On Friday, Douglas finally unlocked Mana Circulation—just in time. Talk about cutting it close. One day later, and he'd have walked into the written assessment crippled.
After a month of enduring Arcadia's physical regimen, we now had to face a four-hour written exam covering everything we'd learned so far.
As for studying? I didn't bother. My roommates went off to the library, and I sent them off with a smile. When they came back later that evening, they looked defeated—turns out the place was packed. Everyone had the same last-minute idea, and the chaos made it impossible to focus.
Miles grumbled the most. I thought he'd be the most prepared—he was always buried in books. But it turned out he'd been devouring alchemy texts, nothing else. He knew more about herbs, growth cycles, and potion recipes than I did, even with Bookworm. But when it came to ethics, monsterology, or history? He was hopeless. Douglas wasn't much better, though at least he'd been keeping up with theory classes.
So, over the weekend, I sat with them. I broke the material down, walking them through questions and answers, weaving in examples where I could. To my surprise, they caught on quickly. Maybe I'd underestimated them—or maybe Immersion was rubbing off on me, making me a better teacher. Either way, they learned more from me in a few hours than they had from a week of last-minute cramming.
Monday arrived. D-Day.
We woke early, washed up, and grabbed a hearty breakfast in the dining hall. The assessment ran from 9 AM to 1 PM, and we'd been split into groups of twenty-five, each assigned to different lecture halls. Our group numbers had arrived through our terminals the night before.
When I entered my hall, I immediately spotted Nicholas. He shot me a grin.
"Ready to get crushed, Laurel?" he teased.
I smirked back. "Try to keep up, Veil."
We wished each other luck and took our seats. At exactly 9 o'clock, the papers flew from the proctor's desk to the front row, passing hand to hand. A calm voice rang out:
"Begin."
The questions were straightforward.
What could humanity have done to prevent the excessive loss of life during the Fall?
Was the Fall beneficial to human society in the long term?
If an artifact increases overall mana regeneration by 10% and another increases natural mana regeneration by 10%, explain the difference between the two.
Describe the tactical advantage of a three-person formation when facing a Corrupted Beast with high mobility.
I couldn't help smiling. These were exactly the kinds of questions Bookworm had me covered. Every single detail etched perfectly into memory—I breezed through the paper. By the one-hour mark, I had written out thorough answers for everything.
That's when I looked around.
Some students were scratching their heads. Others stared blankly at the questions, chewing nervously on their pens. It was clear who had tried to cram a month's worth of knowledge into a single weekend—and who hadn't. Unlike me, they didn't have the benefit of 100% retention.
At the one-hour-thirty-minute mark, the proctor announced that early submissions were allowed. I figured there was no reason to linger. I stood, handed in my paper, and left.
Back in the dorms, I crashed on my bed and woke up around 2 PM. Curious, I checked my terminal and saw a message from Nicholas:
> "Ran away after an hour? Don't worry, Laurel. If you left half the paper blank, the graders might still take pity."
I laughed. He thought I'd bailed because the exam was too hard! I quickly fired back:
> "Just wait until the results come out. I'll still do better than you."
And just like that, a bet was born. Loser would treat the winner to any meal of their choice once we got our monthly points.
Thinking of food made me realize I was hungry, so I grabbed a quick snack from the dining hall. Then I messaged Douglas and Miles, only to learn they were at the gym. I decided to join them—only to have a run-in.
Literally.
I collided with a girl balancing a tower of books so tall it hid her face. The stack tumbled, scattering across the floor. Her bangs covered half her features too—no wonder she couldn't see.
"I'm so sorry!" I bent down to help her gather the books.
"N-No, it's fine! My fault!" she replied quickly, crouching down beside me.
"Really, let me help. Where were you headed?"
"To my dorm," she admitted after a moment, hugging the rescued pile. "I checked these out earlier."
I offered to carry a few. She refused at first, but I insisted, and eventually she gave in. As we walked, I glanced at the titles—alchemy, history, monsterology, even advanced spellcraft. None of them were ones I'd seen before.
"These aren't from the first floor," I said, curious.
Her eyes widened slightly. "You noticed? I'm a second-year. And… a library assistant."
That explained it. Then she asked me something I hadn't expected:
"Why haven't you been to the library recently? You used to come every day."
I blinked. "You noticed that?"
She nodded, hugging her books tighter. "I handle the entry logs and check-outs. I… couldn't help noticing when you suddenly stopped."
I chuckled. "Simple reason—I ran out of books on the first floor."
Her response floored me. "Then… would you like to become a library assistant? You'd gain access to higher floors, plus a small stipend. Think of it as a part-time job."
I stopped in my tracks. That… would change everything. More books, deeper knowledge, extra points. Exactly the opportunity I needed.
We reached her dorm, and I handed the books back. She offered me a small, shy smile as we exchanged contact info. Her name popped up on my terminal:
Lina Marcus.
By the time I returned to my dorm, Douglas and Miles were already back from the gym, collapsed on their beds. Another day, another surprise.
And maybe, just maybe, a page had turned.