Slide—!

The class A1 door slid open with a sharp sound, and Reo stepped inside, expecting chatter and laughter with occasional arguments over breakfast.

Instead, the classroom was unusually quiet; half of the students sat slumped in their seats.

The lively hum that was usually in the classroom was gone, replaced by heavy and dull silence.

Reo blinked. 'What the hell happened here?'

The classroom features had tiered seating, a wide, semicircular design that facilitates easy observation during lectures.

He climbed the steps towards the back row where Luna sat in her usual seat. She was hunched over her notebook while spinning the pencil between her fingers.

Reo slid to the corner seat beside her, dropping the bag onto the floor.

"Morning." He said, stretching his arms behind his head.

"Morning." She replied in a low voice without taking her eyes from her notes.

"Hey, what's with that lazy reply, huh? Where's the usual bubbly 'Ice Princess Luna' I know?"

Reo leaned in, trying to peek at her notebook where dozens of complex ice magic circles filled the pages, each one crossed out and overwritten or layered with new annotations.

"Don't call me that."

"I thought you loved that nickname."

"I really don't."

She sighed, finally putting her pencil down. She turned her gaze towards Reo, and he noticed the faint, dark circles under her eyes.

"I'm just tired."

She rubbed her temple before gesturing towards her notebook.

"I've been trying to reconfigure this ice spell. Trying to reduce the casting time while keeping the attack power intact. But every permutation I tried either collapsed the formation or drained too much mana."

She pointed at her notebook, where the most recent magic circle has a big 'X' over it.

"I've been at this since last night, now it feels like someone is hammering my brain."

Reo blinked. "Wait, you didn't sleep all night?"

"Not all night, I got three hours of sleep."

She groaned and dropped her head on the desk with a soft thud.

"Which isn't enough; I need at least eight hours of sleep."

"Yeah, no kidding."

She shot him a side eye. "You're not helping."

"Just being honest."

Reo chuckled, leaning back on his chair.

"Then maybe ask Kyle, he's weirdly good with magic circles, efficiency, and stuff. Dude can't explain theory to save his life, but somehow draws perfect formulas like he's cheating."

"Tsk." Luna clicked her tongue. "I hate prodigies."

Reo grinned at that, resting his chin on one hand, and his green eyes drifted around the unusual, quiet classroom.

"What's up with everyone today?"

"It's the effect of the midterm exam."

A smooth voice answered from behind as he walked towards their seat.

Reo turned as he saw Cassian, his red hair brushed back and uniform immaculate as always, and slid his bag onto the seat beside Luna.

"Cassian. Where the hell did you pop up from?"

"The back door," Cassian said, pointing at the back door.

"Oh, right, we also have those. Anyways, what were you saying?"

"It's exactly what I said. Most of them are still recovering from the shock of midterms. Dying in there, even if it was just a simulation, feels real. And when you don't know it's fake, well..."

His green scanned the classroom. "It leaves a mark."

Luna lifted her head slightly.

"I also heard some of them are even getting counseling."

"Seriously?" A chuckle escaped from Reo. "That's kind of... weak, isn't it? I mean, it's the academy of full of combat mages, what did they expect, a friendly pillow fight?"

"You sound like a jerk." Luna gave a stare.

He shrugged. "I'm just saying."

Cassian leaned forward on the desk.

"It's not that simple, you know. Fear of death is instinctive. No one really wants to die. Even the strongest people flinch when faced with death for real."

Cassian continued, his voice laced with quite understanding.

"When humans are pushed to the corner, their own survival always comes first for them. Morality, friendship, courage, they all fall apart the moment death feels real. Some students tried to save their friends. Others… ran."

Luna listened quietly, drumming her fingers on the desk.

Cassian's gaze lingered on the two girls, who sat apart with neither of them speaking.

"That was one of the reasons many friendships broke during the test. Some couldn't forgive their friends for abandoning them. Others are feeling guilty for doing it. "

"People think they know who they are until they see what they do in a crisis. Then they realize their own survival comes first."

For a long moment, no one spoke.

Reo scratched the back of his neck, saying. "Guess that's true… Everyone's scared of dying, huh."

Luna also nodded.

"And because of that, a lot of students dropped out. There are probably only seven hundred of us left in the first year, making it the lowest number of students in Solvayne history before the second semester."

Reo still kept staring at Cassian.

"Since when did you start sounding like some philosopher?"

"Since I realized someone needs to balance your brainless optimism."

"Oh yeah? You wanna go, Mr. Perfect hair?"

A grin spread on Cassian's lips as he snapped his finger.

A slight flare flamed out at the edge of Reo's sleeves.

"Oi—Wha?!" Reo yelped and slapped his arms till flame fizzled out in a puff of smoke.

He glared at Cassian.

"You lunatic!"

"What did you just call me?"

Reo stood up and jabbed his finger at him.

"You heard me."

They locked eyes, and for a moment, neither of them spoke, glaring at each other.

Snap—!

A pencil in Luna's hand snapped in two, and the temperature around them dropped a few degrees.

Both Reo and Cassian froze.

Their head turned towards Luna in a mechanical motion.

A vein popped out on Luna's temple; her expression was hidden under the shadow of her bangs.

"So," Her lips curled into a sweet, almost angelic smile. "You two were saying something?"

They both straightened instantly.

"No, Ma'am." They said in perfect unison.

Luna sighed.

She was already irritated from lack of sleep, and now these two, but her irritation instantly turned into mild regret as she glanced at the broken pencil in her hand.

"Great." She discarded it into her storage ring and took out the new one.

She turned her wrist and glanced at her mana band.

[8:54 A.M.]

Her brows drew together.

"Where are Kyle and Cedric? Class starts in six minutes."

Reo leaned back.

"I mean, I can understand about Kyle being late, but Cedric? That's new."

"Exactly, he's the type to show up thirty minutes early just to review his notes."

Cassian shrugged.

"That... even I don't know. I haven't seen him all weekend."

Reo leaned in closer and whispered, lowering his voice.

"By the way... are those rumours true? About him having the third affinity?"

"I thought that was just gossip," Luna said quietly.

Cassian's expression stiffened slightly. "This isn't the place to talk about that. And you shouldn't bring it up again."

Reo blinked, caught off guard by the sudden seriousness in his tone.

"Right... Sorry."

Cedric having a third affinity is a really big deal. It contradicts everything mages know till now. Even if Principal Lucien had done his best to keep the news under wraps, it was inevitable that it would spread.

News like this never stays quiet for long. Among the students and lesser nobility, it was only a rumour, and they brushed it aside as nonsense.

But big houses and high nobles already knew the whole story by now. Whispers travelled fast through power.

Slide—!

Two young men entered the classroom, immediately drawing the attention not because of their grand looks, but because of how disheveled they looked.

Kyle and Cedric didn't even glance around and just quietly walked back to the back row, ignoring all the stares.

Reo looked at them for a few seconds before he burst into laughter.

"Lmao, what the hell happened to you two?"

Even Luna and Cassian couldn't hold back their chuckle.

Kyle looked like he hadn't slept for days; his white hair was messier than usual, with big dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was unnaturally pale, which was clearly a sign of mana overuse.

Cedric wasn't better either, though his dark circles were not as prominent as Kyle's, but it was still there, and his face had faint bruises and a few bandages on his cheeks and forehead.

"Wow, you guys look terrible."

Luna pressed her lips together, trying her best not to laugh at Kyle with those big dark circles, white hair, and pale skin; he looked more like a panda than a human.

"Don't ask."

Cedric muttered as he took a seat next to Cassian, and Kyle took a seat beside Cedric.

Both of them slumped in their seats, barely keeping their eyes open.

Cassian eyed Cedric's bandages.

"What the hell happened to you? And why didn't you just use healing potions?"

Cedric gave him a bloodshot glare.

"You think I didn't? Healers said the smaller wounds would recover naturally. Guess my face didn't get the memo."

Minor injuries weren't the problem as they would heal on their own in some time with his Regeneration ability, a reward Cedric got for the completion of black gate.

Kyle leaned forward on the desk, resting his chin on his arms without even bothering to talk to them.

At the front of the classroom, Eleanora's gaze lingered on Kyle. She hesitated and was about to stand—

But the classroom door slid open again, and the Professor walked inside.

"Good Morning, class, take your seats."

Aurelia's calm and commending voice filled in. She walked towards the podium, her long coat swaying behind her as she placed a single book on it.

Her sharp blue eyes scanned the classroom. There were a few empty seats; her gaze briefly paused on Kyle, taking on his appearance.

'He's looking more homeless than yesterday.' She sighed softly.

"Before we start today's lecture, there is an announcement I have to make."

Her tone carried a faint edge of disappointment.

"After evaluating your performance during the Fractal Veil midterms, I'll be honest, I expected more."

"Yes, it was a simulation, and you didn't know it wasn't real Fractal Veil. And what you showed there was raw instinct. The moment death felt real, most of you lost all sense of reason, strategy, and teamwork."

A tense silence filled the room.

"That's not entirely your fault. Fear... after all, is the most human reaction of all. When people are pushed to the brink, survival overrides loyalty, friendship, and even morality."

"It's something every mage, every soldier, and every human learns eventually. In a true crisis, people don't think about who's beside them; they think about how to live another second. That's not a weakness. It's instinct. But what separates warriors from survivors…"

".... is what you choose after that instinct."

The classroom was silent for a few moments, the weight of her words sinking in.

"Haa..."

Aurelia exhaled softly.

"Still, there are a few who showed composure under pressure and adapted instead of freezing. Those results have been noted."

Snap—

She snapped her finger, and a blue magic circle expanded on the podium, projecting a shimmering screen of light.

Aurelia stepped aside, saying.

"These... are your new rankings."

———————