Ch.202202 – The Reason for Slipping in the Rankings

# 202 – The Reason for Slipping Ranks

Cassia asked before crossing the river.

“Why did you make such a strange contract?”

“You mean about not starting the riding competition until 100 people pass through first?”

“Yeah, that.”

“If I pass through alone, I’d get good grades, but that’s a trap!”

“A trap?”

“Remember how the Principal’s Teachings lecture didn’t mention any specific test?”

“I remember.”

“Well, actually, it’s taken together with the Advanced Class Physical Training!”

“…One test counts for two lectures simultaneously?”

“Yes! And they also calculate the rankings of people in your team, and the grades of students in the same group! So if someone from the frontier passes through alone, their grades will suffer.”

Cassia couldn’t understand.

Instead of clearing up her questions, they only multiplied.

“How do you know all this?”

“I have a friend who’s good at eavesdropping!”

Eavesdropping on the Principal himself, not just any professor?

The more she thought about it, the more absurd the answer seemed.

“So you’re not going to cross?”

“If it affects my grades, I have no reason to refuse.”

“Irene will cross too. She won’t let the Hero get good grades, right?”

“…That can’t happen. Leave the interference to me.”

With that, all the frontrunners crossed the river.

Thanks to them, Oknodie felt relieved.

“Heheng. Easy peasy.”

All the elements needed to fulfill the area-control meta of single-handedly blocking the student army were now complete.

Send the powerful competitors ahead first.

Get certification through divine language to prevent hostile NPCs from returning and causing trouble.

Hide Mamoqs under the river to catch others off guard.

From now on, whether students entering the river can cross or not depends entirely on her will.

‘I might lose some points, but I can make up for it in other ways!’

Using the branches of the Mamoqs, she caught plenty of underwater monsters swimming in the river.

The ink-spewing octopus monster, Ink Octopus.

The sticky squid monster, Sticky Squid.

The starfish monster that spins toward moving objects for body slams, Pentagon Star.

All were seafood that could be grilled and eaten.

Teach those Imperial students a lesson.

Help out the frontier students.

Earn test scores at the same time.

Complete the monster collection simultaneously.

If things go well, she might even reach the goal riding a golem before the advance party of 100 who wasted time looking for escaped mounts!

That would mean acing two Advanced Class tests at once.

Gaining so many benefits at once—isn’t this the true mark of a veteran player?

Oknodie’s shoulders rose proudly as she basked in her self-satisfaction.

* * *

Arcadia muttered blankly, enjoying the smooth ride of the Mamoq that remained steady even amidst the whirlpools.

“Is this right…?”

Arcadia had been leading the frontier students and guiding the second group through the test.

Even though she knew it was just a test, she couldn’t help but tear up a little when she heard things like “Please go ahead, Lady!” “I’ll handle this!” and “Thank you for everything until now. It’s my turn to repay your kindness” while being chased by the second-year main force.

On the opposite side, Duke Andersen’s group, who had also escaped with considerable sacrifices, was equally battered.

“Arcadia. You look terrible.”

“Hmph. You’re one to talk, Lord Andersen. There’s blood flowing from your head? …Actually, that’s a lot of blood! Shouldn’t you get that treated?”

“Ah… is this amount of bleeding so little? It’s fine. This happens all the time in lectures.”

What kind of lectures is this person taking?

Looking closely, all the male students remaining by Duke Andersen’s side were those who attended the same lectures as him.

Having heard that he only selected the toughest lectures, with over 80% of students dropping out, the remaining elites had an extraordinary look in their eyes.

“Ah, Arcadia! I’ve been waiting for you to arrive. Hurry and cross!”

“Oknodie!? What are you still doing in a place like this!”

“Come on. How could I cross alone without Arcadia?”

“Oknodie…!”

“As for Duke Andersen, well, I’m feeling generous. You can cross together too!”

She spoke like a kind market vendor throwing in something extra, which made Arcadia laugh despite herself, but seeing Oknodie’s power at this river, it couldn’t be dismissed as a joke.

Looking at the Imperial faction students and second-years who were just staring blankly, having lost their will to resist, Arcadia had no choice but to gratefully accept Oknodie’s consideration.

“Did you see Zhang and Sing on your way here?”

“They’re probably still running.”

In there.

Pointing to the circular forest below the spiral staircase, Arcadia couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

The path doesn’t actually form a perfect circle but curves slightly inward like a spiral, so eventually they would reach the stairs and the river.

But following the path properly would waste an absurd amount of time.

A test that values wisdom over strength.

Those fools who only use physical strength in a physical training test are bound to get low grades.

But for the frontier group to score high overall, even the fools need to score in the upper ranks.

“I guess we have no choice. We’ll just have to wait a few more hours!”

“Oknodie. Don’t tell me you’re planning to guard this place until all the frontier students cross?”

“Of course!”

Her expression suggested, “What a silly question.”

‘Foolish child. Why do you always choose to put yourself at a disadvantage?’

Is group belonging that important?

Because she couldn’t form attachments growing up in the Foundation.

Because she doesn’t want to miss out on bonds that form without having to kill or be killed.

Is that why she’s so desperate and insistent on taking this test?

Arcadia made a decision.

To protect this foolishly pure child.

“You all go ahead. I’ll stay here and help Oknodie.”

“Arcadia gave me canned barbecue ribs, canned lobster, and canned scallops! You think I’d leave her behind?”

“The teachings of the Thunderbolt Celestial God Church don’t specifically say to repay kindness with kindness, but as a matter of human decency, I wish to help. You wouldn’t stop me from doing that, would you?”

Beastkin fighter Zenya and Thunderbolt Celestial God Church nun Niche.

Starting with these two, the male students following the Duke also expressed their willingness to help.

“So that’s how it is, Di. You’ll accept our help, right?”

“Hmm… No!”

Oknodie refused with a bright smile.

The students stood there with blank faces.

Behind them.

Mamoqs emerged from the water, extending their branches to place the students on pillars.

The result was that they ended up floating across the river like boat people until they reached the other side!

Watching this scene, an instructor took out a scoring sheet and began busily writing something.

Arcadia could only hope that it wasn’t a deduction of points.

* * *

<Information Delivery – Mount Location>

<1000p Academic Investment Fund consumed>

“Damn. That’s painful to spend.”

“Shut up. If you try to save that, you’ll waste all your time looking for mounts.”

Midterm exam for <Zeneger’s Tactics> lecture.

Students taking the lecture from a former professional gambler professor were dismayed at the information appearing on panels that resembled nothing so much as a gambling table.

Select [Prediction Targets] from chosen lectures and record [Expected Rankings] to earn credits according to odds.

The more prediction targets, the more general the overall ranking prediction can be, but the fewer targets, the more precise the overall ranking prediction must be.

However, to score better than other students in competition, one must either gamble on higher odds or predict more items correctly.

Faced with such dilemmas, the third-years split into groups based on their tendencies and the odds they favored.

“I thought the Hero was a sure bet, but she’s struggling. Oknodie is really something else.”

“Hmph. She’s just a fool who fell into her own trap. She never expected that third-years could interfere with test-taking students by spending their academic investment funds.”

“That’s true.”

The surest of sure bets.

The third-years who bet on the Hero, who had the lowest odds, were greatly relieved to see her finish in first place.

“What’s the point of betting on longshots? You’ll just waste all those credits without being able to use them.”

“Right. Look at Oknodie. She really didn’t cross until 100 people went ahead.”

The third-years who had bet on Oknodie finishing first could only repeat, “Fail? Why? Fail? Why?” like broken records.

Originally, Oknodie’s odds weren’t that high, but when one student praised her skills, those without conviction poured their academic investment funds into her.

“Hey, Felice! You said Oknodie was a reliable blue chip. What are you going to do about this?”

One of the students who was already confirmed to fail complained to the student who had praised Oknodie.

Someone wearing a suspiciously black robe.

The kind of person who would make even passing inquisitors want to draw their spike-covered maces.

“I’m certain. That child has the most excellent qualities.”

“Then why isn’t she in first place and might not even make the top 10?!”

“The most excellent qualities to become a ‘dark priest.'”

A third-year senior who had formed a connection with Oknodie.

Owner of a secret red tooth mushroom farm.

Regular member of the Dark Cult, Felice.

Having produced numerous test failures with his devastating rhetoric, he pondered Oknodie’s record with concern.

“I don’t see the qualities of an ‘excellent student’ though.”

“Hey, you trash!! How dare you, how dare you deceive me!!!”

Now that all those who had bet like real men that Oknodie would finish first, or safely within the top 3, had failed in succession.

Even Felice, who had bet on the extremely safe option that Oknodie would at least finish in the top 50, and planned to pass the credit requirement with relatively higher grades than other bankrupts.

As befitting a regular member of the Dark Cult, he had implemented a truly despicable plan, but one problem arose in his otherwise smooth scheme.

Oknodie’s movement to let 100 people pass ahead of her in the second section.

At this rate, her ranking might slip endlessly.

Other third-years had already passed location information about mounts to their favored students, helping them cross the finish line.

Now he too needed to help Oknodie hurry, or he would end up like the other idiots.

“I need to motivate her.”

Felice began manipulating his magic watch.

He sent location information for the two students Oknodie was waiting for.

Zhang and Sing.

“?”

Felice wondered if he was seeing things.

He blinked.

He rubbed his face with his hands.

He slapped his cheeks.

Still, the location information displayed on the magic watch was strange.

“…This year’s freshmen are quite unusual.”

Surprisingly, Zhang and Sing’s location was halfway through the forest that everyone else had already escaped from.

Even more terrifying, the signals of nearby second-years were disappearing at a frightening rate. The forest that had been full of red signals was rapidly falling silent.

There could only be one reason.

The food chain had been flipped.

He’d wondered why they were late, but it wasn’t because they were lost—the first-years were hunting down and defeating the second-years, which was causing their delay.