***

"...assuming that the Mana density is approximately 2.451 MDN, what would be the average rank of the dungeon's monster?"

I was sitting in a room with Raun, Amelia, Krista, Sylvia, Ria and somehow, Kasumi.

We were studying for the theoretical exams. And Raun... he somehow got Kasumi's number.

I had a feeling that Eleanor got something to do with this.

Speaking of Eleanor, my plan of monitoring her was a spectacular failure, seeing as Lyra returned to my room with a big bump on her head.

'Guess I'll have to carry out her orders after all...'

Sighing inwardly, I tried to focus back on studying. However, I couldn't do so, as Sylvia was staring at me like she was looking at a piece of meat.

Seeing that I really couldn't focus on studying, I decided to just observe everyone.

Totally not like a stalker would.

Amelia was, as I had expected by now, sitting close to Ria, helping the Phoenix study.

Well, it wasn't really effective, as Ria looked absolutely bored as she listened to Amelia, occasionally yawning to hint to her that she wasn't really interested. But Amelia didn't notice her signals, and continued regardless.

Krista was sitting with Raun. Although instead of studying, they were flirting with each other.

Sylvia was, as I mentioned before, busy staring at me. As such, she wasn't really studying either.

'Not that she needs to though...'

And Kasumi was staring blankly at the notebook, not really understanding anything.

It was understandable, as she had just joined class less than 4 days ago.

Overall, this group study session could be described as...

...A total waste of time.

As I was thinking that, however, Kasumi suddenly approached me and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Theodore, let's review the lessons"

Seeing no reasons to refuse, I nodded my head.

She then unfolded the paper and read the supposed contents out.

"Explain how to properly apply Wyvern poison"

"Hmm..."

This was definitely a hard question, mainly because I doubt first-years were actually taught such things.

However, all those years of me learning under Irene Nightshade didn't go to waste. As such, I could answer this question with relative ease.

"You inject the poison into the target's bloodstream and digestive system"

"..."

"..."

"And?"

Sighing, I continued. "It can be done in any order, so long as the poison enters both of the systems within approximately 2 weeks of each other"

"Good. Next question", Kasumi stared at the paper and and continued. "How do you kill a Phoenix?"

"Will this even be in the exams?", I asked.

In response, Kasumi merely shrugged her shoulders.

Frowning, I decided to try and answer it anyways. I wanted to look knowledgeable in front of my sister after all.

"This is a tricky one...", I cupped my chins as I tried to recall the lessons Irene Nightshade taught me.

Seriously, why did she teach 10-year-old kids the way to kill every races?

Eventually, I remembered the correct answer. "Well... you can't instantly kill them, as they would just be revived right away"

"..."

"As the cooldown time for each activations of [SSS - From the ashes] is random, ranging from a few seconds to a whole year, the most surefire way to kill them is to make them bleed to death or to use poisons. Wyvern poison is particularly effective"

Shuffle—!

I turned my gaze up at the shuffling sound, only to see Ria pushing her chair away and slowly backing up from me.

Frowning, I spoke. "Oy, it's not like I'm going to kill you or anything"

Ria still seemed unconvinced, as she hid behind Amelia's back and peeked a frightened gaze at me.

Sighing, I urged Kasumi to continue. "Just tell me the next question already"

"Alright. For what reason did...", Kasumi knitted her brows together as she briefly paused her gaze on a certain line in the paper. "...Lumet Carsotian rampage through the continent...?"

"This one's easy", I laughed as I recalled a certain chapter of <The Holy swordsman>.

Lumet's past was a true tragedy, so much so that I even shed tears for him the first time I viewed it through Marcos' memories.

"His sister was killed by a high noble for crimes that she didn't commit, and the commoners who witnessed it didn't sympathize or even feel pity for her. Instead, they cheered for her death, completely disregarding the fact that she had just tried to save them earlier"

"..."

"Seeing this, Lumet Carsotian begged the Evil god for power to avenge his sister, to which, the god complied, albeit begrudgingly"

"..."

"Uh... Why are you looking at me like that?", I frowned as I saw everyone looking at me with a weird gaze.

Seriously, even Sylvia was looking at me confusedly.

'Isn't it supposed to be common knowle—'

It was then that realization struck me.

People of the Empire weren't supposed to know about the true story, as the church of Light spread propaganda about Lumet Carsotian being evil beyond comprehension and whatnot.

Even Arthur believed in the propaganda for 2 whole decades, before he eventually found out the truth at the age of 22.

'Shit! I fucked up'

"Um... Were you hit on the head, Theodore? I can heal you if that is the case", Amelia asked worriedly.

Waking up from my stupor, I immediately tried to salvage the situation. "I was just j- joking haha! I mean, what if, right? Come on, everyone knows that he doesn't have a reason to do what he did"

Everyone seemed to be not convinced by my words. Thankfully, however, someone came to my rescue.

"Sorry for confusing everyone. It was me that made Theodore pull this prank. I'm truly sorry", Kasumi said as she bowed.

I didn't know whether to be grateful or not that Kasumi covered for me, seeing that Eleanor had just definitely trapped me by writing those 'exam questions' in the piece of paper.

But... I was just glad that I got out of this situation without much trouble.

"It would make for a pretty interesting novel", Sylvia muttered.

"Yeah, and image if Arthur Vritious was actually fighting Lumet because he's trying to steer his friend back onto the righteous path", Krista added.¹Oh no! The foreshadowings, they're suffocating me!

After a few laughs, which mostly belonged to Raun who was trying to make an good impression of himself to Kasumi, we continued with our very unproductive learning session.

Well, to point one thing that was different than before, it was that Sylvia stopped staring at me and started to talk with Krista about novels, most of which were written by Marcos.

While Raun moved to flirt with Amelia instead.

And of course, I was more wary of Kasumi now.
...

And just like that, the day of the exams came.

-Noooo... it's finally here...

-Bastards higherups in Avaron! What's the point of doing this exam if we aren't going to use it anyways!

-I crammed all night... Hopefully it'll be enough

Hearing groans of sadness, despair, and anger coming from other students, I couldn't help but let out a wicked laughter.

"Hehahaha! It sure does suck being those unintelligent bunch"

I wasn't nervous. In fact, I was completely confident.

Not in my own abilities of course. If I had just done the exam normally, I would have gotten a very bad score.

Instead, my confidence stems from a little something hiding in my backpack that I called—

(Lyra, is everything okay?)

—The ultimate cheat.

|All's good!|, she answered.

Lyra was in her bird form, hiding in my backpack, with all the textbooks and reference books ready.

And with that, I sat leisurely on my seat, waiting for professor Ferden to begin the exams.
...

The exams consisted of Ensien's theory of Mana relativity, Nwetno's laws of Aether manipulation, and more headache-inducing theories and concepts that no 16-year-old students should learn.

Looking at the despairing face of the students who were exiting the classroom, I smiled arrogantly.

'Easiest exam I've ever taken in my life!'

My smile grew even wider when I saw Ria clinging to Amelia with a defeated face, crying about how she was sure to be forced to retake the exams in the summer.

'Well, enough of that', I stopped myself from indulging in the joy of watching everyone else suffer.

After all, the practical exams were coming up next.

And unlike the theoretical ones, I really couldn't prepare for it, as the professors forbade anyone from bringing any kind of artifacts into the test.

While I could sneak some in using <[Alternate dimension]>, doing so wasn't the best of idea, as the test site was littered with Capture crystals.

And I'd be expelled immediately if someone caught be using artifacts, whether I used them during an emergency or not.

'Let's just pray for the best...'

As I was moving towards the area for the practical exams, however, a cold but soft voice rang out from my left ear, causing me to jolt up in surprise.

"Let's have a duel after the exams"

Of course, as anyone could have guessed, it was Sylvia.

Turning my head and smiling at her, I answered. "No."

Although Sylvia was expressionless, I could still tell that she was disappointed.

Why, you might ask?

It was because of her tail. It drooped down as soon as I voiced out my answer.

Staring at me for a few more seconds, Sylvia turned her gaze away from me and started to walk away.

Her tail dragged on the floor as she did so. There was no doubt that she was disappointed... or sad... or both.

'Are dragons related to dogs?', I wondered, as Sylvia, or well her tail, behaved just like a pet dog would.

Erasing such thoughts from my mind and ignoring Max who was glaring daggers at me, I once again focused on trying to get Kasumi through this exams alive.
...

A professor crossed his arms together and frowned at the sight of students still messing around just mere minutes before the exam.

"Form a single line!", he shouted.

As soon as the shout left his mouth, everyone was frozen stiff for a good second, before scurrying into a line.

Nodding his head at such a sight, the professor continued.

"As you can probably see from what's behind me-", he pointed behind his back to a cave-like structure with a blue fissure right at the entrance. "–the practical mid-terms exam is related to dungeon delving. To be more specific, the dungeon behind me is called <Ant's nest>"

Smiling in satisfaction that not even a whisper came out from the students, he continued.

"You just need to come out of the other side of the dungeon alive to pass. However, your grade will very depending on the amount of monster you kill and their ranks"

"..."

"Don't worry too much. This is merely a <F> ranked dungeon. So as long as you stick to the first layer, which the exam will be held at, you're pretty much safe"

"..."

"Despite having said that, you still have to be careful. As the great philosopher Bend Over once said: 'Anything can happen in a dungeon.' "

"So uhhh...", he scratched the back of his head. "If you die, you die. No professors will help you"

The students were keeping silence in nervousness and fear, especially the nobles. After all, the mid-terms and the finals were the only tests that forbade students from bringing in their own escorts.

"And also, a certain student will have to go into a <D> ranked dungeon on his own because he's already a <D+> rank"

Without the need to specify his name, everyone already knew that the professor was referring to Arthur.

'Arthur, you lucky bastard'

This was the one incident that didn't involve Arthur. And in fact, he got through his test safely, and easily at that.

"Now, slowly walk up to me when I call out your name and show me your Status so that I can track your progress throughout the school year. Just showing me your rank is enough so don't give me that glare as if I asked you to reveal your biggest secrets"

'SHIT!'

I was cursing inwardly for forgetting such important details.

'If he finds out that I'm already at <E-> despite only having <C> ranked talent measured...'

GULP—!

I would have to kiss goodbye to staying discreet if that were to happen.

Although professor Misha's mouth was airtight about anything concerning me, I wasn't so sure about the professor.

Furthermore—

'Nobles are a talkative bunch...'

—With the sheer number of students present here, news of me being <E-> rank would spread even if the professor forbade everyone from talking about it.

Stopping my thoughts there, I looked at the professor, who took out a piece of paper and shouted.

"Rank 2, Eleanor Salvant!"

Casually walking up to the professor, Eleanor made a swiping motion with her hand. Soon after, a translucent blue screen appeared before her.

"<D-> rank?", the professor hung his mouth open at this sight.

Rubbing his eyes in disbelief, he looked at Eleanor's Status again, only to see that the big bold <D-> letter was still there.

'Well, I expected as much from a trasmigrator-princess', I thought.

"O- Okay then, Eleanor. Please go stand there with Arthur", the professor stuttered as he pointed towards Arthur, who was making an equally surprised expression.

The students' reaction to Eleanor's rank was definitely calmer than one might have expected, as they were already used to Arthur's making miracles.

From achieving <D+> rank at the age of 16, to defeating a <B-> ranked cultist. It wasn't wrong to say that Arthur was the Empire's greatest asset.

'Well, technically he's the Luminous theocracy's asset but who cares?'

The Empire exerted great control over said theocracy anyways.

The professor then proceeded to call out other students' names, including the main casts'.

As expected, they were all <E> ranked.

Even Amelia, a healer, was at <E-> rank.

And finally, it was my turn.

"Rank 1384, Theodore Gray!"

'Hopefully, this will work...', I silently prayed as I put my left hand on the brown-covered grimoire slung on my waist.

Walking up to the professor, I used my right hand to make a swiping motion.

Almost every students were looking at me with interest. 'How good is the only 1000s ranker student in 1-1?', they must have thought.

And their questions were answered soon after.

-Pffft! <F-> rank? What did I even expect?

-Come on, judging by how low his student ranking is, it's a miracle that he's not at <G> rank

-True. Let's not linger on that trash any longer. Did you see that chick Kasumi? She's...

Hearing students snickering at me, I sighed in relief.

'Good... I can't believe it worked'

What I did was extremely simple. I just used the grimoire to alter the Light coming from Status so that it displayed <F-> instead of <E->.

"Theodore Gray", the professor suddenly called out to me, causing me to swallow a mouthful of saliva in nervousness.

"Y- Yes?"

"Half a semester had passed and you haven't improved at all. I suggest you use the upcoming summer vacation to train"

Sighing in relief and nodding at the professor, I bowed. "Thank you for the suggestion!"
...

After checking every students' rank, the professor shouted. "Alright, you can enter the dungeon in 2 minutes. If anyone have any questions, ask now"

What followed was a series of questions. Well, not really, as most of it was just nobles begging for the permission to bring escorts in.

However, when there was only 20 seconds remaining, a student suddenly asked.

"Professor, what if we run into other students in the dungeon?"

Smiling because someone had actually asked a good question, the professor answered. "You can do whatever you want. Ignore them, team up with them, or even fight them. Just remember that killing or crippling fellow students is strictly prohibited. There are hundreds of Capture crystals inside the dungeon so don't you think that you can get away with it"

Instantly after, I felt someone staring at the back of my head.

'As if I'd let you!'

It didn't take a genius to figure out who that gaze belonged to.

Thus, I dashed into the dungeon as soon as the professor gave the signal.

Vuam—!