My Disciples Grind, I Get 100x Their Progress

"Master, do you think I’ll pass?" Kina blinked a few times, sitting in the waiting room beside Julian while they waited for her evaluation results.

Hearing that, Julian couldn’t manage to say anything at all. He was praying, hard, for Kina to pass, because if anyone here was more anxious about this than her, it was him.

’Please. Please. Please. Please.’

The sky outside had already started darkening. Julian couldn’t stomach the idea of possibly having to sleep out beyond real civilization again, after all, as a former actor, he was fairly particular about his living conditions.

But just this once, he was willing to drop every standard, as long as it wasn’t the Slums.

In front of them, the door swung open, and the same examiner who’d tested Kina earlier stepped in, carrying a few sheets of documents. Julian’s entire body went rigid as he fixed the man with an intense, serious stare, one that made the examiner flinch, every hair on his body prickling with a chill he couldn’t quite explain.

The examiner shifted his gaze away, breaking into a cold sweat, ignoring Julian’s unblinking stare and choosing instead to focus on Kina.

"Ahem... So, congratulations, Miss Kiena, you’ve passed the preliminary selection. Next, you’ll need to take the actual Academy entrance exam."

The examiner handed over the necessary documents, along with a card granting Julian and Kina access into the Central region.

Seeing all that, Kina broke into a delighted smile, her eyes sparkling with hope. Julian, meanwhile, stayed perfectly flat, at least on the surface.

’Thank you, goddess. Thank you, gods. Thank you, God. Thank you, creator.’

He wept tears of joy somewhere deep inside himself.

"Master, let’s head out before nightfall."

’Yes! Kina, I’m sorry for ever doubting you, you’re an incredible disciple!’

***

With that settled, Julian and Kina made their way toward the Central region without delay. Since they were already right at the checkpoint, it didn’t take long, less than five minutes later, they reached the heavily guarded connecting gate.

The procedure itself wasn’t complicated. They simply checked to confirm that neither Julian nor Kina had been contaminated by any Aliens, and afterward, they were let through once they’d listened to a few mandatory rules they had to follow.

Julian walked alongside Kina, passing through a long, dimly lit tunnel. Once they finally reached the other side, Julian could breathe a genuine sigh of relief for the very first time.

He stood at the edge of a main road, staring out at a city ahead lined with towering buildings, crowded with pedestrians moving in every direction.

’This is... civilization...’ Julian breathed in deep, acting as though he’d been separated from real civilization for years, even though it had only been a few hours since he’d first arrived in this world.

With a small sigh, Julian turned to Kina. "What now?" There was no way they were expected to just walk all the way to the academy, given how far away it probably was, right?

Hearing that, Kina smiled. "We need to reach the point where the central city’s transport runs, Master. That’s where we can catch a taxi."

Kina pointed toward a building in the distance. True enough, where they stood right now was practically deserted. After all, this was the border zone between the Slums and the Central region.

So Julian had to grit his teeth and walk for nearly ten more minutes before finally reaching a city genuinely bustling with people. By that point, his legs were already aching with exhaustion.

They reached the city and were immediately greeted by the noise of a living, breathing crowd, cars weaving past, the mingling smell of food from every direction, shops open on every corner, all of it feeling remarkably, comfortingly normal, just like his old life.

Kina flagged down a taxi, and soon after, they were on their way to the Academy. By this point, Julian could finally relax properly. He watched the buildings blur past outside the window.

He found himself missing his old life a little, after all, he still had a few people back there who genuinely cared about him.

He let out a small sigh, time passed, and before long, they arrived at Canelo Academy.

Since it was already night, Julian had expected the Academy to be nearly deserted by now. Instead, quite the opposite, the Academy was still bustling. Students had gathered out in the courtyard, playing together in small groups.

After showing their documents to a guard, Julian and Kina were escorted into the Academy, walking past students training, playing, and enjoying light snacks together.

The Academy itself was enormous. It spanned several separate buildings. Julian couldn’t quite recall exactly where they’d entered or which way led back out, but ultimately, he and Kina were led into a room where someone had already been waiting for their arrival.

"Kiena, and Julian, her guardian, that’s you two?"

It seemed this was one of the Academy’s professors, someone who’d been contacted to help oversee Kina’s evaluation process.

Julian nodded, and Kina followed suit. The professor gave a small smile and nodded back.

"Good, I’ve been waiting for you both," the professor said, rising from his seat to set up a straw dummy as a target. After that, he retrieved a transparent crystal ball, placed atop a thick piece of cloth. "Could you come here, Miss Kiena?"

"Eh? Yeah, okay."

Kiena stepped closer to where the professor stood, watching him place the crystal ball onto the table. He then looked at Kina as she approached, brushing a hand over the crystal briefly. "Place your hand here. We’re going to check your status."

Kina looked visibly nervous, a faint sheen of sweat on her face, but she steadied herself and rested her hand on the crystal.

The next second, a faint green light flickered to life, then slowly rose upward, forming a translucent blue screen.

[STATUS]

Talent: [Lower Swordmanship] — [F-Grade]

Seeing that, the professor’s expression twitched, and so did Julian’s, for a moment. The professor clearly looked confused, after all, he’d been personally contacted by the Academy’s own headmaster to handle this girl’s selection.

So he’d assumed Kina must have some kind of special Talent. At this point, the professor looked more than a little disappointed. He was starting to wonder whether the headmaster had lost her edge somewhere along the way, with age.

Julian, on the other hand, was startled too, though for entirely different reasons.

’What a joke. That scanning device must be broken. How does it not even register a Triple S-Grade Talent.’

No wonder Kina had struggled so much. And she actually had the Sword Maiden Talent, of all things. Julian shook his head, letting out a small sigh, feeling like this whole thing was such a waste.

It was genuinely a shame that this world couldn’t see her real potential.

"Let’s move on to the skill assessment. Use whatever you’ve got. If you’re good enough, you’ll pass."

Realistically, the odds of Kina passing after this were slim to none. Because to the professor, and to nearly everyone in this world, Talent represented raw natural ability. If someone’s Talent was poor, their understanding would be shallow, meaning any Skill they developed would grow slowly, stuttering along at best.

Which was exactly why Kina had no real hope here, or, at least, that’s what the professor believed.

Kina raised the wooden sword she’d been given, fixing her eyes on the target ahead. Rather than striking right away, she paused, remembering.

’How did Master do it again?’ Instead of gripping One Slash with both hands, she switched to a single-handed grip instead. One foot slightly forward, the other back, but both legs kept nearly straight.

Then, raising the sword above her head, Kina traced back through exactly how Julian had moved, recalling how she needed to compress her mana down into "one," making it as dense and as small as physically possible.

Eyes closed, Kina slowly opened them again, perfectly replicating the way Julian had executed One Slash.

A thin white line dropped, splitting through the air, cutting straight through the target. There was no dramatic explosion of force, just a quiet, clean slash, one that left the professor completely frozen, utterly speechless.

Even Julian’s eyes went wide, watching Kina make yet another leap forward.

[System]

Disciple Skill Progress detected.

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