The next day, the classroom was filled with the usual chatter of students settling into their seats.

The mood was noticeably higher than normal. The class victory was still fresh, and on top of that, the point results were coming in today. Nobody was pretending to be calm about it.

Studengs were peculating about their numbers, some already calculating what they might have earned based on how many eliminations they remembered getting.

Noah sat at his usual spot on the back bench, arms folded, leaning back in his chair.

Everything was calm for him. Everything was going to smooth.

He looked at the ceiling for a moment.

He thought about it idly. ’Maybe it’s because I have no knowledge of future. Though I do know that there will be unknown danger. But don’t know why ..I don’t feel much anxious or worry. Actually if I did know about events in detail...about storyline. I would have been more stressed, nervous and serious. Just like those edgy lord protagonist in novel.’

A small smile crossed his face at the image.

’I’ll pass on that. I don’t want to be like those. Though I do need to get stronger. And start learning Aura farming. That’s really important.’

As usual he was thinking about nonsense things. Just then the classroom door opened and Morgana walked in.

Today she was wearing a white shirt with her sleeves folded up to forearms. A black pencil skirt that ended at her knees. Below it black stocking.

Her sky blue hair tied in bun.

The chatter died down quickly.

"Good morning." Her loud voice echoed in the classroom. "I hope you rested well over the weekend. A VR battle, while not physically real, but you guys might have genuine mental strain. Hopefully you’ve recovered from it."

A general murmur of agreement moved through the class.

Her amethyst eyes swept across the room slowly, passing over the rows of students. They moved to the back.

They landed on Noah.

He immediately straightened in his seat and arranged his expression into something resembling a disciplined student paying close attention.

Her gaze stayed on him for a beat longer than necessary.

Then it moved on.

"I imagine you’re all waiting for one thing," she said, producing a tablet from her storage bracelet and holding it in her right hand. "So let’s not waste time. Your unit test results will be sent directly to your profiles on the academy app. Check them when you receive the notification."

The classroom moved as one. Phones appeared from pockets and bags across every row before she had even finished the sentence.

Noah pulled his out from his trouser pocket and opened the academy app.

Morgana tapped her tablet.

Beeep!!

Every phone in the room made the same sound at the same time.

Noah found the new section in his profile. It was about academic points. Inside it was, First Unit Test. He tapped on it.

The number loaded.

He stared at it.

Then he stared at it again. His eyes could not believe at what they were seeing.

’10,000 points.’

He read it again.

’That can’t be right.’

But no matter how many times he look at then it remained same,

He sat completely still for a moment, phone in hand. He was really shocked. He had considered getting four thousand points. Maybe less than that. He even considered for a moment that he might actually get less points than Damien.

But now...they were too much.

Around him, the murmuring had already started.

"How much did you get?"

"I got so few. I feel terrible."

"We were buried under the mall. What did you expect?"

"Still though, we were suppose to get points for being winn..."

"Silence."

Morgana’s voice cut through the noise without raising above a certain volume. It didn’t need to. The classroom went quiet almost immediately, with only a few last whispers trailing off a second later.

She looked out over them.

"Everyone in the winning class received one thousand base points. Points beyond that were calculated based on monster eliminations, enemy student eliminations, tactical contributions observed in the recording, and individual performance assessments." She paused. "We also awarded additional points for exceptional conduct during the battle, as we stated we would."

She let that settle for a moment, then continued.

"I will now announce the three students who earned the highest individual totals in this class."

The room shifted. People sat up slightly. Eyes moved around, landing on the obvious candidates.

Most of the glances went to Damien. He had commanded the entire battle, pushed into the heart of the enemy formation alone. He blasted more than fifteen students

in one attack. So everyone considered him as top.

A smaller number of eyes drifted toward the back bench.

Noah noticed but kept looking at Morgana.

"Third place," she said. "Kaelan Nightfall. Two thousand eight hundred and ninety points."

A ripple of reaction went through the room. A few people nodded. Nobody looked particularly surprised, Kaelan had moved through B-1 students quietly and efficiently for most of the battle, and the recording would have shown all of it.

Kaelan himself sat with no visible reaction, his expression exactly the same as it always was.

"Second place." Morgana’s eyes moved briefly across the room. "Damien Ashworth. Three thousand nine hundred and forty points."

This time students gave louder response. Applause from a handful of students, and a general sounds of approval spreading through the class.

Damien smiled and dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement, taking it with his usual composure.

Lyria caught his eye from a few seats over and gave him a small nod.

"And the student with the highest individual point total from this unit test..."

She paused.

The classroom went completely quiet.

"— is Noah Eldritch. Ten thousand points."

For approximately two full seconds, nobody made a sound.

Then the room erupted.

"Ten thousand?!"

"Is that real?"

"How?! How does that even happen?"

"That’s almost three times Damien’s score—"

"He eliminated Travis. The enemy commander."

"But was that emough to get so many points—"

"Commander only gives four hundred points."

"Did Instructor Morgana just say ten thousand?"

Noah sat at the back bench with his phone still in his hand, the number still on the screen. A worried smile formed on his face.

Now he was in trouble. What should he tell others, about how he got so many points.

He leaned back in his chair and folded one arm behind his head.

From across the room, Leonard turned around in his seat with the widest expression he had worn all week.

"TEN THOUSAND?!" He pointed directly at Noah with both hands. "THIS GUY!"