Chapter 20: Invitation

Chapter 20: Invitation

We were all called to the auditorium the next day for the announcement of the results.

But in contrary to the powerscaling test, now the entire first years were called as we had all passed the same tests.

Meaning that the room had 1001 people in it, this was to show just how big it was.

When I entered the auditorium, I noticed that the ceiling was extremely high, and the walls were decorated with luxurious furniture and art pieces.

But the most surprising thing was the giant rows of students with their hands behind their back waiting for the teachers to talk.

At the front of the room was a huge stage where all the first year teachers stood.

"Silence" Mr.Volt said and everyone quieted down.

"Now then, let's not waste more time and just reveal the results." another long haired teacher spoke.

"We have prepared a holographic display" Ms.Lana said, and as soon as she finished, a white light shot from the ground and created a floating square infront of each person.

Then the names and the scores showed up on the screen for each individual, and as I looked at the screen infront of my face, I couldn't help but chuckle.

[Kaine Brande]

[Theory Test #1: 100/100]

[Theory Test #2: 100/100]

[Theory Test #3: 100/100]

[Total score: 300/300]

[Did you fucking cheat?]

The comment at the end was unnecessary but I guess it's normal to think like that.

"Sooo... how much did you get?" Mina asked me while holding my shoulder, "just for your information I got 279 hehe"

She looked extremely happy with her results, they were also more than those she got in the novel, maybe the bet actually motivated her to study more...

"You'll see" I told her while grinning.

"Haha! Trying to escape already, I'm not letting you!"

"We were frankly surprised by the results of some of you" a teacher named Killian spoke, it felt like he was directly looking at me though, "here is the leaderboard."

He clapped both of his hands and now a giant screen appeared above the stage, it was visible from all corners so there was no way anybody could miss it.

From the top 1000 to 900, the screen scrolled extremely fast, but once it reached the top 100, it slowed down, we were now able to see the names and scores of the people.

And when it got to the top 10, it completely stopped to let the names of the students be read.

Mina was ranked in sixth place, not surprising.

But at the top of the list, when everyone looked up to see who the highest scoring person was.

They saw the name: [Kaine Blande, 300/300].

"What?!"

"This is not possible."

"That guy cheated."

"Are you an idiot, you can't cheat."

I could hear the whispers from all around, and just as expected, Mina's mouth was agape, her eyes were wide and her ears were drooping.

"You didn't tell me you were gonna get perfect marks"

"I thought I'd surprise you."

"..."

"Now you have to listen to one of my request!" I giggled.

"S-sure but don't be too extreme please, it's my first time..."

I couldn't understand what she meant by that, but I continued, "I'm gonna keep that bet for now and use it later, you're obligated to listen when I ask you to"

"Tsk... sure" she looked disappointed, yet I thought she would be happy she didn't have anything to do... weird.

"The practical exam will be four days from now, on Monday" Ms.Lana started speaking again, "you will have the following days to train or make strategies so use them all, the subject of the practical exam will be revealed on the day at the ARR."

And thus we were all dismissed.

Nobody even bothered to talk to me about my test scores as they didn't want me to approach me, sucks to be a loner I guess.

"No worries, you still were ranked sixth and scored really well" I reassured Mina who was sulking.

"I know, but I wanted to be the best" she pouted.

"Don't worry, you'll get better"

"Okay, let's just drop this topic and eat lunch, I'm starving." novE-lB(1n

"Sure."

We ate together and then headed back to the dorms, I had nothing planned for today so I just wanted to rest.

But of course, the world wouldn't let me, infront of our dorm room were two people standing as if they were looking for someone.

And when they saw us approach, they hurried towards us and one of them spoke.

"The council wants to have a meeting with you, Kaine."

What?

This isn't normal.

Of course I knew who the council and it's members were, but they would normally only try to recruit the main character because of his formidable feats, he would always refuse though so it led to some other arcs, but why would they want to meet with me?

Don't tell me...

Is it because I scored second in the powerscaling test? After all my score was pretty close to Daemon's... did they move on from him to me after all the rejected offers?

"Why do they want to meet with me?" I asked.

"I am not allowed to say, please follow us."

"Can I come?" Mina suddenly said, interrupting the conversation.

"No, only Kaine is invited."

"B-but-"

"Don't worry" I held her hand beforw walking away, "I'll be back soon."

"Please don't take too long."

"I won't."

And so I followed the two men to the council room.

This is bad, I can't let myself be controlled by anyone else, especially the council, they are the most powerful organization inside the academy and have control over almost everything, if I mess up here I might die.

"Let's hope it's nothing important."

***

"Here we are" one of the men spoke, "please wait for a few minutes, we will inform the council that you arrived."

"Alright."

I waited for a bit until they came back and told me to enter.

"Kaine, welcome" a man with grey hair and glasses greeted me as soon as I stepped inside, "we've been expecting you."

There were three people in the room, all sitting on chairs around a rectangle table facing me, the atmosphere was extremely tense and it felt like I was walking into a lion's den, this was weird as the council was formed of seven people, meaning four of them were out.

The protagonist had the choice of accepting or refusing because of his strenght, but could it be the same for me?

"Thank you for inviting me, what is it you wanted to talk about?" I tried to sound as polite as possible.

"We heard that you scored second in the powerscaling test and first in the theory tests among the first years" another person spoke, he had short green hair and was undeniably handsome, "that is quite impressive."

"Ok...?"

"We called you here for only one reason" the third person, a girl with long purple hair and a scar in the right eye explained and asked me the ultimate question, "will you join us?"

I knew I couldn't fight them if it came to it, and that their authority was overwhelming, yet...

"I refuse."

I couldn't bring myself to accept.