Supreme Magus novel Chapter 246

Being the last trimester, the students of the White Griffon academy weren’t going to receive hidden report cards anymore. They would be ranked according to their grades, letting everyone in the Kingdom know about their performance.

The royal decree that called off the third exam made many youths desperate. Cooperation suddenly had no value. Extra points had unexpectedly become more valuable than platinum, turning friend against friend and brother against sister.

Everyone would walk the extra mile trying to score as many as possible during the last two weeks, hoping to improve their ranking even if by just one position. Classes and corridors turned into battlefields, following the principle that attack is the best form of defense.

During the practical lessons, sabotaging one own’s neighbors was elevated to a form of art, while any student walking alone, no matter the time of the day, was bound to be attacked.

Lith barely noticed such inconveniences. While performing the morning rounds for the Healer specialization, his only companions were the members of his group.

During the Magica Crystals classes, Professor Farg proved to have a frightening keen eye and a ruthless personality. She beat the students at their own game.

As soon as she understood what was happening, anyone she caught not working on their gemstone without a good explanation would lose some points. A couple of students attempted a coordinated attack.

One of them would ask for the Professor’s help while the other used an almost invisible wind blow to shake their opponent’s hands at a critical moment in the cutting process.

The result was for both being busted, losing twenty points each that were given to their victim as compensation.

No one dared to make a move against Lith during the Forgemaster lessons.

He had always been the teacher’s pet, but since his visit to house Tanash, Professor Wanemyre had showered him with so much praise and attention that rumor spread the two of them were having an affair.

Unbeknownst to the public, Wanemyre was part of Linjos’s inner circle, so she knew about the anti-mana toxin and had also been one of its victims. Like many of her colleagues, she had believed her poor physical condition to be a consequence of Balkor’s attack.

She was still grieving many friends and the long-lasting effects from the undead’s venom only made her feel worse. Wanemyre had suffered both personally and professionally, most of her latest creations were what she could only grade as "cr*p".

After being cleansed from the anti-mana toxin, her magical prowess and Forgemastering skill returned. Wanemyre knew it was all thanks to Lith. Between the feeling of gratitude and the desire to find the ones that caused her so much suffering, even glaring at her favorite student was enough to make her deduct points.

Between lessons, things would get more up close and personal. Lith being without a Ballot was public knowledge. Several people were desperate and angry enough to give it a shot.

Forty clean fractures, twenty-four comminuted fractures, a dozen concussions, seven punctured lungs, and several ruptured spleens forced Linjos’s hand to reveal the rankings ahead of schedule.

Much to the Headmaster’s dismay, Lith had long stopped holding back, so his assailants were clogging the wards of the academy’s hospital on a daily basis.

Be them Professors or medical staff, after learning how their patients received those injuries, the healers would just stabilize their conditions and give them the lowest priority, forcing them to waste almost a whole day in bed before administering them a sloppy treatment.

Enough to release them but not enough to allow them to perform well in their daily activities. The Light magic department looked after their own and was capable of holding quite a grudge.

One week before the end of the last term, Lith was summoned in the Headmaster’s office along with Friya and Yurial. None of them had any idea about what was happening.

When they walked through the door, they found that Archmage Deirus and the Ernas couple were waiting for them together with Linjos. A wave of the Headmaster’s hand made three new chairs appear.

Yurial and Friya sat near their parents while Lith was alone. He didn’t like it one bit.

"This is highly improper, Linjos." Lady Ernas said.

"Where are Mage Lith’s parents? Shouldn’t they be present too? I don’t know why you requested our presence, but it’s easy to assume it must be important."

Lith and Archmage Deirus nodded in unison.

"It is. The reason why you are here is to make your children behave." Linjos explained.

"Lith has proved himself to be reliable and discreet more than once. His parents, however, due to their simple life in the countryside could be more of a liability than helpful. No offense, Lith."

"None taken." He replied while trying to read Linjos. He seemed to be nervous, if not embarrassed. Lith couldn’t feel any hostility or bad news incoming, which made him even more curious.

"The situation at hand requires confidentiality. As you all know, the rankings are about to be disclosed. To avoid information leaks, this time I had the Professors report directly to me.

"Each student’s grades have been converted into points, allowing to add them to the extra points gained during the daily evaluations and the exams’ results." Linjos handed them a piece of paper each.

It was a list of the students in ascending order according to their points value.

Lith was ranked first, with 19,481 points, Friya was second with 10,276 points and Yurial third with 9,742 points. Phloria and Quylla were respectively sixteenth with 8,832 points and fourteenth with 9,156 points.

Lith could feel many eyes on him. Jirni, Yurial, and Friya were grinning, while Orion and Archmage Deirus had their mouths almost touching the floor from the surprise.

"Being second place is not that bad." Friya said. "I don’t get it why Lith has almost doubled my score, though. I know he performed better than me, but this much? Does the ranking include the spell he shared?"

"No..." Linjos shook his head. "but it does take into account his contribution as medical staff during the plague and... the most recent events. Every meritorious act a student performs gets properly rewarded. Based on his academic results only, Lith’s score would be 12,235 points."

Friya felt a tinge of envy ruining her moment and so did Yurial. They had hoped the gap was due to Lith’s services to the Kingdom and the academy rather than skill. Two thousand points were an abyss compared to how close the rest of the scores were.

"It doesn’t matter since no one will ever know." A snap of Linjos’s fingers and the papers turned into dust.