Professor Li’s class continued as usual until he neared the end of his lecture.
’’Before we end class,’’ he started, ’’I want to talk about the rankings of the previous dungeon exercise.’’
All students remained quiet, staring at him with expectant eyes.
’’These will come as quite a shock for some,’’ Professor Li continued, switching to a different page. ’’While others have been aware of this for a long time.’’
A large list of names and the cores they recovered appeared on the hologram.
As Professor Li zoomed in on the top ten, several gasps went through the classroom.
’’People managed to kill C-rank creatures?" they whispered, confused.
’’But how...’’
’’That should be impossible.’’
’’No group with three Bronze Cores should be able to do that...’’
Students murmured all through the class.
Notably, students from rich backgrounds stayed silent, clearly unsurprised.
’I wonder what happened to our score,’ Logan thought, not finding his group in the top ten.
Professor Li raised a hand, signaling the students to quiet down before continuing.
’’For those of you who came through the ordinary assessment to get here,’’ he said, ’’look at your student mail and sign the agreement inside it.’’
Logan raised an eyebrow, finally understanding what was going on.
’The people from ordinary backgrounds don’t know about SSS-ranks,’ he thought. ’Professor Li must be revealing that here.’
’’Each and every single one of you is trusted to keep this information secret as future pillars of the world,’’ Professor Li continued, his voice cold. "Those who don’t sign the documents are free to leave the university—for good."
The ordinary students looked at each other for a moment before immediately signing the papers.
Glancing at the returning mails with signed papers, Professor Li nodded in satisfaction.
’’Good,’’ he said, seeing that everyone had filled in the documents and sent them back.
As he explained the existence of SSS-rank affinities to the ordinary students, Logan heard a soft beep go off on his watch.
’The official rankings?’ he thought, raising an eyebrow as he looked at it.
Logan opened the message and stared at it for a second before pushing it away again.
’As expected,’ he thought, shaking his head. ’We are temporarily disqualified, pending investigation.’
Slowly looking around the class, he noticed the ghost-white looks on most of the ordinary students.
’Seems like their worlds just collapsed,’ Logan thought, smiling lightly.
’’My group placed 17th!’’ Grant suddenly said beside him, loud enough for several rows to hear.
A few students nearby turned to glance at him with surprise, even offering congratulations.
Logan gave him a nod and a firm pat on his shoulder. "Nice work," he said. "You’ve earned it."
The tension in the classroom began to fade as students whispered among themselves.
Some still digesting the revelation about SSS-ranks, others scrolling through their personal results with wide eyes.
Professor Li cleared his throat once more, attracting everyone’s attention.
"That will be all for today," he said. "Dismissed."
The moment he said it, the sounds of people shoving chairs back and voices filled the room as students headed for the exit.
Logan stood up, stretching as he looked around the class.
He hadn’t felt Derek’s usual burning glare on him today, which was surprising.
’Guess he skipped today,’ he thought, wondering what kind of shady plan Derek was up to.
’’Logan,’’ Robert tapped on his shoulder. ’’What ended up happening to your results?’’
’’Disqualified. Pending investigation,’’ Logan shrugged, pushing thoughts of Derek aside as he continued chatting with his friends.
Stepping outside the classroom, Logan quickly waved them goodbye before heading off to the library.
’I wonder what’s up with Livia,’ he thought, worried. ’She seemed so serious.’
Heading to the library, he couldn’t help but remember how close they’d been to death.
Finally knocking on the same private study room they’d been in before the incident, Logan calmed himself down.
The room slid open slowly, revealing Livia’s stunning figure, without veil or thick robes around her.
Logan paused for half a second. It was the first time he’d seen Livia in casual clothes that outlined her features so clearly.
’’Good to finally see you,’’ Logan said, the door slowly shifting shut behind him as he walked in.
Livia glanced at him in silence. Her expression was completely unreadable—not that Logan was paying attention to her face anyway.
’’Please sit,’’ she said after a moment of silence, gesturing to the chair in front of her.
Logan nodded and sat down, noticing the weight in her voice.
The atmosphere in the room felt heavy as Livia remained silent for some time.
’’What’s going on?’’ Logan asked, breaking the silence.
Livia looked at Logan with a pained expression in her eyes.
’’First of all, let me thank you again for saving my life,’’ she said, her voice quiet.
Logan shook his head, waving it off.
"We saved each other’s lives. Without you, I probably would’ve died too."
Livia shook her head, knowing it would’ve been easier for Logan to run off on his own.
Her small smile quickly vanished as she continued.
’’I have some bad news and good news,’’ she said.
Logan frowned, staring at her. ’’What’s the bad news?’’
Fidgeting with her fingers, she looked away from Logan’s eyes.
"I’m afraid you and your company have unintentionally become involved in the Imperial Church’s ongoing conflict," she said, finally looking at Logan.
Silence fell as Logan stared down at the table to digest the information.
’’The ongoing conflict with the Holy Cross Guild?’’ he asked seriously as he locked eyes with her.
Livia nodded quietly, guilt and shame appearing on her face.
Logan fell deep into thought as some things started falling in place.
"How exactly is the Holy Cross Guild trying to involve us?" he asked, already forming a guess.
Pulling up a hologram chart with rows of information, Livia started talking.
’’They plan to use the Alvarez family as a proxy to eliminate our influence in North America,’’ she said, showing large amounts of resources being transported to the Alvarez family.
Livia pointed at Logan.
’’And that includes you.’’
Everything fell silent again as Logan’s expression didn’t change, having come to the conclusion himself long before Livia told him.
’Fucking great,’ he thought sarcastically, cursing that he couldn’t get a single moment of rest.