On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 406

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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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First Day of Infiltration, The Organization Was Destroyed — Episode 406
Shatter the Black Stone
The final evaluation had arrived.
Before the afterglow of Festa had even faded, the students were grinding again, and now came the moment to verify whether they had reached the “universal Upper Walker Rank” that Ziel had declared at the start of the year.
“What are the conditions?”
“You sense mana and release it through the tip of your blade while cutting the Black Stone.”
“Huh, doesn’t sound easy…… But what even is Black Stone?”
“Beats me. See that black rock over there? That’s it.”
“First time I’m seeing one.”
Upper Walker Rank.
Though it’s called Walker Rank, it’s considered quite an achievement when second-year students simply enter Walker Rank.
But to surpass that and reach Upper Walker Rank…
From an outside perspective, it wouldn’t be strange for Ziel’s second-year students to attain that level.
Yet the students were visibly tense.
“Everyone ready?”
“Yes, Teacher!”
“As mentioned before, the final evaluation is to cut this Black Stone.”
“What if we can’t cut it……?”
“Then you haven’t cut it. That’s all. Your score will reflect that, naturally.”
“But Teacher, what exactly is that Black Stone?”
“A rare ore found only deep within the Trenia Mountain Range.”
“How on earth did you bring something so massive?”
Ziel glanced back.
The answer was self-evident.
Gilbert and Kelvin stood there, looking shell-shocked.
“Ah.”
“Ah……”
It wasn’t impossible, really.
One was Master-level.
The other approached Master-level.
Each carrying one stone apiece, they’d made the journey from the mountain range back here.
“My legs still won’t stop trembling……”
“W-w-were weak…… against Master-level……”
“Hey, my Black Stone was bigger!”
In any case, the two Black Stones that Gilbert and Kelvin had hauled back were today’s adversary for the students.
“We begin. Focus your mind, gather mana in your hands, and just as you learned in the Mana Release lesson, release that power through the tip of your blade as you cut the Black Stone.”
And so the final evaluation commenced!
Ting!
Frustration from the very start.
Jenesis stepped forward and swung her blade at the Black Stone, only to have it bounce straight back.
All that remained on the stone was a shallow scratch.
“Ugh!”
Three attempts were allotted.
But all three yielded nothing but scratches.
“This is a disaster……”
Jenesis slunk back to her place, crestfallen.
The other students fared little better.
To cut meant the blade had to bite deep, cleave through a definite section, and exit along the intended trajectory.
Pang, ting!
Chiming!
All that rang out was the clang of steel bouncing away.
“Think we’re all doomed?”
“Looks like it. We’re finished.”
“Can this thing even be cut……?”
That was when it happened.
Crunch!
For the first time, a blade didn’t bounce back — it bit through the Black Stone and emerged cleanly on the other side.
It was Delev.
“Of course it’s Delev. He cut it clean.”
“Maybe the Heavy Sword Technique let him force it through with sheer strength?”
“That’s not going to work on a stone like this. Trust me—I’ve tried. Thought I’d wreck my wrist.”
“Is there some trick to it?”
“No, it’s just talent, I think.”
Delev returned, satisfied with himself.
‘I’m different, after all.’
Now that the year was ending, the class valedictorian would be announced, and Delev felt pleased at the thought of becoming a strong contender.
But the joy was short-lived.
Crack!
“Whoa, incredibly fast!”
“I couldn’t even see the sword.”
The same words rang out.
It was Celia.
“Of course—she’s from Rihart, after all.”
“Did she cut deeper than Delev?”
“About the same, I’d say?”
Delev stiffened.
He tried not to look, but his eyes kept drifting toward the black stone.
‘Did she cut deeper than me?’
It looked about the same.
Still, Celia sighed.
‘I need to cut deeper than her.’
Delev wasn’t the only one aiming for valedictorian.
More precisely, she wanted to claim the top spot and defeat him in the process.
If she lost to that fool, it’d put her in a foul mood!
“Next, Student Yurio Harmatan.”
But there were more than just the two of them.
The Swordsmanship Tournament champion, Yurio, was there as well.
A sharp breath—
Crack!
And Yurio’s cut ran deeper than both of theirs.
“What even is Yurio….”
“I’m telling you, just last year he was among the weakest of the weak. How did he get so strong all of a sudden….”
“Talent, I guess.”
Halfway right.
It was talent and resolve.
Had Yurio lacked that resolve, he would never have grown this strong.
Of course, the future was uncertain.
Yurio’s Breathing Technique had been partially refined by Ziel, but compared to what Delev and Celia possessed, it genuinely fell short.
What Yurio needed was more—far more—of a resolve both greater and fiercer.
‘This isn’t enough.’
So Yurio felt a twinge of disappointment.
He’d thought he could cut even deeper than that.
“So those three are competing for valedictorian?”
“I don’t know—there’s still time. And Maris…”
Maris had cut too.
Shallower than the leading three, but a clean cut nonetheless.
She seemed satisfied enough that she’d at least maintained her dignity, though she didn’t fully accept it either.
“Maris did well too. Who’s left?”
“I think two more?”
Those two were Ann and Quantus.
Ann had always ranked among the top students.
So she cut successfully, of course.
Her depth was similar to Maris’s, but just slightly deeper, earning her cheers.
“Nice work, Ann!”
“Quantus is next. I bet he could smash it with pure strength alone, without even using Magic.”
Quantus stepped forward with exactly that confidence.
But—
“What? What happened?!”
He succeeded, but the cut was shallow.
Very shallow.
He had tried, but it was barely a scratch—practically as if he hadn’t cut it at all.
“…….”
Quantus Hopel crumpled to the ground.
Ziel approached him and spoke a single sentence.
“Quantus Hopel.”
“Y-yes, Teacher…….”
A flat voice reached the trembling Quantus Hopel.
“Get up. I need to evaluate the next student.”
“Ah.”
It wasn’t consolation.
‘He poured too much strength into it. If he’d used his Mana properly, he could have cut deeper than this.’
Black Stone—this material could never be broken by sheer force alone.
However, it was quite vulnerable to force infused with Mana, so even a little Mana channeled and released through an attack could leave scratches or cuts like this.
Quantus Hopel had infused Mana into his strike, but he’d relied far too much on his physical strength.
“D-did I cut it, though?”
“Yes. With proper Mana release, you can cut it.”
“Strength alone won’t work……?”
“It will. Someone like Kelvin could manage it. But not you, Quantus Hopel.”
Ziel’s gaze whipped toward Kelvin.
Quantus Hopel’s eyes seemed to gleam with dangerous light.
Ann mentally scolded Ziel.
‘Teacher, if you say things like that, Quantus will spend the entire break…….’
In any case, it was inevitable—that boy would train muscles until death itself came.
Ping, twang!
Except for the top-tier students, nearly everyone else merely left scratches before their blades bounced away.
Fortunately, no student had failed to leave even a scratch.
And when it came to nearly the last turn, Karen stepped forward.
At the start of this semester, Karen had been classified as middle-tier at best, usually lower-middle tier.
But she was also the student who had grown the most this semester.
‘Remember. The Swordsmanship I learned from Professor Alyx—no, from Sir Alyx.’
The Imperial Knights Secret Swordsmanship.
It was transmitted to the Apprentice Members, used to gauge their talent, and those who wielded these Secret Techniques with skill would one day have the honor of becoming Full Members.
Karen had shown clear talent with these Secret Techniques.
Knowing of Karen’s growth, everyone held their breath.
Would it be possible?
Scritch!
It was possible.
‘Done……!’
She had cut it.
In fact, the depth was similar to Maris and Ann’s cuts.
So the top-tier students who had succeeded in cutting the Black Stone flinched.
‘When did Karen reach that level…….’
‘Is the Imperial Knights Secret Swordsmanship really that powerful?’
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
The Imperial Secret Swordsmanship was undoubtedly strong.
But it was only a catalyst.
Just as wearing the right clothes makes one look completely different, Karen too had simply found the outfit suited to her.
Yet Karen knew.
‘If I hadn’t learned from Teacher Ziel…… I wouldn’t have even understood this technique.’
The past two years.
All that rolling, endless rolling!
During that time, she swung her sword however she could, moved her body, learned footwork.
That was thanks to all of that.
“Karen’s honestly insane. How does she get so strong so fast?”
“She put in the work. All this time.”
“Yurio should be nervous.”
“I envy her. If I could just reach that point, I’d have no regrets.”
There was no law saying a second Karen, a third Karen wouldn’t emerge.
There were simply students who hadn’t yet found their perfect catalyst.
That too was Ziel’s role.
Until an opportunity arose, the strategy was to keep rolling, pushing the ‘Awakening’ probability as high as possible.
‘Everyone’s envious. I’ll have to push harder next year.’
Ziel declared this thought aloud, imagining the uproar if the students heard it.
“Now I’ll bring the final evaluation to a close.”
At last, the final evaluation had concluded.
A chorus of sighs from most of the students filled the auditorium.
Ziel looked puzzled.
“Why do you all look like that? Don’t students usually celebrate when the final evaluation ends?”
“Well, because we failed…….”
“Failed how?”
“We couldn’t do better than scratch the black stone.”
Ziel’s expression grew even more bewildered.
“That counts as failure?”
“Wasn’t success supposed to be breaking it?”
“I never said that. I only told you to attack the black stone.”
“Huh……?”
Ziel gestured toward the black stones.
“All of you succeeded in scratching the black stone at minimum. You’ve risen to Upper Walker Rank as intended. Congratulations.”
“Pardon……?”
Everyone exchanged bewildered glances.
Scratching a black stone wasn’t failure—it was success?
“The black stone responds to both the Mana Release ability and the quantity of mana corresponding to at least Upper Walker Rank. This is an empirically verified fact.”
The students knew little about black stones.
Small wonder—they were rare enough to serve only limited purposes.
For instance, research by mages.
In other words, the students had just used an object of tremendous value for nothing more than a level assessment.
Though they’d likely only learn that later.
“So we…….”
“That’s right. You all rose to Upper Walker Rank, which is why you could scratch it.”
Only then did color return to the students’ faces.
“I’m Upper Walker Rank? Really?”
“So if we go one step further from here, that’s Expert Rank?”
“Then what about the top-tier students……?”
Ziel continued.
“The ten students who succeeded in cleaving the black stone may be at the peak of Walker Rank, or they may already be Expert Rank. The distinction isn’t entirely clear, but if you train with full commitment during the break, you’ll approach the latter.”
“……!”
Expert Rank.
Unlike Walker Rank, the weight that word carried was in a different dimension altogether.
Mere second-years.
Even after the break ends, they’d still only be third-years.
Yet Expert Rank at that age?
“You’ve worked hard. This is the fruit of a year’s dedication from all of you.”
When that goal was first presented, few students believed it possible.
But as always, Ziel had transformed doubtful gazes into certainty, and certainty into achievement.
“You’re like a god, teacher…….”
This achievement would be reported in full to each student’s family and transformed into honor.
If that honor accumulated, the second-years might one day become the future of the Empire.
With the semester finally over, the second-years were elated.
They’d risen to Upper Walker Rank, and this year they’d learned and accomplished much.
And now the moment they’d been waiting for had arrived.
“Now, finally, I’ll announce the year’s valedictorian.”

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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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