With a loud explosion, the fireball and the dummy disappeared as a number appeared in the air.
"70... C's get degrees. It's not even that bad." Alex murmured as he tried to comfort himself.
After recovering most of his mana, Alex began walking down the path again until he saw another straw dummy ahead of him.
This time, the dummy had a sign that said 'Water me."
With the same process as earlier, a ball of water appeared above Alex's head as he focused all his mana toward his head.
Feeling the size was about right, he redirected it right at the dummy, causing it to break in half as another score appeared.
"Only 63? Fuck..."
Alex began slowly walking towards the next destination, recharging his mana along the way as he could feel his body a little burnt out.
Each spell was draining almost all of his mana. But the biggest issue was his mana regeneration, which was becoming slower and slower.
The third dummy ahead of him was to use the wind element, which he did with a wind blade.
This time, it was a much higher score, giving him an 80.
But knowing he had reached his limit, Alex sat down and started meditating, recharging his mana at a much faster pace.
After feeling fully charged, he finally stood back up and continued down his path.
However, this time, it wasn't a dummy standing in front of the path before him.
Instead, it was some sort of rock golem walking closer and closer to him.
Not wasting any time, Alex immediately took a few steps back before beginning to cast his fireball.
As the fireball reached half its size, he was forced to stop and direct it to the golem, which was getting way too close.
There was only a small scratch as the fireball disappeared after hitting the golem, causing Alex to run further back to give himself more time.
"There has to be a way to beat this... What element counters rocks?"
With time ticking past, Alex suddenly had an idea as he cast a water spell this time.
Rather than making it into a ball shape, he shot it straight toward the golem as a water beam out of a hose.
It did zero damage to the golem, performing even worse than the fireball that was thrown earlier.
But with the entire golem covered in water, Alex started using his mana to cast an ice spell.
"Come on, please work..."
As Alex prayed in his head, the ice spell he performed actually worked as the water started freezing.
Almost all the wet floors were starting to have a layer of ice, as Alex's spell wasn't to create an ice projectile.
Instead, it was just to lower the temperature of the surrounding area, creating a small ice zone.
"Shit!"
Just as the water on the golem started to freeze, the newly formed ice quickly shattered into pieces, causing him to run back again.
This time, he almost slips on the ice he had just created before readjusting himself to run far away enough to think.
"There got to be a way to beat this stupid golem... wait!"
"My score? It's not that good." Alex replied as he turned back to the entrance.
"Camille, you idiot, I told you not to ask that," Evelyn murmured before dragging Camille to the side.
After the two whispered something to each other, Camille immediately ran back to Alex before bowing down.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to ask that earlier."
Seeing Camille apologizing in front of him, Alex was a little surprised. But he didn't mind it at all.
"Don't worry about it... I'm going to get used to it sooner or later." Alex murmured the last part to himself.
With the timer ticking short and short, Mary was the first one to come out.
There was dirt all over her knee skirts and leggings, but she looked mostly fine as she excitedly ran over to Alex.
"Brother! I beat the golem!" Mary excitedly yelled as she ran into his arm.
"Nice, that's good to hear... Is your leg okay?" Alex quietly asked.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine..."
Mary blushed a little as her leg still felt a small little bit of cramps from the period.
"What score did you get?" Alex softly asked, unable to help but gently pat her head as she rested her head on his belly.
"I got 80, 80, 80 and 50!" Mary replied nervously, looking a little down as if she was ashamed of the low score at the end.
"That's amazing! You got almost twice my total, Mary."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I really mean it... Ahem, let's go sit down and wait for Sophia."
The two headed back to the bench to meet back up with Sophia's friends, whose faces looked a little jealous.
"Mary, you really got that score?" Luna curiously asked.
"Yeah, what did you guys get?" Mary curiously asked back.
"I got——"
Before Luna could answer, Sophia was finally out of the challenge with a minute remaining.
Unlike everyone whose clothes looked a little messed up or covered with dirt, Sophia's clothes were completely unscratched.
"Sophia! What did you get?" Mary excitedly asked as she ran over to her, with Alex and her friends following behind.
"Just 82, 82, 80, 80. What did you all get?" Sophia curiously asked as she gently patted Mary's head.
"40, 40, 40, 90," Camille replied first.
"70, 60, 80, 80," Evelynn replied.
"78, 78, 40, 70," Luna replied.
"95, 95, 100, 100," Chloe replied last.
"Two 100? How did you beat the golem that fast?" Sophia asked in shock, with Mary and Alex looking just as shocked.
Even the other three girls looked shocked as if they hadn't expected her to get that high of a score compared to everyone else.