The Guardian

Chapter 42: Registration is now open

Aurora looked at her exam from the ‘Skills Theory’ class.

Five sheets with different questions of all kinds and everything they learned during this half of the year.

From professions such as paladins, mechanics, druids, elementalists, and other topics such as the most common magical creatures, beasts, and monsters.

They had to develop the description of the creature’s strengths and weaknesses.

It was quite annoying due to the unreasonable amount of creatures that existed, but it was still necessary.

Knowledge was power... No one could deny that fact.

Still, Aurora quickly finished with her exam.

Some subjects were boring, but in this kind of class, this kind of knowledge was something she had learned in both theory and practice.

Although it was quite long and a heavy exam that left it open to a lot of development, Aurora finished it quickly.

—Everything is alright? —Aurora asked in her mind.

Her question was directed to her system that when she was young and had to go to school, she would go to where her master was to study, taking advantage that the weather was different in that place.

Her system had excellent knowledge, and this test would be somewhat easy with his help, but...

—...

Her system made three dots appear in a row, making it clear that it would not answer.

Aurora’s lips perked up, as she was always the same opposed to ‘cheating’, but without asking too much, she got up and left the test on Professor Lindbergh’s desk.

Besides her, Alice also did the same.

“I will then inform you of the grade via the Academy app,” Professor Lindbergh stated after glancing at the exam to see if it was complete.

The duo left the classroom, ignoring the gaze of the students who were still giving their best to pass... After the exam started thirty minutes ago.

It was a long exam, but it was not problematic.

As for writing, they were both doing it quickly.

“So, how do you think you did?” Aurora asked her friend as soon as they left the classroom.

“Fine, I guess... It’s exams,” Alice replied, pulling a bag of chips out of her space ring.

Aurora just smiled and didn’t say too much.

They were exams, but they were easy for some individuals.

The stronger the ability users were, the more memory and mental capacity they had.

Although mages and psionics were those who had a higher mental capacity because their profession required such ability, fighters and swordsmen could also take this kind of exam with excellent performance if they put in the effort.

Just having read a few times the notes or bibliography on creatures or professions would be enough to memorize it if they dedicated a decent degree of effort to it... Although mages and psionics would only need fewer times because of their high memory.

Of course, that didn’t mean there weren’t people who had a hard time memorizing or studying.

It was common to see some fighters who were known as ‘muscle for brains’ for solving their problems with their fists perform poorly on these types of exams.

“Let’s go to the dining hall. Theology class will start in a little while.” Aurora pointed out, and Alice immediately followed her.

The academy had break places and recreation yards for them to rest, but Aurora knew that Alice preferred the kitchen because she could order the occasional snack... Even if it wasn’t lunch or dinner time.

Since today was exam time, very few students were in the dining room.

While not all exams were together, the other students were taking over three classes minimum... In extreme cases, filling the afternoon and morning shift with classes, very different from both.

For this entire month, those students would be devoting all of their time to study.

After Alice and Aurora ordered some desserts in the dining room, they sat down at one of the secluded tables.

As they ate and chatted about the exam like any regular student after an exam, a young man approached.

“I heard that the History teacher took a vacation for a few months and that there will be no exams in that class,” Andrés commented after waving and looking at the duo, he added. “They’re lucky.”

Aurora and Alice looked at each other but then gave a smile without saying too much.

They both received payment because Director Vincent’s mission had ended, but they also received the report from the director himself.

Although it was normal for there to be no reports from the client after the mission ended, Director Vincent did so out of generosity and so as not to generate concern.

In the end, Professor Villacrés was affected by the powers of a psionic, which caused her to transmit important information, allowing everything to happen.

Her mind was affected, so the Academy paid for a recovery facility focused on psionic powers for Professor Villacrés to recover.

Being affected for a long period of time by psionic mind control powers was not something that could be fixed definitively overnight.

There were after-effects, and there could be a remaining danger if not treated by interdisciplinary professionals in which mind-centred psionics or mind magic magicians had to be found.

The pleasing thing for Aurora was that, according to Director Vincent, it was all over.

“Hmm...”

As they calmly ate their dessert, Andrés became nervous.

It wasn’t because they had been quiet; most of the students who came over and sat with Aurora and Alice knew that they were not very talkative when they were eating.

Alice was the most notorious at that point because she basically paid no attention to anything and focused on her food.

However, Aurora noticed Andrés was nervous and almost embarrassed about something else.

“What’s wrong?” Aurora asked in a curious tone.

“Oh, nothing just... I’m nervous because today, they enable the enrollment program,” Andrés replied, scratching his cheeks.

The skills theory class was critical to allow students to enroll, as, without them, they would not be allowed to enroll.

It was why, after grade verification, those who passed would be allowed to enroll, and those students who failed would be able to look at the list and see which group to enlist in when they passed the second exam.

“It must be hard to choose,” Aurora supposed finished her dessert and looking at Andrés, explained. “Between so many groups, to choose from or see if an invitation arrives. The variety is interesting.”

Those were the two available methods.

Students sending in their requests to sign up or them receiving invitations after the different guilds or groups received the list from the academy.

The serious problem was that if they wanted to be in a guild they were interested in, they would have to be accepted, and there was always the possibility of not being accepted when they sent in their request to join.

As for the invitations they received, it was very possible that it would be from a guild or group they didn’t like, and in the end, they would have to decline.

“Have you thought about the group you will be joining?” Aurora asked curiously.

There were quite a few guilds, mercenary groups, or heroes that were scattered around the world that were on the list.

So much so that guilds of important companies were on the list.

The Taranis Guild, Taranis Enterprise, was one of them, due to the fact that their guild consisted of mechanics and technology-focused members that were very rare in the world.

For a student to be able to enter that kind of guild, it would mean unique advancement because of the expert veterans who could guide them and the technology that the company provided.

Andrés smiled, and checking the notification on his holographic watch, he stood up.

“You’ll know when it’s enabled,” Andrés said with a smile and, putting on a serious expression, he added. “If you’ll excuse me, I have the technology class exam.”

“Good luck!” Aurora and Alice said in unison, waving goodbye.

When they were alone, the duo continued eating.

They didn’t go to see the third fight that Andrés and Leslie were leading, but they did receive the academy recordings, and both were quite remarkable.

Most of the academy’s information about the students and the recordings of the combats were sent to all those groups or guilds that might choose the students.

As one of those groups, they received that information and concluded that most of the students would be taken by major guilds.

“Do you think we will have many people who want to come with us?” Aurora asked curiously.

Among all the groups, their small group of unnamed mercenaries was the least known, and the one that seemed to be the one that would provide the least opportunities.

“I don’t know,” Alice replied, and shrugging her shoulders, she added. “Even if we have enrollment requests, we can’t accept them all.”

They had a limit on the number of students they could accept if they wanted to accomplish everything they were looking to do.

“That’s true,” Aurora muttered with a sigh.

They had been lightly arranging their training plan for the students whoever they were, and had not only asked Liam to take on some tasks, but had even asked for support from an outside group.

Since it was already time, the duo headed to theology class.

When they arrived, they found some students who looked quite exhausted and were talking about their exams.

They didn’t have to wait long before Professor Santulli entered with a smile.

Giving a casual greeting, Professor Santulli surveyed all the students and, without hesitation, announced. “In this class, there will be no exams.”

“...”

Everyone fell silent at that abrupt announcement, and after a moment, everyone celebrated.

One less exam for students taking multiple classes was a reduction in their stress and an increase in time they could use to prioritize other subjects.

“Oh, that’s a shame...”

Aurora could hear Alice’s murmur, but she ignored it completely.

Even though Theology wasn’t that difficult because they taught about different gods that she had heard of and studied before, that didn’t mean she wasn’t happy to have more free time.

“Don’t party too hard, though. We will still continue with classes and delve deeper into the study of the gods to encompass evil entities of great power,” Professor Santulli stated, and noticing that the students were still just as excited, she added. “Although it may not be like the ‘Dark Arts’ classes they teach in a second period about ritualists, cultists, and demonic cults... I want everyone to learn a little about these entities.”

“With this, I want to tell you...”

Among several of the students, including Aurora and Alice, they received notifications of their holographic watches glowing conspicuously.

“It’s from the combat class,” Alice muttered, and Professor Santulli signaled for them to see their subject.

All the students looked and...

“Registration is now open.”