Chapter 52 : Three way face to face meeting

The declaration of expulsion by Headmaster Lyn Dragos sent the students into a state of panic, beyond mere confusion.

If the reward system was based on giving prizes to the top student, those in the middle and lower ranks would probably explore low-level dungeons without much care, thinking they wouldn’t stand a chance anyway.

However, with the system where only the last-place group would be expelled, anyone could easily become the target of expulsion, which naturally made everyone on edge.

Ironically, because of such a rule, the attention shifted not to Iris, who was in first place, but to me, Kim Sunghoon, who had always been at the bottom.

If there was even one burden in the group, the chances of scoring low would increase exponentially.

“Let’s see… Iris Lunai, Abel Celerime, and Stella Darkbane — the three strongest students in the Junior Division are grouped together.

They’re likely pushing the top performers forward while eliminating the risk of having a bottom-ranked student ride on the coattails of the top student, like what happened during the field trip.”

In terms of positions like tankers, dealers, and healers, the combination of those three wasn’t ideal.

Instead, each one of them was strong enough to perform as a dominant front-line striker in any group, meaning the combination was capable of easily dominating the others, the so-called “DPS carry” setup.

Unless something drastic happened, they were likely to take first place without issue.

When I shifted my gaze from the top to the bottom of the scoreboard, I saw my name appear immediately.

“Kim Sunghoon, Zeke Wolftail, and Vex?”

Zeke Wolftail was a wolf beastman from a noble family I’d met once before (though not under the best circumstances), and Vex was completely unfamiliar to me.

It didn’t make sense for there to be a student I didn’t know among the fixed NPCs, so I figured Vex was probably one of the randomly generated NPCs.

It was incredibly rude to treat a living, breathing individual like an extra in a game, but usually, randomly generated NPCs had low abilities and stats to minimize their impact on the main storyline.

Anyway, once Zeke Wolftail realized that he was in the same group as me, he entered the first stage of the “Five Stages of Anger” — denial — and protested to the instructor.

“Instructor, isn’t there something wrong here? I know I’m not at the top, but I shouldn’t be in the same group as Kim Sunghoon. Could you please check if there’s a system error?”

“The instructors have verified the groupings multiple times, so there’s no chance of an error. The groupings are final, so don’t raise any objections.”

“Then, at least tell me why.”

“Well, if I were to give a reason, I could say it’s because of your laziness, Zeke.

It’s true that Kim Sunghoon’s grades are poor, but at least he showed the enthusiasm to go on a field trip to his hometown, which is in the Yellow Belt area.

But Zeke, what did you do during the summer vacation?

Did you think the instructors wouldn’t know you went back to your family home and spent the entire break playing around under the guise of training?

From the start, you’ve always relied only on your innate physical abilities and neglected learning martial arts or combat skills.

You should take this opportunity to realize how much you’re falling behind compared to your classmates.”

The second stage of anger is to direct your frustration at someone, but if I aimed my fury at the instructor, I’d only get expelled faster.

So, while Zeke Wolftail’s resentful gaze was directed at me, I greeted him with a mischievous smile and waved happily.

Back when I first started at the academy, I didn’t have any power and was intimidated by guys like Zeke Wolftail.

But now, if I had to face him again, I was confident I could take him down completely.

And I wasn’t worried at all about the expulsion rule based on dungeon clearing points.

I was already a well-known veteran in the community, especially famous for writing dungeon clearing  guides that were as detailed as academic papers.

Honestly, even if I went into a dungeon alone, I was confident I could score above average.

Of course, I couldn’t go alone, so I set up a meeting with Zeke Wolftail and Vex to talk things over like the other students.

“Stop looking like you’re all dead and let’s introduce ourselves first. My name is Vex, and my major is necromancy. I don’t serve any constellations.”

“My name is Kim Sunghoon, and if I had to pick a major, it would be insect manipulation. I don’t serve any constellations.”

“Your major is insect manipulation? How did that suddenly become your major without even attending Professor Pakelas’s class?”

“Why is my major insect manipulation? I’ll show you right now.”

I closed my eyes and activated the constellation’s consciousness, then summoned Elizabeth, who had the insect marks (moment) engraved on her.

Now grown enough to freely roam the academy, Elizabeth quickly flew over and sprinkled ice dust on top of Zeke’s head.

“Ah! What is this moth? Stop! It hurts so much, my head feels like it’s splitting!”

“Her name is Elizabeth, one of Professor Pakelas’s favorite spirit insects.

If even a hair on her gets harmed, Professor Pakelas will probably turn you into insect food, Zeke, so you’d better behave.

Oh, and you haven’t introduced yourself yet.”

“My name is… Zeke Wolftail. As you all know, I’m the heir of the prestigious wolf beastman family. My major is martial arts, and I don’t serve any constellations.”

“Now I understand why we’re in the same group.

Putting individual scores aside, none of us have made a contract with a constellation.

The original purpose of the Pantheon Academy was to gather Stigma holders from various dimensions and match them with constellations.

In that sense, we’ve all failed because, even after a semester, we still haven’t been chosen by a constellation.

So in a way, we’re failures.”

“Who are you to call us failures? Don’t treat me like you! I just haven’t met a constellation yet, but if needed, I can always make a contract with my family’s guardian spirit.”

“It must be nice to have a family’s backing.

As for me, I’m an orphan from the streets, so if I get kicked out of Pantheon Academy, I have nowhere to go.

So, let’s just call today the day for introductions.

But next time we meet, we should each come up with some sort of plan.

We’re already in this together, and we can’t just back out.

We don’t have any grand ambitions, but if we can make it to 99th place out of 100 teams, that’s enough.”

Kim Sunghoon, the perennial bottom-dweller, was just as famous in some ways as Iris.

However, the student named Vex, who was on the same team as me, did not despair like Zeke.

Instead, Vex was calmly analyzing the situation with a cool head.

It was just that Zeke was still stuck in the second stage of the five stages of anger, so we parted ways, promising to meet again at the same time tomorrow.

Returning to the dormitory, I immediately checked the condition of the Human Transmutation Scroll hidden under my bed.

Fortunately, it had been kept untouched, so now it was just a matter of my decision.

‘I don’t even need to use the Human Transmutation Scroll to avoid expulsion in the dungeon exploration event. The real problem is that the Human Transmutation Scroll is banned from being traded at the Academy.’

Rather, if I confessed everything that happened with the Black Agents and Canaria to Headmaster Lynn Dragos and immediately returned the Human Transmutation Scroll and Philosopher’s Stone, there wouldn’t be a problem.

But if I kept postponing the decision and the other instructors found out about the scroll, the situation would spiral out of control.

The reason the academy instructors banned the Human Transmutation Scroll wasn’t because they were old-fashioned and strict with rules.

It was because some students had attempted to gain great power too easily and caused disasters beyond imagination (like turning into flesh-eating monsters), so it was prohibited.

After pondering for a while, I placed my right hand on the Human Transmutation Scroll.

Then, I also arranged the Magic Sealing Ink and Philosopher’s Stone according to the prescribed patterns, biting my lip tightly to send blood into the scroll.

‘The die has already been cast. I can’t keep being swayed by the various scenario events of the Pantheon Academy. I need to get stronger in a short period, even if it’s risky, and take control to change the flow of the scenarios.’

As my blood flowed through the patterns of the Human Transmutation Scroll like a river, the Philosopher’s Stone emitted a faint glow.

The moment I closed my eyes due to the blinding light, when I opened them again, the surroundings had transformed from the dormitory into a science lab filled with various chimera specimens.

Instinctively, I realized that this was the temple where the monster in the Saint’s Bottle resided, and I belatedly understood that I had been betrayed by Canaria.

When I examined the Human Transmutation Scroll carefully, there didn’t seem to be any issues, but it seemed like something had been tampered with in the Philosopher’s Stone itself.