Chapter 455: The Recruitment War

The ranks from one hundred to ten were never announced at all, these ranks were only personal and could only be seen by the student themselves.

The ranks from ten to four were also clear, in order, Ethan, Marcus, Selina, Liana, Cassian, and Seraphina took fifth place.

When the girl’s rank was revealed, a short wave of whispers spread through the crowd, the Vice President of the Student Council and the Academy’s famous flower had managed to take fifth place.

Everyone had thought that because they had fallen behind for such a long time and their Levels were lower than the others, they might not be able to reach such high ranks.

But all those who had entered the Special Area had still managed to take top ranks.

Fourth place was naturally Kain.

For someone who had spent almost all of the past nine months completing his missions alone, reaching the top four of a test where a large part of the score was related to leadership and cooperation was not a small result.

But the fact that he was a Ranker who had lost to Rodrick was what stopped him from reaching third place.

The screen changed again.

[Third Place: Rindo Valcrest]

A loud cheer came from the Student Council’s section, and even many of the other students clapped.

Rindo only lowered his head slightly.

Leading his group, taking the Resistance Seal, and his performance in the final stage had secured his position.

Two names remained.

But almost no one really had any question about who would take second place.

[Second Place: Rodrick Ashen.]

The arena became silent for a moment, and then scattered cheers rose, Rodrick’s performance had not been weak.

Even considering his final defeat, he had held the Crown for almost thirty minutes against the attacks of a large number of participants and had shown one of the best examples of leadership in the test.

These cheers also came from his supporters and his group, the other students did not feel the need to cheer for him anymore.

But he himself only looked at the screen.

The next name had already been decided, and the huge screen turned golden.

[First Place: Lian Vorhelm.]

The noise in the arena suddenly became much louder.

But the announcements were not over yet.

[Points: 1694.]

[Overall Evaluation: Exceptional.]

[The highest Adaptive Difficulty recorded in this period.]

[Two Seals were directly claimed.]

[The King of the Final Stage was defeated.]

Each announcement caused a new wave of reactions.

Lian had his hands in the pockets of his clothes and was only looking at the screen, his armor was no longer visible on his body because he had already turned it off.

First place.

The same thing he had wanted from the beginning, but when he turned his eyes toward Rodrick for a moment, his satisfaction became a little greater.

Some victories tasted better.

Silas waited until the noise of the crowd became lower.

"The top three of the test will not only receive the Academy’s normal rewards." He raised his hand and another screen appeared.

"One of the rewards that was announced before the test is a permit to enter the Land of First Dawn."

Several people in the crowd immediately became silent, the name of this realm was familiar to many.

Even the students who had no chance of reaching the top three knew how valuable entering it was.

"But the entry is not immediate, the Land of First Dawn will open for the next period three months from now."

The screen lit up.

[Permit to Enter the Land of First Dawn.]

[Entry Time: 90 Days From Now.]

[Permit Holders:]

[Lian Vorhelm.]

[Rodrick Ashen.]

[Rindo.]

Lian looked at the number ninety for a few moments.

Three months.

It was not a short amount of time, many things could happen before then, but at least now one of his future destinations was completely clear.

Another announcement appeared only in front of him.

[Special Reward for First Place.]

[One Free Choice from the Special Section of the Academy Store.]

[Selection Range: Skills with the potential to grow up to Holy Rank.]

This time, his eyes stayed on the announcement for a few more moments, skills with the potential to reach Holy Rank.

Abilities that even had the possibility of reaching such a rank were not things a student could easily buy from the market with money.

They were so rare that they could either only be found in very private auctions, or only the top Guilds and families had access to them.

Before he could think about it more, a new movement on the central platform caught everyone’s attention.

Silas moved aside and another man stepped forward.

Arius, the head of the Academy and Seraphina’s father....He did not need to raise his voice, and his mere presence was enough to make the arena become silent.

He was wearing the official Academy uniform without any extra decoration, his expression was calm, but it was the kind of calm that showed authority more than friendliness.

"The top three, come to the platform." He said, and a few moments later, Lian, Rodrick, and Rindo were standing in front of him.

The three people who had each become the center of this test in a different way.

Rindo, the current President of the Student Council.

Rodrick, the one who was openly moving to replace him and considered himself the king of the Academy.

And Lian, someone who seemed to have no interest in either of these positions, but had broken the balance between both of them in a single day.

Arius first looked at Rindo and held out his hand.

"Your performance as the President of the Student Council was acceptable, even when things went out of control, you did not forget your priority and kept your group together. That is more important than getting a few more points."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

Arius then stood in front of Rodrick and looked at him for a few seconds.

"Twenty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds holding the Crown, while your position was visible to all the participants, is not a weak performance."

The muscle in Rodrick’s jaw moved almost without being noticed.

That damn number again!

But Arius had no intention of making fun of him.

"One final second does not make all the twenty-nine minutes before it worthless, but it changes the result. Understand the difference between these two and learn from it."

"I understand, and thank you." He nodded at the end.

Arius nodded and then stood in front of the last person.

Lian.

His pause was a little longer, and the young Vorhelm noticed it.

Even if someone did not know the Headmaster, the greater coldness in his eyes when looking at him was easy to notice.

He did not like Lian, he did not like how close he was to his daughter, and the fact that he had once been a failed, talentless person only made things worse.

After he was also exiled from the Vorhelm family, the Headmaster had tried several times to keep them apart.

But at least he was professional enough not to let this matter change the result of the test.

"First place, two Seals, the highest Adaptive Difficulty of this period, and taking the Crown in the final second."

He stayed silent for a few moments.

"That was an impressive performance." His tone did not match the sentence, it was praise but there was no warmth in it.

"You don’t seem very happy." Lian studied his face for a moment.

Below the platform, Seraphina slightly raised her head, and the corner of her lips moved almost without being noticed.

Kain also quietly said something like, "Here we go."

But Arius did not even blink.

"My duty is not to be happy about the result, my duty is to accept the correct result, even when I personally prefer another one."

At least he was honest.

Vorhelm held his hand, the Headmaster’s grip was firm.

"Congratulations, Lian Vorhelm."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

The two released their hands, for a moment, the three top-ranked students stood beside each other, and the huge screen behind them lit up again.

At the bottom of the arena, the lights of several recording devices turned on.

It was clear from seeing them that this image was probably not going to remain only inside the Academy’s walls.

But for now, it did not matter and the only thing he wanted was a little silence.

Unfortunately, he was not going to get it.

The official ceremony had not even completely ended when the first person stepped forward.

A man in a long white coat with a golden crown symbol on his chest.

"Mr. Vorhelm." He stopped in front of Lian with a professional smile.

"I am a representative of the Heavenly Crown Association. I think it would be better if we talked about your future."

Lian had not even had time to answer when another voice came from the left.

"Before you make a decision, I suggest you also hear the conditions of the Eternal Dawn Association." A woman with light gray hair approached.

"Our main activity is exploring unknown realms. Based on what we saw from you today, I think it would be a very suitable path for you."

The third person entered almost immediately, a huge man who had the symbol of a stone tower on his clothes.

"Titan Bastion does not have the usual financial limits for talents like you." He said directly.

"If we are talking about resources, equipment, or training, we can offer more than most Associations."

Lian opened his mouth.

The fourth person spoke before him.

The representative of Black Moon had appeared beside the crowd almost out of nowhere.

His clothes were simpler than the others.

"We did not come here with a standard offer, if you are interested, a special offer will be prepared just for you. Something that the others do not need to know about."

"Crimson Dragon will guarantee you a direct position in one of the main groups in the Heavenly Realm once you reach a suitable Level." Another man with a red dragon symbol interrupted him.

The five top Associations of the country.

Heavenly Crown.

Eternal Dawn.

Titan Bastion.

Black Moon.

Crimson Dragon.

And the problem was that they were not the only ones who had come.

Several representatives from smaller Associations were also waiting for a chance.

In less than a minute, Lian found himself in the middle of a circle of people, each of them trying to speak before the others.

"Our contract—"

"Monthly resources—"

"Access to exclusive areas—"

"Personal instructor—"

"Mission shares—"

He only looked at them for a few seconds and then his eyes passed over the shoulder of one of the representatives.

A few meters away, Kain was in almost the same situation, four people were standing around him and two more were coming closer.

Kain’s eyes met Lian’s, neither of them said anything for a moment, and then the first one very quietly moved his lips.

"Help."

Lian looked around himself.

Eight people..

"I’m stuck too." He looked at his friend again and raised one shoulder.

Kain closed his eyes.

Rindo was not in a better situation either.

Several representatives who were looking for members ready to immediately enter professional operations had gone directly to him.

Seraphina was also surrounded by two Associations.

Liana and Selina had not even had a chance to leave the arena yet.

Only Rodrick did not have such a problem.

He was already connected to an Association, and the other representatives also knew enough about this that they did not waste their time.

"Mr. Vorhelm, if you could just give us five minutes—"

"I think you have bothered him enough." A voice came at that moment, it was not loud, but it was enough to silence the circle around him.

The people moved aside.

Professor Aldric stepped forward from the crowd.

His hands were behind his back, and his expression showed that he was not very interested in arguing.

One of the Heavenly Crown representatives kept his formal smile.

"Professor Aldric, we were just—"

"You are just having eight people talk into his ears at the same time, if your goal is to annoy him, I think you succeeded."

Several people became silent.

"Come." The Professor moved his eyes toward him.

"With pleasure." Lian did not think for even a moment.

He passed through the gap that had opened, one of the representatives wanted to say something again, but Aldric’s look was enough to make him stop.

A few minutes later, the two had moved away from the busiest part of the arena.

"Thank you." Vorhelm let out a quiet breath.

"For what?" Aldric looked at him.

"If I stayed there for another five minutes, I would probably have to throw one of them out of a window."

"Then your first achievement after obtaining first place, would be getting expelled from the Academy." The Professor stayed silent for a moment.

When they reached the intersection of the Academy’s main paths, he then pointed toward the main building of the Academy Store instead of the path to the dormitory.

"Your first-place reward, do you want to receive it now?"

The tiredness on Lian’s face became less for a moment, he was not stupid enough to not understand what he meant.

"A skill with the potential to reach Holy Rank?"

"Yeah, do you want to receive it now?"