When Lith regained his senses, he was back in the Main Hall at the ground floor of the academy. While getting up slowly, trying to shake off the lingering effects of the hit at the back of his head, he noticed that the Hall was filling up quickly.
There were lots of Warp Steps opened. So were being left active, allowing students from the fourth floor of the White Griffon to reach the Hall.
Most of the Warp Steps, though, were used by Professors going to and fro the forest, bringing back the students one by one.
- "I guess that the third day marked the mont when the magical beasts stopped holding back."
"Yeah." Solus said, glad to feel the safety of the castle walls all around them.
"Honestly, I am kind of surprised that so many people managed to survive this long. Not to brag, but I was sure our group would be the one lasting longer."
"I didn’t." Lith replied. "There are too many variables to consider, like who had been warned beforehand by a relative, hence coming fully prepared, or how much ti they spent outside.
Not to ntion that maybe so groups were just lucky, being comprised of people that were actually able to cooperate, instead of needing soone that guided them step by step." –
Judging from the expressions of his schoolmates, no one had any idea what they were waiting for, or why they had been summoned back into the Hall. While he was still looking around, Lith noticed that his team had gathered around him.
"Seems you were right." Visen said. "There wasn’t much I could learn by getting my a*s handed to ."
"You should have understood that teamwork is vital, but being able to stand for yourself is equally important." Trasque rebuked him.
"I an, seriously? Why so few of you have used first magic during the whole exercise? The Headmaster will not let
hear the end of this. He is even considering to have you all retake the whole class from the beginning with a different teacher!"
"Well..." Visen tried to be as considerate as possible toward the Professor.
"First magic is good, but what could I have possibly achieved with it? I was trying to help my companions, they needed my arrays."
Trasque glared at him, clenching his fists.
"Well, for example you could have blinded the Cingy, so that when you attempted to dodge, it would haven’t been able to intercept you. A failed array can be re-done, a fallen mber cannot be resurrected. Next ti, instead of playing the hero, consider the bigger picture."
Among those who heard him, most took Trasque’s words to heart. Aside from conjuring water to drink, very few of them had ever considered using first magic, deeming it useless.
Rembering how she had used first magic to more easily slay the Clackers, Phloria stood straight as an arrow. Lith, on the other hand, could not stop rejoicing at the idea of getting rid of those blockheads once and for all.
When all the students were assembled, the Headmasters stepped forward.
"First of all, allow
to welco every one of you back. That said, I have bad news and good news. The bad news, is that contrary to what many could believe, this was still a mock exam.
Hence no matter if you lasted one hour, one day or three, you all get zero points."
Linjos took a pause, letting the groans and curses to die out before resuming his speech.
"This was your last wake-up call, from now on you are on your own."
This ti, Linjos didn’t keep still while talking, he walked among the various groups, like a general inspecting his troops.
"You should have learned that your na, status and bloodline aren’t going to protect you from an enemy, no matter how important you consider yourself. It’s not only in the wilderness that such things hold no value, but also in the whole world.
Do you really expect for everyone to respect or fear a feeble thing like a na? When you are outside the safety of your ho, no one will ask you to introduce yourself before attacking.
You should also have realized that petty behaviours create resentnt. Many groups crumbled from the start, either due to past grudges or simply because so of you were deed untrustworthy.
Last, but not least, it seems that many of you didn’t understand the nature of this test. It was ant to show you a glimpse of what a real battle is, to allow you to fraternize and overco your differences.
You were supposed to help and teach each other, not to barely lump together because you were said so." Linjos stared at several students, that seed to shrink under his gaze.
"The week deadline was just a pretext, I never expected that so of you would the gall to hole up, hiding the whole ti. This isn’t a law school, what could you possibly learn from bending the rules?
The exercise is worth zero points, but such attitude cannot be tolerated. Any open violation of the rules will be punished by deducting points.
As for the good news, points will be awarded to those that according to their possibilities, helped their teammates. While the points’ deduction is individual, those gained by all team mbers will be pooled and divided equally among those that cooperated.
Otherwise it would be unfair toward those that sacrificed themselves during the first day, or that fell because of soone else’s mistake. Also, I didn’t lie when I told you it would last seven days.
For the remaining four, you have no classes, you are free to rest, go ho or self-study. It’s up to you to decide. I hope that you will make good use of this ti to think about this experience and learn from you mistakes. Dismissed."
After saying goodbye to his ex-teammates, Lith jumped in the nearest Warp Steps, walking double ti towards his room. He and his bathroom had so serious catch up to do.
No matter how Visen had made the makeshift outhouse comfortable, it couldn’t compare with a real toilet. Lith could finally use Invigoration, getting his strength back and relieving his sore muscles.
He spent the next half an hour taking a long hot tub bath, while conjuring several ice mirrors to get rid of the few facial hairs that haunted is still childish visage and cutting his hair with air magic.
- "Seems I was right about this exercise." Solus said while helping him with his cut. Without her help, Lith would have looked like an IRS clerk on a Monday morning.
"Did you have any doubt?" Lith replied, still wondering after all those years what was wrong with the haircut he had back on Earth.
"It’s a system devised to teach stuck-up, conceited kids respect and discipline. Once you understand its goal, the rest cos easy. With a brain like yours, cracking the code was easy like connecting the dots numbered from 1 to 7." –
Solus would have liked to get praised more, but Lith’s stomach kept grumbling loudly more and more often.
With a heavy heart, Lith dressed up. He would have much preferred to sleep for the next 24 hours, but hunger was still one of the things that scared him the most. He needed to eat and re stock.
He was already headed toward the canteen when Solus stopped him.
- "Aren’t you forgetting sothing?"
"My pants are on and I have yet to plagiarize and sell underwear. So my answer is no."
"Your friends from the Healer class, silly. It’s the perfect mont to get together and bond a little. After the mock exam, you surely have many things to share with each other."
"Please, have rcy. I’m so tired already, maybe next ti." Lith cringed at the idea.
"I’m here only to hoard knowledge and connections." Solus said while making her best Lith’s brooding tone impression. "I have no ti to waste, I need valuable pawns once I beco an adult again." –
Arguing with himself was beyond stupid, so he went to their rooms to invite them to an early dinner.
When it was Friya’s turn, she had just finished washing herself too. Her cheeks where still rosy from the hot water. That coupled with the sweet sll of her skin and hair made Lith dizzy for a second.
- "Stupid body. Whenever it decides to grow, it will always be too late."
"Co on, she is so pretty." Solus still wanted her school romance, even if just as a spectator. "What’s wrong with a fling?"
"She is a kid and I am old enough to be her father. Everything is wrong with that!" –
Once at the canteen, no one actually spoke for a while. They were all too focused on eating the first proper al in days. Only after the second serving they began to share their stories.
"So, how long did you manage to last?" Lith asked hiding his sour mood behind a radiant smile.
"My group was one of the last returning to the castle." Yurial didn’t miss the opportunity to show off.
"Everyone agreed making
the leader..."
"Lucky b*stard." "Poser." "Smartass." He ignored the crossfire of na-calling. Yurial was aware of the power his father’s status granted to him, so he accepted their envy with class.
"... hence I managed to quickly make them assu a defensive formation. When the beasts arrived, they found us prepared. The worst part was standing watch at night in turns, sleeping in the open and eating grass and fruits all the ti."
"Yeah." Friya agreed. "The lack of food and the dirt were terrible. My group was comical, we had two skilled hunters, but none knew how butcher the preys.
The sll of blood lured so many animals that we had to throw the ga away and look for another place where to sleep. In the end we didn’t find any, so when the we got attacked during the second day after a sleepless night, we lost two mbers at once.
After escaping by skin of our teeth, we surrendered the next morning. We failed at making a decent camp again, and with no sleep at all we were barely standing when the sun rose. What about you, Quylla?"
She was grinning from ear to ear.
"It was aweso! Best two days of my life." Her answer caught everyone by surprise.
"Care to explain?" Lith asked.
"Sure! First, you have to understand that everyone was pissed at , since I’m the top of the healing class."
"One of the top students." The other three remarked as one.
"Sure, whatever." It didn’t escape their notice that Quylla seed much more confident and fierier than before.
"Since they knew being second rate at best, they started to call
’just a healer’ and ordered
to ’not be in the way’. So, when the attack happened, I did as they told
and ran like the wind on my own.
When the others managed to catch up with , after being forced running away, I learned that our self-proclaid leader had been pumlled by a Sym, a monkey type magical beast.
They started calling
a coward, and trying to put the bla of the defeat on . At that point, knowing that we were being watched, I gave them a solid piece of my mind.
I told them that for all I cared we could fail from day one, and that I had no intention of letting them treat
like trash for a second longer. Things quickly escalated, and when one of them tried to hit , Professor Vastor appeared, beating the cr*p out of all of them!"
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