Then, a new, hopeful energy infused his voice.

"Yet... in the darkest hour... hope is not lost!" The screen split, showing flashback clips of the first and second-year exams: Zeke’s desperate spear-work, Kate’s starlight slash against the Goatman, students fighting and surviving in the forest. "For the trials of those before were not merely a bid to clear a path—they were preparations. The survivors of the Great Demon Forest, the veterans of the Castle... their trials have forged them into reinforcements!"

As his speech peaked, the screen returned to the bridge. "And now... they ANSWER THE CALL!"

The moment his final word rang out, the air on the stone bridge itself began to shimmer.

Dozens of brilliant flashes of white and blue lights erupted in sequence along its length, each one resolving into a familiar, armed figure.

First-years like Kate, Bradford, and Bramble materialized in full tactical gear. Second-years, led by Zeke appeared with weapons drawn. They filled the empty space around the stunned third-years.

The scene on screen was now one of a small army.

"That’s right, folks!" Sheldon’s voice boomed again, triumphant. "For the final, climactic raid against the Demon King himself... the elite task force has mustered its full remaining strength! All survivors, from every stretch of the journey, have been gathered for one purpose: To defeat the Demon King!"