Vol. 8 - Chapter 429 - Test Result! Let's Draw Up a Plan for Summer Vacation!

Chapter 429 - Test Result! Let's Draw Up a Plan for Summer Vacation!

The weekend flew away just as fast as it came, and it was soon Monday.

That said, it was also the day for the results to drop by—for the top 300 rankers, and similarly, for failed students. Thump-Thump-Thump My heart was vrooming in full throttle, even more than the engine of a racing car!

I ate my breakfast like usual, without any shred of worry, with Hannah, and grandly walked off to the academy. Hnn~ the feel of wind on my shoulder as it brushed off against it was like a spot hit right. Yup, today's going to be another sunny day.Thê source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

I parted ways with Hannah and entered the school building. The big display board out there jumped into my vision. It was like a so-called 'quest board' where you would find all sorts of paper with information from academy, quest, guild or party recruitment, etc.

Normally, you will hardly see students loitering around here, considering you can check it in ‹Smartphone› as well. But then again, today wasn't any other day. A crowd of students had already gathered around by the time I arrived here. You know what? Crowd was hardly an apt word. It was so jam packed they had even drowned the display board out of my view. I Couldn't even see the 'd' of the 'display board.'

Oh, right. I forgot, but nearly 4000 people frequent this building after all. It was literally a sea of humans!

Haa, how do I even check my glorious result now? Just when I was wrecking my brain, our guild's reliable butler, aka Celestine, approached me.

"Good morning, Zephyr-sama."

"Why, if it isn't Celestine? Good morning."

"If you would like to, here's the test ranking that I noted down."

Celestine said his greeting and took out some papers with calm gestures.

"You really know when and what someone needs, don't you!?"

"I am humbled by your gracious words."

The papers he had given me telltale the result ranking that I couldn't see among the sea of students. When the heck did he prepare them? Is he trying to become one of these 'urban legends'...?

Perfectly reading what I wanted like an esper and offering at the precise timing—There's no matching our guild's excellent butler, truly.

I offered my words of appreciation and took the paper. I started with top, and the first one—

No.1 - Zephyr 900P

Hahaha, Mwahahahaha!!

That was easy—too easy!! Something like this was as easy as popping a candy for me, once hailed as the database of ‹Dungeon Activity›. Mwahahaha!

Something like general subjects like Language, Math, and History were a breeze—a walk in the park. Language and History were especially like flipping through a guidebook for ‹Dungeon Activity›. History was something I had been constantly pursuing ever since coming here, and at this point, I could confidently say even history questions for 2nd or 3rd years were a cinch!

I don't even want to know about math. It was so easy, you would have to wonder if it was really math. It was literally elementary school level you know. Hmm, but I guess considering where students start here, it does make sense. Villagers don't go to school in this world, after all. Or maybe, considering skills rule the world, they didn't see math as a necessity.

If anything, I would have been ashamed enough to die if I misunderstood the elementary level and used more advanced knowledge, so I did some review in the class for that.

The rest was all about ‹Dungeon Activity› related. Impossible? It doesn't exist in my dictionary. I was actually more careful not to overdo. There's no stopping me once I start rambling about ‹Dungeon Activity› you know?

The 2-day practical tests followed the same fate. I slayed through them.

I knew everything, from the monster's pattern to their route to their attacks and all. There were actually minus points if you tried to brute force your way through the boss battle, so I showed by completely sealing the boss's movement—that said, it was the strategy we have used until now.

I was the first one to complete a material collection. I did it in such a flash that no one could have possibly found any fault. At this point, full points are all made for me.

Overall 900P. Full marks. The grandiose No.1 position. Fuhahaha!

"Congratulations on acing the exam, Zephyr-sama."

"Oh, thank you. But talk about yourself, No. 2, aren't you? Congratulations."

No.289 - Noel

‹Production› or ‹Support› departments had their own ranking lists, so I would have to wait to see Hannah, etc.'s results. But overall, everyone had really worked as hard as they did for the dungeon. Alright, let's send those who made it to ranking a congratulation message.

Fortunately, there was no one on the red list among us. Phew, I could finally rest my hanging heart. It's the fruit of their effort, after all. Not that it matters, but the rest of the boys in class had faces as pale as sheets of paper. No wait, I guess as white as a ghost? Then again, it does not matter.

After classes, all the members—of ‹Eden› and ‹Arc-Arcadia›—had gathered in the D-rank guild house. We're soon going to have summer vacation, so now it's time to take a look at everyone's situation. Seriously, I was happier to see everyone had passed the test than about my top ranking.

I wasn't that worried about the other members, but I was seriously worried about Karua and Lulu. For Karua, I had someone keep her around all the time, which somehow managed to avert the crisis. Apparently, the words of a whisper, 'you might not be able to eat curry if you fail an exam, work like charm.

Lulu, on the other hand, was always under the watch of Celia, and Lulu herself had shown improvement. I mean, Celia's personality kind of subdued her other aspects, but she's one of the wise elfs at the end of the day.

However, the one to make a blunder in the end was Pamela. She managed to sail through all the exams, but at the end she tripped, misreading the material name, and kept hunting down the wrong monster. It was in a nick of time when she finished it. My heart had nearly leaped out of my chest.

Like usual, Sierra and I stepped in front of ‹Sachineko-sama› and started the meeting.

"Everyone. Let me congratulate you on your hard work. It's a testament to your own hard work that both ‹Eden› and ‹Arc-Arcadia› have no casualties. Let's crash into dungeons to our hearts content on this summer vacation."

"I believe there will be some who will be going to visit their home, or some who will remain in the academy during this summer vacation. It would be great if you all could mention your schedule so that we can appropriately sort out the future plan. Of course, just a general gist is fine."

We would be getting our results this week, and starting Saturday, summer vacation would officially start. We sure have quite a few members who would take this chance to return home. It wasn't there in the game. So Sierra was now in charge of handling it.

Let's see who's going to stay and who's not, and accordingly make our dungeon exploration plan. Hmm, if it rings a bell, it's like a part-time job on summer vacation.

"I'm not going back!"

"That's not something in your hand, Lana-sama!"

There was a fierce (?) argument ongoing between Lana and Shizu. Apparently, Lana didn't want to go back. Hey, isn't all preparation for homecoming already complete? I bet she would be forced to go back.

"You guys, quiet down for a minute. We still have more important points to discuss."

"Hn? What is an important discussion? M-Maybe you want to come with me, Zephyr? I mean, if you do, then......"

"Huh, no. I am staying in the academy."

I don't know what she picked up, but she suddenly started fidgeting and mumbling something. And when I mentioned I wasn't going anywhere, she theatrically staggered back like she had received a lightning strike, followed by a teary glare. How should I say it was royally adorable?

Anyway, I was in the middle of talking, right? I cleared my throat to get back to my previous mood.

"Ahem. Alright, listen here, guys. Now that ‹Eden› is D-rank, there are obviously many things that we must do. So, I believe it's also time for us to clarify our plan."

My serious expression swiftly brought in an air of seriousness among other guild members. It was inevitable that some would stay and some would not for the upcoming summer vacation. Which means we were due for the next plan. In this situation, should we use ‹Advance Job Ascension Ticket›? Are we going to start with an Intermediate-high dungeon?

We could only get effective experience for advanced jobs from Int-high dungeons, and this was why we had ignored them until now. But if we're going to start with Int-high, that was a perfect chance. But whether we use them first while Lana, etc. are out is a question that we need to discuss.

Besides, I also need to think about ‹Ranking Battle› starting after summer vacations. So, I don't mind focusing on members and getting them to their maximum level using this vacation. The basic condition for a C-rank battle was ‹15 members› after all.

I don't mind whichever way we take off. Oh right, our assets have been increasing at quite a pace, so I also want to employ the accountant I had promised Celestine. We now have ten more members after all. Celestine had just taken his backseat as support, only to be further swamped with even more tasks with the addition of a sub-guild. Now he was the only one handling all the tasks, so it would be great to have more support to relieve his burden.

And, last but not least, ‹Eden› members need better equipment to make our Int-high exploration easier. Truly, the road to the top is a never ending one, huh?

However, there was something more important related to ‹Eden› and ‹Arc-Arcadia› waiting for us. And that was—

"Now that our member limit has increased, I guess it's time. Well, you must have been waiting for this moment, right, ladies and gentlemen of ‹Arc-Arcadia›. But the wait is now over; let's start with the promotion exam."

—It was finally time to test the mantle of ‹Arc-Arcadia› and see who's fit for ‹Eden›.

T/N - I wonder if there will be the obligatory beach edition~.