"It's definitely one of them," Hendrix said coldly as he watched the students cross over one after the other. Because of the relatively far distance, he could only see faint outlines of their figures.
Furthermore, he could feel that none of the students were at an expert level, which made him slightly confused because, to bypass all the security and even the Guardian Centipede, one would have to be relatively high-level. He then glanced at the other side, noting the two lone figures waiting for the students.
'It's not even them,' Hendrix thought. In truth, the moment the students stepped into the forest, he had already sensed their presence and was actually keeping his eyes on them. But the people he was most focused on were Boris and Wendy because of their tremendous power and high level. Therefore, he remained cautious and didn't intervene directly.
"I don't know how they did it, but one of the students took the treasures," he said.
The clone walked towards the edge as well, and while gazing at the students, he asked softly, "Should we ask for help from the king then?"
Hendrix nodded and began to leave. "Mm, for now, I still can't show myself, at least not yet. Besides, I heard that Nix is also a student of this academy."
"If it's so, then I'll go inform the king." The clone bowed, and after straightening his back, several intricate runes lit up beneath him, and he disappeared in a burst of light. The runes faded gradually a moment later, appearing normal again.
Boris and Wendy watched the students cross over one after the other. Wendy released a sigh of relief when she saw that there was no shortage of students. Although their clothes weren't in the best shape, they seemed relatively fine with no serious injuries.
"I told you they'd be fine," Boris whispered, a faint smile on his features. However, as soon as the students drew closer, that smile vanished, replaced by his characteristic stern expression.
Some time later, everyone went back through the path they'd come from. In a matter of minutes, they arrived at the academy.
"You all have done well," Boris said while sweeping his gaze over everyone in a not-so-loud voice, which was still easily heard by all the students present. "Unfortunately, the results of this test don't matter."
"Is he saying the results didn't matter after we risked our lives to get the fruit?"
"Yes," Boris said and glared at all the whispering students, who immediately kept quiet and swallowed nervously as they felt the weight of his gaze.
Boris continued in a much louder voice than before. "From the beginning, the aim of this test was not about first place or last place. It was about your survival and to determine if you truly belonged to the special class. And I must say, after seeing all of you come back in one piece, I'm very impressed."
"Then what about the fruits?" someone asked out of the blue, interrupting Boris. Everyone secretly glanced at that person from the side of their eyes, noticing that it was none other than Blake.
From the few interactions already, the students had realized that Boris was a stern, no-nonsense man. They were inwardly offering a silent prayer for the masked boy and looked forward to what the guild master would do to him.
However, contrary to their expectations, Boris only cleared his throat as he said in a neutral voice, "The soul fruits are the rewards for participating."
Nox smiled when he heard this. A part of him didn't want to show all the soul fruits in his possession, as that would raise a lot of questions that he didn't really want to answer. It was the reason why he had made plans to reveal only a portion of the soul fruits.
"But thanks to this latest development, it seems I don't have to worry too much about that."
"That's all for now. You're all dismissed," Boris said after a while, and the students, who were excited about increasing their levels with the newly acquired soul fruits, began to return to their respective dormitories as it was already nighttime.
That night, after returning to his room, Nox had a hard time falling asleep with so many treasures lying casually in his inventory. After returning home, he had already calculated the total amount of treasure in his current possession.
There were approximately 12 soul fruits, a million gold coins, and 200 magical items, with the highest being in the Epic rank. With the remaining elemental crystals, Nox could be considered to be very wealthy—one of the wealthiest people in the capital!
But... Nox knew this wealth would be depleted in a blink of an eye because of what he planned to do.
"First thing tomorrow, I'll meet up with Wendy and ask her about the auctions here."
Nox went to sleep with a smile on his face, not aware that the current clone of Hendrix had arrived in the castle. The night felt much longer for some reason; eventually, the sun rose into the sky, and a stream of light filtered through the arched window on the walls.
After taking his bath, Nox attended class. It was still a class by Boris Fanum. Yesterday's test had been a sort of introduction, but in this class, he had taught the students how to handle the sword.
Though it was only the warriors—swordsmen and women—who benefited the most from this class, the others also learned something. For Nox, however, it was an extremely boring class, as he was someone who liked to use daggers.
Yet, even he was very impressed by Boris Fanum's swordsmanship. It was without peer, the best he had seen. He was like a storm, both swift, graceful, and dangerous at the same time.
Watching him, Nox realized that if he wanted to match that speed, he would have no choice but to use Divine Velocity.
After class, Nox didn't linger for chit-chat like the other students and immediately made his way to Wendy, who had been observing the class as well.
Meanwhile, in the headmistress's office, there was a frown on Bridget's face as she looked at the person standing before her. It was the knight commander of the Vermilion Academy.
"Could you please repeat what you said? I didn't quite catch you the first time."
The knight commander frowned, obviously not a fan of repeating himself, but he still answered, as the person in question was not only the headmistress of the prestigious Vermilion Academy but a powerhouse in the capital as well. Hence, he proceeded to repeat himself, saying..