Ishtar muttered with her pitch-black dead eyes.
“Once again, they make me listen to endless lectures while they go off and have fun… But if I actually focus on the lectures, the gap will widen even more… Hehe, hehehe… Is this what they call a ‘gamble’? It’s a pain to keep up, but if I don’t, I’ll fall behind… But seriously, what should I do to endure 45 credits with this human body…?”
“Ahhh, Ishtar has broken down!”
Familiar faces stood beside the panicking Saintess Yufi.
“Oknodie, you won’t pretend you don’t know about what’s going on with the Thunderbolt Celestial Divine Church, right?! If we face off in this year’s exam, I’ll turn you into a bloody mess with my Gashimace!”
“Damn it, cat!”
It was Sister Nise of the Thunderbolt Celestial Divine Church and her partner Xenia!
“Hey, we were close last year! Friends shouldn’t say bad things to each other!”
“Shut it! If there’s a friend who shakes the faith of a priest, that’s definitely a wicked devil disguised as a friend!”
“Eek, Xenia. Nise is saying scary things!”
Xenia, who was hoping to comfort me with her nyaa sounds, lunged at me instead with a kitty punch.
“Ugh!”
I fell flat on the ground from an attack I never saw coming, not even 1%!
Xenia boldly declared from beside Nise.
“This year’s nyaa is the enemy of Oknodie!”
“Why…?”
“Nise is Xenia’s partner. Her partner is sad, so Oknodie is going to get wrecked!”
sob
I didn’t do anything wrong! I just wanted to do good deeds and had such misfortune befall me.
This event of someone bullying a good kid is just too unfair!
“Oknodie, you brought this upon yourself, so don’t whine and come here! I’ll turn on the healing color yellow light, which is good for relieving depression and stress!”
sigh…
Thanks to the Yellow Cow’s comfort, I regained my mental peace.
“All students who wish to take the advancement exam, gather in the Grand Auditorium!”
Guided by the instructors, we arrived at a place brimming with familiar faces, some less familiar, and quite a few hundreds of Class 981 students crowding the Grand Auditorium.
February 28, 982 in the Empire.
On the last day of the winter break of the second semester, students returning to the Academy were set to face another exam to determine class advancement and division.
“What if Oknodie gets held back before even taking the advancement exam…? Attendance is also lacking.”
“It’s fine. I have a lot of points!”
“Huh?”
Titosso didn’t seem to grasp the meaning behind my words.
It’s genuinely concerning how a first-year would still be so clueless at this stage.
“Listen well, Titosso! I’m going to impart valuable life lessons!”
“Okay!”
“Grades and attendance are…”
“Mm-hmm!”
“You can buy with points!”
“Eh?!”
If I raked in the dough from outside, I wouldn’t have any trouble advancing without attending classes.
As long as I can keep up with the progress and growth, that is.
Of course, veterans who already know the curriculum and can grow outside can just skate through 1st-year 2nd semester with little effort and go out for pumping the points instead.
“Professor Mahabharata!”
“Back so soon, Oknodie, 1st year.”
“Hehe. I’ve had a lot going on!”
I couldn’t help but pity Professor Mahabharata, who looked considerably older with all the wrinkles, especially since the students must have given him a hard time while I was away.
How much agony must he have suffered at the hands of those troublemaking first-years for him to age like that?
“At least sending the students on a break was worthwhile. They managed to come back, after all.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind that. I heard you want to buy grades and attendance days with points on your way in. Is your intention clear?”
“Of course!”
“Costs won’t be trivial.”
“I can handle it!”
The professor unfolded the Mana Board, entering values, revealing a price tag before me.
━━━
[Price List]
*Attendance Days
6 weeks × 21 days = 126 times
10,000 points (1st year) × 126 = 1,260,000 points
*Grade Purchase
100,000 points (1st year) × 41 grades = 4,100,000 points
*Total
1,260,000 points + 4,100,000 points = 5,360,000 points
━━━
5,360,000 points.
The staggering amount made me dizzy when thinking of the points consumed for advancement.
2nd year advancement needed 100,000 points.
3rd year advancement needed 1,000,000 points.
4th year advancement needed 10,000,000 points.
To put it bluntly, it was known that even Instructor Russo, who conspired with Camela’s Organization at the start of the second semester, had to ally with Camela because he didn’t have a million points.
What’s more, those points needed for advancement were based on the amount when passing the advancement exam—if one fails and tries to advance with points, it’s ten times more expensive!
2nd year forced advancement became 1,000,000 points.
3rd year forced advancement became 10,000,000 points.
4th year forced advancement became 100,000,000 points.
With those points, it’d be more beneficial to focus on upgrading my specs rather than forcing myself to grow.
━━━
[5,360,000 points have been deducted.]
[A quest has been detected.]
━━━
━━━
[Main Quest [Grade Advancement]]
Chick becomes a hen, and 1st year becomes 2nd year!
Finally, the day of advancement has come for you.
Will you successfully pass the advancement exam and be promoted to the upper class of 2nd year this year?
It’s time to show the diligent students who worked hard at the Academy what real life is about.
Let’s engrain deeply within ourselves that life is real combat.
*Objective: Successful Advancement
*Reward: Pet Contract
━━━
Looks like a quest that was eagerly awaited has arrived with a flourish.
Even the system seems anxious.
Handing over the precious pet contract like this is a big deal.
For reference, this is different from Camela’s Organization’s pet contract.
It’s akin to a Pokéball that you throw at fierce wild monsters, restricting them on paper, unlike the human-pet contracts that are made through mutual agreement.
With its convenient portability and ease of status observation through printed text, it’s a popular magical tool, but since the quantity is limited, I thought I wouldn’t get one until at least 3rd year.
Seems like I got lucky as the stock was released earlier than expected!
Thinking about how there are typically extra rewards for exceeding the target in rewards makes this an even sweeter deal.
“Then please process the next one too!”
“…Next one?”
I could see friends entering the 2nd year advancement exam venue through the window.
They beckoned for me to follow them, but sadly, I won’t be going there.
Why would I?
With stats this high, I should start from 3rd year.
Why waste time in 2nd-year lectures?
━━━
[Price List]
*Early Advancement Application (100,000 points)
━━━
Professor Mahabharata’s pen dropped onto the desk with a thud.
“Oknodie, 1st year. Are you serious?”
“Yep.”
“2nd and 3rd years are on different levels.”
“I’m on a different level too!”
“That may be true. But you have friends, right?”
“Plans for life shouldn’t depend on friends or affection but done alone in solitude!”
“Were there any pressures from home?”
“None?”
“Hmm. You’d say that, wouldn’t you? Seems I asked a rather useless question.”
Professor Mahabharata tossed a few questions my way before handing me the early advancement application with a bittersweet face.
“Please go to the 3rd year advancement exam venue. Once you pass and pay the advancement fee, you’ll be active as a 3rd year immediately when the semester starts.”
Yay! I’m so excited!
Singing a lovely song, I headed towards the 3rd year advancement exam venue when I could hear Professor Mahabharata sighing from within his closed office.
He must be a bundle of worries about receiving the Class 982 new students.
What a great professor!
As a note, I should also remember to sign up for Professor Mahabharata’s classes this year.
There may be many poor kids in this world, but there’s probably none as poor as Oknodie.
Professor Mahabharata truly thought so.
‘The director who tried so hard to separate Oknodie from her friends, has somehow pushed Oknodie a grade higher, forcing her to drop down a level…’
The evil effects of early advancement don’t end there.
As Oknodie severs ties with her friends, her human relationships would shrink, making it easier to introduce new people into her life.
Loyal scholarship students, influenced by the foundation, might approach and manipulate her feelings or subtly guide her actions.
sigh…
Even the first-year student Masugaki has become the Emperor during her leave, so Oknodie’s situation has worsened.
Not only her, but other students who were solely waiting for her have become more unfortunate.
The mob and Hestia, who had been doing intense training throughout the vacation shocked by being abandoned by Oknodie.
With just the Principal’s phrase, “Sounds fun,” a previously unseen 2nd-year transfer student Astarot and the secret weapon of various organizations were added into the mix.
Everyone entered with eagerness to compete against Oknodie, yet the actual opponent, Oknodie, went to take the 3rd year advancement exam, leaving the incoming transfer students in disbelief.
‘Even Professor Sadako must be feeling bad.’
She had prepared hard for the 2nd-year lectures for Oknodie, only for Oknodie to be promoted to the 3rd year.
It isn’t just Professor Sadako’s problem.
Students could see the lecture plans of the professors, and many would likely be centered around the thought of Oknodie.
How upset the professors, who missed out on Oknodie, must be, and who will bear the brunt of that anger?
‘…Thinking back, the students who are moving up to 2nd year must be really pitiful.’
Realizing the target of my sympathy was misplaced, Professor Mahabharata silently prayed for the lost fate of the unfortunate prospective 2nd years.
