The next day went by in a flash as Alec readied himself for whatever was to come. Fortunately, he had previously stacked up on mana potions. So, he could dope himself before the award ceremony in case things went haywire. Furthermore, he made some other preparations that could come in handy, such as readying some daggers and hidden weapons.

He also contemplated whether or not he should have made a handgun of sorts, but decided against it. If he knew the inner workings of a gun, he would’ve definitely taken the chance. Unfortunately, he was as clueless as any other average citizen to gun manufacturing. There was a very good chance he would fall into a mana coma if he tried it.

‘Maybe one day, I can progress the technological level of this world subtly,’ he thought to himself as he adjusted his necktie. He was about to receive an award, after all, he had to look as well as he could.

“Fuck… This is hard man,” Douglas muttered next to him. They were currently inside a dressing room behind the amphitheater. Turning his head, Alec noticed that Douglas was still fiddling with his necktie.

“How can you get the third place in your grade level but can’t tie your own necktie?” Alec asked, baffled. Douglas was pretty much a well-adjusted nutcase in his eyes. ‘The guy has to keep himself occupied with magic missiles, or else, god knows what he would do,’ he thought. Then he turned his head to look at the other four students around him.

There were three award winners from every grade level, which totaled up to nine people receiving awards at the end of every exam week. Three of those award-winners were female students, so they were in another changing room.

“Excited?” Alec asked Edward who was getting ready by his side. Edward first turned to look at him, then went back to obsessively straightening the sleeves of his shirt under the jacket.

“More worried than excited actually,” he answered. “With all the stuff we have to deal with after all… And the reward for the first-term third-year students isn’t even that good.”

“Huh… They are different for each term?” Alec asked. Edward coughed and finally released his arms in satisfaction before plopping down on a nearby chair.

“Yeah. There are some things you can’t give younger students after all,” he said while massaging his temples with his fingers.

“Such as?” Alec asked before sitting down next to him. He could feel his stomach churning in anxiety. After all, there was a chance that he would be having his first real fight in this world slightly later.

“For example, the first-place reward for the second term exams of the third grade is a mana brain,” he said. “You can’t try giving that to first graders who are barely eighteen, can you?”

“Oh, I see,” Alec said, scratching his chest uncomfortably.

“Speaking of mediocre rewards, what about you?” Edward asked. “I remember doing a lot of research into my opponents to get the second place back then. A mana eye is much better than some cryptic books you can barely understand.”

“I’m curious,” Alec said. “And I want to see if I can find some stuff about gravity magic. That aside, you got a mana eye? Where?”

“Still hung up on gravity magic? I hope you manage to figure out something then,” Edward answered. He lifted his sleeve and pulled on it slightly to reveal a magic circle etched into his wrist. “Comes in handy. You can hide it with clothes and with a flick of your hand, you can get a better understanding of your surroundings.”

Hearing his answer, Alec contemplated why Iris would have had the mana eye etched onto her forehead.

As their conversation seemed to come to an end, Edward put his hand over his ear for a second and looked in a random direction for a few seconds. “Stay alert.”

“What was that?” Alec asked.

“Short distance communication device. An ancient artifact,” Edward responded. “The people I called in have noticed something weird with the students. It seems that you were right after all.”

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“I was hoping that I wasn’t…” Alec muttered. As everyone seemed to have gotten ready, both he and Edward got up. Douglas, too, came to their side. “Your necktie is crooked,” Alec said defeatedly. After adjusting it for him, they went out and started walking through the corridors that led to the stage.

“Keep your eyes open out there,” Edward said with a coarse voice. He raised his arm and undid a button on his sleeve, creating a very small opening where the mana eye could see through. Then, a flash of light passed through his eyes as his body was covered with a golden hue. Then that golden hue disappeared. His movements seemed to have become more relaxed.

“Roger that,” Douglas confirmed with a blank expression. He flicked his wrist and about fifteen magic circles flickered into existence around him instantly. Then they disappeared like they had never been there.

Seeing their movements, the other three award winners also noticed something was going on. With practiced ease, they seemed to switch to a combat-ready mode.

‘Huh…’ Alec mentally exclaimed. ‘Douglas and Edward aside, why do these students seem so… Ready?’

Putting aside the thought for now, Alec woke the mana brain up. He then took out a bunch of potions he had hidden in his pocket and started downing them one by one while walking. His friends threw him a few curious glances before going back to minding their own business.

As the last drops of the potion entered his mouth, Alec felt a shock run through his spinal cord, making him shake his head rapidly. Then the next second, he felt his entire body fill with incredible amounts of energy.

When the low-grade regeneration, body, and mind enhancement potions kicked in, Alec received at least several points of temporary increase in all of his stats. He then tightened both his fists and gauged his power.

‘I feel like I can punch a hole through the wall,’ Alec mentally commented. He then shifted his attention toward the huge double gate in front of him. This was the only thing between them and the crowd outside.

Checking the weapons he had hidden in his pockets, belt, and a plethora of other places, Alec took a deep breath and looked at his friends.

“Ready?” Edward asked with a sharp glint in his eyes. Alec nodded without hesitation.

“Ready.”

As Douglas relaxed his shoulders by rolling them, they heard their names being called one by one from the stage, which indicated that the time for their entrance had come.

Walking further, Alec raised his hands and pushed open the gate with ease. This move of his attracted attention from both Edward and Douglas, as the gate was pretty heavy. Each one of them would have been able to push one side of the gate open using both their hands and would have a hard time doing so. Edward seemed to be particularly satisfied with the fact that Alec was so strong, as one side of his mouth rose into a small smirk for a few seconds before it went back down.

As their curiosity dissipated with time, they took in the bubbly atmosphere of the amphitheater. If they weren’t facing a dangerous situation, they, too, would have been capable of enjoying it.

“Nope,” Douglas muttered. He grabbed his chin and squinted his eyes slightly. “This is not normal. Pay attention, when has the amphitheater been this rowdy? I say, never. This academy is filled with a bunch of hardasses normally. They are not this animated.”

“Although your perception of the student body bugs me a little bit, I can’t disagree,” Edward commented further, which made Alec raise his brow. He scoured the viewers in the further away side of the amphitheater with the help of the mana brain and noticed that they were right. By now, not only were the students chatting more, but their body language was also more erratic and aggressive.

“This makes me even more worried now,” one of the other award winners suddenly said. They kept their cool while walking to the rostrum. The one who spoke was Zac Fraser, the freshman who had challenged Edward to a duel at the opening ceremony. “This might indicate…”

“Yeah…” Edward and Douglas muttered at the same time. Alec wanted to ask them what they were talking about, but unfortunately, they had already arrived at the middle of the stage, where Professor Hunter was giving his speech.

“Therefore, I’m happy to announce the…” he kept talking in his monotone voice. The man might have been a legendary, almost level 100 fire mage, but his speeches definitely weren’t at a similar level to his magical accomplishments.

As the man kept speaking, Alec turned his head to look at the female students who had won awards and was surprised to see a familiar face.

“Iris?” he asked confusedly. Although they had kept contact the last two days, she hadn’t told him anything about her being a ranker. “How did you even manage to score that high? Didn’t you lose your memories?”

“Like you are the one to talk,” Iris snorted. Slowly but surely, her cool demeanor was coming back.

“Heh,” Alec chuckled. However, before he could speak further, Iris pointed toward a certain direction with furrowed brows.

When Alec shifted his gaze, he noticed that a certain spot amidst the audience was becoming rowdier and rowdier.

In the crowd, a particular student was convulsing with his back arched, a mix of reddish light pouring out of his eyes and mouth. The students around him started distancing themselves as fast as possible, right before the student suddenly unleashed a black-colored wave of mana around him.

For a second, the stadium went silent. Then, Professor Hunter noticed what was going on. Immediately, red bursts of flames erupted around him, rushing toward the student who had lost his mind.

As everyone in the stadium started noticing what was happening, Edward shouted with anger.

“Demonic incursion! Brace yourselves!”