Chapter 18: Student Selection
After sitting down on their seats, Cillian leisurely moved his eyes to the board, ignoring the gazes he received from the main cast.
His demeanor was indifferent and appeared disinterested in what was about to come.
If not for the fact that he was being punished and could finally bring half of his freedom back, he would not have attended this class.
Instead, Cillian would’ve gone already to other classes where there was so much to gain and learn.
’Hahh... how boring,’
After waiting for a few minutes, the door of the classroom opened, revealing a man with good features. He was their homeroom teacher, a guy whom Cillian had already attended in one of his classes.
Ulrich Jade
A conservative nobleman. He had two kids, and his brother is a member of the House of Lords on the legislative side.
Everyone stood up from their place to greet Ulrich before he lightly waved his hands to dismiss his students.
"Looks like everyone is okay,"
Ulrich said in a warm tone. He then added.
"Let’s not waste two hours of our time. We have matters to discuss, especially at the upcoming Student Selection."
Hearing the words’ student’ and ’selection’ in one word made Cillian’s ears perk upwards, not in interest but in dismay.
He instantly realized what those meant and couldn’t help but think about the cliché plots he repeatedly read in countless novels.
As a professional hater, repeated plots are something he hates.
On the other hand, cliché plots aren’t something bad as long as it was executed properly. What made this hated by the masses was that they were too tiresome to read, especially for veteran readers.
Now, he was witnessing such a thing.
"Finally!"
"It’s my time to shine!"
"Let’s bag this up!"
When the growing chatter can be perceived that was telling him one thing, Cillian’s expression grows dim.
As much as he wanted to avoid it, the previous memories he had from Cillian and his past experience as a professional hater, his gut tells him otherwise.
"We’re finally at the pace of The Grand Sorcery Academy’s Annual Battle Celebration. It is time to show what you got, students. During over m you’ve learned and will continue to learn, it is finally time to put it to the test."
While most of the students cheered, Cillian’s expression grew in despair, nearly had the urge to gouge his eyes out.
’Oh, gods! Why even the name... Just say it is an academy tournament!’
He face-palmed himself as he listened attentively to what The Grand Sorcery Academy’s Annual... academy tournament held. Maybe they are surprises in the end?
Could just be the name, right?
Right?
But no, they weren’t.
It’s a copypasta of some novels Cillian had read, and no additional variety was added. It was explained in a very simplified form.
"Each class will battle through another class of their grade until one class is the only one left through the selection. Right after, the chosen class that battled through the top one will be sent to the Coliseum, where they have to battle through the other top-ranked class in the seven sorcery academies of the world. The winner will be crowned as the new King of the Celebration. The event will be held for at least three to four months."
When nothing had changed regarding the initial knowledge of the celebration, the students sighed with relief. That only meant there would be no surprises, and students had ample time to prepare for what was to come by relying on some reference to the past celebrations.
Only one person was different, nearly plucking the strands of his hair from his head once he heard the last sentence.
’Three to four months... three to four fucking months!? This is outrageous!’
Now, Cillian was beginning to relate to the people who grew tired of reading novels that were fully centered on tournaments.
He was even losing his shit just by hearing the instructions.
’So do I assume that this is the next arc. And not a minor one, but a really major arc in the novel?’
As a professional hater, Cillian realized that this cliché plot was heading towards the most cliché arc a person could see in the novel. Not surprising, but relatively infuriating at best.
He started adjusting his mind, trying to find this arc in a good way.
’Can I use this to finally start having fun?’
His bit of boredom lessened as he finally pushed himself to change his stance at the stupidest plot a novel could have.
"Oh, right, I almost forgot."
Ulrich gathered the attention of everyone who was becoming fervent about the news.
With a pause, he added with a warm tone.
"Every win you have, your class will receive an additional Merit. There are other rewards also. Additionally, it isn’t the only thing you will get when you win. Of course, the reason the academy was benevolent was that you only had one shot through each fight you had with other classes. Lose, and you’re out. It might change, but that’s mostly what the losers will get."
The classroom grew somber. Only the calm ones like Cillian, Aster’s companion, and Fred remained indifferent.
There are no second chances for success.
In real life, when you’re in a battle with enemies, those people wouldn’t be forgiving enough to set you free and give you a slight chance to exact revenge. One chance is all it takes.
There was yet another reason Cillian didn’t give a damn about those chances at all or what his classmates thought about him.
He was dead focused on one thing, as a word kept ringing inside his ear.
’Rewards...’
Cillian’s eyes burned with passion.
He locked himself in.
...
Finally, after giving tidbits of information, not even that important to remember at all, regarding the celebration without actually telling the entirety of it, Ulrich let his students discuss it as he remained in his seat.
There would be a lot of planning and meetings in the upcoming days, knowing there are two weeks left till their very first match.
’One hour and fifteen minutes... Looks like I have to painfully listen to their discussion and see if I could use what they planned to my advantage.’
Cillian also didn’t leave yet because he was slightly curious and mostly afraid that he would meet Freya right outside of the classroom, staring at him intently.
-What are you doing? You have a class.
-Get your ass back inside.
-I dare you to leave. You’ll go straight to your home, not your dorm.
He was afraid of hearing one of these things, fearful of the fact that his punishment might take longer than he had expected because he had the urge to go outside.
’She’s getting late, though. Is this one of the things she said to me that she wouldn’t be here every scheduled time of her monitoring?’
Of course, unlike him, the others didn’t share the same sentiment about the academy tournament as most people inside.
They were the ones who were a bit excited but then remembered they had circles on their own outside, which complicated a lot of things, due to them belonging to other groups. Hence, a few people left the room, including Fred.
"All right, let’s assign the roles first. To start, I’d like to nominate myself as a speaker. Since we don’t know the theme for this year’s celebration, we’ll assign roles that don’t complicate things in the future. How’s that sound?"
Willow, the one president of the class, stated calmly while wearing her usual ice-cold demeanor. Seeing a genius at their front, conducting the matters willingly, who shoulders a lot of responsibility, they didn’t reject her proposition and merely nodded.
"Okay, let’s start then."
It didn’t take a while before groups were formed. The main group was obviously Aster, consisting of eight members. Not only was their reputation within the classroom dependable, but their strength could contend with most of the class in the first years. They have undeniable strength within their peers, hence the right chosen people.
The second group was the assistants of the main group. Each main group consisted of four assistants, leaving only ten people who didn’t have a role yet.
Cillian belonged to the group who have no role.
Even though there were ten people left, six of these people were out. Hence, Cesar and the three bunches are outcasts of the room.
They weren’t done on purpose, but due to their lack of credentials and low performance, they were put in the same group.
Willow wasn’t petty enough to drag the useless bunch together.
"Uhm, you guys will be handling the workforce that we can’t have. Will that be all right with you all?"
"Uwahhh..."
Willow asked while darting her eyes to the side, seeing one person who had the guts to yawn at her front.
Staring at him with a frown, their gazes met.
"Uh, sure. Suit yourself."
Cillian shrugged with a hint of mischievousness in his voice and his lips.
"It’s not like there’s anything to argue anyway. Besides, our opinions aren’t valid no matter what we suggest. Wouldn’t you agree, Willow?"
Not wanting to have an outburst due to his not-so-provocative words, Willow’s face twisted, and she let out a strange smile.
"O-oh, good that you know. Haha, is that enough?"
Willow expressed anger as she got others’ opinions of the last group regarding this matter.
All of them shook their heads with a forced smile, feeling shame or embarrassment about her words.
However, her anger was only directed at Cillian, who remained indifferent throughout, hence she felt a bit guilty if she somehow and unintentionally hurt the others.
"Right, let’s change topics."
The discussion continued without any delay.
