CHAPTER 103: THE BANQUET [4]

"Now! I’ll announce the ranking of all the first-year professions." Lunara shouted excitedly.

"Before announcing them, let me remind you that your ranking may change depending on your performance on the exams at the end of each semester. You may be the last today, but later? If you worked—"

"Just announce them already." Zephyr murmured in irritation as he ate another chicken wing the size of my entire arm.

I was still sitting in the same place that Aria had thrown me into earlier. I had some broken bones, so I couldn’t move at all.

The difference was that later, Zephyr and Selene sat beside me with a large plate filled with food and drinks as an apology for not helping me.

I would have been grateful to them if Zephyr and Glutton didn’t eat half the food before approaching me!

"Open your mouth." Selene said, bringing a spoon closer to my mouth.

Ignoring Zephyr and Glutton who were holding their laughs, I muttered in embarrassment: "I can feed myself..."

"No you can’t. That will be a waste of your mental power."

"But—!"

Suddenly, her fingers dug into my jaw brutally, sharp nails holding my skin as she forced my mouth open. Then she shoved the spoon into my mouth. I felt the meat soup forcing its way into my stomach as Selene closed my mouth again.

I stared at Selene with wide eyes as she prepared another spoon. Then I glanced at Kyle Lunaris. He was still standing beside the principal without a change in his expression.

’So now you aren’t overprotective?! Fuck you!’

I opened my mouth in surrender as she shoved another spoon into it.

"First, I’ll send you the ranking of the Leadership Profession. The class representative of the first year is the rank-1 student." The principal finally finished her motivation speech as she clapped her hands.

Immediately, our bracelets rang and a wide screen appeared in the centre of the hall.

It showed only the top 10 in the ranking, while the full ranking was sent to us.

At the top of the ranking, there was the name that I expected, shimmering like the star of the ranking. It was Liora Frost.

Under her directly, Arthur Sunblade was written with a less shimmering font.

All the students clapped for them as many older students began to approach the top 10 students.

That was the real purpose of the banquet: An opportunity for the students to form connections.

"Hey Selene, can you heal my hand?" I asked Selene with a smile, but she shook her head.

"I don’t want to anger Aria..."

I sighed as she shoved a spoon into my throat again.

I had to admit, the soup was really good.

"Can you show me Zephyr’s rank in your bracelet then?"

"COUGH....Cough." Zephyr almost choked at my words.

"Selene, No!" He extended his hand to stop her, but Glutton barely stopped it with a tentacle.

Selene brought the hovered screen of her bracelet before me. Seeing his rank, I froze.

══════ Leadership Ranking══════

1 – ★ Liora Frost ★

2 – ★ Arthur Sunblade ★

3 – ★ Elara Sunblade ★

4 – ★ Nyxis ★

5 – ★ Celestia ★

.....

53 – Zephyr Stormblade

════════

"Pfft."

We burst into loud laughter as we saw his ranking.

I knew he did badly in the test, but last? LAST?!!

Holding my laugh, I said with a smirk: "Congrats, Zephyr... pfft... The elf kingdom is doomed."

Zephyr gritted his teeth but he didn’t respond as he returned to eating food.

The principal suddenly clapped. "Now for the Combat Ranking."

The screen changed and showed other names.

A grin tugged at my face as I saw my name, but when I focused on it, my expression turned into confusion.

’Who the fuck changed my name?!’

══════ Combat Ranking ══════

1 – ★ Arthur Sunblade ★

2 – ★ Zephyr Stormblade ★

3 – ★ Selene Lunaris ★

4 – ★ Raylin Bloodborne ★

5 – ★ Limitless ★

6 – Nyxis

7 – Liora Frost

8 – Alexia Maris

════════

Before the people started clapping, I raised a hand of lightning and shouted: "Ms. Lunara. I think there is something wrong in my name."

Lunara shook her head. "There is nothing wrong. Your family just made us return your name. You aren’t a citizen of the elf kingdom anymore."

I blinked twice after hearing her, then turned my head toward Aria.

—We will talk later. Humph.

"...."

The people finally started clapping while approaching the top students, but for some reason — no one approached us.

"Ah... is making a connection with us seems that bad?" Selene frowned as she looked at the empty soup plate.

With a hand of lightning, I pointed at her. "There is the girl that made a hole in someone’s stomach with her bare hand, and she is also the daughter of the vice principal. In fact, he may be stopping them with his illusions."

I pointed at Zephyr. "A mad prince that made a hole in the same person and has an ugly scary face."

"Hey!"

Then pointed at myself. "Then there is a handsome genius young man that laughed at his enemies’ suffering and has just got a punch from his sister."

Finally, I pointed at Glutton. "Finally, a raven that whenever he opens his mouth, he opens it like a flesh flower full of scary tentacles."

[It’s not my fault! You aren’t allowing me to use my humanoid form, so it’s your fault.]

I cleared my throat. "Ahem, in fact, I would have been surprised if someone wanted to approach us."

The next moment, I began to clench and extend my right hand. It was moveable now.

"Now for the Artificery Ranking."

══════ Artificery Ranking ══════

1 – ★ Limitless ★

2 – ★ Elara Sunblade ★

3 – ★ Raylin Bloodborne ★

4 – ★ Daniel White ★

5 – ★ Liora Frost ★

....

– Nyxis

════════

’Huh?!’

I looked confused at the name at the top. Wasn’t that the guy I fought in the arena?

I recalled how he was using multiple affinities, and with his artificery talent, he could probably make great artifacts for different usages with multiple affinities.

Thankfully, he was on Eldoria’s side.

’Well, anything that can help against the demons is welcomed.’

One after another, more rankings were revealed.

Morgana was ranked 1 in the alchemy and 2 in both Mana and Aether studies, and Soul and Will Studies.

Thalia Smith was ranked first in all studies, beast taming, and a profession called mechanistry that was about mechanical devices.

Then there was a ranking for the healing profession. Of course, Elara was ranked first while Arthur was second.

After announcing a few other rankings, we became free to leave as there was nothing else to announce.

With my body healed completely, I was ready to open my bracelet and see my rewards, but suddenly — 2 figures approached me.

A man and a woman, both had white pale skin and grey hair, with wide smiles plastered over their faces as they looked at me with their bloody-red eyes

And surprisingly, the next moment...

They both took me into a hug.

"What the fuck?"