Capítulo 632: Chapter 632 – Taming the Fifth Year – First Exams – 4

The movement was fluid, measured, each centimeter calculated with perfect precision.

His right foot positioned itself exactly thirty centimeters ahead of the left, the angle between them forty-five perfect degrees. His weight distributed in a sixty-forty proportion.

His right hand rose, not with haste but with perfect speed, with purpose. Each finger held at the exact spacing required by modern protocol. The thumb separated just enough to create the proper gesture without appearing rigid.

His left hand extended to the side, palm facing backward, fingers together but not rigid, the angle of the arm relative to his body exactly parallel.

His head inclined… Twenty-five exact degrees.

“Ren Patinder,” his voice was clear, modulated perfectly to fill the auditorium without seeming like he was shouting, “son of Reed Patinder, heir by designation in recognition of achievements to the former Goldcrest territory, aspirant guardian of the ancestral rift and the new southern wall, I present myself before this honorable court with respect and duty.”

Pause. Exactly two seconds. Long enough to allow the words to settle, short enough to not seem dramatic.

Ren finally straightened with the same fluid control.

He held the position. Completely immobile. Without the slightest tremor in his extended arms, without the slightest adjustment in his posture. Like a statue but carved from living flesh, perfect and unchanging.

The silence in the auditorium was absolute.

The evaluator looked at Ren as if seeing a ghost. In forty years of evaluating noble students, including several who had been raised from birth in the highest nobility families, who had nursed on etiquette and breathed protocol, he had never seen an execution so… perfect.

Not just technically correct. Perfect.

Every detail, from the angle of his fingers to the modulated tone of his voice. The precise weight distribution that was actually visible in how he held himself.

It was the kind of performance that should have taken decades to perfect. And here was a boy who’d been a peasant with 0 knowledge about nobility just three years ago, executing it flawlessly.

“I…” The evaluator cleared his throat and forgot the correct words he should say, something that had never happened during evaluations in his entire career. “Permission granted. Proceed… proceed to the next exam.”

The words came out slightly stumbling, unprofessional, and he knew it. But he couldn’t help it. He was too busy trying to reconcile what he’d just witnessed with what he’d expect.

Ren walked to the next marked position on the platform, each step measured, each movement deliberate.

And in the upper stands, Aldric Galehart felt as if the ground beneath his feet had disappeared.

“Father,” Seiya said slowly, his voice was full of disbelief that bordered on awe, “you told me he was gullible. That he trusted too much. That he wouldn’t verify…”

“Shut up,” Aldric murmured, but there was no real force behind his words. He was too occupied processing what he’d just witnessed. Too busy recalculating every assumption he’d made.

That execution of Formal Presentation Protocol didn’t come from the three slim books he’d provided. Those books covered the basic version, theoretically correct but generic and incomplete. Appropriate for young children learning their first protocols.

What Ren had just executed was the high-level version. The one that required not just memorization but deep understanding of context, history, and the most recent subtleties of protocolar changes. The kind that took tutors months to teach properly, with countless corrections and adjustments.

“He verified,” Seiya said, realization hitting him that his father, that player father, was played. “He researched way beyond what you gave him.”

Aldric clenched his jaw, watching as Ren prepared for the second exam with the same controlled presence. His mind raced, trying to understand where his perfect trap had failed.

Where the supposedly gullible peasant boy had outsmarted him…

‘No,’ Aldric thought with astonishment and respect despite the growing frustration that churned in his gut. ‘I’m certain his practice with me was clumsy until at least the last two weeks… What happened? Was he pretending that perfectly? Impossible!’

But the evidence was right there, standing on the platform with perfect posture. The kind of evidence that couldn’t be argued with or rationalized away.

And so, for the first time in years, Aldric Galehart tasted the bitter flavor of uncertainty.

The sensation was unfamiliar, uncomfortable. He’d built his entire career on reading people, on understanding their weaknesses, on knowing exactly how to manipulate situations to his advantage.

And here was this boy, this former peasant with impossible power, proving that all of Aldric’s careful calculations had been based on faulty assumptions.

Maybe, just maybe, he had gravely underestimated the boy everyone called genius.

Ren couldn’t avoid a small smile, almost imperceptible, while beneath his clothes, in his chest, a small light moved in spirals. Jade plates positioned throughout his body gave him the perfect body division, perfect posture, perfect control.

His partially fused form was subtle. So subtle that most wouldn’t even notice.

The mana was imperceptible to almost anyone below Selphira’s level thanks to Ren’s enormous mana control. And while there weren’t major or very visible changes in the person, transformation wasn’t frowned upon in formal occasions as long as it wasn’t for threatening purposes.

Many used it to feel more secure and combat nerves. Light fusions to steady trembling hands. Minor enhancements to project confidence.

Still, no one noticed his…

Because Ren’s control was that good.

The second evaluator stood up, preparing to present the next exam. Her expression was carefully neutral, but there was interest in her eyes now. Real interest, not the dismissive assessment that had been there moments before.

And Aldric sank slightly deeper into his seat, watching with growing apprehension as Ren Patinder demonstrated, with each controlled movement and each perfectly modulated word, that he had been playing at being a trusting and relaxed student for three months.

Playing. Acting. Manipulating the manipulator.

♢♢♢♢

Almost three months before…

Ren was in his room’s private bathroom, practicing bows in front of the mirror for the tenth time that night.

It wasn’t working.

No matter how much he tried, his body simply didn’t want to cooperate. The angle of his back was wrong. His hands wouldn’t position correctly. And every time he tried to hold the posture, he felt his muscles protesting in ways they never protested during combat training.

“Damnit,” he muttered, straightening and shaking out his arms. The Wolverine and Hydra in his system growled with sympathy, their energy patterns reflecting his frustration.

Only two days had passed since his first class with Aldric. Just two days of feeling increasingly uncomfortable with how “easy” everything seemed to be. Two days of listening to Min, Taro and the others complain about their own tutors while he had three slim books and instructions to “take it easy”.

It had been enough to set off every alarm bell in his mind.

Selphira’s warnings kept echoing in his head from that day she’d given him a big scare: “Trusting indiscriminately could be your downfall. Not everyone who smiles means you well, and not everyone who seems interested in your gifts has benign intentions.”

Ren had felt a familiar knot in his stomach. That sensation of something being wrong without being able to pinpoint exactly what. So when he’d shown the study material to Min, his friend had reviewed it carefully, his expression growing more thoughtful with each page.

“It’s not bad,” Min had said finally, leafing through one of the slim books with a careful eye. “In fact, it’s pretty solid and well-simplified information. Just that…” he’d frowned, his finger tracing one of the diagrams, “it’s like too simple. You understand?”

“Incomplete?”

“No, I’d call it introductory.” Min had looked up, meeting Ren’s eyes with concern. “Master this quickly and then look for more. This is foundation stuff, but you need the building on top of it too.”

So Ren had started practicing. In his room. In the hallways. Between classes. Even in the bathroom, because his other classes with Zhao, Mei and the others teaching “adulthood units” had him with so little time he had to take advantage of every moment.

Morning training with Lin that left him gasping. Regular classes that demanded attention. Sessions with multiple tutors covering territorial management, resource allocation, legal frameworks. And now this, trying to master noble protocol in whatever spare hours he could find.

The problem was that it simply wasn’t working.

His body fought him on every movement. The positions felt unnatural, wrong.

“Again,” he told himself, positioning himself in front of the mirror.

But at this rate he wouldn’t need any tutor sabotaging him. He would fail on his own…

Yeah, I think it’s important to show how he learned those things…

Some of you have probably noticed by now that I like to go back and explain the reason behind a big surprise moment or scene… and that’s simply because if something can’t be explained within the story’s own logic, then it’s just plot convenience, a contrived plot point, plot armor, a deus ex machina, lazy writing or a plain plot hole… You get the point.

An A**pull ┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻ !

Plus, I find it interesting since Ren isn’t actually very good at that kind of thing!

Anyway, as always…

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