The Retired Hero is an Extra

As the excitement reached its crescendo, the examinees still grouped together received their nano-armor—the custom suit Rui had mentioned.

Every examinee activated it immediately, as it was the one thing that would save their lives while also giving them some form of protection during the test.

"Alright! Here we go!" Rui yelled as everyone raised their heads to see him wearing a hat that appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Rui beamed at the crowd below him with a delightful smile, his palms placed across the other over a cane that also appeared alongside the hat.

As he held the cane directly to the ground in a poised manner the onlookers finally had reason to believe that Rui was totally committed to his role as an announcer.

Alas, it was only meant to extinguish the slight hope ignited in the examinees' heart that nothing would go wrong.

"Now, without further ado..." Rui declared with a snap of his fingers and instantly, every candidate that was supposed to partake in the Academy's exams vanished.

For a second, they were surprised and watched as a white hue surrounded them until they faded away and disappeared.

It was a surreal experience, almost as if they were being transported and moved somewhere else.

"Let the Solarnelle Academy entrance exams' finale begin!" Rui exclaimed , his animated voice booming through the air with a delightful glee to it...

After the examinees were teleported, the audience—including parents, guardians, and others from far and wide—looked up at the sky.

A huge screen was visible mid-air, allowing view from all angles as if bending the rules of physics itself.

But then again, this was a world where people could fly and teleport through space, so it wasn't really out of place.

The venue—the stadium—could be described in simple terms as a sprawling stadium, able to easily accommodate half a million people.

However, it wasn't the stadium that anyone was interested in looking at, everyone's eyes were glued to the huge floating screen.

It didn't matter if they were in this stadium or another throughout the Empire, the scenery remained the same.

The plain grassy fields, open grassy plains, thickets of small forest-like regions, small streams and small rocky regions, skies, the clouds...

Everything one could dream appeared on the screen—all specially designed by the academy itself to evoke the feeling of a miniature island.

Surrounding this miniature island arena was a transparent yet crystalline-like curved dome that surrounded the arena's wide expanse.

Obviously, it was a structure put in place as a measure of security and safety as well as isolation to prevent anyone from finding its actual location.

Nevertheless, it also served to provide the onlookers who sat around the stadiums on their respective seats a clearer view of all that was going on.

Slowly, this eye-catching and stylized landscape disappeared from the humongous holographic screen.

Only to be replaced by the screen being split into various regions of the arena to provide a panoramic view of everything.

But even as everyone settled down in their seats, their feverish excitement and anticipation for the clashes didn't wane.

In fact, it only increased as time passed, hoping to find out more.

However, the thing about the test spanning three days was a bit too troublesome.

They all could not deny that they were immensely curious about the fights, the winners, the dark horses making it big and more!

Yet just as someone was about to leave, a breath-taking scene appeared.

All the split screens with different views showed similar examinees appearing randomly with huge distances between them.

"W-what? L-look!" an onlooker shouted, pointing at one of the many screens.

What followed from the audience's reaction were looks of immense shock, audible gasps, confusion and undoubtedly, unparalleled excitement...

After all, when would they get the chance to watch such talented students free-falling from the sky?

Yes, some candidates were free-falling from the sky towards the ground at a rapid speed while some were inside deep waters or deep into monster caves.

However, the most exciting part was their apparent lack of a safe way to land, escape, or come out of the water.

Well, the ones who complained were in the minority, their voice getting drowned by the ones shouting excitedly.

One second, they were lamenting the slow start, the next second, such exciting shots appeared.

No doubt many of these examinees would have their photos go viral on the internet in the coming few days.

"You all weren't expecting that, were you?!" Rui's animated voice boomed like a cascading wave through the audience stands.

"That's what makes this so exciting! Unexpected situations!" the young announcer continued with a contagious yet gleeful excitement.

This time, even the audience was excited about it, save for the ones who had their friends and family participating.

"So, how will our candidates survive this sudden curveball? Only way to find out is to keep watching!"

Rui commented and exclaimed like a seasoned commentator trying to ramp up everyone's excitement.

Finally, it seemed he had decided to focus on his job as an announcer, making the audience want more of the nasty comments.

Despite the situation going out of hand and expectations, Vice-principal Zander didn't step up or try to stop it.

Instead, he focused on the examinees, shaking his head in disappointment as he watched those eliminated right after teleportation.

Of course, the Academy didn't really play fair, sending some in random environments, even desert or volcanic ones to mountains and icy ones.

Yet, they ensured that the difficulty remained consistent.

What did it mean? It meant that the stronger you were, the more difficult your location would be after the teleportation.

Sadly, Jash had shown a tad bit too much of his talent and was suffering under the same category of monstrous geniuses.

'Shit! Shit! Shit! SHIT!!' he cursed inwardly, regretting his decision to go all out.

Alas, there was no medicine for regret in any world.

'I was doing just fine at the side line, why did I have to show off?' He asked himself before the thought of his bet came into mind.

"NO!" he screamed in frustration, recalling how he excitedly bet everything from his personal expenses upon himself!

Unlike him, the others were suffering too... just for different reasons.

Some were eliminated due to drowning, being unable to land safely, or being targeted by an entire group of monsters.

Still, none of that would stop the extremely talented ones from shining as they survived through all the hurdles being thrown at them.

"Where are we?!"

"And why is it so dark?!"

Someone was even unlucky enough to get teleported inside the ground itself...

"I can't see shit! What is this place even?!"

"Hello!? Is there anyone? Hello? HELLO...?"

"No... where am I...? Mommy uwaaaa…"

Unfortunately, not everyone could bear the pressure and even succumbed to crying on the screen.

Naturally, they were disqualified on the spot with no realistic chance of joining any academy after their pathetic display.

They weren't charities set up to baby sit children, but to prepare the next generation of hunters, so there was no way they'd take weak-minded students.

All this happened while some candidates were making remarks, lamenting and voicing their opinions about the weird situation they were currently in.

Just as the survivors thought they could relax, a gleeful, animated voice suddenly rang out across the expansive island.

"Welcome, aspiring hunters, to Solarnelle Academy's entrance exams!"

"Ugh, not again..."

All the examinees groaned, recognizing the voice and feeling frustrated as their expressions fell, wanting to curse this guy!!

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