Trudging their way through the sea of people, they somehow made it to the board displaying the list of examinees that passed the exam.
Arvell had eagerly waited for Wilfried to use his authority as a duke to make the people blocking their path give way, but he didn't seem to have any intent on doing so.
It was one thing to abuse your authority, but in situations like this, it was better if he did order them to make way.
It was a perfectly understandable circumstance, but Wilfried declined to do anything about it.
Luckily the people in the crowd had no intention of completely blocking their group from reaching their destination.
While they managed to reach their destination, it took quite a long time to do so.
Arvell leaned in and began to read through the names listed on the board.
[Brant Styles: 60 points - Pass]
[Reginald Pilgrim: 59 points - Pass]
[Hester Daniels: 59 points - Pass]
'These are categorized according to the number of points each student got in the examination process.' Arvell noted.
He followed along the board to the very last name.
[Aarron Kidd: 50 points - Pass]
'Every name above 50 is a pass....'
Arvell assumed that the points they gained were a numerical representation of their individual scores for each examination stage.
The results didn't show a detailed breakdown of their marks, so this was all Arvell had to go off of.
Not that he really cared about his individual marks.
For him, as long he made it in, it was enough... As long as it wasn't too high or low.
He knew not standing out was a pipe dream at this point, but he still wanted to try.
Even though he already made it known to Silvercolts that he was pretty strong for his age, he'd rather not deal with the headaches that accompanied being someone who stands out among his peers.
The people who stood out typically had to deal with the problems brought about by popularity, such as dealing with people constantly pestering them.
It was a pain, to say the least.
'Please don't make me stand out more than I already am.'
???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-????????????.????????????
Arvell earnestly hoped as he slowly scanned over the names in the middle section of the board, the area which displayed the participants who reached the average passing mark of the examinees.
Which was around 65 points.
Since his marks for the first 2 examinations should be around the average, even with his possibly high final examination mark, he was most likely in the middle to the high-middle section of the board.
'Where is it?' Arvell continued to scan for his name but to no avail.
'Did I skip over it?' But, Arvell wondered, 'there's no way someone with senses as good as myself just glossed right over it, right?'
However, his thoughts were interrupted by an energetic yelling of a certain 13-year-old boy.
"Arvell! Come check this out!"
Turning his head in response to hearing his name, Arvell saw Zen beckoning him over.
'What is it?'
Letting his curiosity get the best of him, Arvell walked to Zen, who was standing at one end of the results board.
"You called?" Arvell asked after walking up to Zen.
Zen pointed his finger at the board
"Take a look at this; you wouldn't believe it!"
Arvell turned his attention to the place which Zen pointed out.
"Hmm? Isn't this the section of the board used to showcase the students with the highest grades?"
"Exactly! Look at the name right there, in the 'Number 1' spot."
Sweat began forming on Arvell's neck as he made his best impression of a deflating balloon while letting out an exasperated sight.
"Fuuuuuuuuhhh..."
Before even looking, Arvell could already figure out more or less what happened, but just to confirm his theory, he took a peek.
[Arvell Silvanus: 94 points - Pass]
Arvell felt an urge to bash his head into a wall.
Why did he get first place?
Weren't they supposed to cover up his involvement with taking down the rank 2 beast?
If so, then why did they do this? It makes no sense!
"Wait right here; I'm going to bring everyone here to show them!" Zen announced before taking off to go find and bring his family back.
Arvell saw many nearby students lamenting about not getting in or letting out cheers of excitement after knowing they had passed.
Unfortunately, he didn't fit into either group, being the only person to be angry, even after knowing he had passed.
'Welp, there goes my peaceful academic life....'
"Congratulations, Mr. Rank 1."
Hearing the voice of a mature woman come from behind him, Arvell turned around to see Professor Orfina standing behind him with a smile.
Arvell looked at the board before looking back to professor Orfina.
Walking up to her, he whispered, ensuring no one nearby could hear him.
"Weren't you going to make it look like I never contributed to defeating the rank 2 beast? If so, then what is this?"
Professor Orfina lightly chucked when she heard Arvell's words.
"I'm not going to lie, your mana core examination results were a little behind your peers, especially compared with the geniuses in your grade, but your written examination results were one of the best I've ever seen. Getting first place shouldn't be a surprise with a test as well written as that."
Arvell looked at Professor Orfina with a dumbfounded look.
"What do you mean? My results were average, at least they should be."
Professor Orfina smiled slightly at Arvell's words.
"If your written score was average, I'd like to see what exactly you consider a 'good result' if something like that can be even topped in the first place."
"How is that so? After doing the test, I felt like I got only around 80-85% of it correct. Isn't that the mean mark range?"
Professor Orfina shook her head with an amused expression.
"Where did you get that information from? Whatever it was, it was obviously a relic of the past."
'Ouch,' Lykos cringed.
He'd personally reinforced Arvell's Idea that around 80-85% should be a good mark range since those who wore Lykos's pendant before Arvell all had a similar grade range, even during the academy days of the current Queen of Elantrya herself.
Neither Arvell nor Lykos had expected them to change the grading scheme like that."
Professor Orfina continued, "the exam questions now are far harder than they were in the past. The mean mark range on the written examination was, in fact, around 45%, while you, on the other hand, managed to score an 85%, almost doubling that."
She pointed to Arvell with her index finger, more precisely at his head "you have a good brain on your shoulders."
"So... I've heard."
"Also, the number of coins you collected during the final examination was also the highest in your grade."
'F*ck, I wanted to farm for coins the first day and a half and then take it easy. Then, if the other examinees had gotten the final day to gather coins, my final examination results would have been more on average.
Arvell felt like there was some higher being screwing with him.
How did this many coincidences work out like this?
He couldn't predict or plan for any of them.
Now he had to deal with the aftereffects.
There was no one entering Skysword academy that wouldn't hear of his name, being ranked first during the entrance examination.
Arvell gave Professor Orfina a once-over.
"So, why did you come here to explain why I got first? I'd assume you normally don't do this to everyone."
Professor Orfina's mouth curved up into a smile.
"You're right about that. I came for another purpose: to meet with a member of the Silvercolt ducal house. Finding you was just a way I could find them faster." Professor Orfina stated.
"A member of the Silvercolt Ducal house?"
'She must be talking about Zen; after all, he's entering the academy this year.'
"The Professor is talking about me," a feminine voice responded from behind Arvell.
Arvell turned his head to face the person behind him, and as he suspected, the one behind him was none other than Angela.
"Angela?" Arvell asked, confused, "I assumed Professor Orfina was talking about Zen."
Angela raised an eyebrow.
"Zen?"
"Yeah, he's joining the academy this year, after all. So I assumed the professor wanted to give him a few words of advice."
"While that is a good idea," Professor Orina responded, "I need to discuss some student council-related information with Angela."
'Wait... I remember hearing from Angela that she and James were on the academy's student council team.'
"As the professor in charge of the student council, it's my responsibility that it's properly run."
Professor Orfina turned to Angela.
"Now, Angela, would you mind accompanying me for a little bit to my office?"
Angela nodded her head before turning to Arvell.
"Tell everyone I'll be back in a bit, but first...."
She walked up and gave Arvell a hug.
"Congratulations on passing!"
She gave Arvell a tight squeeze before following Professor Orfina onto the academy grounds, quickly disappearing into one of the nearby buildings.