After all the students from the other classes had disappeared into the examination grounds, the Commander turned his attention to with a look that mixed curiosity with stern authority. His experienced eyes seed to be evaluating whether I had a legitimate reason for the delay or if I was simply making a rookie mistake.
I looked back at my team, ensuring they understood to maintain their positions. "Wait here. I will be back shortly."
I walked directly toward the Commander, maintaining confident posture despite the intimidating presence he projected.
"How can I help you?" the Commander asked, his tone neutral but clearly expecting a worthwhile explanation for my unusual approach.
"I want a hint."
The Commander looked at as if I was an idiot, his expression shifting to one of complete bewildernt. He glanced over at my team, who had chosen as their leader, clearly confused about why they would follow soone making such an apparently foolish request.
"Why would I give you a hint when I didn’t give the others?" he said with obvious disdain. "I suggest you hurry up and make your way toward the forest before you fall too far behind."
I smiled confidently before delivering my real proposition. "You will give a hint because I will pay for it with my points."
The Commander looked visibly shocked, his eyes widening as if he couldn’t believe what the student before him had just said. The change in his deanor was imdiate and dramatic.
No student should know about the point system’s deeper applications yet. Every student who discovered the academy’s hidden point economy was required to sign a magical contract ensuring they couldn’t discuss it with families, friends, or anyone else.
Once that contract was breached, the academy would be imdiately notified. This was how the institution ensured that new students remained ignorant of the system when they first entered, only gradually learning about it through experience.
"Who told you?" The Commander’s aura flared dangerously, his power pressing down on with intimidating force. This was clearly a serious issue in his mind - if soone had revealed the information, it ant the academy’s carefully designed secrecy system was compromised and fundantally flawed.
"So I’m right... hah." I smiled with satisfaction at his reaction.
The Commander’s expression showed he realized he’d been played, that his shocked response had confird my suspicions about the point system’s hidden applications. His face darkened with a mixture of anger and grudging respect.
He looked like he wanted to detain , interrogate further, and take various disciplinary actions, but the examination was officially underway and he couldn’t abandon his duties.
"What hints do you want?" he asked through gritted teeth. "And do you even have the points required for such information?"
I knew I couldn’t ask for specific locations or detailed information - that would cost an astronomical number of points. Instead, I needed to ask an indirect question that would still provide valuable strategic advantage.
"I want to know the general direction of the shrine with the highest concentration of Crest Marks," I said carefully. "Since there are multiple shrines, one must be significantly more difficult and valuable than the others. Am I right?"
The Commander neither denied nor confird my assumption, remaining silent while he considered my request. "So you want just the general direction?"
I nodded my head firmly.
"Very well. That will cost you 50,000 points," he said with a smirk, as if saying ’would you really want to pay half of your monthly allowance just for this information?’
"That’s it? That’s pretty cheap," I replied with a smile, imdiately agreeing without any hesitation or negotiation.
I could have involved my team and made them contribute to the cost, but there was a specific reason why I had left them behind for this conversation.
I took out my student identification card and handed it to him. "You can deduct it directly."
"You’re not going to let your team help you pay?" The Commander seed genuinely shocked. Everyone desperately wanted points, yet here was a student casually spending them without even considering shared costs.
I smirked before answering. "Why would I let them know about this system?"
After paying the amount, the Commander leaned in slightly and said in a low voice, "Head west."
A smile ford on my face as I processed this information. During the initial rush, I hadn’t seen a single team heading in that direction. Most of the other classes had gone north toward the denser forest areas or south toward the more obvious shrine clusters.
I returned to my team, where so mbers were clearly frustrated that we had already wasted several precious minutes while everyone else had gotten a head start. We were clearly behind everyone else, even the teams that were considered untalented.
"So? What did you talk to him about?" Emt was the first to ask, curious rather than impatient.
"I asked him about the direction of the shrine with the most Crest Marks," I replied matter-of-factly.
"And?" Emt pressed, waiting for the response.
"He told it’s to the west. We should start moving."
My classmates exchanged confused glances, clearly bewildered by everything that had just transpired. How was such a thing even possible? Could they simply ask the Commander questions and receive answers?
One of the students spoke up with obvious scepticism. "If he told you this information, why didn’t you ask him sothing more valuable?"
"Because he won’t answer more detailed questions. You can try if you want," I shrugged my shoulders casually.
Indeed, the curious student quickly approached the Commander and attempted to ask for more specific hints. Within seconds, he was told to scram and stop wasting ti by the commander that was already in a bad mood because he was played by Adrian.
The student returned looking dejected and embarrassed, finally understanding that whatever I had done was not sothing that could be easily replicated.
"How did you manage that?" Elen asked quietly as we began moving toward the western section.
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