It had been around a year since I organized the almost-defunct guild warehouse, and I am now twelve years old. I would soon be heading to the academy to take the entrance exam. Since deciding to take the exam, my training had increased by more than double. I started the day with early morning runs, followed by muscle training such as push-ups and squats. After that, I engaged in simulated battles with my father and received magic training from Ars.

Even this alone was quite grueling, but recently the training regime has become even more intense. The reason for this was that the soldiers in the castle started doing even more severe training to keep up with me, who was already doing tough exercises. Upon seeing this, my father increased the difficulty of the soldiers’ training, and then the soldiers in turn made their training even more difficult, leading to a negative spiral. As a result, my level remained at 1, but my stats became abnormally high.

After a grueling day of training, while taking a bath, I passed the time by using my “Appraisal” skill to carefully examine my stats.

[Name] Lark

[Age] 10

[Race] Human

[Gender] Male

[Status] Healthy

[Level] 1

[SP] 0

[Strength] 1000 (+702)

[Mana] 1000 (+707)

[Agility] 1000 (+782)

[Dexterity] 181 (+57)

[Luck] 51

[Skills] Cooking: 3, Useful Box: 3, Daily Life Magic: 1, Appraising Eye: 3, Short Sword Technique: 3, Mana Control: 3, Sewing: 2, Concentration: 4, Wordless Incantation: 3, Synthesis Magic: 3, Presence Detection: 3, Martial Arts: 3 (NEW), Swordsmanship: 2 (NEW), Physical Ability Enhancement: 1 (NEW), Poison Resistance: 1, Mental Resistance: 3, Hunger Resistance: 1, Fire Magic: 3, Wind Magic: 4, Water Magic: 3, Earth Magic: 2, Light Magic: 1 , Dark Magic: 1, Thunder Magic: 1, Ice Magic: 2, Holy Magic: 1 , Null Magic: 2

[Special Abilities] Enhanced Memory Capacity, World Language, EXP Amplification: 10x, God’s Veil

[Blessings] Samadyla’s Protection, Magilt’s Protection, Goldra’s Protection

[Title] The Reincarnated, The God’s Host, The Blessed, The Abandoned Child, Individual who has Reached the Limit, Believer

In the end, I maxed out all of my ability scores except for dexterity and luck, without defeating a single monster. However, even after reporting this to my father, he still won’t let me go outside, saying, “Even if you can’t raise your ability level, you can still raise your skill levels”. So, I focused on raising my skill levels instead, but even after a year of intense training, none of my skills reached the maximum level of 5.

However, my faith skill level had reached 4 about six months ago, so I was hoping it would soon reach level 5. Additionally, the level of my “Useful Box” skill had also reached 3 in this past year. This skill allows for various functions to be freely added as the level increases, making it even more useful. When it reached level 2, I was able to expand the “Useful Box” further than before.

Although it might seem trivial, being able to store items from a distance made travel much easier and more convenient. And when it reached level 3, I added a function to disassemble materials within the box. With this function, if you know the disassembly method, you can disassemble items within the “Useful Box” in an instant. Additionally, I gained two new titles. According to my appraisal skill, their effects are as follows:

[Individual who has Reached the Limit]

A title given to those who have reached the upper limit of their ability values, even once.

[Believer]

A title given to those who have deepened their faith in God. It is said that those who hold this title can have an audience with God.

“Individual who has Reached the Limit ” doesn’t seem to have any particular meaning, but “Believer” sounds impressive. Samady-san said that I might be able to meet him someday if I deepen my faith, so I will keep my hopes up.

However, the effect of the new divine protection, “Goldra’s protection,” was not displayed even when examined with “Appraising Eye.” Perhaps this protection itself has the effect of blocking appraisal like a “God’s Veil.” Therefore, the identity of this protection is not yet known.

After checking my status again, and since my body had warmed up, I got out of the bath and returned to my room.

◈◈◈

“Haah!”

The next morning, I was at the training grounds with Ars. We were practicing magic since morning. Today, we were practicing target practice to enhance my fire-attribute magic. The goal was to hit all of the dozens of targets that Ars was throwing with a ball of fire. However, it was unexpectedly difficult since Ar was using wind magic to make the targets fly irregularly.

After all the targets had fallen to the ground, I gathered them up with the “Useful Box” and handed them over to Ars. He checked each one of them and raised his voice in surprise, “Wow! Incredible. All of the targets have a mark of fire on them. Lark-kun, you’ve grown.”

“I managed to hit them all somehow. This was quite challenging.”

“But it’s also very effective training. You can increase your control over magic and also acquire rapid-fire skills. Now then, shall we try it again?”

“Understood.”

After that, we continued the target practice several times. Ars announced the end of training in the afternoon. After Ars, my father came to the training grounds, and we began our usual mock battle. After a few battles, we took a break, and he spoke to me, “”Lark, when things calm down at the academy, you can go outside the city.”

“What!? Why all of a sudden!?” I asked loudly in surprise, and he continued with an unsettled tone, “No, well…I think you’re already grown-up enough, Lark. Anyway, if you enroll in the academy properly and settle down for a while, I will allow you to go outside the city.”

“…Um, thank you very much.” Although confused, I thanked him for the time being. I wonder what changed his mind after not letting me to do that until now.

“Well then, that’s it for today. Good luck on the transfer exam,” he said this and quickly left the training facility.

“Uh, what?”

◈◈◈

A few days later, I arrived at Laktoria Academy with Lia-chan. Yes, today is the day of the school’s transfer exam.

“Lark-kun, do your best! I believe that if it’s you, Lark-kun, you’ll definitely pass!”

“Thank you, Lia-chan. I’m off now.”

We waved goodbye to each other in front of the main gate, and I headed towards the exam venue on the school grounds, relying on the map that was given to me in advance. In the classroom designated for the exam, there were many desks and chairs arranged, and children of various races were sitting in rows. It seems that there are quite a few transfer applicants.

After waiting seated for several tens of minutes, a middle-aged man holding a stack of papers entered the classroom. The man looked around the entire classroom once and opened his mouth. “It seems like everyone has gathered. Well then, I will explain the test. First, I will distribute the test papers, so please take them.”

At those words, the entire classroom fell silent. The man used wind magic to send the stack of papers he held to each desk. The paper sent to my desk was flipped over. After confirming that it had reached everyone, the man began the explanation. “I am Karl, in charge of magic lessons at this academy. I will be the examiner this time. The first test is a written test. Now, please turn your paper over.”

Everyone flipped through the pages of the test booklet simultaneously. Thinking that the test had started suddenly, I also flipped through it, but there were no questions, just fields for filling out personal information like name and background.

“Please fill in the blanks and wait here when you’re done,” said Carl in a relaxed tone. The sound of pens scratching against paper filled the room for a while. I found a feather pen provided on my desk and started writing too.

When the sound of writing had completely stopped, Karl opened his mouth again. “Um…have you all finished writing? Anyone still writing?” Karl called out, but no one raised their hand. After confirming that everyone had finished, Karl used his wind attribute magic to collect the papers and store them in the box on the lectern.

Then he created a different space in the air and stored the bundle of papers in there. Most people were surprised to see this scene, but some remained quiet, probably realizing that Karl had just used a storage-type skill.

“Now, let’s begin the first exam. After this, the second exam will be held in a different room. You can move to the next test site once you’re done, but please don’t talk and exit the room promptly,” said Karl and distributed the test papers to everyone with his magic, then signaled the start of the exam. “You have one hour. You may begin.”

Feeling a little nervous, I flipped through the pages and read the questions.

Huh? Is it really this easy?

The questions were much simpler than I had expected, and I inadvertently murmured my thoughts to myself. I had thought there would be more challenging questions, but they were all quite basic. I progressed smoothly through the exam and finished in less than thirty minutes. After double-checking twice, I found no calculation or selection mistakes, so I picked up my paper and stood up from my seat.

“I’m done,” I said as I walked to the front of the classroom and handed in my paper.

Karl opened his eyes wide in surprise, “You finished already? Did you check your answers?” he asked.

“Yes, I did. Everything’s okay,” I replied.

“I see. Then go straight down the hallway to the next exam room. There should be a sign, so you’ll know where to go,” said Karl as he brought the box out of a different space using magic. “Um, what’s your name?”

“My name is Lark.”

After answering, Karl rummaged through a stack of papers and found my form. He pulled out a sheet and stamped it. “Hand this paper to the next examiner.”