BXBX NOVEL Chapter 30 - Perfect Score!
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Noah and the rest of his party exited the rift rather carefreely, as they were greeted with the rest of the class\' parties and the teacher, most of them were raising their eyebrows in surprise and disbelief.
"No way in hell…" muttered Fernand, he and his lackeys were all dumbfounded.
"T-They\'re alive?"
"How?"
"Weren\'t they trash? They would have surely died by the monsters…"
"Yeah…"
"This doesn\'t match at all…"
"So where\'s Edmond?"
"True, he hasn\'t come back with his girls…"
"Could they…?"
"Nah, they probably were lucky to not encounter many monsters, the maid of Arthur is a bit strong, so she might have handled the monsters… They were just lucky…"
"You\'re right, the fat pig Iris and the useless Noah couldn\'t possibly even beat a walking mushroom… even less that cyclops…"
Noah and his party ignored the gazes and comments of their classmates, as they walked towards the teacher who had his mouth open wide.
Even someone that seemed to be \'gentle\' had already given up on them, and not because he wanted, but because the higher-ups at the Military School told him to forget about the weaklings, as this test would most likely filter them out.
However, here they were.
Alive.
"Did some of them awakened an Ability while fighting? Or perhaps they were simply lucky to not encounter too many monsters? …Then surely, if they did, they must have barely gathered enough Cores-" thought the teacher, as he was stopped by Noah\'s words.
"We are done. Here, 20 Cores for the best grade, right?" asked Noah with a gentle and innocent smile as he opened his backpack and showed the teacher the twenty glowing crystal spheres, Attribute Value Cores of Vitality, Mind, and Force.
"W-What?" asked the teacher, he glanced at the Cores, touched them, and realized that they were indeed real.
Even then, he had his doubts.
"Bring the artifact…" he said, as an assistant brought an artifact that resembled a box, where the teacher put the 20 Cores.
Ding!
The box then showed a holographic window, showcasing that they were indeed harvested in this Dungeon and not brought from another.
Every Core, even if they looked exactly the same, had an essence from their respective dungeon origin.
Such artifacts were able to detect this essence to immediately tell if these Cores were harvested in this Dungeon or not.
"Unbelievable… you actually… did it?" asked the teacher, as Noah\'s eyes gleamed with crimson light for a split of a second, as his aura suddenly released just a tiny bit, surprising many, who then immediately began to think that it was just their imagination due to their impression of Noah for so long.
"Yes, it was pretty hard, but with a lot of planning and the use of Timassa Bolt Arrow and Arthur\'s healing skills, we managed!" said Noah while smiling brightly, pretending to be genuinely surprised himself.
"That can\'t be true…"
"Oi, oi, oi, don\'t fuck with me, the useless bunch is getting higher grades than us?"
"Don\'t fuck with me…"
"Could they had stolen… from someone else?"
"Aside from Edmon\'s party missing, there are another few missing… but I doubt these weaklings could have stolen their Cores,"
"This smells fishy,"
"What if they really did… do something to others?!"
As the students began to try to find a reason why Noah and his party could have to find so many Cores while being so pathetically weak, the teacher realized that there might be something going on behind the scenes.
Perhaps Noah or any of the others in the party had some kind of reawakening, where they are granted a second Skill and even an increase in attribute values, which is an incredibly rare thing, but not impossible.
However, without an Appraisal Artifact at his side, he could only leave such things into conjectures.
For the moment, he simply decided to accept the Cores as proof of their skill and give the party a high grade.
After all, the higher-ups had told him that this test was made to provoke students to attack each other for the Cores, which could also filter the weaklings while leaving the more useful ones for the plans of the Military to convert them into Awakened Soldiers.
"Could they have killed other students to steal their Cores? There is always that possibility… But even then, they should not have enough strength to kill another party with five strong awakened students… I am certain. Someone has most likely reawakened. Or… Could it be? That boy, Noah has… The presence I sensed earlier…. Was it really my imagination?" wondered the teacher.
"Teacher…? What\'s wrong?" asked Noah with a concerned expression.
"AH. Nothing, you all pass the test with excellent grades… You can go back to your rooms to rest for the rest of the day… Here, make sure to distribute the Cores evenly," said the teacher, giving back the Cores to Noah.
"Thank you very much," said Noah while nodding, completely ignoring the stares and comments of his fellow students as he walked away with his party.
For some reason, they felt like they did not want to provoke them anymore…
Something weird was going on.
Not only Noah had released that weird aura that some assumed to be their imagination…
But Iris too was rather strangely content, her face seemed in another world completely, and she glanced at Noah with admiration.
Arthur, Timassa, and Jon too seemed strangely close with Noah and Timassa.
Certainly, they might have survived together and that could have forged some bonds, but not near as enough for them to be so oddly close together.
And even more bizarrely was that all four of them glanced at Noah as if he were some kind of leader or a glorious figure.
Which made some students particularly sickened.
Specially Fernand Firebrand…
"What the heck is going on in here?" he wondered, as he walked back to his room.
As Noah and his party walked through the Military School interior, the party seemed a bit curious as to where Noah was leading them.
"N-Noah, where are we going?" asked Iris, trying to not call him with honorifics while being in public.
"To my room so we can talk and distribute the Cores more comfortably. I have some drinks there," said Noah.
"Oh, Noah\'s room…" said Arthur.
"Master\'s room…" said Timassa.
"Oh…" said Jon as he flushed a bit.
"E-Eeeh? N-Noah\'s room?! But isn\'t it a bit earlier to go that far yet…?" asked Iris while flushing and covering her face, as a bit of steam came out of her reddened ears.
Noah glanced at him rather expressionlessly.
"Don\'t get weird ideas," he said.
"A-Ah! O-Of course not…" Iris said apologetically.
Noah took out his keys as he opened the door of his room, letting his party in one by one.
"Get yourselves at home, it is small, but this is my humble domain," said Noah, as Iris sat down on Noah\'s bed with a smile, as her lips trembled out of nervousness, the entire room was rather messy and filled with Noah\'s scent, which she particularly liked a lot.
Arthur and Timassa felt like the place was way too messy, but were gentle enough to not point it out.
Jon was happy to be there and stood at their side.
"Well then, do you like green tea?" asked Noah, opening his fridge and offering cold drinks to his vampires.
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It has similar genres than Vampire Overlord but it is more about personal growth, the main character changes a lot over time until becoming a ruthless anti-hero! Check it out!