Lost in Thoughts

Xalafel was quite nervous a while ago. Linfel's group had entered a cave without surveillance, so he was afraid something could have happened to them. Sometime later, they suddenly resurfaced near the last flag of the exam, much to his surprise. 

However, it was also at that moment that the sensor around the exam area detected a different type of Magic Energy approaching. Before even Linfel could notice the serpent Magic Beast, Xalafel and his subordinates already understood a Level Four Magic Beast, a creature of immense power and danger, had appeared.

Xalafel immediately disappeared from the room, flying to the end of the examination area as fast as he could. The collars can not be activated by them. Only the users themselves can do it. That's to make sure the Maguses in the exam understand the Magic Academy would not intervene in the Field Exams.

Still, Xalafel's expression wasn't good. Even at his level, he would take a while to arrive. He could only hope Linfel's group would hold on during that time, although he wasn't very confident. To his immense relief and admiration, Linfel's group not only held on but also managed to fend off one of the serpent's attacks. He quickly came crashing against the serpent like a meteor, and the rest is history. 

Of course, even after Xalafel took Linfel's group away, the exam itself wasn't over. Xalafel simply ordered the instructors hidden in several parts of the Exam Field to remain vigilant in case another of these rare and formidable Level Four Magic Beasts appeared. 'Well, Level Four Magic Beasts are a rarity in this part of the country. There shouldn't be any more of them,' he thought to himself, underlining the exceptional nature of the situation.

The next group to arrive at the Purple Flag ended up taking over an entire extra hour to do so. It was Rirano's group, of course. After all, Rirano had acquired information about this field exam in advance.

The next one was a single Magus and a Familiar from the older groups that were dropped in a different place of the Dark Canyons. Rirano's group was already gone by then, so the guy just approached the flag, excited.

Even considering Linfel and Rirano's group, the total number of Maguses to arrive at the last flag was only five. However, there was an exception. Independent Familiars have their own IDs and accounts in the Academy. That said, they also count. That means Linfel and Nori were considered on their own, different from Felia and Tratil, who were counted as being part of Alvin and Connor's own strength.

In the end, five Maguses and two Familiars were the first seven participants to get to the last flag. When the older Magus arrived, he became the eighth one. Of course, the bonuses still applied, so it didn't matter to him. After his magic Energy Signature was taken, he simply used his Collar and exited the exam as well.

The last two Maguses to arrive were from the middle groups, the ones between 17 and 21 years old. The difficulty of their journey was something between the young and the oldest ones. In fact, these last two were in the same group with another three Maguses and their Familiars. It's just that these two reacted faster and got closer to the Flag first, leaving the other three out of the bonus.

The exam continued normally after that, with no other Level Four Magic Beasts appearing. At most, you would find Level Three Magic Beasts, but these ones were placed in the route taken by the oldest Maguses since there were even Level Three Maguses between them.

One thing was certain, though. Pretty much everyone who arrived in the last Flag were Maguses and Familiars from Ranked A and B Classes. There were a few Rank C, but those were truly few. Last but not least, one single student from a Rank D class also managed to miraculously arrive at the end, although in his case, it was most due to his luck.

Well, there were also Alvin and Connor, two Rank F students. But their cases were extraordinary.

The exam concluded with no issues. This kind of exam was thought through and through, aiming to give the Maguses and Familiars experience instead of killing them. The collar was proof that the Academy didn't really want anyone to die. That was exactly what happened. There were some very serious injuries, like the ones in the Maguses from Linfel's Group back when they fought the Rock Breakers. But deaths were truly hard to come by.

All the Airship then took off from the Dark Canyon, only leaving behind a few instructors from the Academy who would clean up the place of the equipment used. As for the Magic Energy Pond hidden deep underground, no one found that since Linfel took quite a hidden passage. The instructors themselves wouldn't enter the cave Linfel's Group came from either since there wasn't a need to check the environment anymore.

Later that night, Alvin woke up in a tank filled with some weird yellow liquid. Several Diagram Runes operated it, seeming to act on Alvin's injuries. "T-This..."

"Oh! You finally woke up," said a woman wearing a doctor's attire on the other side of the room. She quickly pressed a few options on the screen in front of her, which caused all the liquid inside the tank to be drained away. Finally, the tank itself opened, allowing Alvin to come out.

"Master!" Felia quickly jumped to Alvin's head, feeling extremely happy. She wasn't too bad. It was Alvin's body that took most of the burden during the serpent incident. After she was given a few Magic Stones and absorbed them into her core, she was able to take her Familiar Form once again and had been waiting by Alvin's side all this while.

Alvin smiled and patted the Familiar's head. Not too far from him, he saw Linfel, seeming to be lost in his own thoughts. "So... what happened after that?"

Linfel woke up from his trance and looked back at Alvin. "You are awake, uh? Took you long enough..." Linfel was just about to continue talking when, suddenly, a message arrived in the medical center. 

-We have arrived in the academy. All students, please exit the Airships and proceed to the Field Exam Results Area. Your scores and the overall rank can be consulted there. Thank you for your participation, and we expect you to take the next exam.-

"We are back?!" Alvin quickly looked through the window, seeing that it was already later night. "Seems like I slept in the recovering chamber for quite a while."

The female doctor nodded. "That you did. Your group was brought here just seven hours after the start of the exam, so for the rest of the exam, you were kept inside the chamber, healing. You tore through most of your muscles, not to mention the many broken bones. Although there were no lasting damages, you truly got very close to dying, you know? Fortunately, you were brought back in time, so I managed to get you back into shape."

Alvin felt a chill on his back. He got close to dying? But then again, he did try to block the attack of a Level Four Magic Beast... "Just what the hell was I even thinking?!!!"

Felia couldn't agree more while feeling angry. "Exactly! You tried to block a Level Four Magic Beast! Master, do you have a death wish?! If not for Linfel..." She stopped there, knowing she shouldn't mention the Double MCF.

Linfel already began to make his way out of the airship. "Come on, the airship won't wait for us to exit forever."

Alvin and Felia quickly followed. Of course, Alvin quickly thanked the doctor, too. "Thank you."

"That's my job," the woman answered with a cheap smile.

Outside, the thousands of students moved in unison to the Field Exam Results Area. Alvin was brought in a different airship from the others, so he only met Connor on his way. 

"Alvin!" Connor quickly approached, surprised. "Just where did you go? I returned to the ship after taking the last flag, but you never came."

Alvin was taken aback. "You don't know?"

Connor was puzzled by that question. "Know what?"

Alvin pondered a bit and shook his head in the end. "Nothing much. I'll tell you later."

Connor then whispered in Alvin's ears while controlling his Magic Energy so that only they could hear. 'Bro, we still haven't talked about that fight against the Rock Breaker. How did you connect with two Familiars at the same time?'

Alvin whispered back in the same manner. 'Many things happened, but we can talk about that as well once this is all over.'

Connor nodded, knowing better not to talk about such an issue in this place.

Alvin, on the other hand, turned to Linfel. 'How did I get in the medical bay? I think... I saw Principal Xalafel? Was I dreaming?'

Linfe shook his head. 'No. It was truly the man from the statue... although he seemed a lot older. I have to say, that guy is truly strong. He cracked the serpent's head open with a single foot. It was incredible! It was also the first time I saw someone using Blue Magic Energy.'

Alvin breathed in coldly. 'So it was truly the legend himself. That man is not only famous in our academy but in our entire country as well. Do you think he knows about our Double MFC?'

'Oh, that's definitely for sure,' Linfel confirmed straight away. 'He saw the moment when you passed out while Felia and I disconnected from you. He didn't ask me anything, though. He simply left you in the medical bay and left after saying a few words to the doctor.'

Alvin sighed. 'I see... That's going to be complicated to explain.'

Linfel and Alvin arrived in the Results area, a big building where several screens could be seen all around. The Academy promoted competition between the students, so the results were always shown to the crowd in the academy. One could even verify them later once they were added to the Academy's website.

As soon as they entered, Linfel noticed Milia in the distance. "There she is."

Alvin looked in the direction Linfel pointed out, seeing Milia looking at one of the screens. Nori was nowhere to be seen, though. Alvin thought about what happened earlier and remembered that Milia also saw him using a Double Master Familiar Connection. There was no other choice. He had to talk to her about it so Milia wouldn't spread the information.

When he approached, he noticed that the screen message said the results were being processed. Everyone who came here was waiting for the results as well. "Milia... can we talk?"

Milia felt a jolt run through her body as she quickly looked back. Alvin was there, looking at her with a concerned expression. The memories of her last thoughts before the serpent's last attack came into her mind, especially how she screamed his name in there. Surprisingly, he truly appeared, putting himself between her and the serpent in that moment of life and death while fully injured and bleeding from everywhere. 

Fortunately, thoughts couldn't be heard, so Alvin didn't know about her cry for his help.

Milia's checks then grew red before she looked away. "B-Better not. Go away."

Alvin was taken aback. "But you saw what Linfel and I-"

"Go away!" Milia quickly got up and left in a flash, running as fast as she could.

"She told you to go away, but isn't it she who is going away instead?" Linfel asked, confused.

Alvin grew nervous, not knowing what to do. Connor, who was also there, couldn't help but ask. "What did you do to her? You must have truly pissed Milia off for her to run away like that."

Alvin quickly denied it. "I did nothing... or did I? Linfel, did I do something before I passed out?"

"Not that I noticed..." Linfel answered, equally perplexed.

Felia, on the other hand, looked in the direction Milia ran with a weird expression. 'That's very suspicious...'

Well, they didn't have time to think about it for much longer. That's because the results were finally displayed a few seconds later.

-1: Miranda Kuku, Rank B Student, all flags collected, seven hours, twelve minutes, thirty-four seconds.-

The was an immediate uproar when the first name appeared. The fact she was from a Ranked B Class didn't impress anyone. It was always Ranked Classes A and B the first ones to complete the field exams in general. However, she also beat the record for this exam by almost three hours! That was the real surprise.

-2: Donfin Soqeis, Rank A Student, all flags collected, seven hours, twelve minutes, thirty-six seconds.-

Naturally, Donfin appeared right after since he was the second one to enter the Flag's range.

Yet, the greatest uproar came with the next name.

-3: Connor Triglan, Rank F Student, all flags collected, seven hours, twelve minutes, forty-five seconds.-

"Impossible!" Someone immediately exploded.

Yet, the next one quickly followed.

-4: Alvin Brunes, Rank F Student, all flags collected, seven hours, fourteen minutes, eleven seconds.-

-5: Linfel, Rank F Familiar, all flags collected, seven hours, fourteen minutes, eleven seconds.-

-6: Milia Frondor, Rank A Student, all flags collected, seven hours, fourteen minutes, eleven seconds.-

-7: Nori, Rank A Familiar, all flags collected, seven hours, fourteen minutes, eleven seconds.-

Since Linfel brought the two of them with him to the flag, they obviously got exactly the same time. Not that it mattered at the moment.