I squeeze through without elbowing anyone—tricky—and stand on tiptoes to look over the heads of those in front of me.
Bianca L'Crom — 7 — 19
Since I don't know what those numbers are, I quickly read the table header: 8 is my practical exam grade, and 19 my points for the competition. The exam grading criteria are written at the end. Basically, they consider your time and if you got the jar. But from the moment the dungeon's difficulty increased, having a high time like mine penalizes less, and you can pass without having obtained the jar. Well, seems reasonable to me. I know a math teacher at my old high school who would have failed all of us except those who did it perfectly. For example, the prince's group has a 10. Normal, they left first and returned very quickly, without encountering anything strange. Those behind me in line, except for Ronan, got very bad grades or barely passed. As for the points... there's another paper on the board, one that ranks us by points. My eyes widen as I read it:
Current ranking of the first-year classes
Darius Veylore — 20 points
Bianca L'Crom — 19 points
Ronan Ashenveil — 17 points
Vincent Draycott — 16 points
Alistair Astor — 15 points
Theodore Brightmore — 15 points
...
The list continues, mixing students from both classes, and some have no points at all. Princess Lily Draycott only has 7. At the very end, there's a text clarifying that 20 was the maximum number of points that could be obtained in this test.
And I'm second.
I wasn't expecting that. I mean, yes, I have a magical creature that could probably destroy an entire city with guards included; but I haven't used it. And, as far as I know, they don't know about the octopuses and the spider. Well, the L'Crom counts are going to be very happy.
I discreetly withdraw from the circle of students trying to read the grades and head to class. I don't run into anyone I know, except for Sol and her two shadows: Caroline and Ashe. The latter ignore me, and Sol stares at me as if re-evaluating me. Fine, I walk past. They don't greet me; I don't greet them. I enter the classroom and sit down. The professor hasn't arrived yet, but Darius has. He gets up and approaches me.
"Well done, Bianca." He pats me on the back as hard as yesterday. "Nineteen points, very good. By the way," he says with a crooked smile, "I beat you by one."
"I'm not trying to compete with you."
"What, you're not? Everyone wants to be in the top positions to compete in the tournament. Besides, Miss Level 6, if you don't want to compete, you're doing a poor job of it."
He winks at me and returns to his assigned seat. I can't help it, a laugh escapes me. I realize that Vincent and the other two eligible boys are looking at me. They wave at me. I return the greeting and go to my seat, which luckily is far away. The girls who have already arrived in class are glaring at me while whispering. I know, I know... you think I'm trying to steal the good catch that the prince and his friends are. I open my book, titled "Fundamentals of Magic and Elemental Affinities", and pretend to read.
A few minutes later, Professor Swaina enters and stands in front of the blackboard.
"Good morning," she greets us. "I imagine you've all seen both your grades from yesterday's practical exam and the first points ranking."
Several affirmative murmurs answer her.
"I'm not going to talk to you about the exam," she continues, "as it wasn't from my subject. However, I do want to give you my opinion on the ranking. The list you've seen is the first one this year. It's going to vary as we do more tests. Before the end of the course, the top four will be able to choose the members of their own group. Those groups can be maintained in the second or third year, or changed. They will be of five members, as the third-year teams that compete in the annual tournament are of five members." She gets serious. "I know that many of you have a lot of pressure from your families' expectations, that at the very least your family name's prestige depends on whether you manage to be one of the few students who will participate in the third-year games. I know." She takes her time before continuing to speak, looking each of us in the eye. "But your life is also at stake. This practical exam, this dungeon, was supposed to be totally controlled by the academy, and we almost had casualties. Three students teleported with very serious injuries. And this has happened in the first test, the easy one, the one that in theory was just finishing off a low-level zombie. If you ask me, I'll tell you that we still don't know what happened, although we do know that the rapid growth of the dungeon with its creatures and local fauna is due to a sudden increase in the dungeon's affinity for darkness. So that everyone understands me clearly: a dungeon core has an elemental affinity value that gives us its difficulty. This one's was very low, which made it a suitable dungeon for the exam and very easy for the academy to control. Dungeons, over the years and decades, can increase the value of their core and change their difficulty level, especially if they are left unattended. What just happened, going from a novice dungeon to a low level one, is something we have no written records of having occurred before. That's why I want you to be careful. No matter how simple or safe a practical test seems, from the moment you're in a dungeon, the unexpected can happen. I know many of you put your house before your life, but I highly doubt your parents want you dead. So yes, be careful, and if something strange happens again, do me the favor of using the return stone instead of staying to get the damn points," she raises her voice.
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She seems angry.
I hear students apologizing, and I see some nodding their heads. Ronan, behind me, asks her a question.
"Excuse me, professor. You said there are no written records. What about oral ones?"
Swaina's face darkens even more.
"Before the last war, when darkness with its paladin the Demon King almost destroyed the world. But that, Ronan, you all already know. Those are the horror stories your grandparents whisper to you to keep you on the straight path. And you, with your affinity, should be more careful than anyone."
"Professor, you don't believe there could be another war again, do you?" a girl asks, frightened.
"Centuries have passed since the last one, so many that we don't even remember it. The balance between light and darkness has been maintained. Let's not be doomsayers. It's one thing for me to worry about you and scold you because some of those who aren't in class today but recovering from their injuries should have used the return stone much earlier... and another thing is for us to make up fantasies about the future. Millennia ago, wars were frequent. In the last one, they were settled forever, don't worry. Just don't be reckless and expose yourselves to unnecessary risks in the tests."
I can't take it anymore. I turn around and look at Ronan. He's looking at the professor with those huge rounded eyes of his that gave me the creeps when he was so malnourished. Now they still give me chills, especially if they seem to be glowing excitedly, as if expecting something. I turn my gaze back to the front. I have to try to talk to him after classes.
The professor leaves the topic of points and begins her theory class.
When the hour ends, I get up to leave, but the professor indicates for me to wait a moment. In private, she tells me to follow her to the headmaster's office.
"Good morning, Bianca, take a seat," he greets me with the same friendly voice as last time.
Unlike then, it's just the three of us. There's no representative from the king.
I sit in the chair facing his desk and wait for him to explain why I'm here.
"I've called for you because professor Catrina told me she's going to train you in swordsmanship in her private afternoon group. I've informed her of your affinity with spirit, so she can give you some private lessons where you use channeling."
"Thank you."
"That's not all. Yesterday's event in the dungeon had us meeting until late at night. I don't want to worry you, but we believe someone or something caused it to kill you."
What?
Swaina, who is sitting in a chair next to me, takes my hand and squeezes it, as if giving me encouragement.
"You are like a miracle, a prodigy student with the four elements and a new one never seen before. Your light magic clearly places you on the good side of the balance. We believe that, to maintain the delicate equilibrium between good and evil, it's possible that a nemesis has emerged, a champion of darkness."
Okay, I definitely didn't see that coming. Am I really supposed to be on the side of light, with my pet the seed of darkness here? The professor misinterprets my astonishment for fear and pats me on the back of my hand.
"Don't worry, your professors are here to help you," the headmaster continues. "In addition to your training with Catrina, you're going to start taking magic classes for the other three elements. We wanted to give you time to adapt to the academy before starting the tutoring, but we prefer to accelerate it due to the dungeon incident. I know you're going to have a very tight schedule and you won't have time for a social life. We're sorry, but it's necessary. The safety of this kingdom and the entire world may depend on it."
Oh dear... I think they believe Ronan may have had something to do with the dungeon thing and that I'm something like Joan of Arc.
The thought of confessing, telling them about the contract with the seed of evil and breaking it passes through my head. That way they wouldn't suspect Ronan, and if there really is a threat against the integrity of the world, we can avoid it. In fact, I even open my mouth, but I can't, the words don't come out. The puppy hasn't done anything to me. Well, yes, it put me in an insane difficulty level, but the shadow wolf could get me out of there with its eyes closed. And I don't feel evil, I'm still myself. I think that as long as I don't change, as long as my affinity for light magic remains medium, we're not in danger. I... I prefer to think more about this before doing something as drastic as telling everything.
Swaina intervenes to assure me that she's going to keep a close eye on me, that I can go visit her whenever I need to, no matter the hour. They both encourage me and dismiss me.
And I walk back to the classroom, half zombie. Someone pokes his little head out of my pocket and barks softly. I bring a hand over and pet him.
"What a mess we've gotten into, little one."
What a mess.