A week passed by. In Luminous Continent, the problem has yet to be solved but due to my intervention, the problem is not so apparent and the Pioneers took this chance to grind and get some quests from the NPCs that needed one. Since all Pioneers will be stuck in the Luminous Continent for quite some time until the end of the expedition where the quest will also end, the Pioneers took this chance to explore, find secrets all around and grind their levels.
As for me, I am also doing my best to level up but just like on the previous continent, the monsters here don't offer too much experience for me to get my level up. Since leveling is getting stagnant for me, most of my time is spent spending my time in my little camp making various things. With various ingredients scattered and obtained by exploring and killing monsters, some of the items that are not possible to create due to missing ingredients that can only be obtained in this continent is now accessible,
However, until the cult behind the scourge makes its next move, I can't act rashly and do my preemptive move. It would immediately be revealed that I already knew their next move so keeping myself quiet would be the best course of action. After all, they are mostly monitoring most of the Pioneers right now. As someone who is under the quest line of being a rogue one that never follows the storyline.
Due to that, a week has already passed by.
Today is the first day of the exams. It will last for a week and most of the students including my friends are all too nervous as this will cost them a passing grade or a failing mark. They focus more on it, rather than the game. And I can understand that. If the test wouldn't be held during the time the Pioneer quest line is activated, then they would have been part of the Pioneers too.
As usual, I cook breakfast for everyone. Everyone is so early and has been busy with their studies. I can see that all of them have big bags under their eyes, showing how much they have spent staying late. All of them are either holding their notes, books, or other things that can help with the test. Even Sora is currently keeping the small recorder on replay to listen for her lesson.
Oh, that's right. Since I have already managed to increase my mana significantly, healing the blindness of Sora will now be a breeze for me. I should heal her eyes once the vacation begins as that will be the most appropriate timing for Sora to have her "surgery" and her "recovery" would make sense. That would also allow me to shift Sora's classes to the normal class and allow her to blend with people without disabilities.
But for now, they needed to pass the test first.
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Test day.
Because the test is already a repeated test for me, I already knew what are the current test question that will appear on the paper. I knew what the answers will be and I can easily ace the test. However, I don't want to attract a reputation for being a genius when in reality, I just memorized the answers, so I answered normally, making some wrong answers sufficient enough to be safe from flunking the exam. No one knew that I have a photographic memory and easily remember everything I have seen except Riko and Janus so my secret is quite safe.
The test day is just another ordinary day for me so after a few hours of answering the test paper and waiting for the time to conclude, that's all that was happening until the very end of the day.
And the first day has finally ended. Like usual, after the test, they headed straight to the library to study again. Until the test week is over, they will not be able to play the game until the very last day.
While on my way home, the bodyguard Rika who is still looking for her stopped me. I didn't show any emotion to them though I am nervous if they have already learned that she was living in my house all along.
"We apologize for stopping you, young man but have you seen this girl in the poster? She is missing and we are asking whether you have seen her."
I grabbed the poster and looked at her photo to make sure that these guys are indeed looking for her. And I have confirmed that she is indeed the one in the poster.
"I'm sorry but I have not seen her around. Please ask someone else. I don't think I can help on this one," I handed back the poster to the bodyguard.
"Please keep the poster, young man. In case you meet or see this girl around, please call the number on the poster and alert us, alright?"
"Sure."
After that, he left with his men still looking for Rika. As for me, I only glanced at them before going home. I made sure that I have not known her at all which has proven to be quite effective. However, I am now quite sure that Rika cannot keep on hiding forever, she needs to face them and solve them. She can delay it, but she cannot continue this forever.
When I arrived back home, I handed Rika the poster that the bodyguards handed to me.
"They still haven't given up, huh? They are quite persistent."
"That also means that you really needed to solve this one as soon as possible. There is no way they will stop looking for you just because they cannot find you. Influential families like yours will find you sooner or later without any problem. They might not have seen you just yet but you cannot hide here forever."
"Yeah. I know. I am already doing things on my end to solve this problem. You are right that I needed to end this as soon as possible. However, I still needed a little bit more time before I will go and take my first step. I have to ensure that it will be my win in the very end."
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