Chapter 49: Well-Deserved Rewards

When the trio walked through the regular wooden door they got to a rather lackluster room. They seemed to be in a regular classroom that had three comfortable-looking armchairs. Next to the armchairs was a contracted who politely asked them to sit down.

Then another wooden door opened to their right and a long line of more contracted entered. It reminded Villin of when royalty sent over gifts and had a long line of carriages outside of the door. All of the contracted that entered had a platter in their hands covered by some cloth. They soon stood in three long lines before them.

The first three contracted walked forward and grabbed the cloth covering the first prize "For passing the combat trial you receive a 'Healium Paulatim'. The healing spell can be seen by two different people before the blueprint self-destroys."

The contracted removed the cloth of the first reward and revealed a wooden book. Villin and the others weren't sure how to respond to the treatment they were getting and ended up just grabbing the books.

They were now each holding this spell blueprint but were somewhat unsure where to put it so they put it down next to their chairs.

The second line of contracted came forward as the first took their leave. "For reaching a score of sixty in the combat trials you receive one of the academy's treasured combat spells. You shall receive 'Vinea Tenura'. This spell is now your property and you may teach it as you wish."

This time an iron book was given to each of them, they looked at it with an eager expression before putting it atop the wooden book to their side.

"For being able to get seventy points in the combat trial you will receive one of the academy's treasured defensive spells. You receive 'Sheldium'. This spell is now your property and you may teach it as you wish." as such, they got another iron book.

When the fourth row stepped forward they could tell that whatever was underneath the cloth wasn't another book, it seemed to be quite a bit bigger.

"For being able to get eighty points in the combat trial you will receive one of the academy's secret enchanted objects. This object will be bound to you by blood. If your heart stops beating or you move far enough away from it, it will self destruct. Please use this item carefully and don't allow other people to know you have this item."

The three contracted pulled away the cloth hiding the objects and showed off a normal-looking backpack. The contracted pointed at two distinct points "Please inject magic power at this point to have the bag shrink in size, and at this point to have the bag grow in size."

The trio looked a little confused at their reward at first but when they checked inside of the bag they were surprised, they couldn't reach the bottom even when they put their entire arms in. Villin used his wandless magic to feel deeper inside of the magic bag and noticed it went down another meter, he could also feel there was already an item inside of it but decided to inspect it when he was on his own.

The group tried shrinking the bag and noticed it could become as small as a coin pouch, when they expanded it, it couldn't become bigger than a mountain backpack. The surprising thing about this was that the form changed. The appearance would automatically change depending on the size, as previously stated it would look like a coin pouch in its smallest form and like a mountaineering backpack in its largest one.

They excitedly put their spell blueprints inside of their new 'toy'. And then had to make a small cut into their fingers and push it against the bags while the contracted watched. Each of the bags glowed red for a moment showing they had been bound.

As soon as this was done one contracted walked before Villin, the others didn't get anything this time "For reaching ninety points in the combat test the academy gifts you a lifesaving spell of the highest value. We hope this will allow you to survive for as long as possible."

The contracted didn���t say the spell name and the outside of the wooden book he got also didn't state it. He simply nodded and put the wooden book in his bag. Rein and Kayley looked somewhat curious but didn't say anything, after all, they would also get something the others wouldn't.

That being said, right now Rein was left out a little as the scoring continued, after all, he didn't follow enchanting or pill-making.

The enchanting rewards were pretty standard. For passing the exam they got the second grade's book on enchanting. For getting sixty they got their own higher quality enchanting pens, they could take this home if they wanted as it was no longer school property. And for getting seventy points Kayley got a number of rare materials.

The magic array rewards were similar in nature. For passing they got the second grade's book on magic arrays and for getting sixty points they got a box of magic array chalks, they were high quality and owned by themselves. For reaching seventy points Rein got a booklet though, the booklet belonged to a magic array master. In his school years he wrote down his insights and experiences, Rein got a part of it.

Lastly came the rewards for pill-making. Villin only got the reward for passing which was once more the second's grade book. Kayley also got a cauldron of a higher quality than the one they were using right now.

Everyone thought this was where the rewards would end and they were extremely happy. Even though the rewards for the 'lifestyle' tests weren't as great as the ones for the combat tests they were all extremely happy, even Rein who only competed in the magic array bit, he could hardly wait to study the new textbook he got.

Yet just then two more contracted walked into the room and took their positions. One in front of Kayley and one in front of Villin. They both looked at the contracted in surprise when they walked up.

"For being the first to succeed in all four categories, you will be getting an additional reward. You must choose between the following things. The first option is to receive a large number of magic crystals. The second option is to learn a rare and valuable magic array blueprint and the final option is to have an opportunity to learn the dark arts."

When the trio heard the options Villin and Kayley got presented they felt very shaken. All of them had at least heard of the dark arts, but most of the time it only got mentioned shortly. From what he knew practicing the dark arts meant that when they killed a magus they could walk up to them and steal a part of their web, strengthening themselves. The problem is that you would become reliant on it, if you didn't kill anyone for multiple years your powers will slowly start to wane. The duo thought deeply before making their choice.