Chapter 137: End Of The First Test

That night I slept rather peacefully. Although I did feel slightly dirty with how I was unable to take a bath but besides that, I was rather bored. I already killed everything in my area, so I had nothing to do until it was time to go back. So all I could do was lean against the wall of the cave and close my eyes, and rest. 

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Alissa sat on a rock, looking up at the sky. "I wonder how Rei is doing..." Alissa felt slightly lonely not having the girl she loved by her side. "Everything has changed. I am no longer on the same loop. I hope in the future things will also differ. No matter what happens, if this kingdom goes to war like it is supposed to and Rei ends up on the battlefield, I will protect her with everything I have." 

Alissa was resolute on this. She would put down her life for Rei. She herself did not know how many times her life cycle would repeat. But for the first time in her life, she truly loved someone from the bottom of her heart. Unlike before, where she was forcefully going through the list of the male leads causing them to fall in love with her, get married, have a family, then die, this time, she wished for nothing more than to finally end this never ensign cycle. But even if she had to start over again, she would find Rei and bring her out of that horrid house and protect her. 

Letting out a sigh, Alissa leaned back and closed her eyes as the morning sun warmed her body. "I miss Rei..."

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In another area, Able plucked a fruit from a tree and took a bite from it before quickly spitting it out: "Bleh, sour… I wish we didn't have to wait the entire twenty-four hours. I would have liked to start the next test already. Out of the three of us, I feel Rei probably killed everything in the zone without caring about her surroundings. The whole place is probably a wasteland now." 

Chuckling to himself, Able plucked a slightly lighter color fruit from the same tree, wiped it off before taking a bite. "Just right..."

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"Test is over! Everyone will now be teleported out." A booming voice fell into my ears, and before I had a chance to prepare myself, I was already transported back to the Academy's entrance.

"Rei!" Both Able and Alissa ran up to me and hugged me tightly. Feeling their warmth made me smile as I hugged them back. 

"How did you two do?" I asked. I was curious as to how well they did.

"It took me a while, but I was able to get rid of all the monsters in my zone." Alissa answered first. She seemed very proud of herself.

"I also cleaned up my zone." Able replied proudly.

"So did I, so it looks like we are all tied on this test." I smiled and held both their hands, intertwining my fingers with theirs.

Our intimate actions brought a lot of attention to us, but I could care less what people thought of us. I loved both Alissa and Able, and that was all that mattered. The three of us found a tree to sit down on. Alissa used my lap as a pillow while I leaned my head on Able's shoulder. I ran my fingers through Alissa's hair, causing her to purr like a cat. 

As we were relaxing, Dean Forthson appeared once again. He stood in front of all the students with a smile on his face. "I want to say out of all my years as dean, I have seen many monsters appear. But the first test proved that monsters sometimes gather in three. In the first test, three people killed every monster in their area. That is one thousand monsters! In order to rank them, we went by who killed the monsters the quickest. First place, Rei Lancaster! Second place, Able Ronstine! Third place, Alissa Lancaster! These top three will be seeded in the next test. For those who failed to kill ten monsters, well… I can only say better luck next year. As for the rest of you, we will begin our next test right now. Everyone except the top three will draw lots. 

"This will be a one on one battle competition. You need to have at least one win under your belt in order to move on to the next test.  Three battle stages will already have the top three from the first test occupying them. There are ten battle stages in total. If you wish to be the king of a battle stage, then you need to be sure to defeat the one standing on it. You can choose to fight or not to fight but remember you need to win one battle to go to the next test. Once two people enter a battle stage, no one else is allowed on it until one person loses. Who goes up first is up to you." Dean Forthson grinned as he scanned the crowd of hopefuls.  "Rei Lancaster battle stage one, Able Ronstine battle stage two, Alissa Lancaster battle stage three.  All the other battle stages are free for all. By the way, the ones left on a battle stage at the end of the test will gain twenty merits which can be used to buy things in the Academy pavilion. Let the second test begin!"

The scene before became really chaotic. But this seemed to be Dean Forthson's plan since he only stood there and smiled as he watched as the hopeful students pushed and shoved their way to the stage. No one dared to outright fight until they got on stage in fear of being disqualified. Although the rules did not state this, there was still a chance that this could be the case. Able, Alissa and I did not have to join in on this melee since we were seeded. I helped Alissa sit up and gave both Able and Alissa a kiss on the cheek before standing up. As I stretched my arms and legs I smiled and said: "Hopefully we will both still be standing on stage in the end. Good luck you two!"