The Author's POV

Shortly after Melissa left, I decided to head back to my dorm.

Altough I wanted to meet Amanda as well, after a bit of thinking, I refrained from doing so.

It was better if I approached her once Melissa was done with the project. After all, I don't think Amanda was capable of understanding the concepts behind magic cards yet.

I wasn't saying she wasn't smart. No, that was far from the truth. It's just that Melissa was on another level.

Moreover, it was better if I had a tangible version of the magic card before meeting Amanda.

This way, Amanda would be able to smoothly convince her father and the Demon hunter guild board members.

"Bye, guard named Ron"

Leaving the Leviathan dorm, at the gates of the compound, I made sure to wave goodbye to the guard from before. It wasn't a bad idea for him to remember me. This way, it would save me the trouble of explaining why I wanted to go in.

"hmm"

Indifferently glancing at me, Ron lightly nodded his head and proceeded to ignore me.

Not minding it one bit, I proceeded to head back to my dorm.

"What's next..."

On the way back to my dorm, I could cross the magic card project from my to-do list. Though it would take a while, I was sure Melissa would get it done sometime soon.

Next on my list...

"Should I try recruiting Ava?"

In all honesty. This task was going to be hard.

Not because she had some crazy dealings with some other guilds or that she was currently being held back by something.

...No.

The reason was that I really did not know much about her. In the novel, she could've been considered a low-end side character.

One that rarely shows up. I obviously didn't give her enough character development as a result of her low appearance in the novel.

...In my defense, I was thinking of developing her character when the time she showed up to fight the demon army came...but, well, I died.

Didn't really get to that part...

Thus, I was now facing a dilemma. What was Ava's past like, and what could I use to entice her to join me? Money? Fame? Strength?

I needed to know more...fortunately, I knew someone who could help me.

Taking out my phone I quickly dialed a number.

-Ring! -Ring! -Ring!

—Hello? Ren?

"Yo, Smallsnake"

—What's going on?

"I need help with something"

—Actually, before you say anything, I'm currently in the process of recruiting Leopold, so I might not be able to help you right away.

That fast?

As expected of my right-hand man. He gets things done.

"Ah...alright. Do you think you could do a background search on someone for me?"

—A background search? Hmmm, it depends on who

"Ava leafz, the profile I had previously mentioned I wanted to recruit"

Pausing for a second, a loud sigh could be heard from the other side of the phone. Soon after, Smallsnake responded

—...Sigh, you're in luck

"Hm?"

Confused, I couldn't help but tilt my head. Did he already do it?

—I knew this was going to happen beforehand so I had taken the liberty to do a background check on every member of the list of people you had given me

Opening my eyes wide, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

"How thoughtful of you Smallsnake"

—It's not me that is thoughtful, it's just that a certain someone seems to love dumping their work on me...

Listening to Smallsnake, though he wasn't here, I couldn't help but avert my eyes to the right and switch topics.

"Ah right, before you hang up, look up the profile of someone called Benjamin Hor, I found him to be quite interesting"

—Y-ou, did you just not even hear what I had said

"Khhhh...khhhh...what's that Smallsnake? khhhh..khhh...can't hear you prope-khhh, it seems like the signal is fault--khhh"

—Stop pret-

-Tak!

"Dammed signal!"

Turning off my phone, I put my hands behind my back and whistled my way back to the dorm.

If only the signal was better...

Well, although Smallsnake was complaining, I was sure he was going to get what I asked done.

It wasn't a coincidence that Smallsnake was named the group babysitter.

...

Next week, Monday, Class A-25

Sitting in my usual seat, I nervously looked towards the front of the classroom. For the past few days, nothing much has happened. I mostly spent most of my time training and coming up with a general framework for my company.

Mostly regarding its scale and how the chain of command would be.

I thought of letting Smallsnake take control of the company too, but I refrained from doing so.

I had already decided before that this company would have no correlation with my mercenary group.

...Well, at least on the outside.

In reality, it would be the biggest sponsor for my mercenary group.

...so after a lot of thinking, I decided to hire someone to manage the company. With regards to whom, I wasn't sure yet. I couldn't think of anyone yet.

Anyhow, that aside, today was the day that the results would come back.

Though I was confident in my physical score, I wasn't too sure with regard to my theoretical score.

Hopefully, it wasn't too bad.

"Okay, everyone, please quiet down"

Standing at the podium of the classroom, wearing a nice black suit that perfectly emphasized the outline of her body, Donna raised her hand to get everyone to quiet down.

Her hair was currently tied in a ponytail, and as soon as she raised her hand, her violet eyes shown slightly, immediately causing everyone to shut up.

Seeing that everyone was finally quiet, Donna continued.

"Though there was an unfortunate event in the examination, it all went without a hitch."

Taking out her tablet, Donna scrolled through it. After a couple of seconds, pressing on her screen, she looked at us and said.

"I have just sent you the results of the practical and theoretical exams. Soon, If you take out your phones, you should be receiving a message with the details of your exam and your scores..."

Glancing at her tablet, frowning slightly, Donna continued speaking

"Because of past complaints, we will not announce your results out loud. We will, however, not hide your new overall rank, so if you guys are curious about your friends ranking, you can see it in the class register"

It was to be expected.

After all, rank meant a lot in this academy.

It sort of dictated your standing in the social hierarchy. Therefore, though you could hide your scores, you couldn't hide your overall rank.

"Another reminder, please don't shout when you get your results back. Please keep calm and quie—"

-Ding! -Ding! -Ding!

Just as Donna was about to finish speaking, right on cue, multiple phone notifications resounded across the class.

Without pause, like everyone else in the class, I took out my phone and quickly opened my exam scores.

...Hopefully, I didn't fail.

=====================

[Exam result]

Student : Ren Dover

Theoretical exam rank : 1103/1908

Physical exam rank : 81/1908

Overall rank adjustment : 197/1908

=====================

"..."

Well, I guess I didn't fail.

Theoretical rank 1103 and Physical 81.

That was a big difference.

It also had to be noted that I was currently in the top two hundred, not the top one hundred...it seems like my theoretical score dragged me down quite a lot.

"huuuu..."

Massaging my forehead, I couldn't help but take a deep breath.

I couldn't be blamed for my low theoretical score. After all, I only had like four months to learn all the theoretical stuff that the students were supposed to learn from an early age.

Actually, the fact that I wasn't last was already considered a miracle. After all, I did need to memorize the traits of over a hundred monsters as well as practice a lot of advanced math for the engineering part of the exam.

...Fortunately, because the physical exam weighed more, I was still ranked 197.

Honestly, if I looked at the results objectively, it wasn't a bad score.

It was actually a really good score. Especially since I was previously ranked 1550.

Though I do think that jumping from 1550 to 197 was absurd, it actually wasn't that rare. At least not for the first semester.

Why?

Because apart from a select few, everyone that enrolled in the Lock started with similar strength. Only towards the second part of the first year would the difference in talent set the students apart from each other. At least in terms of rank.

...So although I did jump quite a lot, what I did wasn't something that never happened before.

Still. Even if I stood out as a result of my rank jump, I wouldn't have minded.

The reason why I increased my rank, to begin with, was to increase my popularity. I made it that way so that it would be a lot easier for me to recruit people in my mercenary group.

...Well, although I did fail to reach the top 100 as I had said I would, in a way, I think this was better.

This way, people would still not be wary of me. In a way that they would still underestimate me if they came across me.

Moreover, though I failed at achieving my goal, I could use this setback as a learning experience.

...That not everything went according to plan.

I was bound to face setbacks here and there. There was no need for me to brood over this matter any longer.

...I'll just be content with what I get.

Next exams I'll do better.

"Alright, now that you have all seen your exam score, I would like to inform you guys about another important issue..."

Pausing slightly, looking towards every student in the class, Donna slowly said

"It's about the multi-academy exchange"

huh?

Hearing Donna's last words, my head couldn't help but snap in her direction.

It was already that time?