Chapter 74: Exam sidetrack

"What are you waiting for? Open it already!" V spoke, while already curiously walking around the box.

"What do you care so much about what’s inside?" Steven answered, unpacking it.

"Man, you think it was easy sitting beside it the whole night and not opening it?" V answered as if it were the most normal thing in the world to sit in a bush all night.

"Your fault for living inside my bush for no reason." This guy was just a mystery to him.

"I wasn’t living there; I was waiting for you," he answered defensively, pointing toward the headband.

"Ah, whatever," Steven answered, finally ripping the package open.

Falling out was a slim blade, which he caught with his hands on reflex.

It had been cross-shaped and crafted with fine precision, just as he had expected from June.

Grabbing it by the handle, he inspected the hand that had caught it, finding only a small cut along one side.

Meaning the other side of the blade had been made dull, which was perfect for him.

"Man, a sword—how cool." V interrupted his thoughts as Steven looked up at him.

Swinging the sword forward toward V, he barely missed his throat, but the guy didn’t even react.

"Where did you learn to dodge attacks? With your grandma?" Steven slightly provoked him, just for the fun of it.

"Why should I dodge?" he asked as he raised his hand toward the blade. "When you’re attacking me with the dull side."

Steven’s hand only slightly wavered, impressed by his keen observation.

Pulling the sword back to his side, he found a runic pattern that he recognized.

Sending mana into it, the blade began to shrink in size until it was no taller than his finger.

"What’s that good for?" V asked, trying to grab the small blade.

But Steven pulled his hand away quickly enough for V to only grab the air. He then held the small blade against one of the chains from his wristband.

It held in place, now looking like little more than a part of the chain. He could simply make them stick together with just a little mana.

"Carrying a blade around school is considered weird." Steven finally answered, showing off his wristband to V.

"Woah, this girl is really good with craft. You think she wants to make me something too?" V asked, looking at the chain like he was hypnotized.

"Maybe in your wildest dreams you’d have a chance." He spoke as he heard footsteps approaching from behind them.

Pushing the resisting V back toward the bush, he tried to argue.

"What are you doing, Steven... Argh, that hurts."

But Steven shushed him.

"Someone is coming. Stay quiet." He finally shoved him inside.

The footsteps grew louder until someone walked out of the main entrance. It was just a simple Sapphire student.

But she still seemed to look suspiciously around until she spotted him.

"Oh, it’s just you, Steven. I thought I heard somebody talking," she spoke, looking past him.

"Nope, only me and my... morning training for incantations." He answered, hoping she wouldn’t dig any further.

But of course she did.

"I have never seen you at incantations class before. I thought you were skipping all of them." She sounded even more suspicious now.

"Well, I... I..." He tried to find another lie, but she was already walking closer.

"Oh, look at the time. I gotta go to my class for my exam. Cya."

He quickly stepped away, leaving her standing there in confusion.

"Class? It doesn’t start for a while. What is he talking about?"

But he could barely hear her anymore as he made his way toward the university, hoping she wouldn’t continue searching.

Feeling her mana slowly move away, he was sure V hadn’t been found, so he had no reason to return to him.

"Time for a little break before class, I guess," he spoke to himself, jumping down from a building and landing in front of a bakery.

After gathering something to eat, he still had way too much time to spare, so he took a short detour toward the Diamond dorms.

Standing at the locked gates, he stared toward the mansion. Even if he could easily break in, there was just no reason for him to do it.

Irose and Ami’s mana seemed to be fine inside, and the mana of the rest of the Diamond class seemed to have only grown.

Except for Lucy, of course. Her mana was almost completely inactive, as if she had lost her connection to it.

"It won’t take long. Don’t worry." His voice was calm as he finally seemed to attract the attention of the guards, who slowly moved toward him.

Turning away before they could arrive, he this time truly made his way to the exam room.

He just needed a few more points, and his class would rise again.

Even though he hadn’t attended most of his classes, he had always passed each exam with excellent grades.

The walk to the university felt unusually quick as more and more people slowly arrived nearby, waiting for the exams themselves.

It was only a small exam, nothing comparable to the great school event at the start of the year.

Shortly after, an elderly female teacher arrived, ringing the bell just as class was about to start.

Turning his head, the teacher had pinned a fighting bracket against the wall, with a total of five rounds needed to win the whole thing.

Inspecting the list, not a single student really seemed dangerous in any way, except perhaps for a Diamond student from the second table.

But they would only meet in the final, and until then, there was nothing really to worry about.

As the first few fighters positioned themselves in the arena, the matches ended extremely quickly most of the time due to the massive skill and talent gaps between them.

Having waited long enough, his time had finally come.

As he stepped into the arena, his opponent was already waiting.