Eidel solved the problems with both hands.

His speed was so fast it was hard to believe he was human. He moved so quickly that the rustling sound tickled Zernya's ears.

"Oh, damn."

Zernya, who had turned her head in surprise, nearly dropped her pen.

"What the hell is that guy doing...?"

Her concentration broke. Once out of her focused state, all she could see was the white exam paper with black letters.

Zernya tried to regain her focus.

It wasn't working well.

Eidel's aggro was top-tier. Once she had seen it, she couldn't help but keep looking his way.

Eidel didn't stop at simply using both hands. He crossed his arms in an X-shape. With his left hand, he solved the right exam paper, and with his right hand, the left exam paper.

It was a skilled performance like that of a veteran circus performer. He quickly solved the problems, making a mockery of them. Zernya's mental state was being mocked as well.

Zernya couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh. She widened her eyes, turned her head as far as possible, and buried her face in her exam paper.

She gathered her thoughts and focused on the problems. The formulas that had become blurry started to become visible again. Zernya had practiced maintaining concentration even in situations like this. She soon regained her composure.

Ding, ding, diiiing-

The bell signaling the end of the exam rang. Kendra, who had been staring blankly at Eidel, wiped her drool with her sleeve as she stood up.

"Stop! Put your pens down!"

Zernya finally looked directly at Eidel. He had been moving his arms vigorously until just before the bell rang.

Had he not been able to solve everything despite such intensity?

Or was he meticulously checking his answers until the end because of his thorough personality?

No one, including Zernya, could know. One thing was certain: Eidel was a formidable opponent beyond imagination.

"Well, I'll still be first place anyway."

As soon as the morning exam ended, the students scattered. It was to eat. They had one hour.

Eidel's gaze passed by Zernya and went to the back row. There, Rustila and Seti were talking.

The next moment, Rustila's and Eidel's eyes met. Rustila waved her hand slightly with tired eyes.

"Dating before even passing the exam? Well, well."

Zernya clicked her tongue.

Romance is something only lowly men engage in.

Especially for exam takers, romance is like a poisoned chalice. It may shine brightly on the surface, but in reality, it's just one of many factors that hinder passing.

However, Zernya wasn't quite convinced. The Eidel before her somehow seemed like he would pass. She still lacked information. In any case, his writing skills were excellent.

"Sis, what's wrong?"

Seti asked, noticing that Rustila was waving her hand. Her head tilted curiously. Rustila waved her hand dismissively, saying it was nothing.

"Thanks for last time."

That's what Rustila actually wanted to say.

Rustila recalled what had happened a month ago. She had gone to the Rheinland family home for a study session and coincidentally met Eidel.

There had been a storm of events, but in conclusion, he was a good person. He was just gradually being consumed by madness because a foreign god had attached itself to him.

Wasn't it the same just now?

A person cannot solve problems using both hands simultaneously. That's like parallel computing, something only computers can do. Since humans can't be like machines, it must be a foreign god classified as "Maxwell's Forces" that has infiltrated his brain.

"I must save him someday."

It was a moment when Rustila gained one more reason why she needed to pass and enter Stellarium.

"Sigh."

But contrary to that, her writing skills weren't very good.

"Did you do well on the Korean and math exams?"

Seti asked.

"No."

Rustila shook her head.

"I saw the proctor put tissues on your desk earlier."

"I think I... messed up."

Like other students, Rustila desperately wanted to pass and enter Stellarium. If she passed, she could even do forward rolls every morning on her way to school.

But despite her efforts, she felt like she had ruined the morning exam. While solving the Korean text, her vision had started spinning. She might have cried because of that.

But with Seti's next words, Rustila realized.

"Come to think of it, there was such a story in today's literature section. The story of soldiers buying time to evacuate citizens from a planet being eroded."

"...Ah."

The real reason why she had cried.

"It was sad, honestly. If I were Merilda, I would have fled from there. How could she not lose the will to fight even after having her limbs torn off by monsters?"

"...Because that was the only way to save the citizens."

"I found that admirable. Of course, it's just fiction. I wonder how many soldiers would be like that in a real war."

Rustila nodded.

That's right.

Thinking about it again, she had cried while reading that piece.

Because the protagonist in that text embodied the kind of soldier she wanted to be. It was the future she wanted. Despite being broken by adversity, they never yielded to the foreign gods until the end.

She felt both sadness and respect for their brilliantly burning image. Rustila wanted to be such a soldier too. Standing at the frontline, slaughtering monsters, and protecting this beautiful galaxy.

It's still a distant story.

A difficult one to achieve.

That's why, all the more, she had to enter Stellarium.

If she passed this academy, her father and mother had agreed not to interfere with her anymore.

"I have to pass."

Rustila clenched her fist.

She chatted with Seti over lunch, enjoying a rare moment of freedom. Even the androids monitoring her didn't tell her what to do during this time. A special day, a rare taste of freedom.

Wishing that such freedom would continue to the end, Rustila completed the afternoon exam as well.

***

The afternoon exam was more moderate compared to the morning.

That didn't mean the time-attack nature disappeared. Like the inquiry section of the college entrance exam, the time pressure was intense.

Because of this, I had to achieve triple-core beyond dual-core. It was a hellish process of turning myself into a Bitcoin mining rig.

"Ugh."

My neck was stiff from having my head down for over two hours. I put down the third pen that I had rolled up and fixed on my headband.

I could hear people whispering about me around. Kendra, the proctor, couldn't take her eyes off me.

"Student..."

"Yes?"

"Ah, it's nothing. Well, there's no rule against solving problems with a pen stuck in your headband..."

She laughed awkwardly and left with the exam papers. Seeing her rush out, she must have needed the bathroom urgently.

"Phew."

Anyway, the written exam was over.

There's still the practical test and interview left, but that's for tomorrow's me to decide. Today, I plan to just handle my sword a few times and rest calmly.

[— The "God of Wisdom and Curiosity" is looking forward to seeing how spectacularly you'll fail in the practical evaluation.]

"Tsk."

As I clicked my tongue at the message displayed by the foreign god, someone approached. Silver-white hair. It was Zernya.

"You're a weirdo."

She spat out those words and was the first to leave.

Following her, another white-haired person approached me. This time, it was a familiar face. Seti looked up at me and sighed deeply.

"Are you here for entertainment?"

"What?"

I didn't understand. I tilted my head. Seti glared at me and spoke accusingly.

"Didn't you hear what the proctor said this morning? That the entrance exam here is no joke. She said to solve it to the best of your ability. But what were you doing? Solving with a pencil stuck in your head? Are you completely crazy?"

"That was the only way I could write all the solutions."

"Do you think other people have only one hand to solve with? You're really something else. You completely broke my concentration. It could have been a disaster."

"No, seriously. This is unfair."

If I had just marked the answers, one hand would have been enough. But to aim beyond a high score to a perfect score, or "beyond that," one hand isn't enough. That's the kind of exam it is. An exam where getting a perfect score is like catching a star from the sky.

In other words, there was another reason why I had used three-sword style.

Of course, telling this to Seti would only result in her calling me crazy. Unable to explain, I just sighed and backed off.

"Let's go, sis."

"I told you, you don't need to call me that..."

"Even if you're young for your grade, you were still born in a different year, right? So you're my sister."

"Then does Seti call this person 'brother' too?"

Seti made a dumbfounded expression.

"Oh shit."

Seti pretended to gag and urged Rustila to leave quickly. However, Rustila didn't move her feet. She looked at me intently and said:

"...Eidel, right?"

I nodded in response.

"Others might not know, but I do."

"...?"

"So, hang in there."

Only then did Rustila move her feet. She gave me a bright smile. It was a warm smile, as if the goddess of philanthropy had manifested.

Having heard unexpected words, I was momentarily stunned. So I reflexively blurted out:

"You hang in there too."

Seti's expression turned stupid once again.

***

Kendra entered the exam headquarters with the collected answer sheets. She was panting. Her colleague, Karlen, asked indifferently:

"What's going on?"

"Hey, hey. I just witnessed something incredible."

"What incident?"

The nosy Kendra couldn't contain herself. She hastily pulled out three answer sheets. The following names were written on the first page of each exam:

[Zernya von und zu Trisha Adelbein]

[Seti von Adelbein Rheinland]

[Eidel von Rheinland]

"What a crazy lineup."

Karlen laughed in surprise.

"I think more than two final candidates might come from the exam room you supervised."

"I think so too."

"Huh? But that last one, isn't he that guy?"

Kendra understood what Karlen was referring to.

Eidel von Rheinland. A universal weirdo and the troublemaker of the Rheinland family. When the rumor that he was applying to Stellarium was confirmed, the exam headquarters had briefly stirred.

"Looking at his school records, he was absent for most of his middle school, attending only the minimum required hours. We should deduct points from his basic document score. And that alone is enough to disqualify him. So don't worry about him passing by any chance."

"No, that's not the issue right now..."

Kendra trailed off.

She was dying of curiosity.

Just how high would Eidel's exam score be?

"I've never seen a crazy person who solves problems using both hands. And his solutions were quite clean too... Ah, I don't know."

She went to the grading room and fed Eidel's exam paper to the AI analyzer. The analyzer gobbled up the exam paper and then provided the multiple-choice answer key.

Perfect score in Korean multiple-choice.

Perfect score in math multiple-choice.

Perfect scores in everything else.

"Insane."

After the multiple-choice came the short-answer and essay questions. Short-answer questions could also be quickly graded by machine, but not the essays. Kendra passed the first grading room and moved to the second grading room, which was dedicated to essays.

This was a place of "meeting and harmony" where 1,200 faculty members and 300 professors worked tirelessly from the day the written exam ended.

Kendra sat down with the essay grading criteria.

"Ah..."

"What's wrong?"

"This, this..."

Kendra, who was about to start with the physics essay, turned around and requested backup.

"Could someone please bring Professor Feynman from the Physics Department?"