With the final twenty minutes remaining, Mel and Maria Gloove stood at the front with seven blossoming buds, while the rest trailed behind. Though the noble kids had pulled ahead of the commoners by using their vital essences ten minutes earlier, the rapid climb of Mel and the boy with unevenly shorn bangs pushed the others forward.
Cantankerous Hanry's sickle-shaped blade passed from hand to hand; the plants of the youths who cut open their own palms started to bloom at a startling pace. Every single participant from the common ranks had made their fifth bud bloom.
"Fools! How many years of their natural lives have they thrown away just to win a single trial!"
If they hit the minimum goal of seven, they would secure the score needed for this trial. Because they willingly sacrificed their own blood energy, Mel's help went completely unnoticed, and the others assumed this effort was actively draining the youths' lifespans.
Young Master Louise spoke with soaring arrogance again, yet now there was someone else sitting at the exact same level whose words demanded to be heard.
"They're using their own blood instead of the vital essences their mommies and daddies bought for them, so yeah, it's a massive load of stupidity. Good thing our academy's Botanical Division is so damn fair; even if they failed this entrance exam, we would've hired them as herb gatherers anyway!"
Hanry looked like a broken dam; whatever crossed his mind flowed freely from his tongue.
"While the porcelain dolls propped up by their families become Botanical Masters, the ones who sacrifice their own damn lifespans for this craft can only ever be Herb Gatherers. Now that I think about it, it's actually a pretty brilliant system! If we picked our Herb Gatherers—who have to deal with harsh wilderness and a horde of wild beasts—from this batch of snobs, we probably wouldn't have a single usable herb left in two years!"
When the middle-aged man finished his rant, the eyes of the commoner youths shone despite the blood still dripping from their hands. An authority within the Botanical Division was openly fighting for them, and this guy was none other than Senior Master Hanry.
"Masters, let's not ruin the kids' focus!"
This time, the Head of the Botanical Division told off his two subordinates with a much sweeter tone; after the clear favoritism he showed the nobles, it was hard for him to act strict again.
Still, his move had totally tipped the scales; the youths using their vital essences were now hitting their sixth buds, and judging by how they looked, they were super comfortable.
"We'll make the seventh bud bloom easily!"
"I might even hit the eight; we didn't even have to push ourselves!"
Though they spoke quietly, certain boasts were easily overheard; it looked like they were doing it on purpose to crush the morale of the youths who had become their rivals.
"Patience, my old friend. Let them enjoy their short-lived fun. It's better this way!"
Having the power to flip everything upside down in a second, the tree got mad at their taunts. It wanted to make the Ten-Budded Phantom Orchids bloom fully by using the energy Mel had fed it over the past two and a half years.
"The last fifteen minutes!"
Aside from the Division Head and the two Masters, a bunch of proctors from the Botanical Division were inside the building. Even though they had barely talked because of all the crazy stuff happening so far, they now yelled warnings to the candidates every fifteen minutes.
Even though they had reached the minimum standard, Mel and Maria pushed on with total seriousness; they reaped the rewards of their hard work when they made the eighth bud bloom at practically the exact same time.
"That damn peasant, it's like he's doing it on purpose every single time!"
Though Louise said it out loud, he refused to believe it as a real possibility, but that was exactly what was happening. Mel was keeping a close eye on the Ten-Budded Phantom Orchid of the girl he considered his rival, along with his own.
The exact second the bud on the plant of the girl dressed in flashy clothes started to open, Mel made his next bud bloom too.
Maria glared with eyes full of hate at the boy she had first looked down on; surely, not even in her wildest dreams could she have imagined a peasant of unknown origins matching her skill.
"Last year, we saw nine buds bloom. I wonder if someone's going to beat that this year?"
The proctors standing near the commoner side were whispering among themselves; one who had been there the year before was super curious.
"I doubt it; it was the peak of the past twenty years, and the one who pulled it off was the young master of the Gloove lineage!"
Another five minutes drifted by in suspense and whispers. Mel and Maria were at the eighth bud, while every other candidate stayed stuck at the sixth.
Sweat started pouring down Maria's face; opening the vital essence that appeared in her hand, she dumped it onto the soil of the Ten-Budded Phantom Orchid in one smooth move. When the Division Head gave permission, she was the only noble who hadn't used her vital essence yet. But as the trial neared its end, she must have felt she hit her limit, because she didn't hesitate to use this perk anymore.
Nine minutes were left, and Maria's vital essence started showing its effects. The bud on the plant shook restlessly; as another minute went by, it was clear it was fighting hard to open up.
Finally, with six minutes left, the pretty girl managed to make the ninth bud bloom fully. Nine pristine white flowers now sat on the stem of the Ten-Budded Phantom Orchid. The only closed bud left was on the right side. If it bloomed too, the plant would show off its full beauty, with five blossoms on each side.
Pulling out an embroidered handkerchief from her pocket, Maria wiped the sweat from her forehead. At one corner of the clean white cloth, her first initial and the crest of her family were nicely sewn in gold thread.
After that, she raised her head and locked eyes with Mel. Her look had that annoying, stuck-up arrogance of someone who had finally won. Because she had used a vital essence, she wouldn't get the same respect as a pure triumph, but she had still hit one of the highest levels of the past two decades. How could she not get full of herself?
"In the end, true skill shows itself. For some people, learning there are limits they can never cross takes a long time!"
Louise couldn't stay quiet again; after the girl from his family made the ninth bud bloom, his tongue was loose. The target of his words was clearly Mel; as the only person matching Maria, he was saying this was the absolute limit of Mel's skills.
"Our candidates this year are amazing; there isn't a single person stuck under six buds. Most of them hit seven, and a few even made it to the eighth bud!"
The Division Head softened the Young Master's insults by stepping in, smoothly summing up where everyone stood in the trial.
The commoner kids stood at six buds; most of the nobles at seven, and except for Maria, the rest sat at the eighth bud. What Mel and the others earned by risking their own blood, the noble kids did easily by using their family's money.
"Blood for the peasants, coin for the nobles; I guess this is how our Academy's new order works!"
Cantankerous Hanry slumped into his chair; though the end looked happy on the outside, the words he mumbled weighed on his heart like a giant stone.
"My friend, don't do this!"
Right when the result looked basically locked and less than five minutes were left before the trial ended, a sharp, young voice echoed through the building.
The one who shouted was none other than the blond boy with uneven bangs sitting next to Mel. The cause of his outburst was the sickle-shaped blade resting in Mel's hand.