I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 104

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 104. Entrance Examination

As Krash turned away from the fallen muscular man, he caught the sound of murmuring voices behind him.

“That person from just now.”
“That hair color—Valheim?”
“There was someone else admitted from Valheim?”
“You know, the youngest one they called a useless brat.”
“They say he’s not a useless brat anymore.”
“Wasn’t that just a rumor?”
“But what we just saw…….”

The voices carrying various opinions seemed to reflect the current state of Krash.

The scale of rumors surrounding Krash had diminished considerably, thanks to the First Prince’s efforts over the past six months.

The fact that talk of him being a useless brat still circulated was evidence of that.

‘The important ones have likely already discerned that all the rumors about me are true.’

Information muddied by conflicting accounts resists hasty judgment as truth.

Without witnessing the source of the rumor with one’s own eyes, doubt persists endlessly.

That caution had kept them from moving rashly, even knowing the rumors held truth.

They had no desire to bleed from carelessly provoking Valheim.

In the meantime, Krash entered the Martial Arts Hall.

True to its name, the Martial Arts Hall was greeted by a colossal stone statue wielding a sword and axe crossed before it.

Krash’s steps came to a halt at the training grounds within the hall.

A vast dome-shaped arena that evoked thoughts of an amphitheater.

The training grounds alone gave measure to the scale of Rahelern Academy.

The issue lay with those seated in such an arena.

The Martial Arts entrance examination allowed observation by current students if they wished.

After all, since the Martial Arts entrance examination was simply a display of one’s martial prowess, there was nothing the students could aid with.

Thus it had been opened to boost the applicants’ motivation and allow the current students a preview of those who would join as juniors.

Among those who attended, Krash spotted several familiar faces.

‘Seirang.’

Most striking among them was Seirang of Ephania, with her sea-blue hair.

The third princess of the Ephania Imperial House, descended from the lineage of the White Dragon, and a woman who, through Memory Transmission, carried memories of the previous Cycle just as Krash did.

She was also the woman Krash despised most.

She was accompanied by several attendants.

They were all extraordinary figures, one and all.

Strong personalities made them stand out, every last one of them.

Each of them would later go on to make a name for themselves across the empire.

And among those striking figures was a young man with black hair and an ingenuous countenance.

‘Peley.’

An idol called a true hero by the common folk—someone who would one day join the ranks of the Starry Generation.

Krash had met him once in the finals of a martial tournament.

But Peley’s eyes now scanned the surroundings with barely concealed urgency.

He looked like a man searching for someone.

Krash guessed well enough who it was, but said nothing.

‘Seirang must have brought him in.’

Peley had reached the semifinals of the empire’s martial tournament, which qualified him for the Academy.

It would have been natural, then, for Seirang to recruit him as well.

For someone without backing, she was an invaluable connection.

Not that he was the type to worry about such things.

‘The man’s too earnest for his own good.’

All she’d need to do was appeal to his sense of duty toward his fellow commoners from the Martial Arts Hall, and he’d have joined her faction without hesitation.

‘She’s really rebuilt her circle.’

Back at the Academy, the faction Seirang had led consisted only of sycophants singing her praises.

But now, gathered around her, were figures connected entirely to the Starry Generation.

Difficult people, every one of them—and yet she had bound them together.

That was proof she had been actively leveraging her Memory Transmission.

Krash’s gaze swept the room quickly.

‘If Seirang is here, then Arthur must be somewhere too.’

To Krash, Arthur was now the most uncertain variable.

The Arthur whose skill had been stolen from him surely had none of his original memories.

And that was what troubled him.

Which cycle was this Arthur actually from?

And more intriguingly—how had this Arthur responded when he encountered Seirang, who held those memories?

‘……He’s not here?’

But Arthur was nowhere to be found.

Krash’s brow furrowed.

In Krash’s memory, Arthur had enrolled last year together with Seirang.

Yet now, there was no sign of him anywhere.

‘Perhaps he had Seirang attend the entrance exam while he deliberately stayed away.’

Seirang and the other two had all inherited memories.

But after deliberating why he alone had failed to inherit them,

it was possible he was being cautious and had chosen not to act prematurely.

After all, Arthur would be the first to guard against variables.

‘Tch. Until I confirm it myself, there’s no way to know.’

Krash clicked his tongue and tore his gaze from Seirang.

It was then.

Everyone’s attention, including Seirang’s, suddenly shifted in one direction.

Following their eyes, Krash turned his head—and there stood a figure he recognized.

Black hair shot through with threads of blue undulated slowly in the air.

The woman who walked in, following that cascading hair, was only one person, and yet her presence alone overwhelmed everyone around her.

“It’s Charlotte Balheim.”
“The Sword Saint? She came to take the entrance exam?”
“Wow, my first time seeing a direct descendant of Balheim.”

Even the children who had been wearing tense expressions moments before now gazed at Charlotte in wonder, exclamations tumbling from their lips.

For those who applied to the Martial Arts Hall, an epithet was like a dream.

Proving one’s strength—that alone was an epithet.

Charlotte was the prodigy among prodigies, one who had earned such an epithet before even reaching adulthood.

Of course, everyone found themselves unconsciously admiring her.

Basking in everyone’s attention, Charlotte trudged to the far end of the viewing stands.

Then she placed one foot deliberately on the railing.

All eyes remained fixed on her.

“Krash!”

She called out a name with tremendous force.

Even Krash, who hadn’t anticipated Charlotte’s sudden outburst, wore an expression of bewilderment.

Everyone fell silent unconsciously.

She drew up the corners of her mouth and wore that signature smile of hers.

“Come in first.”

Having said her piece, she turned and left without another word.

It was quintessential Charlotte—utterly absorbed in her own world.

“K-Krash?”
“That name’s the youngest, isn’t it? Did the Balheim main line come too?”
“So much for first place, then.”
“But I heard he’s only half-blooded.”

Amid the murmuring of the children, Krash felt all eyes gradually converging on him.

They were those who recognized Balheim’s distinctive hair color.

Slowly, one by one, people began to retreat from Krash’s vicinity.

They had decided there was nothing to gain by being near him.

Thanks to this, Krash found himself granted a space of empty air—a full meter’s radius around him in the midst of all those bodies.

He hadn’t done anything, yet he was being treated like this.

Only now did he truly grasp the weight of the names Balheim and Charlotte.

‘I’ve drawn their attention without meaning to.’

But what unsettled him more was Seirang’s gaze.

She was watching him with her eyes narrowed to slits.

Seirang had not even observed the entrance exam before.

So she had no way of knowing how Krash had gained admission.

But this cycle had far too many variables.

Starting with what Seirang herself had done, there was Abella’s disappearance, Mary Diana’s confinement, Ebelasc’s escape, and even Charlotte’s enrollment at the Academy.

It was a situation in which any number of factors could have been at play.

So he was certain she would have much to contemplate now that she saw him.

‘I was always planning to show my true strength in the entrance exam anyway.’

If he could add to her headaches, all the better.

“Balheim direct line! Krash!”

At that moment, Krash saw a figure leap into the circle the children had made.

A boy with slate-colored hair styled like a ponytail, and patterns like tiger stripes marked into his skin.

Ballak Hogma.

One of Starlon’s Three Prodigies and one of Anyx’s subordinates.

This was the first time Krash had seen him since that day at the Sacred Ground of Stars, and he was the same age as Krash.

So he must have come to take the entrance exam this year as well.

“Wow! You’ve grown so much taller!”
“You’re still short.”
“Yeah? I guess my growth spurt came late.”

Ballak Hogma accepted Krash’s remark with remarkable composure.

“Still, you seem way stronger than before. Let’s spar sometime.”
“You haven’t recovered from last time, apparently.”
“This time I want to try using a weapon too!”

He was someone who never seemed to lose heart, no matter what.

Still, at least he belonged to Starlon like Krash did.

It was better to have one companion than to stand alone and look isolated before everyone.

‘Just like that willful older sister of mine.’

Krash sighed at the thought of Charlotte’s impulsive behavior.

＊ ＊ ＊

After Charlotte conjured a tempest and vanished from the entrance exam.

Whispers began to spread among Seirang’s circle.

“Is he Charlotte’s younger brother?”
“We should be careful, shouldn’t we? If he’s Charlotte’s brother, he must be exceptionally skilled.”
“The recent intelligence suggests Starlon has been deliberately distorting information.”

As they chattered away, Seirang stood alone in thought, her gaze fixed on Krash.

The reason Seirang had come here today was singular.

To find Arthur.

Last year, Arthur had not enrolled at Rahelern Academy.

She had been shaken when she learned this fact, but believing Arthur must have his reasons, she had done her utmost with her own affairs.

And this year, an adjunct professor she had placed informed Seirang that Arthur Gramalte had applied for admission.

At the thought that Arthur had finally appeared, she had barely restrained herself from rushing out of the academy and managed to wait.

And today, thinking she could finally see Arthur, she had attended the entrance exam—only to find something entirely unexpected.

An unforeseen figure was drawing attention instead.

‘Is it true that the Cursed One has grown stronger?’

Seirang’s blue brows creased slightly.

To Seirang, Krash was nothing more and nothing less than the Cursed One.

Apart from her sharp tongue and the unpleasant remarks that spilled from it, she paid Krash no mind whatsoever.

He was simply a tool for the path they walked.

Nothing more, nothing less.

But the Krash she saw today was unmistakably different.

Seirang had walked through countless battlefields herself.

So she had an eye for reading people.

The Krash reflected in her gaze had clearly entered Master Rank.

‘How? That idiot’s talent was always worthless.’

What advantage did he have, besides some ability to manipulate Curses?

Yet suddenly he appeared as a Master out of nowhere.

Seirang found this fact deeply disagreeable.

He was someone who had often vexed Arthur with his sharp remarks.

‘He should just accept a Curse and fade away. Why does he have to appear as a variable now?’

Seirang exhaled sharply, then smoothed the wrinkles from her furrowed brow with her thumb.

Before Arthur had received Memory Transmission from her, she’d warned him about several things to be mindful of.

Each time the Cycle shifts, variables emerge somewhere due to the Butterfly Effect.

Rather than fixate on why a variable has appeared, she’d told him to focus instead on finding a way to deal with it.

Seirang had come to suspect that Krash was this Cycle’s variable.

According to the information she’d traced about Ebelasc, the woman had indeed headed toward Starlon.

‘Mary’s foolish blunder must have caused something. That has to be it.’

Without question, the variable had stemmed from her mistake.

It must have become some kind of fortunate circumstance for Krash.

‘Well, that’s fine. It’s not my immediate concern.’

Regardless, Krash’s role would not change.

His ability to steal Curses was exactly what Arthur needed on his path forward.

It was the very reason Arthur had insisted on keeping him around until the very end.

‘If he grows stronger, I’ll simply manipulate him and put him to use. I just need to create a card to draw him in.’

Besides, he knew nothing of her true nature.

She couldn’t quite recall what Krash liked, but she certainly knew what he disliked.

If she simply avoided those things, befriending him would be effortless.

‘How infuriating. I can’t believe I actually have to befriend someone cursed.’

But what choice did she have?

It was all for the greater cause of saving the world.

Seirang clicked her tongue and leaned back against the chair, reproaching herself for caring too deeply about the state of things.

If it came down to it, she could always resort to more extreme measures to bring him in.

Krash was a useful tool, after all.

‘More pressing is Arthur.’

Seirang set aside the matter of Krash and scanned the room eagerly, searching for Arthur.

Unaware of how grave a mistake this preoccupation would become.

“Welcome, everyone. I am Kairan, chief administrator of this entrance examination and supervisor of the Martial Arts Hall assessment. We will now begin the Martial Arts Hall entrance examination.”

And thus the examination began.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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