Dragon System: Red Dragon Legacy-Chapter 42: The Entrance Exam Begins

The next morning, Orion was jolted awake by Lilian’s shouting.

"Hey! Wake up! You have an appointment with the Merchant Guild in two hours!"

Orion shot upright.

"Oh shit... I almost forgot."

He hurried through his morning routine, throwing on his clothes and rushing downstairs to the dining room. After a quick breakfast, he turned to leave.

"Hang on," Lilian called out. She handed him a card. "This has my friend’s information. And before you get too busy—remember, the academy entrance exam is in ten days. Okay?"

"Oh, right... the academy," Orion thought. He still needed to finish his preparations before enrolling.

"Alright, I’ll keep that in mind," he replied, then headed for the Merchant Guild.

The Merchant Guild wasn’t as large as the Adventurers’ Guild, but it was far more luxurious—and had more guards and tighter security.

It also wasn’t as lively as the Adventurers’ Guild. Most of the people here were older, and everyone seemed to have a very similar personality.

"As expected from merchants, I guess," he thought.

Checking the card Lilian gave him, Orion saw that he needed to go to the second floor.

Just as he reached it, someone called out from behind.

"You must be Orion, right?"

He turned around to see a woman with black hair and a medium build, smiling brightly at him.

"Yes... But how do you know?" he asked, slightly suspicious.

"Lilian told me about you," she said cheerfully. "She said a very handsome guy with black hair would visit today. And you’re the only one here who isn’t some old fart."

Orion smiled. "You must be Lilian’s friend."

"Yep. I’m Cindy. And I hear you have a business proposition for me?" She gestured toward a quiet table. "Let’s sit. I already ordered some tea."

They sat down.

"So," she said, leaning forward, "let’s hear this business of yours."

Orion explained the concept of matchsticks and how he wanted to turn them into a large-scale business.

Cindy immediately grasped its true value and the potential of this product.

"No way," she said, her eyes widening. "You’re lying. There’s just no way."

Without a word, Orion demonstrated the matchstick.

Cindy stared in disbelief. She couldn’t grasp just how this single stick could create fire so easily.

"...No. No, no, no," Sindy muttered, holding her head. "I must be dreaming."

"I understand this is shocking," Orion said calmly. "But let’s talk business."

"Yes—sorry. This is just... it sounds too good to be true," she said, taking a deep breath.

Orion then laid out his full plan—how he intended to build an entire business empire and spread it across the continent.

By the end, Sindy was completely overwhelmed. She placed both hands on the table and bowed deeply.

"You are my god," she declared. "A god, I say. Just tell me—what do you want me to do?"

Orion chuckled and explained her role. They signed a contract, and Orion handed over the recipe along with some startup funds of twenty gold coins.

As he stepped out of the guild, a deep sense of satisfaction washed over him.

One step of the plan is done.

Feeling unusually lighthearted, he decided to walk home.

His thoughts drifted to the academy—and his next move: finding talented individuals and making them work under him.

It was a troublesome task, so he decided not to think about it anymore and leave it for Future Orion to handle.

Ten days passed.

The business launched—and succeeded instantly. Within five days, it had become a trending topic throughout the city.

Orion silently thanked the heavens that he had insisted Sindy keep his name out of it.

For a moment, he felt like an evil mastermind, imagining all the possibilities ahead. The feeling didn’t last long.

"Tomorrow’s the academy entrance exam," Lilian said. "Feeling nervous?"

"A little," Orion admitted.

"The business is doing well," she said with a smile. "I still can’t believe it."

"Yeah... it feels great."

"You should sleep early tonight. Save your energy for tomorrow."

With that, she left.

Orion went to bed—but spent the entire night tossing and turning, his mind stuck on the academy.

Morning finally came.

He reassured himself that the academy would probably be like high school—but his nerves refused to calm down.

After breakfast, he noticed Lilian was wearing a white uniform accented with blue.

"Wow," he said. "The academy has uniforms?"

"Obviously," she replied flatly.

They soon left in a carriage.

"Where is the academy, anyway?" Orion asked.

"A bit outside the capital," Lilian said. "It’s far too big to fit inside the city."

"Just how big does it have to be for it to be too big even for the capital?" Orion gulped.

He got his answer soon enough.

As the carriage passed through a remote forest, the academy came into view.

"Holy... mother of—" Orion stopped himself, completely stunned.

Three massive buildings stood tall—each large enough to be a palace—surrounded by countless other structures.

"I’m speechless," he said.

Lilian laughed. "Don’t worry—I had the exact same reaction the first time I saw it, too."

They approached the gates, where a sea of people had gathered.

Nobles arrived in extravagant carriages, each more luxurious than the last—clearly competing for attention.

When people noticed Lilian’s carriage, excitement erupted.

"Lilian!"

"Our hero is here!"

Her fangirls screamed while boys strained just to catch a glimpse of her.

Once inside the academy grounds, Lilian led Orion to an area reserved for commoner students.

"...There must be at least ten thousand people here," Orion murmured.

"You’ll stay here for your evaluation," Lilian said. "I’ll come back when you’re done. If I’m late, just wait."

She left.

Moments later, a rough-looking middle-aged man with scars covering his face and neck stepped onto the stage and picked up a sound device.

"Welcome to the academy," he announced.

The crowd responded loudly.

"I won’t give you false hope," the man said, getting straight to the point. "You’ll only succeed here if you have talent. It doesn’t matter how hard you’ve worked. We look for raw talent. A talented person can be taught discipline—but a talentless person can never be taught talent, no matter how hard they try."

Many students immediately became gloomy.

"Now," the man said, "there are six divisions each year, based on talent and your performance in the entrance exam, from S to F. If you get into the S division, you’ll receive every privilege this academy has to offer. A and B are excellent. C and D are acceptable."

Then his smile twisted.

"But Class F?" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Oh boy... if you get into F class, I’d advise you to leave."

Everyone swallowed nervously. Orion was shocked—he hadn’t expected the academy to be this cutthroat.

"Now let’s begin the evaluation. Everyone, line up behind an evaluation device—there are nearly a hundred of them. So, don’t cause any scene."

Orion stepped into a line. Lilian had already told him a little about the evaluation process. The globe-shaped evaluation device didn’t measure talent solely based on class rank—it also took a person’s astral energy into consideration.

For example, if someone had a low class rank but a massive amount of astral energy, they could still be ranked higher than someone with a superior class rank. That’s because the person with higher astral energy had more potential to learn powerful skills.

Also, if someone’s talent showed red, it meant low talent, and anyone in this category would not be accepted into the academy. Green was average, and blue was good. To rank students individually, it depended on how brightly the globe glowed in each person’s hand.

The evaluation process finally started

"Russel. Bright red. Go home," an examiner said flatly.

"Eric. Dim Green. Pass. Next."

Eventually, it was Orion’s turn.

"Orion," the examiner said—then froze.

"...Wait—what?"

His face went pale with shock.