CHAPTER 29: STUDY GROUP [3]

Chapter 29: Study Group [3]

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

Arios stared at his score, a profound sense of disbelief washing over him. He couldn’t believe he had scored below a 60. During the test, he had aimed for an 80—not so high as to draw attention, but not so low as to make him look stupid. It seemed it didn’t go as planned.

Did something happen? he thought, his mind quickly racing.

Greg turned to him. "What did you get? I got an 89."

Arios didn’t respond, his mind was consumed with trying to figure out what went wrong. With this score, he was definitely a tutee, not a tutor. He began flipping through the test questions, his eyes widening as he noticed he had done poorly in the civic, math, and physics sections, despite acing the biology portion.

Don’t tell me... Arios began to decipher a pattern. The questions he had felt most confident about were the ones he had failed. For example, in the civics section, he was asked if the Council of Nobles could veto a royal decree. Arios, operating on the assumption that this was a fantasy world with an absolute monarchy, had answered with a firm "no." But he was wrong. In this world, the monarchy was absolute in that the king couldn’t be prosecuted for his deeds, and his decrees couldn’t be vetoed if they only affected one province. Otherwise, they could be vetoed.

The truth was, Arios wasn’t well-versed in the political structure of this world and had been acting on assumptions from his own. The science was equally strange. This world had to balance modern technology—cars, planes, tablets—with magic. It had experienced a similar industrial revolution, but everything was powered by mana crystals instead of carbon-based fuels or lithium-ion batteries. This fusion of science and magic made questions on physics and math completely different from what he knew.

So this world’s technological revolution is based on mana, not carbon-based fuels, Arios thought. I actually need to study.

He had initially believed he only needed to level up his combat skills for the test. With this revelation, he now knew that to be on the ’extreme safe side,’ he had to study the academics as well.

A few columns beside him, Liza was chatting with her friends when she saw Arios looking grimly at his test sheet. Did he do poorly? she wondered. I really hope I can help him study; that would definitely make him happy.

"I will now be announcing the groups," Elisa said, returning to the front of the classroom, her voice cutting through the chatter. She held a single sheet of paper.

"The first group consists of Kyousuke Uzumaki, Sophie Sapphire, Rain Blake, and Javier Lukewarm."

A low murmur spread through the class. Everyone knew Kyousuke was the most mysterious student, and his group was filled with some of the most prominent figures in the class.

Elisa continued, her voice a steady monotone as she read off the names. "Group two: Nathan Quinn, Tenji Nakamura, Kai Lorne, and Yato Subaru. Group three: Leo Garcia, Chloe Dubois, and..."

Liza’s face lit up as Elisa announced her name along with her friend’s. They hugged each other tightly, a silent celebration of being placed together.

Greg, who had been anxiously waiting, turned to one of his few friends Ryder as their names were called. "We’re in the same group!" he exclaimed, a wide grin spreading across his face. "This is perfect!"

As Elisa moved through the list, Arios’s nervousness began to fade. His name hadn’t been called yet, which meant he would likely be in the final group with Elisa. A sense of relief washed over him; this was a perfect opportunity to get closer to her and establish a needed bond with her, possibly with an intent to dual cultivate knowing fully well she would be stages above him.

"And for the last group," Elisa said, her gaze sweeping over the remaining students. "It will be composed of myself, Lucy Nightshade..."

Arios’s eyes found a girl with bright green-dyed hair and a crescent moon necklace. Her shirt was unbuttoned to reveal her cleavage, and her arms were covered in omnient bangles. She looked completely unserious and dumb, the way her skirt was extremely short and how her legs were crossed Arios conceived that she was a complete slut. He even wondered how she had managed to get into the academy.

*I’m guessing she’s the class slut,* he thought. *How many dudes has she allowed to hit.*

"Arios Pureheart," Elisa continued. Arios let out a silent sigh of relief. He could now use this opportunity to bond with Elisa.

"...and Veyrion Ashthorn."

That name was completely unfamiliar to Arios. He scanned the classroom, searching for any subtle reaction that might reveal who this person was. His gaze landed on a young man who gave a slight nod at the sound of the name. It was the ’unknown student’ the system couldn’t register at the first quest, he had mentally noted to observe him further but had since forgotten about. Arios was glad he was in his group, giving him an excuse to observe him more closely.

Elisa waited for the buzz of reactions to die down before she spoke again. "I initially planned to have students who scored above 60 tutor those who didn’t," she began, "but only twelve of you met that criteria in a class of forty-one. So I lowered the standard to fifty-five, which gave us twenty-three students above that mark and eighteen below. This arrangement is the most logical."

She ended her speech with a word of advice. "For those of you who scored below forty, don’t give up. However, if you feel you can’t continue, I urge you to voluntarily withdraw from the school. It’s better than pulling the entire class down and hindering everyone else’s dreams."

The class reacted with a mix of agreement and outrage. A girl named Sophie, who was in Kyousuke’s group, stood up. "I don’t agree with that," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "It’s not right to tell people to give up on their dreams."

Elisa remained impassive. "My point is pragmatic, not emotional. Some people simply are not suited for this academy. It’s better to realize that now than to fail later."

"But everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves!" Sophie countered.

The two exchanged sharp words for a few moments, each defending their opposing viewpoints until Sophie finally sat down. "I still don’t agree with how you said it," she mumbled, but the conversation was over.

Arios leaned back in his seat, his gaze finding Kyousuke. It’s now or never, he thought, a sense of grim determination settling over him.