บท 67: Chapter 67: The Exam Rankings

Not every examiner that passed was pleased with their ranking. The blonde legacy obviously being one of them.

While some, like Bridge and the naked teen, were just grateful to have passed. Others had a certain expectation for the ranking.

Looking around, Kain could see several cocky, prideful and unconvinced expressions in the crowd.

He smiled bitterly, determined to keep his ranking a secret for not in case he's challenged to a fight on the way to the hotel. A frontal duel is really not his strong suit.

The Professor seemed to have expected this question. After all, most of the students trying to enter a top 5 college would have a high level of pride.

"The ranking of an applicant is based on a variety of factors that are combined into a single score. The main 3 factors are: the time it takes to clear the exam, the number of beasts killed during the exam, and the condition of the applicant at the time the relic is cleared. For example, the last-placed applicant was within the top 10 for clearance time, but killed no spiritual creatures and was unconscious by the time he reached the exit. If he had not been in a relic, and instead in real life, then he would have been in an extremely dangerous situation. After all, in reality he would likely still receive attacks from aquatic creatures on land."

Seeing that the blonde teen was still unconvinced, she continued, "Mr. Lysander, you performed exceptionally well."

'Ahhhh…. Lysander. That was the last name of the second-placed applicant. He also has the last name as the royal family, no wonder he's so unconvinced.' Kain was even more determined to keep his identity a secret.

The Professor continued, "You were within the top 3 for both speed and ending condition and the top 5 for the number of beasts killed, slaying an impressive 50 red-grade spiritual creatures, and 2 orange-grade spiritual creatures."

The other applicants began to chatter at the impressive results.

The blonde raised his chin cockily at the shocked whispers.

"Any other year and your score would have likely placed you first. Therefore you can be extremely proud of you results." She turned to the other student that had already stood up.

Seeing that she wasn't going to share anything more. Lysander interjected again. "So what was the first place's scores."

'Wow! He's really not letting this go' Kain was starting to feel both flattered and nervous. But he was also curious. What was the reason for his high score? He seriously doubted he was the fastest.

The Professors eye twitched in irritation after being cut off a second time.

"The first placed applicant was only in the top 10 for both timing and condition, but they ranked first for kills, and the gap with second place was substantial."

"In total there are 800 spiritual creatures in each relic test. 600 white-grade spiritual creatures, 180 red-grade, and 20 orange-grade spiritual creatures. Although, only a small fraction of them would actually attack the applicant at a time, ensuring that more applicants will not actually have to meet even 5% of the total number of beasts if they move fast enough."

"The first ranked applicant killed all 780 white and red-grade spiritual creatures in the relic space, and 1 orange-grade spiritual creature."

Shocked Silence

Even Kain was shocked. He had only seen a tiny fraction of all the spiritual creatures Bea had killed. However, after he thought about it, it made sense. Given enough time Bea would be able to kill anything red-grade and below, therefore all of the water Bea's splits inhabited as they spread out probably became a land of death, even the areas of water far away from him.

Kain was also pleasantly surprised to discover that his final blow had managed to finish off the orange-grade spiritual creature. He had lost his spear to deal that blow, so he appreciated the boost to his score.

The twins and Bridge, the only ones to know the face of the first-place individual, turned to Kain in shock.

'How was such a killing spree even possible?'

The thoughts of everyone in the room were pretty uniform at that moment. Even the professor had been shocked when she read the report.

Even the use of poison wouldn't be able to achieve that effect since it would just be diluted by the water. It'd have to be a poison far exceeding the level of the applicant, and the applicant would have been ejected for cheating, not scored first-place.

Nobody could figure out how this 'Kain' had done it.

Lysander sat down stiffly in resignation. Many of the other students who also previously had unconvinced expressions, now looked to accept the rankings.

Seeing that there were no more interruptions. Professor Nightingale answered 2 more questions before ending the meeting.

"I will meet you back at the hotel." Kain left behind those words before heading to one of the senior volunteers waiting by the exit.

The twins still had not fully recovered from their shock. "You didn't tell us he was such a monster, Bridge"

"Ahem… well I don't like to brag," He said humbly. Trying not to show that he was just as shocked by Kain's results.

Kain followed the senior across campus to a separate administration building. After informing the staff of his circumstances they also provided him with a registration package similar to the Beast-taming major and said that they would allow him to register for the courses he would be taking early.

Thankfully there was no conflict in the class times of both majors, but it'd be a packed schedule.

Most students only have to take 5 courses. 3 required courses for their major, and 2 optional ones of their choice. He had to take 3 required courses for the Planner Major as well: Introduction to Evolution, Evolution Practicum, and Introduction to Evolutionary Research.

Meaning that he had to deal with one more course than the average college student.

When Kain arrived back at the hotel he immediately went to Bridge's room. He thought that he'd find him still in a celebratory mood, but he appeared slightly downtrodden.

Confused by the atmosphere, Kain entered and closed the door behind him.

"What's wrong? Are you having trouble picking an elective?" He guessed that there was some issue with his registration package since that's what he was staring at.

"Ah, your back! No, I already picked my electives with the Addison and Aiden, we're taking a Spiritual Material Cooking course and a Material Processing course."

Kain nodded. Those would have been the 2 courses he would have recommended for Bridge. Bridge wasn't strong in the traditional academic subjects like history or science.

One course teaches the most valuable parts of spiritual beasts and how to extract them without damaging them or reducing the quality. The other course shows the proper way to cook the edible parts of spiritual creatures in a way that maximizes the preservation of the remnant spiritual power and beneficial effects in dishes.

"Then…why do you look so gloomy?"

"It's nothing…"

Strange. Bridge usually wouldn't hesitate to share something that bothered him with Kain.

Kain sat next to him and look at what he was holding. He had expected him to be staring at the course list, but he was looking at the form where they just had to fill in their basic information."

"What's wrong? Tell me." He nudged Bridge's shoulder.

Bridge slowly opened his mouth, "We were the only ones without a last name. Addison, Aiden, that arrogant blonde guy…they all have families. And they all have a family name to show where they come from."

"Ahhh…." It hadn't really bothered Kain. But unlike Kain, Bridge never knew what it was like to have a biological family and a family name. He could understand why he'd envy it.

"Let's make one now"

"Huh?"

"Let's choose a last name for ourselves now. Be officially brothers with the same last name."