Not long after, the car slowed to a stop in the school courtyard.
Sixth High School Makazhar.
One of the finest institutions among non-elite public high schools—an academy often regarded as standing just a single step away from entering the ranks of elite schools.
This was the location of Al's examination today.
David and the others did not get out of the car. They rely dropped Al off.
Only Fani leaned slightly toward the window, lifting her arms and giving him a small gesture that clearly ant 'You can do it. Good luck.'
Al did not react much to it and simply nodded in response.
Especially when he noticed that Clarista and David offered neither gestures nor words, he felt that responding too warmly would only make things awkward for Fani.
Without any further pleasantries, the car imdiately drove off again, heading toward David's destination—Tiara High School.
Al let out a quiet breath as he watched the car disappear from sight.
Then, with an unhurried stride, he walked into the school grounds, presented his exam card to the security guard, and was allowed inside.
Within the campus, students from various schools had already filled the corridors leading to the auditorium and examination rooms.
So wore visibly nervous expressions, while others carried themselves with confident smiles.
Al checked the code for his assigned room and asked the security guard for directions. Once he confird the location, he started walking—
But a single figure made him pause for a brief mont.
Yolanda—Jogo's cousin.
One of his opponents during the previous School Festival event.
She was heading toward her own examination room, and by coincidence, their paths crossed.
Just like Al, Yolanda's eyes imdiately caught his presence.
Her body stiffened.
It had been a long ti since that incident. And yet… its effects had not faded.
The mory seal Al had planted in her mind was still active.
Every ti she tried to talk about that incident—or even when she rely thought about it—her head felt as if it were being smashed by a heavy hamr.
Yolanda stared at Al in confusion. Doubt flickered across her face, but in the end, she stepped forward.
"Y-You… Al…" she muttered. "It took a long ti to recover… I didn't think we'd et again like this."
She reached out, trying to grab Al by the collar, but he effortlessly slipped aside.
Yolanda ignored that and glared at him in frustration.
"What did you do to back then?" she demanded angrily.
Al observed her for a mont longer before replying.
"Oh?" he said casually. "If I'm not mistaken, your na is Yolanda, right? The girl from back then. What do you need from this ti? Don't tell you want a rematch."
Seeing that Al was brushing her off with small talk, Yolanda pressed him again.
"Enough with the nonsense. I'm asking you—what did you do to back then?"
Al pretended to think.
"What do you an? I don't understand," he replied lazily.
That only made Yolanda even angrier. She tried to bring up the incident directly.
"You… you back then—Ughh!"
Suddenly, a sharp pain struck her head.
She clenched her teeth, her body trembling slightly as she struggled to endure the agony.
Several nearby students glanced in their direction, but fortunately, in their eyes, Al and Yolanda looked nothing more than a young couple in the middle of a heated argunt.
"Are they dating? Why are they fighting here?"
"Did that guy just hit her? She looks like she's in pain."
"Yeah… poor girl. It's such an important day, and they're still fighting like that. Even getting physical."
"Love really is a headache."
Light murmurs spread around them, but no one paid it much attention. Everyone was too busy preparing for their own exams, tossing out a comnt or two before moving on.
Al did not bother reacting to any of it.
Seeing Yolanda in pain, he rely shook his head faintly and raised his hand near her head without actually touching it.
"Hmph. The seal is still quite strong," Al analyzed lightly, as if examining sothing trivial. "It should last for several more months, at least."
Realizing that Al was treating her like nothing more than an object of study, Yolanda grew even more furious—but she could only suppress her emotions.
Her right hand slowly tightened as her internal energy gathered, a faint aura surfacing in her palm.
She wanted to teach Al a small lesson—an ambush. She knew full well that a normal attack would never affect him.
The terrifying image of the young man before her was still vividly etched into her mory.
Unfortunately for her, Al noticed imdiately and smiled faintly.
"Don't waste your energy," he said lazily. "You should focus on your exam instead. Besides, you can't hurt anyway. You're still far too weak."
As he spoke, he lightly and gently touched the top of Yolanda's head.
In an instant, the headache vanished.
"You—!" Yolanda exclaid angrily as she staggered back a step, her teeth chattering.
Still, she tried to attack him again.
Whoosh!
She swung her hand straight toward Al's neck.
Grab!
This ti, Al caught it easily—his grip stopping her hand just one centiter away from his throat. He did not bother dodging.
"Huff… You really are as brutal as my third sister," Al comnted lazily. "Does your dojo only teach martial arts, or do they also teach that kind of aggressive personality?"
With a small flick of his wrist, he tossed her arm aside. The motion was minimal, yet for so reason, her entire body nearly got flung away—barely managing to keep her balance.
Yolanda frowned.
She heard Al ntion a third sister and a dojo, but she didn't realize he was referring to Vianna—her senior. Her irritation, however, made her overlook that detail entirely.
She wanted to lash out, but Al spoke first.
"By the way," Al said, crossing his arms, "Jogo is your cousin, right? Do you know how he's doing now? Or where he is?"
"Huh?!" Yolanda blurted out in confusion. "Jogo? Why are you asking about Jogo? What happened to him? I thought you two weren't friends—more like enemies."
"I'm just asking," Al replied flatly. "We attend the sa school, and he hasn't shown up for quite so ti. I was curious."
"Really?" Yolanda asked.
Al nodded. "Yeah. Do you know anything?"
"I don't know! But... even if I did, why would I tell you?" Yolanda snapped back.
Al stared at her a little longer. When he ntioned Jogo's na, genuine confusion had surfaced on her face. It seed she truly didn't know much.
"Hmph… So you really don't know," he murmured. "That ans your family didn't even share the information with close relatives."
He nodded slowly. "That's actually impressive… They're quite thorough."
Yolanda beca even more confused, but before she could respond, a security guard approached them, assuming they were causing trouble.
"Young people," the guard said sternly, "if you want to fight, do it outside. The exam is about to start. If you're participants, head to your assigned rooms imdiately."
Al and Yolanda could only nod awkwardly.
Without another word, Al turned around first and walked away.
Yolanda, burning with curiosity and unwilling to let the chance slip by—unsure if she would ever et Al again after this—called out to him while walking.
"What… what happened to Jogo? Tell !"
Al simply shook his head as he continued walking. Then he stopped and looked back at Yolanda, his gaze sharp—deeply, overwhelmingly deep.
A stare that made it feel as if ti itself had co to a halt.
"How can you ask that?" he said calmly. "Shouldn't you be the one answering that question, not ?"
Al shook his head.
"Huff… Because if you don't know either… how could I possibly know?" he added quietly.
Yolanda fell silent.
That's true… I should be the one who knows more. Then why does it feel like he knows far more about Jogo than I do? she thought.
Her body gradually ca to a stop. Her mind went blank.
Al stopped as well and lightly patted her head.
"Don't think about it too much. Just focus on today's exam."
With that, he turned down another corridor, while Yolanda could only stare at his back in a daze.
Unfortunately, they had to head in different directions—their examination rooms were not the sa.
And just like that, their encounter ca to an end.
---
Mont later,
Inside the examination room, Al arrived at his assigned seat.
It was a large space—clean, orderly, and ticulously arranged, giving off a sterile, almost solemn atmosphere.
Rows of desks were neatly spread out across the room, each one identical, each one simple.
On every desk lay only a few items: a single blank sheet of paper, a pencil accompanied by an eraser, and an electronic tablet specially designed as the primary dium for completing the exam.
This National Examination was conducted through a fully electronic system, directly integrated with the central governnt's database and monitoring network.
For students from elite schools, the exam was held only for a single day, stretching continuously from morning until evening.
This was markedly different from non-elite schools, where the sa examination process took three days, conducted only from morning until noon each day.
As a student from an elite school, Al naturally preferred this format.
Although it demanded a full day's worth of stamina and concentration, the reward was more free ti afterward—sothing that perfectly aligned with his inherently lazy disposition.
He drew in a quiet breath, took his seat, and began spinning the pencil idly between his fingers.
For once, the object served no purpose beyond being a tool to scratch answers onto paper during an exam.
Even after living for hundreds of years and experiencing so many heavy, exhausting things… facing an exam like this still makes nervous, he thought.
A faint smile forming in his mind.
Hehe. But it's fine. No matter the result, I need to properly close this chapter of my high school life.
With that resolve, he went through the examination procedures—logging into the system, activating the cara, and listening to the additional instructions delivered by the exam proctors.
And in the very next mont—
The exam began.
---
After the Exam
Several hours passed.
The sun had already dipped low, giving way to the approaching night.
One by one, the corridor lights flickered on, casting pale reflections across the cold ceramic tiles.
The sound of students' footsteps gradually faded, replaced by the steady hum of air conditioners and the collective sighs of relief that had been held back throughout the day.
Al walked out with slightly slumped shoulders, his tie loosened, his hair ssy and completely ignored.
He stopped briefly at the end of the corridor, pressing two fingers against his temple before letting out a long breath—not because the exam questions had been particularly difficult, but because the accumulated fatigue had finally caught up to him.
His gaze went blank for a mont.
Then, the corner of his lips lifted faintly.
"It's over. At least… this part is."
And just like that—the National Examination ca to an end for elite school students.
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