"We'll begin now, Headmaster."
"Hmm, very well."
As Siana fired a signal flare into the sky, tension thickened in the training grounds.
On the participants' peak, Ethela lined up the students after confirming the flare's color.
"When the Headmaster gives the signal, run toward the cliff. The one who teleports the farthest will pass."
The students gulped nervously.
Though the Uncrossable Bridge was classified as a Level 1 obstacle—meaning no physical barriers—the sheer terror of the height was beyond imagination.
Honestly, none of them were confident about crossing 700 meters.
A simple calculation showed they'd need to chain 70 consecutive teleportations without pause.
The moment their rhythm broke, gravity would take hold, and the fear of falling would shatter their focus.
'No one's actually going to make it all the way. Falling is inevitable… Are the safety measures even real? What if the teachers fail to catch me?'
Even though they knew the instructors' skills better than anyone, the stakes made them doubt.
Could they really push through the fear and keep teleporting over the abyss?
Alpheas had chosen this test precisely to gauge their resolve.
Meanwhile, Mark was brimming with confidence.
'I've practiced every day. As long as no one interferes, seventy teleports is nothing.'
The only unexpected variable was Shirone's absence.
He'd heard rumors about Shirone's slow progress, but he hadn't believed it until now.
'So he never learned it in the end. Well, he was never anything special outside of Spirit Zone anyway.'
The most anxious person about Shirone's absence was Amy.
Her usual indifference had vanished—she bit her lip and paced restlessly.
"Amy, look!"
When Seriel pointed toward the opposite peak, Amy immediately raised her telescope.
Shirone had arrived at the summit, panting heavily.
Dust clung to him as if he'd rolled on the ground, and bruises covered every exposed patch of skin.
"Where the hell was he?! That idiot!"
Seriel sighed in relief.
"At least he made it in time. But he's exhausted… Will he be okay?"
"Who knows?! Just be glad he didn't disqualify!"
Though she was annoyed he'd pushed himself to the brink, his arrival meant he must have learned the spell.
'Then those injuries…'
Amy, who had also learned teleportation through brutal training, could guess just how much Shirone had endured.
Seriel added, "The winds are strong today. This won't be easy."
At near-light speeds, factors like wind velocity and air pressure became critical variables.
"Same conditions for everyone. Now it's up to Shirone."
The students, who had been steeling themselves, were thrown into disarray by Shirone's sudden appearance.
"Tch! He planned this. Lull us into complacency, then strike from behind."
"Acting all innocent, but he's sly as hell."
While Shirone's arrival had shaken their morale, the truth was—he was running on fumes.
"Hah… Hah…"
Ethela frowned as she watched him struggle to breathe.
'What do I do?'
Since fairness was key, letting him proceed like this might be unjust.
She fired an orange flare into the sky—a prearranged signal indicating uncertainty.
The teachers on the opposite peak conferred.
Opinions split—some insisted the exam proceed immediately, while others argued for a 10-minute break.
"Headmaster, what do you think?"
"Let it begin. Managing one's condition is part of a student's ability. We shouldn't interfere."
"Understood. Then—"
When Siana fired a red flare to resume the test, Shirone staggered into place among the students.
"Over here."
Someone kindly made space—surprisingly, one of Mark's planted operatives.
"Huu… Huu…"
Tension among the students peaked.
They had trained endlessly, but none had practiced over a 1,000-meter drop.
From here on out, it was uncharted territory.
Until they faced it, none could predict what they'd see, how they'd feel, or how deep the fear would run when the sky opened beneath their feet.
"The Class Seven early promotion test begins now. Ready yourselves."
The students braced.
As their own heartbeats thundered in their ears, Ethela cast the signal spell.
The moment the red flare shot skyward, the teachers flipped open their scorebooks, and the students launched forward in unison.
'Take the lead! I have to be first!'
'If I push ahead early, I still have a chance!'
Most students adopted similar strategies, leaving the exhausted Shirone lagging behind.
But he still had a shot.
Because once the cliff neared, each would begin teleporting at different points.
Where they chose to take that first leap would determine everything.
The best strategy? Jump off the cliff first, then teleport midair.
But how many could actually do it?
The starting point was already nerve-wracking, and the height was unprecedented.
With wind speed, air pressure, and temperature all different from training, a single lapse in focus meant failing before even trying.
"Guh—!"
Five meters from the cliff, some students, unable to bear the terror, teleported early.
Once someone broke, panic spread—others followed in rapid succession.
Soon, only Mark remained in the leading group, holding out.
'No! Just a little more!'
But when he saw the cliff's edge, dizziness struck.
'What if I fall?'
Even with 100% preparation, doubt always crept in during the real thing.
Two of Mark's operatives, meant to guard him, broke first—vanishing in flashes of light.
"Tch!"
With his escorts gone, Mark finally caved and cast his spell.
Three seconds had passed since the test began.
By the time the middle group had left the cliff, Shirone was still sprinting toward the edge.
His assigned operatives were losing their minds.
'This madman! Why won't he stop?!'
If this continued, he'd fall.
Finally, two steps from the edge, the operatives teleported away.
'Not yet.'
Shirone kept going.
To him, who understood the essence of danger, fear was an illusion.
'This is where I catch up.'
Since no one had finished their first teleport yet, a well-timed start could close the gap.
"They've started!"
The spectators roared.
Though the participants' thoughts were complex, from afar, it just looked like students plunging off a cliff en masse.
The real battle unfolded in split-second decisions.
Even with the cliff just a step away, Shirone's body still hadn't lit up.
'You haven't fallen until you've actually fallen.'
The onlookers' hearts pounded harder than his—until finally, Shirone reached the edge.
The crowd's eyes widened.
"He jumped with his body…!"
Shirone kicked off the cliff with all his might, launching himself into the sky.
A sickening weightlessness gripped his stomach. Wind howled, shaking him as mountain birds flew dozens of meters below.
"Grrr—!"
Gritting his teeth, Shirone focused—and at the peak of his jump, he finally vanished in a streak of light.
With him, the first round ended, and rankings were completely overturned by the second.
A few meters' difference on the ground meant nothing compared to 10 meters per teleport in the air.
"Huh?!"
Mark flinched as Shirone suddenly appeared ahead of him.
'What the—?!'
How late had Shirone started to overtake him in a single teleport?!
Though the rankings would shift again, Mark's first strategy had already failed.
"You bastard! Stay down!"
A split second later, Shirone and Mark teleported again in near unison.
10 Minutes Before the Exam
A gloomy-faced girl trudged toward the training grounds.
Erlang Maria.
The third daughter of the Erlang noble family (3rd class), a nineteen-year-old prodigy who had awakened her magical talent early.
Though the oldest in Class Seven, she hadn't always been so withdrawn.
She had enrolled at ten, climbing steadily from Class Ten upward.
But at some point, she realized—competition wasn't what she truly wanted.
She just loved magic.
She never wanted to be the best, never craved others' admiration.
Promotion just meant more competition.
Like a marathon with no finish line, this world's endless pyramid terrified her.
"What am I even doing?"
Had she missed her chance to push forward?
The moment she realized she was the oldest in Class Seven, even magic lost its joy.
Was she staying out of habit? Or was there still a flicker of passion left?
"Sigh."
The promotion exam felt like someone else's problem. She didn't want to study alongside younger students either.
That was all.
The reason Maria was heading to the exam site?
'It's about to start.'
As she checked the time, a blue flare shot up from the peak—the preparatory signal.
The students' cheers echoed through the valley.
"...."
Maria stopped walking.
Their voices felt like they were pushing her away. Tears streamed down her face.
'There's no place for me there.'
Was this the end?
The moment she admitted she lacked the courage to leave, fear crashed over her.
'If Mark passes…'
He would never let slide whoever exposed Shirone's bullying.
Her heart hammered, acid rose in her throat, and her vision darkened.
'No!'
She had to stop Mark—but alone, she was powerless.
Her gaze fell on the Uncrossable Bridge's control room, nestled in the mountainside.
"...."
After another moment of hesitation, she decided—anything was better than letting Mark pass.
Creak—
The rusted iron door opened, revealing a narrow staircase descending into the control room.
A single employee lounged in a chair, yawning.
"When's this gonna end? I could go for a beer."
His eyelids drooped, then his head slumped forward.
"Hoo."
Maria stood behind him.
A sleep spell—useless on the battlefield—was lethal against ordinary people.
Maria examined the control device.
Countless buttons covered the panel, and on the periphery, a rotary switch adjusted the difficulty of the impassable bridge.
As if it hadn't been activated at all, the protruding indicator pointed to Level 1.
Her hand trembled as it gripped the switch.
'Is this really the right thing to do?'
No—forget right or wrong. Was this even something she was capable of handling?
'If no one passes, that's enough.'
Fear of Mark mixed with the resentment she had suppressed until now, surging through her like a tidal wave.
Maria turned the switch.
She half-expected some cataclysmic disaster to strike the moment she acted, but the control room remained eerily silent.
"Ah… Ahhh…"
The crushing weight of that silence bore down on her shoulders, and Maria slumped to the floor.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
At an altitude of 1,000 meters, twenty students tore through the sky, sonic booms rippling in their wake.
By the third turn on average, the gap between the front and rear groups wasn't large, but the difference in skill was undeniable.
Most of those who had panicked at the start couldn't endure the dizzying terror of the open sky.
Since they were from Class Seven, where even flight magic wasn't taught, the psychological shock was even greater.
'What do I do? Am I really going to fall?'
The other side felt impossibly far.
As the Spirit Zone began collapsing, the chain of teleportations was severed, and one by one, students from the rear group started plummeting.
"AAAAHHH!"
"Someone help! SAVE ME!"
"WAHAHAHAHA!"
The upperclassmen burst into laughter. Having already experienced this themselves, they found their juniors' struggles amusing.
The teachers, too, wore calm smiles as they methodically recorded the names of the eliminated students.
Meanwhile, the students who had already fallen below the horizon were experiencing the greatest terror of their lives.
'The safety net!'
Even though they must have fallen over 300 meters, there was no sign of any artificial safety structure.
'Don't tell me…?'
Was something wrong?
The moment that thought crossed their minds, electricity surged through their bodies, and their consciousness began fading.
"I'm gonna die—"
The students screamed.
"SOMEONE SAVE ME!"
Just as their voices tore through their throats, a tremendous gust of wind roared up from the ground.
"Huh?"
Their descent gradually slowed, and by the time they reached 100 meters above ground, the wind was so strong it began pushing them back up.
Balanced between their own weight and the wind pressure, the students looked at each other.
Each of them floated in midair, their faces drained of color.
"W-we're alive…"
A few who still had the presence of mind to look down noticed holes drilled into the ground at 10-meter intervals.
Underground, there must have been powerful air-blow devices generating the wind.
But their relief was short-lived. The faces of the teachers—who had explained nothing—and the upperclassmen who had laughed at them flashed in their minds.
"Ugh…"
They all shouted upward.
"YOU'RE THE WORST!"
Meanwhile, the leading and middle groups, still fighting their own terror, pressed on.
'What's so funny?!'
The distant laughter of the upperclassmen only grated on their already frayed nerves.
As their focus wavered, the rankings in the middle group fluctuated wildly. But the leading group, stretched taut like rubber bands, maintained their pace.
Amy clenched her fist as she watched Shirone, now among the leaders.
'If you're going to catch up to me, you wouldn't be scared like this, right? Show me your resolve.'
Some worried, some watched like spectators, and others fixated on the rankings.
Amid the clash of emotions, a wave of dropouts surged from the middle group.
"AAAAH! NO!"
"Teacher! I forfeit! SAVE ME!"
They had already crossed 200 meters. The terror of freefalling into an abyss was beyond imagination.
Their screams reached the leading group's ears, but none of them faltered.
No—if anything, the fact that their competition was thinning only made their blood burn hotter.
'Idiots. If you weren't confident, you shouldn't have tried in the first place.'
The leading group had already advanced 350 meters—an impressive feat for Class Seven.
Shirone still held first place.
Mark and his strategy team took turns overtaking him, but by the next turn, he always reclaimed his lead.
Mark gritted his teeth.
'What kind of monster is this guy?!'
Shirone had already chained 20 teleportations, each leap covering exactly 10 meters with zero deviation.
It was like doing 20 pull-ups at the exact same speed without a single fluctuation.
'Is he a machine?!'
He knew Shirone had strong mental endurance, but he hadn't expected the gap to be this wide.