When the gazes of Mel and Maria Gloove crossed, the young girl looked arrogant and furious, while Mel stayed perfectly calm.
The pretty girl knew this trial was her last chance to beat her rival, and the Young Master chose to bring up the weight of the test in front of them once again.
"Today, even though I have little faith it will actually happen, we might see a historic victory. Since David Gloove, the patriarch of our family and Maria's great-grandfather, a candidate has the chance to get perfect scores across all three trials for the first time in generations."
Finishing his speech, the Young Master turned toward Cantankerous Hanry next to him and kept talking.
"As you all know very well, Senior Master Hanry got a perfect score in the first trial years ago by making all ten buds bloom. That was a huge win, but because of how he did in the next two trials, he only got into the Academy by ranking way below most of the nobles."
Cantankerous Hanry twisted in his seat, but he didn't say a word back. It was obvious these were the facts, and he had no proof to shoot them down. Also, it was perfectly clear his rival wasn't saying these things with good intentions.
The man's real goal was to break Mel's focus—since Mel had already secured his spot in the academy—and to drag the kids from the common ranks down into the dirt with him.
While the talking went on, the candidates started working like crazy. Their hands moved up and down in a non-stop rhythm, trying to process the raw plants and bloomed flowers in front of them into forms ready for the herbal mixtures.
Even though most of the noise came from the side where the noble kids sat, the exact same sounds were coming from a few spots where the commoner kids were working.
This must have caught Mel's attention too, because he stopped his work and started watching the kids he spent the night with in the forest out of the corner of his eye.
Without a single exception, all of them had already started putting together their first mixtures. They were crushing stuff in their bowls, peeling lemon skins, and lighting the fires under their pots.
As the only person who had his spot in the academy locked down, Mel stayed perfectly calm. He spent most of his time watching what was going on around him.
Sadly, the bright smile he shared with the ones who spent the night with him turned into a frown when he saw the condition of the kids who had refused to go. They might have memorized the recipes, but the way they processed the plants looked painfully amateur.
Shaking his head from side to side in deep sadness a few times, he went back to his own work. An hour passed like this, and a sweet girl's voice rose from the noble benches.
"I have finished the trial; I would like my mixtures checked!"
Her voice was as soft and smooth as velvet. If she hadn't turned her words into poisoned arrows with her tone, you could have listened to her talk for hours.
"Bring the mixtures here!"
The Division Head, who had stayed dead silent until that moment, gave the order to the proctors standing behind the girl. Thirty sample jars now sat in front of the Division Head, the Second Commander, and the Third Commander.
"This final test is a big deal! We can't leave this to the proctors. I ask for your help in this!"
Even though the Division Head made it sound like a request, everyone knew it was a direct order. Cantankerous Hanry couldn't get out of his job this time; reaching out his hand, he grabbed one of the sample jars.
When the checking process that started like this ended ten minutes later, all three bosses had the chance to look over every single sample. Sometimes they smelled them, sometimes they tasted them, and sometimes they rubbed the mixtures on their skin. But when the work was done, the call from all three was the same.
"Maria Gloove has successfully prepared all thirty herbal mixtures and earned a full ten points!"
The Young Master's joy rang clear in his voice; how could he not be happy? The candidate from his own family had only missed a perfect thirty-point overall rank by a single point.
Right when the young girl's samples were finished, another candidate called out; but totally unlike what just happened, this made the whole pavilion freeze in shock. The one talking was a girl from the common ranks, and she was handing over twenty-nine sample jars sitting in front of her to the proctor.
When Mel looked at the jars in front of the girl, his face twisted up; but when he looked up a bit, he saw the girl smiling. He couldn't make any sense of what was happening. Blessed by the Spirit of the Forest, she should have made all thirty mixtures easily.
The three bosses who were handed the samples to check were just as confused as the robust boy.
"Kids these days are so fast! If you wanted to show off that much, you should have just made up another mixture from your head!"
A wave of mocking laughs rose from the noble side, while the eyes of the young girl who got the perfect ten points never left Mel for even a second. This time, checking the samples took more than ten minutes, and there was only one reason for the delay.
The Young Master wanted to re-check the samples he had already looked at, dragging the whole thing out to almost fifteen minutes.
"I think it's right for me to make the call this time. We have finished looking at the samples; all twenty-nine of the twenty-nine mixtures are flawless. Nine points!"
Cantankerous Hanry, who had been twisting in his seat a few minutes ago, now looked solidly locked into his spot. As he handed back the samples the girl brought up, a priceless smile bloomed on his face.
The fuse was lit; before anyone else could say a word, someone from the noble benches called out. After him, the kids trailing behind him sent their samples up to be checked one by one.
Most of them finished the trial getting tens and nines, with a tiny handful getting an eight. The results made perfect sense. What was really amazing was the kids from the common ranks who jumped in between the nobles, flawlessly making twenty-nine mixtures every single time.
Like they made a secret deal, their mixture count stopped at twenty-nine; they flat out refused to prepare the final one.
With twenty minutes left until the trial ended, every kid sitting on the noble benches had earned their spot in the academy, and right next to them, ten kids from the common ranks had joined their level.
The number would hit eleven counting Mel; everyone knew this for a fact. All eyes were locked on him, dying to see how many mixtures he would flawlessly pull off.
Letting eleven kids from the common ranks into the academy was a massive deal, but even that couldn't cover up the weight of what Mel's score would be.
Since the Division Head and the two Masters were busy grading, the Chief Proctor called the end of the trial.
The proctors standing behind the kids who were still working grabbed the finished jars like lightning and lined them up in front of the three bosses.
Maybe it was a twist of fate, or maybe it was the proctor sticking his nose in too far—nobody would ever know—but Mel's samples sat right at the very end of the line.