The demons and devils trembled when they heard Luka's threat because they realized that Bel was cruel and merciless. The puny rabbit could unleash a smelly headbutt to make them foam in the mouth. Bel could also transform into a demon king and twist their necks as quickly as snapping two fingers. Thus, the demonkind revered Bel as their ancestor but also feared his wrath.
Bel puffed his chest proudly while Gripper hooted. The two animals secretly hoped that the kids would misbehave so that Bel and Gripper could dish out punishments.
Terrwyn wordlessly led the Elite Class to the far end of the courtyard. Although she felt disappointed that Luka insisted on helping another class, the class representative thought this was a blessing in disguise.
Since Luka wasn't participating in the class training, her classmates had to adopt new tactics without relying on him. In other words, they inadvertently received their emancipation from Luka. Terrwyn thought this was a good development for the Elite Class; thus, she stopped thinking poorly of Luka's decision to train Class J.
On the other hand, Luka was surprised by Terrwyn's radio silence. He thought she would complain about his lack of participation in the Elite Class group training exercises. Instead, she acted like she didn't care at all. Luka felt disappointed and thought Terrwyn valued him very little. Consequently, their relationship grew more distant over the week as the two classes continued to train in the same courtyard.
Luka pushed aside his concerns with Terrwyn and focused on observing the five subparties of Class J. He chose to make five groups out of the class rather than ten parties of five members for two reasons. First, he wasn't familiar with the students and couldn't pick ten leaders out of the entire class. Second, Luka thought that simultaneously supervising ten groups would be more formidable. His decision became validated when the subparties made rapid progress in their teamwork.
Although nobody managed to defeat the Bel-Gripper combo, the teams were generally well-balanced. Also, they adjusted to using magic during combat. For example, Malladar used his pyrokinesis to create small fire circles to split his team into more favorable situations, such as two-on-one or three-against-one, while hemming the remaining opponents to wait on the side. Gimli practically cried with joy when the halfling summoned rock elementals to attack while his classmates served as his bodyguards.
Each team became surprised by these new tactics and spent time discussing ways to counter them. The melee fighters used short-ranged throwing weapons like axes and spears and experimented with shields to defend their mage-leaders.
Luka was pleased by their willingness to discuss and adopt new strategies. He felt the classmates were beginning to trust each other and build relationships. This development would eventually result in better teamwork. Sure enough, the mock battles at the end of the week improved to the extent that some members could predict their teammates' future actions during combat.
On the last day of training, Luka asked every team to fight against his pets. The main reason was to let the students watch and learn how their classmates fight and compare tactics. Some groups adopted entirely new ways of fighting. For example, Malladar trapped Bel and Gripper inside small fire circles while his classmates used slingshots against the two.
However, other teams required minimal adjustments. Joselin's group relied on him as the primary attacker while his teammates targeted the enemy's blind spots. Perrynn buffed his attackers and healed them whenever his classmates sustained severe injuries during combat.
In the end, Bel and Gripper were too tough to defeat. They were elusive, powerful, and worked well together as a team. Nonetheless, this new format gave Class J members a new appreciation for their fellow students and a better understanding of the mages' abilities. Verusha began to develop new combinations for her class, and she planned to remake the five teams with new members.
Before Luka brought Class J out of his domain, Verusha shook his hand. "Thank you for spending a week training our class," she said with a big smile.
"You're welcome," he responded.
"If the upperclassmen bully you again, we will support you," she promised. Although Verusha wished to extend this training program, she heard Luka already agreed to train Class L next week. Luckily, her family arranged a private courtyard to continue the extra training with her class.
"I'll try to stay out of trouble," he shrugged. Luka took out his shadow keystone and brought the students back to the school campus. He immediately returned to take the Elite Class back. "I'm sorry I haven't trained with you guys," he apologized.
"Hohoho! You finally remember which class you belong to, eh Luka?" Terrwyn teased him. "Well, you are the heir of a duke house. As an upper-ranked noble, noblesse oblige requires you to help those seeking your assistance."
"Yeah, we're not angry with you," Kayne added as she hugged his arm. "Instead, you are acting as a model student for all of us. We're proud of you."
"I just wish I had a private elemental plane like this," Elenora said wistfully and stretched her arms. "I can come up with so many uses for this place. Luka, it's a pity that you're only using the courtyard for training," she lamented.
Luka became curious. "What else would you use this place for?" he asked.
"Well, you could store plenty of stuff here. Heck, I would put a carriage and horses along with a caretaker. Unfortunately, this place doesn't have sufficient sunlight, or else you could start a farm as well," she suggested.
Luka shook his head. "I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving animals and a coachman here for the long-term. I worry that the environment may cause physiological or mental changes. Also, if an abyssal creature comes out of the castle, their lives would be at risk."
"How dangerous are abyssal monsters anyway?" Wickkuil scoffed. He thought Luka was acting too fearful over an imaginary boogeyman.
"I fought one in the castle's basement and couldn't defeat it. In the end, I used light magic to expel the creature from this plane. Since you're not convinced, let me show you what it looks like." Luka cast an illusion from his memory and replayed his battle against the monster.
The classmates stared at the monstrous-looking creature, and some immediately puked.
Luka canceled his illusion and cast Cleanse to clean up the filth.
Wickkuil bowed to him. "I apologize for doubting you." The other classmates joined his apology. They couldn't imagine Luka fighting that horrific creature alone. This feat reaffirmed how high Luka loomed above the class.
The Elite Class continued to borrow the private realm to conduct their practices for the rest of the semester.
Meanwhile, Luka ended up training the bottom half of the freshman grade. These students were shocked by his ownership of the shadow realm but agreed to secrecy. The six classes (G through L) made significant improvements during the week spent learning from Luka. The freshmen appreciated his generosity in sharing his insight for fighting in teams and offering individualized advice to the mages to improve their magical proficiencies. Consequently, more students idolized Luka and joined his fan club, swelling its membership well past a hundred students.
Chapter 72
Semester Finals (Part 1)
The school held a freshmen assembly for an important announcement this morning. Headmaster Ladis strolled to the podium to address the students. "Good morning, everyone. Three months had passed since you began attending our Morninglory Royal Academy. And now, it is time to demonstrate what you learned in school. In addition to a written final examination for each academic subject, you will participate with your class in a Battle Royale Event! The starting match-ups between Class A through L will be fairly determined by random lot. The winner will fight the Elite Class in the Finals."
"Also, our freshman co-valedictorian, Luka Heavensfell, will fight in a special exhibition match against the junior grade representative! For fairness, Luka will not participate with his Elite Class in the Battle Royale event."
The students cheered when they heard this announcement. Luka's sc
ore from the first month's field trip made them realize that Luka was unbeatable. Thus, his exclusion from the event gave the other classes a fighting chance.
Ladis glanced at the Elite Class to gauge their reaction. The school official expected the kids to feel disheartened because they couldn't rely on their ace. Instead, the students became visibly excited and gave each other high-fives behind Luka's back! The headmaster couldn't understand their happiness because he had weakened the class tremendously by excluding Luka.
Terrwyn heard the commotion and turned around. "Guys, stop it!" she hissed and glowered with embarrassment.
The chastised students quickly stopped and looked straight ahead at the podium.
The speaker concluded his announcement. "The written exams will take place next week, and the Battle Royale the following week. Your score from the field trip is worth a third of your student evaluation, while the exams and the competition are also worth one-third each. Therefore, your ranks aren't set in stone yet, and you still have room to move up or down. I encourage everyone to study hard and prepare for the finals. Good luck!" Ladis waved and disappeared from the stage.
The homeroom teachers led their classes out of the training grounds in an orderly fashion.
When the Elite Class return to its classroom, Tannyll surveyed the students and noticed that many felt anxiety. The elvish instructor clapped his hands to draw their attention. "You guys are the cream of the crop, and your performance during the field trip proved it. You worked diligently during the semester in my magic class, and I'm sure you're doing just as well in other subjects. Have confidence and believe in yourselves. If you have any questions regarding magic which Luka can't answer, I'll be happy to take a stab," he laughed.
"Thank you, teacher!" Terrwyn said and bowed her head.
Tannyll smiled faintly. "I'm only doing my job. Now, I'm ending my homeroom period early so that you could discuss how to prepare for the Battle Royale. Ciao!" The teacher walked out.
The class representative turned around and looked at Luka, who sat in the back of the classroom. "Luka, it seems that we lucked out when you insisted on training the other classes. The rest of our Elite Class practiced without your participation," she noted wryly.
The other students nodded at her words. They spent a portion of the semester ignoring his presence inside the shadow realm. It felt weird at first, but eventually, the kids adapted their fighting tactics without him. If Ladis expects the Elite Class to fall apart without Luka, the headmaster was dead wrong.
The Elite Class members secretly believed that Ladis sought to place them at a disadvantage. After all, the class comprised of twenty students compared to fifty for almost everyone else. Class A had thirty kids. Luka brought two pets into the party and increased its fighting strength significantly.
But when Luka became a trainer, the Elite Class was forced to adopt new strategies without access to a healer. Even though Luka eventually returned to practice with them, the members made him take a less active role and essentially cast him aside.
The headmaster's unexpected arrangement lit a fire in their bellies, and the students wished that the Battle Royale would begin immediately.
"Since the written and practical exams are worth the same amount of points, we can't afford to exhaust everyone during our training. Should we suspend our practices in exchange for group studying instead?" Terrwyn suggested.
The students thought for a moment before agreeing to her proposal. They were reluctant to cease their sparring and lose their hard-earned coordination. But she was right to point out that the written exams provided the same amount of points for student evaluations. Thus, the class couldn't neglect their studies.
Noram raised his hand. "How should we conduct this group study? Are we going to cover every subject together, or split into smaller groups to focus on different topics?" he asked.
"Well, it depends on which areas you suck at," Thrabruil joked. "For me, it's kingdom law because I have a lousy memory," he admitted with a shrug.
"Me, too!" Several hands raised to support him.
Terrwyn clapped her hands. "Okay, we'll do a quick survey and see who needs help in which subject. And then we'll break into smaller groups." She went to the blackboard and created columns for reading/writing, math, kingdom law, history, and magic theory.
The class rep then put down names of people interested in joining each study group. To her dismay, half the class desired to enter all five groups! "Well, it looks unrealistic to break our class into smaller groups," she complained. "Let's stick together as a class but focus on a different topic each day instead," she proposed.
The students nodded.
"I think we should go over the questions in the textbooks and come up with the ideal answer to each one," Uhaen suggested.
"Sounds good to me!" Thoma agreed. The rest of the class quickly assented to this proposal.
"We'll use this classroom for our study session," Terrwyn said, "and break for dinner at 7.30. We'll stay in the mess hall to continue the group study until 8.45. That gives us more than enough time to return to our dorms by the 9 o'clock curfew."
During the ensuing group study sessions, the students picked out questions from the textbook, and a volunteer wrote the answer on the blackboard. Whenever there was disagreement, they spent a brief amount of time debating until the class reached a consensus. This arrangement permitted the classmates to pinpoint areas where they needed help and ensured that their questions received proper answers.
Terrwyn served as the moderator, and she kept close track of time. On rare occasions where the group couldn't reach a consensus on a question, both answers remained on the board.
Luka didn't ask any questions, but he offered the correct answer whenever the problems stumped his classmates.
For the sessions held in the cafeteria, the Elite Class focused on which chapters would most likely appear on the examination. The students were test-savvy and recognized that the teachers considered some topics unworthy of being tested in the finals. This approach permitted the students to focus their precious time to review some issues and ignore others.
When other first-year students tried to join the Elite Class' study session, Terrwyn rudely made the outsiders sit further away. Wickkuil and his followers enforced her dispersal of these spies.
"What's the harm in letting them listen to our discussion?" Luka asked politely.
Terrwyn glowered at him. "Luka, our Elite Class is competing with the other classes in the freshmen grade. Therefore, all outsiders are our enemies until the finals are over," she replied.
The classmates nodded their agreement with her sentiment. They thought Luka went overboard in applying noblesse oblige because the other classes directly competed with them for top grades. By helping others, they would jeopardize their standing as the top freshmen class.
Luka smiled faintly and declined to argue further. He thought they were being silly but didn't wish to disagree publicly. Besides, Luka belonged to the Elite Class, and his first allegiance was to his classmates.
Finals week arrived, and the royal academy students hunkered down to deal with it in various ways. Some people relaxed to refresh their minds while others tried to cram the information into their brains before taking the exams. Luka took the former approach, and he calmly took his seat in his homeroom.
Luka felt confident for several reasons. First, when Lord Evans tutored Luka, the instructor leaned heavily on past exam questions. Therefore, Luka was familiar with how the academy tested students and sought to trick them with obtuse wording.
Second, he retained Michael Bauer's experience as a student and knew many tricks to steady his nerves. For example, Luka closed his eyes and pretended he was standing at a beach. The gentle wind grazed his cheek, and his toes dipped in cool water. This visual technique helped him relax and brought a smile to his face.
"Are you feeling okay, Luka? Why are you smiling?" asked Yosdrar, who sat in the adjacent chair.
&nbs
p; "Oh, I'm just happy that we're about to start taking the actual exams and won't need to study next week," Luka quickly made a plausible excuse. He thought explaining his relaxation technique would be a hassle.
The classmate nodded because he, too, felt a sense of relief. Once the Battle Royale event ended, the school would begin the winter break. Yosdrar missed his family and couldn't wait to return home.
The homeroom teacher entered the classroom carrying a box. He laid the container on the table and began to distribute the examination packets around the room. "Please leave the sealed envelope on your table until I tell you to begin," Tannyll announced.
Once the instructor finished this task, he returned to the front of the room. "Is anyone missing a packet?" the elf asked. When nobody raised his hand, the proctor continued his instructions. "This is a three-hour written exam beginning from 9 o'clock and ending at noon. I will announce after each hour is up."
"Additionally, I will give a five-minute warning before the period ends. During this time, you must remain in your seat. If you leave for any reason, I will confiscate your test packet. You won't be permitted to return to this room. Furthermore, you may not consult any textbook or other material or speak to another student. Violation of these rules may result in your expulsion from this academy."
"The test package includes everything you require to take the exam. When the examination period ends, you will immediately put your pencils down and return all the material to the envelope. I will go around the room to collect the packets from you. You will remain seated until I dismiss you."
The students waited until the school bell rang.
"You may begin," the proctor announced.
Luka carefully tore open the sealed envelope and inspected the test package. It included a question book, an answer book, two pencils, and an eraser. Today's subject was reading comprehension and writing. Thus, the exam contained an essay and multiple-choice questions.
The test-taker quickly flipped the question book to the last page and read the essay question. It described a scenario where the treasurer was embezzling money from the baron. The treasurer's son noticed an unusual influx of cash and discovered how his father obtained it. The task was to discuss what the discoverer should do and why. The question also asked for alternate actions to consider and why he would decline them.
The Divine Summoner: Godson of Altima Page 59
