“Are you even human?”
“...”
The last thing Lionel recalled was losing consciousness in the Dungeon of Knowledge. The fact that he’s seeing Mira by his side meant he survived the dungeon. Lionel couldn’t help but let out a sigh the moment he woke up.
Though he’s alive, he doesn’t exactly feel well. His throat was still burning, his entire body aches and he couldn’t move a single muscle. He also didn’t feel like talking, so he only stared at Mira quietly. The healer stares back and shakes her head right after. Lionel’s state made her feel frustrated in a confused and irritated way. The chances of surviving the Dungeon of Knowledge were low, especially if you haven’t studied but that’s a given.
The collar is back on him.
There’s bandages, plasters and stitches all over Lionel’s body. His injuries must’ve been that grave if Mira’s healing magic couldn’t do much.
Mira can’t especially do anything about the number of large scars on his back. The fact that he didn’t die out of blood loss is a miracle already. If anything was gonna kill Lionel in that dungeon, it was only going to be the whip and blood loss.
“How are you even awake?” She questioned, “You should be out like a light after what happened.”
Lionel shifts his head slightly.
“It’s been twenty hours since you left the dungeon.”
Twenty hours…
“Today is Saturday.” She says, “Tomorrow is Reward and Punishment.”
“...” Sunday? Lionel had thought what Eva meant by the end of the week was Friday, as in the end of a school week.
She leans back and presses her back against the wall. “Guess I’ll be seeing you again. That is, if you can survive again.”
F-Class.
Lionel starts to shake as he sees it again. Bright, purple eyes staring down on him, a stone whip—
“He will.” A familiar voice rang out so confidently.
Mira looks at the door to see Evangeline Belmont. Mira clicks her tongue at Eva and looks at her with a scrunched up nose.
Lionel observes the healer’s disgusted expression, she clearly wasn’t happy seeing Eva.
“You’re gonna help him out I presume?”
“Of course I am!” Eva shouts, marching her way over to Lionel’s bedside. “He doesn’t deserve this. He knows nothing about the system!”
Mira rolls her eyes, “Do whatever you want then. Just don’t involve me.”
The healer then looks at Lionel one last time before saying, “You should really learn to depend on yourself. No one will always be there to clean up your mess, especially her.”
And with that, the healer moves to her desk, sitting down and working on documents.
Eva sighs and looks at Lionel worryingly. She gently places her hand on top of Lionel’s bandaged hand.
“She’s right, you know…You can’t always rely on someone here and I won’t always be there for you. I believe you know that more than anyone now…You were alone when you fought Jonathan and you were alone in the Dungeon of Knowledge…”
“...”
Eva pulls her hand away and smiles softly at Lionel, “I’ll do what I can for you. I’ll be honest again, I really do feel bad that you have to go through this. It’s unfair…Tomorrow is Sunday, in other words, the end of the week. The school will begin to give their punishments and rewards to the students. If we don’t at least get you to C-Class right now, they’ll send you to another dungeon.”
Eva could see how Lionel’s eye twitched. She completely understood Lionel’s dismal reaction to the dungeon and of course it became a traumatic experience for him. Eva couldn’t help but feel pity towards the F-Class student.
“I know a fast way we can get you to C-Class, but you have to trust me.” Eva says, “We have to do this quickly, a bunch of times too. If we don’t, then you may get stuck in D or E-Class, which will worsen your punishment.”
“...”
Eva takes a deep breath before revealing her plan, “Lionel, I need you to take a test with me.”
“...” Lionel’s eyes widened and he shook uncontrollably while drawing in deep breaths.
“No, no, calm down.” Eva places both of her hands on top of Lionel’s hand. “Shh, it’s okay. Nothing will happen to you, I swear it. Let me explain my plan…I’ve found a loophole in the test system by accident with someone in the past.”
Lionel was still shaking, but his panicked state lessened than before.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be sacrificing my rank, and you won’t stay in F-Class. Now, for my plan. There are two types of tests you can take in our school. Long tests and short tests. You’ve already done long ones with Jon, which totals to one hundred. Short tests are half of that total. The two of us are going to take a short test. We’re going to take the same subject over and over again. Do you still remember everything in mana biology?”
Lionel nods slowly. It was basically etched into his brain after what happened. Just remembering the answers and questions reminded him of the cause of the scars on his back. At this point in time, Lionel’s brain had taken a serious note of remembering what he had studied or else it was his life taken away.
“Good, we’re going to take that again.” Eva says, “I’ve studied it last night, so I believe we can do this together. Lionel, we have to match our scores and get fifty. In other words, we have to tie.”
“...”
Silence consumes the whole room. From the corner of Lionel’s eye, he could see the healer’s head perk up, though she shortly returned to her work right after. Returning to the subject…
Tie? A Tie? Of course that’s possible in tests between students, but what exactly is the result of a tie?
Eva answers Lionel’s curiosity, “Tying in a test is considered a victory from both sides. It will raise our grades. Not as much as a normal win, but it’ll be enough to get you to the next rank as long as we keep taking it over and over.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Silence takes its course once more. Lionel is left to consider this choice as he looks at Eva in the eyes, scanning carefully. After a few minutes, Lionel nods and agrees with Eva’s method. She smiles, patting Lionel’s hand reassuringly. “Now the question…Can you move? At least your hand.”
Lionel raises his hand slowly.
“...Okay, um…We can try, slowly.” Eva says, “I’m sorry, we really have to hurry. We don’t have much time after all.”
Eva stands up and moves to the door, “It’s still seven in the morning. We’re only allowed to take tests after classes end, so I’ll see you later in the afternoon. For now, rest up as much as you can and don’t push yourself!”
Eva shares a big smile in an attempt to encourage Lionel, but Lionel doesn’t smile at all. In the end, Eva leaves. Once she was out of sight, Lionel closed his eyes and tried to ignore the aches and pains, but it was impossible. Instead, he could only focus on the loud pen scratches from Mira’s writing, as well curtains of the infirmary being carried and rustled by the wind.
“The tying method.”
Mira suddenly spoke up, but Lionel kept his eyes closed.
“It’s a good method if I must say.” Mira says, “As long as you can trust the person you’re taking it with.”
“...”
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard that method.” Mira smiles, “Everybody has a reason for what they do…Good luck.”
“...”
Lionel finally manages to fall asleep and time passes. One, two, three, more and more hours pass. The next time Lionel woke up, he was gently shaken awake by Eva. He wakes up to see her at his bedside with Mrs. Dewitt beside her.
“Hey there, you okay?”
“Urgh…” Lionel groans and attempts to sit up, but to no avail. Though, Lionel had no problems moving his hands now which was good. Eva collects a bunch of pillows from the other beds and places it against the wall and headboard.
“I’m gonna lift you so you can lean your back against the pillows.” Eva counted to three and lifted Lionel with what strength she had. Lionel groans and cries hoarsely in pain. He also tries his best to make it easier for Eva to move him in a better position. In the end, they managed, and gave Lionel a few minutes to rest.
“We’re going to take the test.”
Throughout this entire exchange, Mrs. Dewitt had remained entirely silent. Lionel also noticed a stack of papers on the healer’s table which weren’t there before. Eva takes another pillow and places it on Lionel’s lap. She also places a binder on top of the pillow and two pencils along with a sharpener. She then moves to sit in the other bed with her own binder and pencils.
“Are you ready?”
Lionel stares at the given items before nodding. There was no time to waste after all.
With that, Mrs. Dewitt finally spoke. “So you survived, Mr. Wesholm. Not many can accomplish the Dungeon of Knowledge’s task.”
Lionel holds himself back from glaring at the teacher.
“Eva has personally requested that I immediately check the tests after you two take them. Do you have any requests for this test?”
Lionel shakes his head.
“Alright then.” Mrs. Dewitt proceeds to take two five-page tests from the table, handing it to Eva and Lionel.
“Today is the twentieth, time is five o’clock in the afternoon in the infirmary. The main subject is Mana Biology, with a time limit of exactly forty-five minutes as it is a short test. The two will take the same test thirty times. Evangeline Belmont is an B-Class student while Lionel Wesholm is an F-Class student. As requested by Evangeline Belmont and agreed by the two, their results will be checked immediately.”
Thirty Tests? Lionel glances at Eva. That must be how much he needs to finish in order to reach C-Class.
“You may begin answering.”
Lionel looked over the test and they were the exact same questions from his previous one but in a different order. Without a moment of hesitation, Lionel began to answer silently with no change in his expression. His lips form a straight line and his eyes halfway open.
It hadn’t even been thirty minutes, but they already finished. Mrs. Dewitt takes their papers and gives them another set.
Fifty is the perfect score
“...” She checks them quickly with a red pen. “Belmont, fifty. Wesholm, fifty. The both of you have tied. Your points have been accumulated into your overall grade. There are no changes in ranking. No one shall be rewarded nor punished. You may begin answering.”
And just like that, a total of an hour and twenty minutes had passed.
“Belmont, fifty. Wesholm, fifty.”
“Belmont, fifty. Wesholm, fifty.”
“Belmont, fifty. Wesholm, fifty.”
The amount of times Lionel heard those exact words leave Mrs. Dewitt's mouth was twenty-eight times. Those words became semantic satiation to his ears. Every time they pass their work, they go faster and faster each time they receive the blank tests. It was muscle memory at this point, letting their bodies move without too much mind. Their nerves and their hands already knew the shapes each answer took.
“Belmont, fifty. Wesholm, fifty.”
“Belmont, fifty. Wesholm, fifty.”
And they were finished.
“Belmont, fifty. Wesholm, fifty. The both of you have tied. Your points have been accumulated into your overall grade. Lionel Wesholm has gained enough points to become C-Class from D-Rank. Evangeline Belmont remains as B-Class, however, you are only missing a few points and you will become A-Class. No one shall be rewarded nor punished.”
“Whew…” Eva let out a sigh of relief and fell backwards, bouncing slightly on the bed. Lionel remains silent, lips twitching as he observes Mrs. Dewitt collect the papers and stack them neatly. They all exchange their farewells and Mrs. Dewitt leaves.
“Eva…” Lionel whispers with a scratchy tone. Eva immediately shoots up from the bed after hearing her name faintly. She looked at Lionel with wide eyes as he was able to speak now. Lionel tilts his head towards her, trying to be as close as he can to let her hear his next words.
“Thank you.”
“...” Eva smiles, “You’re welcome.”
“...You…should…rest…”
Eva nods and stands up, stretching her arms out. “You’re right! That test drained me so much. I’m gonna sleep like a baby tonight!”
“...Hm.” Lionel finally smiles, though it was small, Eva could tell he was better than before. With that, Eva leaves the room. With the healer’s testimony, Lionel has been permitted to stay in the infirmary overnight until he has recovered.
So far into his recovery, he’s been slipping in and out of sleep for the past few hours after the test. Fortunately, most of the pain had subsided thanks to Mira’s disgus—delicious potions.
At this point in time, night had fallen, but it still wasn’t curfew.
Suddenly, the pair in the infirmary hear the door open. Lionel could only look at Mira's expression to try and tell who entered. Though Lionel couldn’t exactly tell who at the moment, because it seems like Mira will always be annoyed at every single visitor of the infirmary.
The new arrival finally enters Lionel’s field of vision.
“Hello.”
Kaius Marx.
“What are you…” Lionel mutters.
Kaius comes closer and sits on the other bed.
He hunches his back and squints his eyes at Lionel.
“I meant it when I said that you should mind your own business.”
“...I know.” I’ve experienced it firsthand.
“So what do you think of the students so far?”
“...Insane.”
“I’m somewhat sane.” Kaius replies. He then goes silent for a few seconds, before looking up at the ceiling and saying, “At least I hope I am.”
“...What’s…with…that?” Lionel asks slowly, huffing out in amusement.
Kaius shrugs. “Desperation.”
“...” Lionel raises a brow in confusion, but leaves it at that. “Why are…you…here?”
“Tomorrow is RnP day.” Kaius answers, “I checked the newsboard. You lost, you got sent to the dungeon, and you’re F-Class. You’re the new hot topic, ya know? Everybody was wary since you’re a transfer student, but now they’re saying you’re nothing special at all.”
“...I’m C-Class now.”
“Oh? So that’s why I saw Belmont walk outta here.” Kaius sighs, “I guess…you really have strange luck.”
“Strange?”
“Consider yourself lucky, you will survive tomorrow.” Kaius says, “But consider it as bad luck as well. You’re like a pig. No, a chicken. No, a cow. No, wait—a goat. Wait, a goat doesn’t sound right…a dog? That matches the collar better but—”
“What?”
“Anyways, I can’t say much with her around.” Kaius points at the healer, who glares at him. “When you get better, let’s talk.”