The day following Avalon's first official rest did not begin with the sound of pickaxes striking marble, but with an intellectual tension that hung in the air like static electricity. Sirzechs Gremory, seated on a bench in the central plaza, watched with amusement as Grayfia Lucifuge organized what she called the "Primary Cognitive Aptitude Assessment."
The concept of an exam was something Sirzechs had brought from his memories as a student on Earth, but Grayfia had transformed it into an operation of military precision. For the Hollows, this wasn't just a test of paper and ink; it was the proof that the void within their bone masks was being filled by something solid and irrevocable: knowledge. The silence in the plaza was absolute, broken only by the scratching of quill pens on the magical scrolls Grayfia had distributed with a gaze that promised instant freezing for anyone who dared to cheat.
At the center of this intellectual arena stood the former Number 07, the Baker. He no longer wore just an apron, but a tunic denoting his new status as a productive citizen. While the other Hollows struggled with volume calculations and basic grammar, the Baker seemed to be in a state of trance. He looked at the questions regarding the interaction between magicules and temperature not as abstract problems, but as the ultimate recipe he had been searching for. Sirzechs noticed the Hollow's aura was shifting; it was no longer just a crimson mist inherited from his creator, but was beginning to glow with a pale golden hue. The Baker wasn't just answering the exam; he was "awakening." The realization that bread fermentation was a form of biological alchemy caused his consciousness to expand, and his bone mask began to manifest carved patterns resembling stalks of wheat.
Grayfia walked between the rows of improvised desks, her ability [Gabriel] analyzing each subject's progress in real-time. She paused beside the Baker and noticed he wasn't just writing what had been taught in the previous lesson. He was deriving new formulas on how to stabilize thermal energy within marble ovens. For the first time, Sirzechs saw a slight arch of the Ice Queen's eyebrow—a sign of genuine approval. The Baker had become Avalon's first "Awakened," not through blood spilled in battle, but through academic enlightenment. He handed in his scroll long before the time was up, and as he did, his voice—once a smoky whisper—sounded clear and firm as he thanked Grayfia. The awakening of his intellect had anchored his soul permanently, making him the civil pillar of the nation.
While the academy buzzed with mental effort, the outskirts of Avalon experienced a different kind of silence. Sirzechs, in one of his "well-being" decrees, had ordered that the Guards also have their day off—something they received with a confusion bordering on functional panic. The five warrior Hollows, accustomed to watching every shadow in the forest, were seen sitting at the edge of the ice barrier, obsessively polishing their spears just to have something to do. They didn't know how to "not fight." Sirzechs walked toward them, accompanied by a Grayfia still carrying the corrected exam scrolls. He explained to the soldiers that a guardian who does not know the peace they protect is merely a butcher, and that rest was necessary to sharpen the instincts that constant fatigue eventually dulls.
The interaction between Sirzechs and Grayfia during the supervision of this "military idleness" was a lesson in psychology. Sirzechs tried to encourage the guards to observe the forest's beauty or practice meditation, while Grayfia suggested that free time be used for the study of siege tactics and high-tier monster anatomy. Sirzechs joked that Grayfia was a workaholic, and she replied that someone had to keep reality functioning while the sovereign played philosopher. However, she admitted that the guards' vigilance, even at rest, had become 15% more efficient following the introduction of the shift patrol concepts she had taught in school. The guards, now more aware of their role as defenders of a "culture" and not just a territory, looked upon the marble city with a pride their rigid masks could not hide.
The day reached its climax when Sirzechs and Grayfia returned to the office to process the exam results. The paperwork—Sirzechs' eternal enemy—seemed less intimidating now that he saw the real fruits of the bureaucratic effort. The Baker's report was placed at the top of the pile as the ultimate example of the system's success. Sirzechs signed the decree for "Master Baker and Instructor of Basic Alchemy" for the former Number 07, feeling that each signature was a step toward a future where Avalon would be the light of knowledge in the darkness of Jura. Grayfia, though maintaining her rigorous stance, did not complain about the volume of new certificates that would need to be issued. She realized that the school and the awakening of the Hollows were creating an administrative structure that would soon lighten the burden of the office itself.
As night fell, Sirzechs and Grayfia watched from the palace balcony as the guards returned to their posts with renewed energy and the Baker taught the fundamentals of dough to new students under the light of the streets' crimson veins. The reincarnated human remarked that the "exam" had been the greatest test he himself had ever passed. Grayfia, closing her magical leather folder, replied that the true exam was the daily life of a growing nation. She reminded Sirzechs that today's academic success would generate the need for new laboratories tomorrow, and that the paperwork would only grow as Avalon became more complex. Sirzechs laughed, accepting his fate as the bureaucratic sovereign, but with a light heart seeing that his people now thought, questioned, and dreamed. Avalon was no longer just a construction; it was an awakened society.
Stats Update: Avalon Citizens
Total Population: 32 Hollows
Awakened (Academic): 1 (Master Baker/Alchemist)
Literacy Rate: 85%
National Stability: Optimal