"Ugh…" Kain couldn't help groaning due to the large hole in his abdomen caused by the previous trial.
After exhausting both of his instant refills, he'd managed to reach trial number 12. After the 10th trial, there was a large spike in difficulty, therefore after just barely finishing the 11th and 12th trials, he was eliminated at trial 13.
Kain was pleased. His journey into the relic had been quite rewarding and he was managing to walk away with a variety of spiritual plants, ores, and evolutionary materials for both Eve/Queen and Aegis. Thankfully, the evolutionary material that he hadn't selected in the first trial was his reward for completing trial 10.
However, he had no idea how he compared to his peers.
'It'd be pretty embarrassing if I was one of the earliest ones to be eliminated.' He thought while eating some of the royal jelly to mend the massive wound on his abdomen since being transported out of the relic.
Kain could have waited for one of the healers to come to him, but since the royal jelly was so effective and was able to heal him while providing a sweet treat, he preferred to use it to heal himself usually.
Especially since some contracts with healing abilities had unfortunate side effects such as causing excruciating pain or unbearable itchiness to the wound as it heals. Kain's even head of unusual cases where healed wounds would be temporarily covered by a thick layer of hair until the hair naturally sheds off.
Fortunately, looking around Kain was able to see that all of the first-years except for Serena had already exited the relic.
At the realization, he couldn't help his heart sinking slightly—did he seriously lose to her again?
There were also some second-years that had already exited the relic, but he knew from the conversations he overheard that they'd advanced through the trials much faster than him and reached further along before being eliminated.
After another 10 minutes Serena exited the relic. However, despite her expression and demeanor being like usually, Kain couldn't help but feel as though she seemed a little…tired?
If so, then that was the very first time he'd ever seen any hint of exhaustion on her.
'I wonder what was in her last trial to make even her tired?'
After another 3 hours, all of the third and fourth years also exited the relic and Kain finally determined everyone's performance.
Captain Ezra managed to complete 23 trials before being eliminated.
The Vice Captain Ravi managed to complete 20 before being eliminated.
Of the remaining fourth years, one completed 18 and the other two completed 17.
Among the third-years, the green-haired Jade, who Kain still wasn't fully comfortable around due to her chatty nature, managed to complete 18 trials.
Meanwhile, Dmitri completed 17, Theo 16, and Oliver and a female third-year Kain was unfamiliar with completed 15.
Among the second-years, Kyria completed 16 trials, Alexei, Jin and Rhiannon completed 15, and Cressida only completed 13.
"The first-years this year performed better than usual," said a professor with dark hair and glasses while looking pleased.
Kain had found out that usually the gap in completed trials was usually the largest between the first and second years due to them having never experienced the relic's trials before.
However, the first to be eliminated was Ranya after completing 9 trials, and Kairos after completing 10.
Soren had managed to complete the 11th trial, meanwhile both Kain and Serena had tied and completed 12 each.
"This year we've also decided to reward the best-performing first-year." The dark-haired teacher continued.
Kain's heart skipped a beat. He previously wouldn't have had much hope since he exited before Serena, but since they had both completed 12 trials, then maybe there was some hope.
"As I'm sure you know, two first-year students completed 12 trials each. Therefore, the number of trials completed cannot be used to determine better between them. However, one student, Kain, managed to clear the 12th trial before the other, therefore—"
"Ahem! Professor Sage, while the ability to clear the 12th trial sooner is admirable, wouldn't the length of time one can persist for in the more difficult 13th trial would be a more accurate reflection of strength. Therefore, student Ser—" the blonde instructor interrupted.
"Professor Tameridge, since the trials are different among students, its difficult to compare the times for which a student can persist in a relic. What if Kain's opponent in the 13th trial was more offensively powerful—"
"I could make the same case for why Serena was slower in completing the 12th trial!"
'What is happening right now…?'
Kain and the others looked at each other in consternation as the professors continued to bicker with one another.
"Excuse me professors. We are all extremely exhausted. Perhaps you can just consider the final ranking to be a tie and provide both Kain and Serena with a reward." Captain Ezra interjected after clapping to gather their attention, much to the relief of everyone present.
""Alright…"" They said in unison, although neither seemed fully satisfied with the arrangement.
The dark-haired professor handed over an old leatherbound book to Serena.
"This is a spiritual skill that I believe would be quite suitable for you. Please come to me if you have any questions," Professor Sage said while smiling kindly. Although he hadn't bet on Serena, he was still happy to invest in such a talented pupil.
The blonde Professor Tameridge on the other hand rudely shoved an egg into Kain arms with a slight pout before turning and marching away in a huff, no explanation provided.
Seeing the immature behaviour of his colleague, Professor Sage stepped in, "Don't mind him. He's just a sore loser—although a tie can't really be considered a loss. That egg was something that he'd obtained from a relic when he younger, it was expected that a powerful spiritual creature would hatch from it but after decades it's shown no signs of hatching.
Until recently, he'd actually kept one contract spot always open in the hopes that it'd one day hatch. Hopefully our resident star Evolutionary Planner will be able to come up with a solution." He said while giving Kain a supportive pat on the back.