Just basing off on the first couple of floors alone, I could assume that every other floor after would have a similar layout: completely empty with only pillars to support the infrastructure and occasional windows. The floors at the very top may be different, but I wasn’t going to be able to reach the top even if I wanted to.

There were absolutely no hiding spots.

Though I was able to climb my way up between a pillar and a wall to escape being caught, it was only a temporary hiding spot because a better inspector would have found me on the ceiling. I doubt Melissa would be capable of the same things I was, so her being able to wedge herself into a good hiding spot was out of the question.

The first couple of floors of the building only had a few students standing guard, so it was easy for me to sneak past them. And after taking a peek at the fifth floor from the stairs, I knew it would be impossible for me to continue climbing the tower without being caught.

Not to mention, I couldn’t even pretend to be in their group.

What I thought was a sick black uniform would turn out to bite me in the ass in such situations. All the other students wore white uniforms so I couldn’t fake it even if I wanted to. It was clear as day that I wasn’t on their teams.

They all had colored stickers exposed on their chests, signifying the team they belonged to.

From my understanding, the groups chasing Melissa were those with red, green, and yellow.

If I compared the size to our group which was Black team, they had a bunch of members while my team consisted of only three people.

But size didn’t matter when I was alone.

I wasn’t able to do anything crazy like take down hundreds of men. I doubt any person could do that.

That is, without the usage of overpowered technology like guns. Heck, with hydrogen bombs literally anything can be destroyed. Then again, a similar feat might also be possible with magic, but my exposure to magic in action was minimal. I could always be wrong, but I’ll pray that magic is as overpowered as that one old man in The Lord of the Rings makes it out to be.

‘I should learn magic.’

I knew I would end up learning it eventually since I was in a world where magical technology was commonplace—heck, they had refrigerators and toilets!—but the need to speedrun the learning process of any subject was never a priority for me. If it made me stronger, I guess I could put some effort into researching it.

And if I kept being placed in these situations, it may just force me to learn it out of necessity. If I spent more time reading that black book, it was very likely that I would also learn how to cast magic spells or whatnot.

Maybe black magic or curses even. I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around the physical aesthetics of the book.

For a cover with such dark discoloration, it didn’t make much sense. The book should still be ragged with the ages even though the bloodied print did not reek of any smell—more importantly, the content was a diary. If anything, it gave off a good vibe rather than what one would typically expect of a book that looked like it was written by a cult leader.

‘I will have to read more of it when I have time.’

Anyway, I expanded my search to outside of the building because there was no chance of me getting up the building. It was also unlikely that Melissa would be able to hide from so many people meaning she was either still on the run or she was hiding in a completely different area.

It was also possible that the group of students were taking control of the building because Melissa fooled them into thinking she was in there. But then again, the building couldn’t be considered a building in a true sense, since it was actually a conjunction of 4 separate towers connected by bridges somewhere around the middle floors. I could see the possibility of Melissa leading them up one tower while exiting out from another.

If an entire group could not find her in the buildings, then it was unlikely that I, a single person, would find her in there.

That is unless I made a commotion. She was bound to be aware of me if I caused a ruckus. But her finding me and me finding her were two completely different things.

Then again, as long as she isn’t caught, shouldn’t she be fine? Thinking that this exam was actually a test for combat ability instead of collecting coins was only a conjecture on my part, so it was certainly possible for Melissa to become a member of the club I was in just like she wanted without me doing anything…

But what if she didn’t want that? What if I was completely in the wrong to assume she wanted to be a member? What if the reason the group was chasing her was unrelated to the exam and had nothing to do with her having the coins?

‘Make up your mind god dammit.’

But it was impossible to derive the answer with a hundred percent accuracy through deduction and proposition alone. I both had not enough information to confirm her motives and not enough time to figure it out; the exam would end in 25 minutes.

The quickest way was to hear the truth from the person herself, but that would be stupid as well. Why the hell do I need to talk to her? It was a bad question for me to ask in the first place. For somebody like Sam, maybe she could get away with it, but I doubt someone like me would get a proper answer. Sam was Melissa’s friend after all. I was just an acquaintance. Those kinds of questions are supposed to be extremely personal, right? The last time I asked anyone straightforward—.

‘Calm down.’

I was getting ahead of myself now.

The only reason I was doing this was because of Sam. As a mature person, I had the responsibility of helping her.

‘Do something.’

I needed to make a decision.

‘Do something.’

Doing nothing was one form of ‘do,’ but I didn’t want that.

And even though I just came outside…

‘Should I climb the tower again?’

I was considering the idea of going back in and making a break for it.

Sure, there was the thought in my head that Melissa wasn’t up there at all. And sure, I would be greeted by a horde of students with every floor I ran up. But was it really that bad? You only live once, right?—well, twice for me. Maybe I’ll reincarnate again if I die. That would be pretty great, but I would never kill myself on purpose.

‘I need to do something.’

Do something? Fine, I guess I’ll do exactly that! Who cares if I need to fight my way upwards and get myself maimed in the process? Professor Eigenvalue will just heal me back up, right? Magic was overpowered!

‘Alright, you motherfuckers. Daddy’s comin’!’

***

“...aaahaa…”

“Hey Tom, do you hear that?”

“You mean that screaming noise?”

“Yeah, the one that is gradually getting louder and louder as if someone were running upstairs while being chased by a bunch of people.”

“Yeah I hear it.”

“Should we do something?”

“Probably?”

“HAAAHAAA!!!”

“Ahhh! It’s a sneak attack!”

“Ouch! My spine!”

“Ah shoot, hang in there Tom! I’ll avenge you!”

“Ahh shoot, my leg!”

“Dick, not you too!”

“Ah, it hurts!”

“Harry? Where did you come from?”

“Downstairs, shhh, just play dead. That monster will leave us alone if we all play dead.”

“...”

“...AAAaaaahaaaaa…”

“...”

“Is he gone?”

“I can’t hear the screaming anymore, so yeah?”

“Shoot, it still hurts, I can’t get up.”

“Ugh, how was he so strong? Isn’t he also a freshman like us?”

“Yeah, he just effortlessly shoved us off and tossed us around like garbage bags.”

“I know right… Hah, why do we need to do this…”

“Our families are under Christopher’s families, so we gotta, right? Ugh.”

“Dammit, I wish I was on Blue team. I saw them sitting out in the fields like it was a picnic.”

“...”

“Say, who was that?”

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.”

“Could he be one of those rare commoners?”

“Hmm, I don’t know about commoner—but did you two see his uniform? It looked like a limited edition one.”

“Eh? Ah! Yeah, it was black and red, right?”

“You guys heard of those kinds of uniforms before?”

“Eh, my brother never told me there were other uniforms. Could it be something new?”

“It must be because he’s so strong that he’s given preferential treatment!”

“No way!”

“...”

“You think he’s stronger than Christopher?”

“Pfft, you think just anybody can beat someone from the Columbus family? Don't jest about such things. Besides…”

“If he catches wind of it… You know...”

“Hahaha, yeah… No way, right?”