Morning in the southern district of the Protos Royal Magic Academy.
Half an hour had already passed since eight o'clock.
The entire complex of buildings was eerily quiet, save for the occasional silhouette flitting swiftly past a dim window.
Today was the Monthly Evaluation Day, officially scheduled to run from nine in the morning until nine at night.
All students required to take part in this crucial assessment had arrived before eight in the evaluation area—a cluster of buildings enveloped beneath a colossal barrier.
The diverse facilities within the enclosed zone were interconnected by an intricate network of elevated walkways and subterranean levels. The examinees had one hour of preparation time to familiarize themselves with the terrain, review the announcements for this session, and select their preferred starting examination room.
During this preparation window, all students were prohibited from using spells, physical force, or magic cards, and none were permitted to step outside the barrier.
Only if a student suffered injuries that triggered the near-death threshold would they be deemed eliminated and escorted out by an instructor.
In a corridor on the first basement level of the evaluation zone, Lanqi and Zestira walked in the quiet.
The far end of the passageway was swallowed by boundless darkness.
Even the silence seemed deepened by the gloomy hallway.
Only sparse lights flickered along both sides, switching on and off at intervals. The marble floor was inlaid with golden patterns that flared into a brilliant, mysterious shimmer whenever the light washed over them.
The two kept their footsteps light, taking in the ornate decorations and location markers.
Along the various corridors they traversed, swathes of magical display screens broadcast real-time notices and the latest bulletins, displaying maps, current zones, and other details.
Their current location felt distinctly like the ruins of an underground transit station.
"These are the ruins of an ancient Demon Realm transit station, now renovated into part of the Protos Royal Magic Academy. Once the evaluation begins, trains will even be running," Zestira explained to Lanqi upon seeing his gaze linger on every detail of the platform.
"No wonder there are still tracks." Lanqi nodded.
From his observations over the past half hour, while the evaluation zone demarcated by the Protos Royal Magic Academy differed considerably in layout from Purgatory Corridor Academy, its scale was by no means inferior in the number of classrooms available.
Though the evaluation zone appeared entirely indoors, the layout shifted with every Monthly Evaluation Day. It was difficult for students to quickly locate the rooms they wanted, requiring a degree of guesswork and luck, with only the distinct insignia on the classroom plaques to hint at their difficulty and type.
Beyond a few basic fixed mechanics, some of the rules varied each month and were released only after all examinees had entered the barrier.
This one hour of preparation was also meant for students to digest the rules.
Zestira had previously given Lanqi a rundown of the basics.
For instance, successfully passing an exam room's assessment yielded credit points.
The evaluation area featured diverse formats—some instructional assessments, others purely testing environments. Meanwhile, the rest areas—resembling cafeterias, infirmaries, shops, and the like—generally carried no danger, but required spending credits.
Over the twelve hours, there were five two-hour testing periods and four thirty-minute rest periods. Only during those thirty-minute rest intervals would the barrier isolating the evaluation zone from the rest areas be temporarily lifted.
In addition, students had to pass at least three classrooms to qualify; otherwise, a punitive deduction of a massive sum of credits would be levied.
Clearing a Difficulty 1 classroom guaranteed a base reward of 10 credits, a Difficulty 2 classroom guaranteed 20 credits, and so forth. Exceptional performance could yield bonus credits even in a Difficulty 1 assessment.
Lanqi grasped it after hearing it just once and asked no questions, which gave Zestira the strange impression that he was already well acquainted with such rules, so she refrained from elaborating further.
"During rest periods, everywhere is safe and attacking others is strictly forbidden. During testing periods, however, any area outside the examination rooms is a free-combat zone. Even inside an exam room, safety restrictions can sometimes be lifted depending on the specific rules, allowing combat."
This was the one point Zestira emphasized to Lanqi again as they walked.
While students would rarely risk harsh punishment by taking another's life, there were always those who favored vicious underhanded tactics.
Both she and Luoqi were on the weaker side in combat and had to rely on the safety mechanics for protection; they could not afford an unrestricted encounter with upperclassmen taking the evaluation or noble students accompanied by powerful servants.
"If someone performs poorly on the assessment, the instructors won't kill them?" Lanqi asked, rubbing his chin in confusion.
While the Protos Royal Magic Academy's version of the rules placed far more emphasis on student conflict and included plenty of extraneous mechanics—such as interventions by powerful professors and upperclassmen off the field—it lacked much of the life-and-death thrill that learning ought to have.
Zestira froze.
She had no idea what kind of savage notion this was.
What kind of school went around slaughtering students at the drop of a hat?
Weren't Southern Continent academies supposed to be paragons of courtesy, harmony, and mutual support?
"Of course there is no such rule," Zestira answered patiently as always.
Exchanging remarks now and then, the two walked along the dim tunnel, their faces illuminated only by the striking glow of identical signposts lining the walls.
Suddenly, the illumination brightened a notch.
"Something new?" Lanqi noticed new bulletins cycling across the crystal screens, many detailing additional rules for this evaluation.
It was already eight forty-five—a reminder that only fifteen minutes remained before the assessment officially began.
"These are extra options limited to this evaluation, such as bounties. Students can initiate them by staking credit points to place bounties on their rivals during the Monthly Evaluation Day," Zestira said, glancing at the noticeboard.
Although the academy took fifty percent as a handling fee, if a student's bounty rose exceptionally high, additional rewards were added.
Because submissions were anonymous, it served as an avenue for revenge.
"Don't worry, Teacher Luoqi. Although quite a few students dislike me, none of them would go so far as to spend double their own credits just to put a bounty on my head."
Normally, even a bitter grudge resulted in a bounty of around a hundred points.
Credits were hard to come by, after all.
A hundred credits was no trivial sum—enough to tempt others into focusing entirely on hunting the target.
Unless someone was targeted by an extraordinary number of people at once.
Sometimes, powerful students focused more effort on bounties and similar supplementary objectives than on maximizing credits from the five exams, as it could yield far higher returns.
"I see," Lanqi said thoughtfully.
"By the way, Teacher, you didn't offend any upperclassmen at school over the past two days, did you?" Zestira asked placidly after studying Lanqi's expression.
"Zestira..."
Lanqi seemed to realize the crux of the matter in an instant.
"Once the exam begins, even if the whole world turns against you, I will protect you."
He spoke with utmost solemnity.
"I don't want to make an enemy of the whole world," Zestira replied, bewildered.
Yet the moment the words left her mouth—
The very next second.
She saw a crystal-clear portrait displayed atop the bounty rankings on every single magical screen lighting up the corridor.
Along with the bounty details:
[Bounty: Zestira Lilom (Servant: Luoqi McCarthy)]
[Total Amount: 135,655 credit points]
[As this total sets a new school record for Monthly Evaluation Day bounties, the reward will be supplemented with a Pink Sacred-grade magic card from the Protos Royal Magic Academy's ancient vaults.]
[If the bounty target successfully completes the evaluation, they will receive credits equivalent to 20% of the total bounty amount, plus one self-selected Pink Sacred-grade reward from the ancient vaults.]
Zestira: "???"
Huh?
Was there some mistake?
Why did it feel like the entire school wanted her dead?!
Chapter 283