The Genius Tamer of the Academy

Chapter 53

“How was the exam? Honestly, wasn’t the difficulty insane? I was already dizzy at the first challenge.”

As soon as we left the exam hall, Adela started talking rapidly. It was obvious—she was excited about passing safely. Seeing the sparkle in her eyes, I couldn’t help but smile.

I made an effort to match her enthusiasm. “Yeah, it was tough.”

“Was the second challenge the hardest for you? When the water started pouring down?”

“It was a bit difficult, but I had practiced in similar situations, so I managed.”

I responded casually to Adela’s questions when suddenly, from a distance, Won came running toward me, his face flushed. Without any preamble, he shouted my name.

“Hey, Han Siha! Did you survive all the way through the final challenge?”

“In the end, yes.”

“Wow… Are you serious?”

“I think it went pretty smoothly.”

Honestly, I thought it was a fairly smooth result.

They didn’t announce individual scores when we left, so I wouldn’t know until the final midterm evaluation results were released, but as far as I knew, all the main characters of the Smart Academy had passed without much trouble.

Ah, maybe my standards have become too high.

Adela, Solia, Lee Han, even Natalie—they all passed, so I guess I ended up thinking that way.

* * *

“Wow, what should I do? Should I just die now?”

Thud.

As soon as Won reached the cafeteria, he slammed his head down on the table.

“That’s disgusting, especially in a place where we eat.”

Adela grimaced and lightly grabbed Won’s hair with two fingers, lifting it up as if it were something filthy. With his head now resembling a snail’s antennae, Won slumped back down, looking dejected.

“Is that really important, Adela? I might not even be here next year.”

“Well, it looked like a lot of people didn’t make it.”

Only then did Won take a look around the cafeteria, which had turned into a funeral. Judging by the conversations, half the students seemed to have been eliminated in the first challenge.

There were more who failed than I thought.

Since Won got eliminated in the final challenge, he must have ranked around 15th or so.

And more importantly…

“Don’t worry. You’re not going to fail.”

With a knowing look into the future, I clicked my tongue and scolded Won.

If someone who made it through the final challenge was acting like this, they’d get hit with a rock somewhere.

“What? Seriously?”

Only then did Won’s face brighten with relief.

“Geez, what are these people? Who could have passed all of that?”

“I don’t think I’m a monster.”

Suddenly, Natalie popped up with a smile. Won pouted and grumbled.

“Natalie, you’re not human.”

“Oh my, that’s harsh.”

“I saw your performance after I got eliminated. You had 80% mental strength left in that situation.”

“What? 80%?”

Eighty percent was truly impressive.

Without realizing it, I frowned in astonishment. Honestly, that air-deprived challenge was a bit much.

Not being able to breathe properly was one thing, but a lot of students got eliminated because their mental strength was drained quickly.

Is it even possible to maintain 80% mental strength in that challenge?

As expected, Natalie’s mind was a field of endless flowers—in a good way.

“Hey, how do you know that? They didn’t tell us our scores.”

Won scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.

“I actually got kicked out before I could see it.”

“Of course.”

“I’m not expecting much from the Magic Practical Exam since the scoring is so strict, but did everyone prepare well for the Tamer Practical Exam?”

“Honestly, I think I messed up.”

Adela sighed lightly.

…Stop being modest.

I instantly understood what she meant by that.

“Didn’t you say the same thing last time and still rank near the top?”

“It’s not surprising anymore since it’s not the first time!”

“What are you talking about? The top Tamer student is right here.”

Wham.

Adela shot a subtle look in my direction.

Is she seriously doing this?

Natalie, who hadn’t seen the actual exam, widened her eyes and asked, “Is he really that good?”

“He controlled a Hellhound in the Slime Dungeon before. And it wasn’t even his own.”

“Really?”

“Whoa…”

Everyone looked at me like I was some kind of monster. I just shrugged lightly.

A Hellhound isn’t as scary as Odopteon. It looks more like a dog, and after I petted it a few times, it became obedient.

Of course, most students would see controlling a Hellhound as a significant challenge.

“Hellhound?”

Then, I was startled by an unexpected voice and turned my head.

“Huh?”

There stood an unexpected figure—Solia Arkenent, her silver hair shimmering as she quietly took a seat without having been able to join the conversation earlier.

She had been so quiet that I hadn’t even noticed she was there.

Scratching my head, I spoke up, “How long have you been sitting there?”

“Since… quite a while ago.”

Solia’s expression was unreadable as she sat bathed in the sunlight streaming through the window, looking somewhat bored.

She blinked a few times as the bright light bothered her, then adjusted her posture.

Adela’s voice took on a sharp tone, laced with a hint of wariness. “Solia. You’re taking the Taming class too, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Did you sit here because you wanted to listen to something?”

At Adela’s insistent questioning, Solia let out a small, amused laugh, as if she found the situation ridiculous.

These two might seem friendly, but there’s definitely a rivalry between them.

Solia’s soft voice flowed out calmly, “That’s right. I was curious.”

“See, I knew it… What?” Adela’s eyes rolled in surprise at Solia’s unexpected admission, and she quickly sat back down.

“How boring.”

Adela pouted, clearly unimpressed by Solia’s response, but Solia ignored her and turned to me.

“Tell me how you managed to tame the Hellhound in one go.”

Like Adela, Solia didn’t have much experience in taming. Her face showed genuine curiosity, but…

Uh, how should I even explain this?

Uh…

The truth is…

“It just worked.”

How do you explain something that just happens?

Not knowing how I did it myself, I gave the most standard response I could think of.

“If you follow the textbook and thoroughly review the material, you should be fine.”

“Are you asking to be hit with a Hellhound?”

Even I had to admit that was the kind of answer that deserved a slap.

* * *

The day of the Taming Practical Exam arrived.

Although I wasn’t too worried about the Taming exam itself, we had so many other tests in between that everyone had been busy juggling their schedules.

‘Once this is over…’

There was an air of mixed excitement and anxiety among the students whose last exam was the Taming class.

Since Professor Zepalov was in charge of the advanced Taming class this time, everyone was expecting better scores compared to the Magic Practical Exam.

Professor Zepalov, dressed in his usual loose attire, sauntered up to the front. Unlike the strict Professor Grint, Zepalov showed little interest in his students. In fact, he was the type of professor who preferred to leave them to their own devices.

Zepalov’s hands were stuffed in his pockets as he squinted and frowned. “Is today the exam?”

“Yes, Professor!”

His classes had been so relaxed, and he had skipped so many sessions for unscheduled breaks that I had almost forgotten what he looked like.

But this could work in our favor.

At least today’s exam shouldn’t be too difficult.

Many students had signed up for this course, attracted by its reputation as an easy credit.

Professor Zepalov’s exams were notorious for being predictable. Rumor had it that he had been giving out almost the same set of questions for the past twenty years.

The usual exam format involved assigning each student a specific monster and giving them two weeks to tame it—without killing it or letting it escape. The test focused not only on taming but also on the survival of the monster, which was a unique aspect compared to other Taming professors.

The monster typically assigned was the Water Slime, known for being more difficult to keep alive than to tame. As a result, strategies for caring for Water Slimes had become common knowledge among students, passed down over the years.

Some students had likely already prepared their environments to accommodate Water Slimes, but then Zepalov dropped a bombshell.

Zepalov paused for a moment, scratching his ear before he continued, “Lately, I’ve heard that students get tips from their seniors about which monster will be assigned. Is that true?”

“…!”

The classroom fell into a tense silence.

The professor had called out the cheating.

‘Who the hell got caught?’

‘Who’s the idiot that spilled the beans!’

The students’ expressions seemed to scream these thoughts, growing more hostile by the second.

Quite a few students were visibly shaken, losing their composure.

“Sharing exam details in advance is a bit unethical, don’t you think, second-years?”

“Yes, Professor!”

“If you prepare everything in advance, that’s no good. So, I’ve decided to change things up this time.”

For the first time in twenty years, Professor Zepalov was changing the exam content.

His bombshell announcement sent a ripple of shock through the classroom.

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“Is it going to be a completely unknown monster?”

“What kind of monster could it be?”

“Why is he suddenly doing this? Is he planning to retire soon?”

“This is insane. I already had everything ready.”

It was clear that the students’ mental states were taking a nosedive, but I remained calm.

After all, I already knew.

In the original story, Zepalov had inexplicably decided to switch the monster at the last minute for the exam.

As a result, less than half as many students succeeded in taming their assigned monsters compared to previous years.

The new assigned monster for this exam was a Werewolf.

“You’ll be raising a Werewolf.”

“Huh? A Werewolf?”

“Is a Werewolf the assigned monster this time?”

Unlike fully grown Werewolves, baby Werewolves are nicknamed “sunfish.” They’re incredibly sensitive and easily stressed, often fleeing or dying if you attempt to tame them. They’re as fragile as lab mice.

The priority for this exam wasn’t so much taming as it was keeping the creature alive and preventing it from running away. Plus, Werewolves were more aggressive and sensitive than the Water Slimes, making the exam significantly more challenging.

The students’ spirits were thoroughly crushed, but Professor Zepalov, unaware or unconcerned, was already preparing to leave.

“Alright, that’s it for today’s class. Everyone, head back now.”

“Huh…?”

“What?”

The same old Zepalov.

“Yep, I’ll check on your progress in two weeks, so do your best! Don’t fail!”

He quickly exited the classroom, having said what he needed to say.

All that remained were the students, still struggling to gather their shattered nerves.

“This is insane.”

Woof, woof, woof!

The Werewolves left behind by Professor Zepalov were barking at the front of the classroom.

The students all looked up simultaneously, locking eyes with each other.

And then, their eyes gleamed with determination.

A fierce competition had begun as everyone scrambled to grab the most docile-looking creature.

“Hey, move!”

Crash, bang, clatter.

The classroom descended into chaos.

Frowning, I slowly stood up.

Anyway, it was time to start taming.

—

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