From the side, Viktor and Dante—both struggling to regain their composure—managed to stand up. They staggered forward, confusion written all over their faces as they tried to make sense of what the hell had just happened.

Zenith simply raised her hand, gesturing for them to just watch and stay put.

Cassian stops for a split second, but then, giving zero fucks, he continues beating him. Right at that moment, Sera comes from behind, grabs him, and pulls him back...

"Hey moron, stop it. Aria isn’t dead yet... why are you acting like this already... and if you do anything more to Adrian right now, how are we going to make him talk more about the curse? Use your brain a little..."

Selene also steps up and starts healing Adrian... gently trying to reason with Cassian...

"Y-yeah Cassian, if you harm him any further, you could even get expelled..."

"I don’t give a fuck about that... I’m going to kill this weak-ass pussy today..." Sera keeps holding him back tightly...

It didn’t take long for Adrian to be completely healed. His broken teeth and swollen face were fixed within a minute thanks to Selene’s insanely strong S-rank healing, so there wasn’t even a need to take him to the infirmary...

Adrian suddenly jolts awake. While still sitting on the floor, he shuffled back a few steps, shivering.

Finally, the drama started to settle down as everyone quieted upon seeing the academy’s representative instructors approaching from a distance...

Before walking away, Lucian leaned down right next to Adrian’s ear and dropped a final line.

"If you open your mouth too much about whatever happened here, you know exactly what I’ll do to you."

"Eekk..." Adrian gulped. He hastily scrambled to his feet and immediately hid behind Zenith.

Everyone turned around to see Instructor Magnus approaching. Walking right alongside him were two female instructors — the strict-looking Valeria from Blood Oak Institute, and the cheerful Liora from Silvercrest Academy, wearing a distinctly short, customized uniform.

Standing right beside them was Instructor Sylas from Blackmire Academy, wearing his signature glasses and a heavy black coat. Along with Instructor Kael, the five of them came to a halt.

In the middle of the towering, wide cube lay the dead giant ogre, its core completely cracked. The dead monster wasn’t the issue. The way the instructors stood there, scanning the room, made it painfully clear they already knew exactly what had just happened. They just wanted to see what kind of excuse the students would come up with.

Just then, the system’s voice buzzed in his head.

[Quick Quest]

Reward: 20,000 FP

Objective: Escape from the situation and keep it low-profile...

[Maybe if you perform well, I’ll even drop a skill stone or two. Now handle it, petty boy...]

Lucian’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"20k FP... that’s unusually generous for once in a lifetime. Though it will be a piece of cake to escape, I guess, as long as this rascal doesn’t open his mouth...

Stepping forward, Lucian gives a slight bow to greet them...

"What was going on here just now? Valemont, care to explain?" Kael asked. He looked over at Adrian, then slowly swept his heavy gaze across everyone else.

"Just a while ago, you two brothers were brutally at each other’s throats, and now... Why are you all staring at us like we’re about to interrogate you?

Before Kael could get any more suspicious, Lucian stepped in smoothly.

"It was just a brotherly dispute, sir" Lucian said calmly, his tone casual yet perfectly measured. "You know how siblings can get... emotions run high sometimes. Adrian said something that set me off, and I lost my temper for a moment. But it’s been resolved now."

He gestured toward Adrian, who was still hiding behind Zenith.

"As you can see, he’s perfectly fine. Selene here was kind enough to heal him immediately. No lasting damage."

Kael’s eyes narrowed slightly as he shifted his heavy gaze to Selene.

Feeling the sudden pressure, her eyes darted around nervously, and she instinctively half-hid herself behind Cassian.

"He had critical injuries visible on the surveillance screen... but now he’s completely healed? Selene Verya, hmm... a prodigy who can heal such severe wounds this quickly. I wonder if I approached her... would she be willing to become my disciple?"

However, he shook the thought away for now.

Magnus, who had been standing silently with his arms crossed, suddenly smirked and gave Lucian a subtle wink. Then, in a surprisingly casual move, he slung an arm around Kael’s shoulder in a friendly gesture.

"Come on, Kael," he said with a grin. "Look at the bright side! It’s not every day you see something like this, right?"

Kael just stared at him, completely unamused and confused. "What are you talking about?"

Magnus gestured broadly at the cube, pointing towards the dead ogre.

"This kind of brotherly banter between prodigies — it’s what makes them stronger! A little roughhousing never hurt anyone."

He glanced around at the teams, his grin widening.

"And besides... isn’t it great that your academy’s single prodigy took down the boss monster with just one slash? That’s damn impressive if you ask me."

"So what do you say, kiddo? Have you thought about becoming my disciple?" he asked Sera impatiently.

"NO WAY!"

Kael also blinked, momentarily thrown off by Magnus’s sudden shift in tone.

From the side, Liora stepped forward with her usual bright smile.

"Oh, come on now~" she said in a cheerful, sing-song voice. "You all look so stiff! Relax a little, won’t you? It’s just us here. No need to be so nervous."

Having already seen exactly how berserk they got on the second floor, they all just deadpanned.

liora tilted her head, her smile widening as she looked at Selene.

"And Selene, sweetie, that was some impressive healing work! S-rank buffs at your age? You’re going to make the rest of us look bad~"

Completely ignoring all the other instructors, Sylas delivered his message loud and clear.

"Ahem, attention everyone, we’ve been instructed to inform you that the top twenty four students will be given a one-week holiday starting today. After that, the final exams will commence — 1v1 arena battles to determine the final rankings."

"Use this time wisely. Rest, train, prepare. The final stage won’t be as forgiving as these joint exercises."

Valeria crossed her arms, a sharp smirk playing on her lips as she looked at Sylas.

"How touching, Sylas. Did you rehearse that little speech in front of a mirror this morning?" she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Or did the Headmasters give you a script to read because they knew you’d mess it up otherwise?"

Sylas’s eye twitched slightly behind his glasses, but his expression remained completely neutral.

"At least I don’t need to compensate for my lack of presence by wearing half my wardrobe, Valeria," he replied coolly, adjusting his black coat. "Some of us prefer professionalism over... whatever statement you’re trying to make."

Valeria’s smirk widened.

"Oh? And here I thought hiding behind those glasses and that oversized coat was your statement. What are you compensating for, Sylas? Your personality?"

Magnus let out a loud bark of laughter, slapping his knee.

"Hah! She’s got you there, Sylas!"

Before Sylas could retort, Liora stepped between them with her bright, cheerful smile, waving her hands playfully.

"Now, now, you two~" she said in a sing-song voice. "Let’s not fight in front of the children, hmm? We’re supposed to be role models, right?"

All the prodigies standing nearby exchanged awkward glances.

Kael cleared his throat, cutting through the awkward tension.

"Alright, enough of that," he said, his tone shifting back to business. "As for all of your rewards..."

Instantly, every single pair of eyes locked onto him. The gleam of anticipation was unmistakable—even the ones who had been half-dead tired a moment ago suddenly looked wide awake.

Kael smirked slightly at their reaction before continuing.

"You’ll find out soon enough. The details will be sent to you tonight. Just know that making it to the top twenty-four actually means something this time."

A few groans of impatience echoed from the group, but Kael simply waved them off.

"Dismissed."