Most students waited excitedly for the midnight to come. The academy had an awkwardly jolly atmosphere, compared to its usual self. Maybe because of the fact that even if the students didn't get first place, they would receive some credits to splurge on whatever they wanted.

Alec was spending his time getting ready for tomorrow in his dorm room. He didn't exactly know what was happening at the training grounds and if there was any drama around the final scores. He didn't like lingering on topics he couldn't control. A short while after the clock ticked up to midnight, students started showing up at the front gates. They settled back into their dorm rooms.

He was alone in the room. The others had stayed, so they would tell him about the results. Just as he expected, Alexei slammed the door open. Evan and Thomas followed him inside. While they were mostly expressionless, Alexei seemed excited.

"Holy shit dude! You actually came first place!" He said while walking up to Alec's side, patting him on the shoulder. Even though Alec gently smiled, he felt a bit empty inside. As if the money he had gained would have been meaningless.

"What about the rest?" Alec asked. He was curious about the others' scores. Alexei turned his head toward Evan. Before he could say something, Evan started listing.

"Zac Fraser took the first place for the first graders. Iris was sixth. We don't know the rest of the people there," he started by saying. The trio spread across the room, all settling in their usual places. Evan in his study, Thomas in his bed, and Alexei leaning against the wall, next to Alec.

"For the second graders, you came first, me and Lea were the second. These two got seventh," Evan nodded in their direction.

'Surprising. My perception might have been altered because of how strong my immediate connections are, but getting the seventh place is pretty good,' Alec thought while listening.

"Edward got the first place as you guessed. He went in with a team of four and got about 11 million points," Evan said with a sigh. He then looked up at Alec, possibly gauging his reaction. Alec let out a small whistle.

"That's quite high," he said. Evan frowned in response.

"Are you joking? That's an insane amount. And you bested that by about 40%," he said. Alec shrugged.

"I was just well-spec'd for the training," Alec said. That was correct. He would struggle a lot if he were fighting against a four-team person led by Edward. The guy was a beast, especially when he was given proper subjects to work with.

"Well-sp- spec'd?" Evan raised his brow. Alec had accidentally said the word in English, which confused the three.

"My abilities were specifically useful for the case," he explained, willfully ignoring his blatant mis-speech. "Anyway. That's not important. Where do we get the credit rewards?"

"They said that they would give it after the final exams," Evan said. Alec cursed under his breath. He turned his head to look outside.

It was snowing.

He didn't know what month they were in, but it sure felt like a December night. Considering they were a month away from the end of the term, wouldn't the date be matching? If this wasn’t a different planet, that is.

Alec felt a serene calmness wash over him.

That night, when he lay down on his bed, he dreamt of how his previous life would have been if Evan had been there. If Ariel was there.

'Would I have lived a happy life then?' he asked himself. 'I had money but...'

However, what was money, if people to spend it with weren't there?

Then, he drifted away into the depths of sleep...

The morning passed like a breeze. Alec was in a trance, his mind entirely stuck on the exam they would be taking. Perhaps because the training period had lasted much shorter than it was supposed to, the grand illusory array had recharged fast.

Funnily enough, they were called to the central clearing of the academy for the exam. This time, however, the oppressive, orange lights weren't there. Instead, a gray-colored, cloud-ridden sky greeted them. The melancholic atmosphere was palpable, but it greatly contrasted with how energetic the students were.

And no matter how hard he tried, Alec couldn't feel the same way.

Without further ado, he threw cursory glances. Evan and Lea were about fifteen steps away from him, talking about something with hushed voices. Seeing their synergy, Alec couldn't help but feel happy for his friend.

Alexei and Thomas on the other hand, were nowhere to be seen. Not that Alec worried. The clearing was very big, and there were many students. It was more probable for him to not find someone he was looking for.

He also couldn't spot Iris or Edward, which left him completely alone, standing isolated from the crowd.

'Huh. I feel as if I missed the first few days of school and friend groups have already formed,' he thought to himself, scratching his cheek. Professor Rebecca might have been there. She had gained quite the control over the usage of her mana brain, probably. After all, she had been going around and doing all that stuff under Evan's orders.

Then, Alec realized.

'The anti-meme has weakened a lot, just like I thought.'

"Greetings, students," Professor Howard's familiar, monotone voice resounded. The voice was strangely calming to him. A part of him was worried that the man would come blasting with his ruthless commander act. Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. "As you all know, after yesterday's unfortunate events, we had to reschedule the final exam. Still, I'm happy to announce that the Grand Illusory Array has fully recharged and we are ready to go."

To avoid any problems, Alec had refrained from lighting up an incense. He would do so once he was inside the caverns. So, for the first time, he understood how it felt to be under this weakened anti-meme. He knew something unfortunate had happened the previous day. He also knew it was related to him in some way, alongside the emotions it made him feel. But what was it? He didn't know. And he knew not to think too deeply about it.

Nevertheless, the students started cheering. Alec looked around with raised brows. Weren't they supposed to be nervous? He imagined one of his exams in his previous life suddenly being rescheduled to a whole month earlier, and that made him shiver.

'Maybe they are excited to fight.'

"I will now explain how the final exam will work," Professor Howard said. "You will be placed inside the cavernous chambers under the academy grounds. The cavernous chambers are exactly that, an area of unending caves, weaving into each other. The caves will be filled with monsters, various objectives that the array will inform you of in real-time, and most importantly, other students."

'Huh. That sounds like a battle royale,' Alec thought to himself. His hand tightened and relaxed. Now, he was getting excited too.

"I would like to make sure that this is known. Hurting other students physically is prohibited," the man said, emphasizing the word prohibited. "You are not enemies, you are opponents. Any form of physical altercation or usage of eleme- classical magic on other students will be punished with immediate execution. Other than that, you can use a variety of methods to steal other's points from them. Those methods will be, again, provided by the Grand Illusory Array."

'That's nice,' Alec considered. He had read many stories where allowing the harming of fellow students turned out really bad.

"Finally, the center of the cavernous chambers will house a supremely strong monster. The method to take it down will be up to you, the students. However, I would like to warn you that clearing it as a single team is nigh impossible. The rewards will be appropriately high for clearing the boss," Professor Howard continued. "The teams will be the same as the ones in the training, and the point amplification will work the same way."

This was expected. Normally, they would have given the students some time to create new teams. However, they didn't have that much time now.

"Finally, health points. You know how it works, so I won't be repeating it to you. There will be methods to replenish health points inside the exam. I trust all of you to figure it out on your own."

"Without further ado, please head to the middle of the clearing for the transportation process," the man said.

Alec started slowly heading toward the middle.

'I wonder how they'll spread us throughout the caverns. They wouldn’t start us all in the same place, right? If this is like a battle royale…' he thought to himself. Teleportation didn't exist, so that was out of the question. Portals were in a similar situation. Opening such gates would need a level of gravity magic that even Alec didn't possess.

The students started heading down an absurdly long flight of stairs that had appeared in the middle of the clearing one by one. When his turn came, Alec traced the same path. He found himself inside a dome-like cave. It was pretty spacious, perhaps half as big as the clearing above their heads. The students would normally have a hard time fitting in the cave, but there were doors in every direction, waiting ominously. Occasionally, a professor would pick some students at random and usher them into those doors.

A short fifteen minutes later, Alec was led through one of those too. He found himself inside what seemed to be a metallic box. The walls surrounding them were industrial, with plates of unknown composite metal bolted together and painted a dark green. There seemed to be windows too, but the inside was under-lit, making it impossible to see properly. There was a very small and soft light on the ceiling, occasionally flickering on and off.

'Maybe it's broken,' Alec thought.

He waited another fifteen minutes with sixteen other strangers in that metallic, suffocating room. Then, an announcement came.

"The exam starts now! Please deploy wherever you want!" Professor Howard's voice buzzed. The metallic room they were in shook, and started accelerating with a grating noise.

A short while after, the windows started actually doing their job, and showcasing the outside. Alec turned his head to look.

"Holy shit..." he muttered to himself. They were in a cable car, passing through what seemed to be a huge cave, full of awkward, jagged structures and deteriorated fauna. This singular cave was maybe fifty meters wide and ten meters tall. And it was probably only a small part of the exam grounds.

Alec felt his heart skip.

'This place is fucking huge...'