Fruits of the hardwork

I went to the school directly, choosing not to wait for the collection rock. Today is the last day of exams and I have 3 subjects today. The classroom was empty when I entered, perfect for studying silently. I went through all the notes for the next hour.

Tom and Rose also arrived and sat down, studying. I don't think we even greeted each other at that time and just focussed on our studies. We had only the common subjects together, but even the people at the bottom of the academic list were studying on their own. {Did Robert tell them something?}

"You have one hour to finish each subject," Robert announced as he distributed the question sheets. "You can only start the next subject after you submit the first one."

As we were getting ready to start writing, Robert announced something surprising, "As I have told you before, for every student that submits the test before time, your time to submit will be reduced by five minutes." {what the hell? what kind of rule was that?} he continued with no regard for our confused expressions. "For the people who are confused, this rule was made to bring all of you down. have fun with it."

The exam commenced after the bell, and it was stressful. the first subject was history, which I was only able to complete about halfway, thanks to that stupid rule. mathematics and language went comparatively better, I was able to hand it in time. The real fun came with the last two subjects, which are my ace subjects. Archaeology and Ethics, the only two subjects that I was confident enough to claim to be the best in. I finished early and submitted my paper, with others following me. The time was reduced to around thirty minutes instead of an hour in both cases.

"time's up. put down your pens and cross your arms. no one is allowed to leave until i say so." Robert collected the sheets one by one.

My back was stiff and my legs were numb from sitting like that for five whole hours. I did a little stretching and got out of the class, straight to the washroom, at full speed.

After ten minutes, I was in the cafeteria, about to order my lunch when I spotted most of the 'Team Lucian' sitting together. I joined them for the food and we started discussing the details of the mission that we knew about.

The topic soon diverted to the plans we have after the exams. "what will you guys do over the week-long break?" Tom asked around the end.

We all had various ways of spending free time, but this time was different, "Aren't we going to leave for the forest at the end of next week? I am going to prepare for that. I am not planning to be a load for Lucian." I replied, voicing the thought we all had.

"I agree." Eve said in a serious tone, "our abilities are above average, but that's it. we are not going to be able to help that guy in any way other than being a distraction."

"What kind of training are you guys going to do?" Jin asked everyone.

There was a weird confusion as we all tried explaining the routine all of us were following. As nothing came out of the discussion, Eve took the initiative to calm us down, "Let me make a group chat, we can share our thoughts without talking over others that way. how does that sound?"

"That is a great idea." Rose chimed in, "Let me help with that." It was hard to imagine that these two were at each other's throats a week ago.

The rest of the recess was passed as we finished setting up the group chat. We all shared our routines there and went back to their classes.

"Everyone, change your clothes and gather outside, you are going to start the Overall Ability Test for your class in thirty minutes." Robert announced and left the classroom. We were greeted by a gentle and cool breeze and a shining sun on the school grounds.

"Run five laps around the entire school, you get a rest of one minute after that." the instructor announced loudly, "Then there is an obstacle course mixed with an object hunt. I added the last part as a form of recreation for everyone."

He signaled the start and we all started running. The first lap took me one minute to complete, with the rest taking a few seconds longer. "So my base speed comes down to about six meters per second. this should be enough for the time being."

I went back on track for the obstacle course, which had an Object hunt at the end. I picked up my card which had [A Poisonous Berry] written on it in bold letters. "Great! where the hell am I gonna find something like that without going inside the building?" I started by going to the flower garden. There were a lot of plants there, but I wasn't going to check them. {none of these are poisonous}

Other than the main gate, the only place to access the forest below is the garden water channels that were connected to the river flowing down below. I landed near the side of the river. "Should be around here." I started looking for the Indigo berries that grew there. It took me a few minutes to finally find one bush that had the berries. By the time I got back, most of the class was on their object hunt.

As I submitted one of the two berries I had with me, the staff gave me weird looks. it was obvious why, as we weren't allowed to be 'caught leaving the campus' without permission.

I spotted Rose sitting on the side, she was done with both tasks way before me. "What was your item?" I asked her.

"An edible flower." her voice had no energy behind it.

"Did something happen?"

"What? No!"

"Then why are you so down?" I lifted her head by the chin and looked into her eyes. "what is it?"

"It's just that I am tired of my food." she sighed "mom and dad had to leave for some work, and I have been cooking the same thing. I am getting sick of it."

I got an idea just then, "Should I come and cook for you?"

"Really?" her eyes lit up, "Yes, please do that. It is getting really boring at home as well. Also, can Rita come with you?"

"I will ask her, she has been staying at home too much these days." If they want to hang out, I can't deny them easily. I think this comes from my mother, the caring and doting nature of mine.

"Oh. going to spend the night with your girlfriend?" Tom said with a teasing note in his voice.

"Yeah." I replied without a fluctuation in my tone. "It has been a long time. last time we camped for a night. She killed a glass python and told me to cook it."

"Oh. is that so? Hahaha" Tom was confused at my composure. {I have someone at home who is better at teasing than you. I can handle it better.}

"It has skin thicker than my finger. it is hard to cook that thing." I kept pressing him, "but it tasted divine."

"Anyway," he changed the topic, "let's go, it is getting late."

The classes for the second half today were not compulsory, so naturally, I skipped and went home.

"I thought you were going to leave early today. How was the exam?" mom asked loudly as soon as I entered my room through the window. "Come down after you clean up, I want to show you something."

I cleaned up and headed downstairs, completely unaware of my surroundings. "how did you know that I-" I threw my head back to dodge something thrown at me. It was a dagger, about as long as my forearm that could have crossed my skull if I didn't react.

"Not bad kiddo." Mom complimented my reflexes. "good thing I didn't need to heal you within the first minute."

She was wearing some sort of uniform with all sorts of knives and daggers on it. her fingers had small blades held between them, ready to be launched. I took a breath and started preparing, "Seriously mother, I don't think I can defeat you, but I am not in the mood to feel blades on my skin today." I created a rod and pulled out the dagger from the wall.

"Where are you looking?" she suddenly appeared behind me and thrusted in three blades in my back. "hm? interesting." She stepped back and stood straight. "So you aren't limited to just your hands anymore, is that what you have been training for?"

"Somewhat." I threw the dagger at her head. She darted down, trying to dodge it. "Too simple, my son." she said.

"Launch." I said and stepped back, and jumped down the stairs. Maybe she foresaw it, or maybe her reaction speed was faster than I anticipated, but I didn't hit her.

"Interesting." she looked around the trap I had set and dropped all her weapons, "I lose. I didn't expect that you'd be able to cast circles from distance as well. I'd have died if you hit after these beams formed." She was trapped between ten beams that I had formed.

"Good." I threw the rod down, "can I get something to eat then? I am hungry."

"Okay." she said and straightend her back, absolutely demolishing the beams without any effort and went to kitchen as if nothing happened.