How I Became the Strongest Sovereign

Chapter 71 - Baseline Exams

The days went by quickly, I trained Jace every afternoon after school; his progress was steady and he had a real knack for fighting. However, the same couldn't be said for his studying capabilities. He was downright just dumb at this point, I tried my hardest tutoring him but nothing worked.

Naz would also come over once in a while and we'd all study together. The flirtatious chatter between Naz and Jace always left my brain bugging, so very little studying actually happened.

-Flashback to the study session-

Jace sat on Naz's right and occasionally glanced at her while Naz had her eyes glued to the textbook. I sat opposite Jace, trying not to sigh at his awkwardness.

He looked up at me and I mouthed subtly to him, "Compliment her." I widened my eyes and slowly nodded in Naz's direction.

Jace looked like he was doing maths, his brain loading and intaking as to what I had just signalled him.

"Ohhhhhh" he quietly whispered, making Naz look up at him.

I quickly ducked my head back into my book, pretending to work.

"What?" she said, putting her book down.

Jace absolutely froze at her eye contact and his brain just buffered. His eyes darted everywhere and I could see the clear sweat running down his forehead. "Uh-uhm- you look pretty today…"

Naz froze, her cheeks growing noticeably red. Their eyes met and silence filled the air, creating an awkward atmosphere. Under the table, I slightly nudged Naz's foot, snapping her out of her trance.

"Ahem… T-Thanks." she stuttered, her face now redder than ever. "I'm gonna go get some water." Naz ran out of the room in a hurry, towards the kitchen.

I watched as Jace's eyes trailed behind her. He sulked, dropping his shoulders. "I messed it up." he whined.

"I think that went pretty well. I mean, you did get a reaction out of her which is a good thing." I picked up my pen, leaving him with his thoughts

**

There was still no sign of Malia waking up, Mr Xanxus told us he'd just give her predicted grades, so she wouldn't miss out just because she was unwell. Mother checked her state daily but no good news was shared each time. It made me worry. When would she wake up?

Mike on the other hand blamed me for everything; his constant moaning and blaming further added to my anger and at one point I was tempted to rip his tongue out, but I had to control myself.

**

I stared at the clock, I had 15 minutes left to finish the Mana history paper. I received face to face teaching from Miss Elena during my 8 year period training, due to that I knew most of the curriculum.

In my free time, during my training period I visited the library that Gramps owned, often reading different types of books, from books about what kind of beasts existed in the world to autobiographies about famous mages. This helped me increase my general knowledge about the new world I was in.

"Psst! What's the answer to question 5b?" Jace whispered to me, coughing after to cover up and not bait out that he was cheating.

"King Henry." I whispered back.

I had helped him for almost all the written exams. Even though we were in a hall with many invigilators, we realised that the poor old invigilators had extremely bad hearing. This allowed Jace to cheat by getting answers from me.

The time went by quickly and the written exam finished. I yawned, rotating my wrists.

"That test was so hard!" Jace whined.

"I found it quite easy." Naz popped up next to him and the both of them walked forward, leaving me behind. I didn't bother catching up to the couple and continued walking with the crowd. Being the third wheel wasn't my thing.

"Shush you cave troll!" I heard Jace say as their voices muffled with the crowd's noise.

Suddenly, I got pulled by the arm and taken out of the crowd. I stared at the hair of the girl and knew who it was. I moved my hand out of her grasp in annoyance.

"Sara. What do you want? I have no reason to talk to you. I asked you for the truth and you gave me false facts about what happened on that day." I said, my annoyance evident in my body language. After my return, I got the details from Naz and Jace (during our study sessions) about what Sara had told them.

Sara argued that she didn't remember anything but to me she told me a whole new different story, blaming Malia and making up a story that Malia was the beast. She really contradicted herself.

"But Zeref, I told you what happened. She attacked me and even bruised my face with her claws." She came close to me and pointed at the light marks on her face; I stepped back instinctively. She was no longer the girl I knew and it disappointed me gravely.

Thinking back at how innocent and fragile she was before, compared to how she acted now, it disgusted me.

I felt betrayed.

Was all that happened before just a façade? Was it all just a mask she wore in front of us? How could she change so drastically? Did I even know Sara?

"Please Zer-"

"Get out of my sight." I said releasing a little killing intent. She whimpered and stepped back before heading out the exit with tears in her eyes.

I pivoted on my foot and headed to class for my mana manipulation Practical assessment, in a sour mood.

**

"Welcome back students, I hope you all revised well for this test. I expect all of you to pass. This exam will be fairly simple, all I want you to do is inject mana into this crystal ball.

"This crystal ball will rapidly absorb your mana, people who can't control their mana outflow will end up depleting their mana in a matter of seconds. Therefore, you must control your mana outflow and input a steady amount of mana into the ball.

"The purpose of this exam is to see who among you actually practised and learned during my lessons. Now begin!" Professor Severin, our mana manipulation teacher announced and everyone started infusing their mana into their crystal balls.

For Jace and I it was easy, we absorbed the world's mana into our mana pools while also controlling the mana output into the crystal ball. As a result, we were able to create an endless cycle of balanced input and output of mana.

I looked around and after 15 minutes ? of the students had already failed the test. Their crystal balls had shattered and most of them cursed at their luck.

"This is a test for commoners! Why should we do this stupid test?!" A noble kid shouted, smashing his hands on the table.

The room we were in was like the university lecture rooms back in my old world. Most of the lesson rooms were like these ones except the form rooms.

"Behave yourself young man!" Professor Severin shouted, his voice amplified with mana.

"Some students are still in the midst of their exams. Sit quietly, I'll see you after this exam is over and 500 Merits will be deducted from your balance. " His voice was cold and strict, making the noble kid sit back down in his seat. I smirked at the teacher's reaction.

Merits were points that were awarded to students, it could be deducted or increased, even the grades could be converted to merits. At the end of every year, the official rankings would be released according to who had the most merits etc.

The top 3 students were normally given special artefacts - specially designed and crafted for them - as rewards. They were also invited by the royal family to attend a party, with other top 3 students from other schools.

I didn't really care about the party but the artefacts were a different matter. I could get specially designed items for free, made by the most talented enchanted blacksmiths in the Kingdom. Who would miss this opportunity?

I had missed almost half of my last year in school, so I couldn't rack up as many merits. My rankings last year were 141/200 students.

School became a bit different from the 4th year and onwards. Students would pick a subject or subjects they wanted to specialise in, this could be combat, mana history, mana manipulation, beasts & art and others to choose from.

The qualifications they earned by graduating at the age of 18 would then help students to apply for different jobs or pursue further education after leaving school. For example, a student picking a specialisation in combat may pursue a job in the military.

The 4th year was when school got serious.

However, I had different plans; I wasn't going to waste my time here. My goal was to succeed in the candidate tournament and to do that I needed to get stronger. Staying here and wasting my time studying here wouldn't bring any benefits here. At the end I'd just be a servant of the kingdom, working under them.

Therefore, I made a decision to quit school after this year.I wanted to travel to the other kingdoms and learn new techniques and venture for new experiences, being stuck up in this kingdom wouldn't bring any benefits. I worried that revealing this information to my mother would cause havoc, that was my only issue.

"5 minutes left! Don't lose focus. 5 minutes more and you pass this exam." Professor Severin's voice echoed throughout the hall.