Chapter 318: Cheaters

Moby inwardly sighed, grabbing a seat next to Regrit, both of them taking a small glance at each other without saying a word as they looked up to the teacher who was preparing to speak. 

"*Ahem…* I would like to once again introduce myself, I am miss Rayna and I'll be teaching all of you about mana crystals."

"It is a misconception that mana crystals and ability crystals are the same thing or made the same way but that is all false as many of you probably know. But, you don't know how false it is! That is part of what we will be learning about today! And then, we will be doing a small exercise!"

"First off, does anyone want to tell me what a mana crystal actually is? The definition given to you in normal school is not exactly right… I don't need exact answers, guesses and educated guesses are all I ask for since of course, I've yet to teach this,"

And, just like that, various hands shot up eagerly in the air, some of them bearing extreme confidence, borderline smugness on their face. They were all keen for a chance at extra points.

"Gary, please give me your answer," She looked at a brown-haired boy at the front waving his hands. 

"Thank you miss!" He stood up gracefully from his seat. "A mana crystal is a crystal infused with the pure amalgamation of mana, made either by certain rare minerals that house specific magical properties or by magical beasts that have similar abilities to that of the crystal created,"

"Thank you, Gary! Very basic and bareboned but still an excellent answer! Easy to understand! +10 points," She slowly nodded, making him smile and take his seat. But, she still noticed the hands of a few students still up.

"Hmmm? Do you have more to add to his answer?" She asked the class, and from their faces, she assumed the answer to be yes.

"Leslie, tell me what you want to add…"

"Yes ma'am!" She shot out of her seat and responded.

She was a short, well endowed pink-haired girl with buckets of makeup on her face. She looked like the typical noble and rich girl that thought she was above everyone. Moby was not one to judge a person by their appearance but it was her attitude and demeanour that sealed it for him… She reminded him exactly of Jayden when they had first met…

"He forgot to mention that the mana in the crystals are absorbed and spun in a clockwise formation around and within the crystal itself, but it's so dense and bright that it was almost impossible to detect," She smiled, 100% sure of her answer, while Moby simply sat at the back with his eyebrows raised.

"Thanks for answering Leslie!" Miss Rayna smiled, "-50 points!"

"WHAT!?" She instinctively blurted out before covering her mouth.

"Are you talking back? Do you feel wronged? If so then please defend yourself if you feel like I'm being unfair.

'Huh… This must be another test… Free points for me…' She thought to herself, somewhat regaining her composure, a smile under her poker face. 

"Yes ma'am, I feel like you are being unjust."

"Interesting… And, where did you get your answer from young miss?"

"Ummmm… I just—" She began to visibly panic, hints of sweat on her face. 

"I'll tell you what it is, your parents who have already attended elite school must have told you that to get ahead of the curb. And, I know you're definitely not the only one. We have made it very clear that information learned here stayed here and are only to be shared with fellow elite school students."

"B-but, he knew I was going to be a future stu—"

"That doesn't matter, the rules are simple! And, I guarantee you already knew that. Other teacher's punishments are more severe so be lucky it's from me. We've all been trained to spot these things, it's not like how it was before. Take this as a lesson and don't do it again, that goes for all of you!"

"..." The class went silent, the students who had their hands up alongside Leslie were also visibly sweating, thanking God they were not the ones picked and embarrassed. 

"Anyways, the answer you gave wa—" miss Rayna suddenly stopped in the middle of her sentence as she looked over towards the back of the class… One person still had their hands up with a confused look on their face despite all she talked about, and that person was non-other than the courageous tardy pants she talked with earlier. 

"Yes Kane? You have something to add?"

"Yes miss, if you don't mind," He slowly stood up from his seat as straight as an arrow and spoke. "Leslie claimed there to be only a clockwise spin in the crystal, but that is completely false! There are three layers inside a crystal, the outer layer, the inner layer, and the core layer. Each layer looks almost identical but analyzed closely, they become much clearer. The outer layer houses a clockwise rotation of mana, the inner layer houses an anti-clockwise rotation of mana and the inside layer is an odd blend of both. I can understand the misconception of only seeing the outer layer since it is by far the most prominent. The anti-clockwise rotation is very hidden, almost like someone is trying to hide it… But, I can guarantee you it does exist."

The entire class was wide-eyed looking at Moby's claim. Most thought he was spouting some nonsense while others did not know what to think.

"Wait… How did you know that? Where you cheating too? No… That couldn't be… This was discovered only a few months ago after the school year ended… No one outside of certain school staff know about this and no articles were published to my knowledge so how…How do you know this!?"

"For the last year, I simply spent a lot of time studying various mana crystals and their make-up and this was something I discovered."

"B-but how!? This took all of our top analysts to discover!? You have a combat ability don't you!?"

"Well, as part of my ability, I have eyes that are very good at increasing my combat prowess and reaction times. But, at the same time, it can also be used for energy-sensing, so I used it for my personal analysis… See…" He flashed his piercing, purple glowing eyes at the beyond stunned class and a small smile appeared on the teacher's face that slowly became wide like she found a hidden gem in a pile of coal.

"If I could give you 1000 points I really would… But, sadly you, discovered something already discovered. So, Plus another 100 points! You truly have a future in this field! I'm excited to see what else you do this school year! Everyone else too! I hope you all live up to this! I am expecting much more from this class!"

"Thank you miss, you're far too kind," Moby smiled before sitting back to his seat slightly disappointed. He expected to gain more points than that. But, what he truly hoped for was that the school did not know the info and he would have been able to show it to them and gain far more points or even certain rewards.

But, this all might have been a blessing in disguise since, from the look on people's faces, many of them assumed he had an inside source within the staff and cheated his way to get the information. He sighed. 100 points were good and he did not have the right to complain, 1000 points just like that might have put an even bigger target on his head. 

"Always such a show-off…" He heard a faint, almost unhearable whisper from his right, noticing it came from Regrit. And, when he looked at him, he was simply staring straight with his arms crossed so he paid him no heed.

"Now, thanks to Kane I can skip the lesson about layers and move to more of a history lesson. I know most of you will find it boring but it's part of the curriculum and very important to know. Most of it will be review and stuff you knew before but there will be new things so don't doze off. After that, I will be showing you all the most important exercise of the entire semester..."