Chapter 442 - 140: You’re a Beast, Lynch Blackwood

Chapter 442: Chapter 140: You’re a Beast, Lynch Blackwood

Carl felt his very soul tremble as he finished reading the humiliating statement.

He snuck a glance at Lynch, only to find him busy grilling another batch of meat skewers, not paying attention at all.

The others also wrote their IOUs and read their statements one by one.

"Excellent." After checking to make sure there were no issues, Lynch gestured for Baring to collect the IOUs. Then, he thoughtfully had the Skeleton Soldiers toss the pile of Shelter Scrolls back to them. "Alright, you can get lost."

’It wasn’t that he’d gone soft. If I take their scrolls and these "long-term meal tickets" end up dead on the island, who am I going to get my five hundred thousand Gold Coins from?’

"Thank you, Lynch!"

As if granted a great pardon, they all thanked Lynch profusely.

They were genuinely grateful; their expressions weren’t fake.

A classic case of Stockholm syndrome.

Watching the backs of the "elites" as they fled empty-handed into the jungle, scrambling away, Lynch weighed the thick stack of IOUs and gold cards in his hand, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

"Master." Baring’s figure materialized beside him. "Are you really letting them go? These humans don’t seem trustworthy."

"Don’t worry." Lynch carefully placed the IOUs into his Space Ring. "These are my long-term meal tickets. With these in hand, there will be plenty of opportunities to slowly squeeze them dry... ah, no, I mean, to slowly motivate them to improve themselves."

"Besides, killing them would cause trouble with the Imperial Capital. But keeping them alive? I can make money *and* have something to hold over the Imperial Capital Academy. Isn’t that just perfect?"

He stood up, stretched languidly, and gazed at the beautiful scenery where the sea met the sky. He was in an excellent mood.

＊＊＊＊＊＊

「Meanwhile.」

Inside the massive central tent, the masters from the three academies sat in clearly separated groups. Most of them had their eyes glued to the enormous Magic Screen in the center.

The Magic Screen was split into two sections, upper and lower. The upper section showed the overall points leaderboard for the graduating students, listing only the top one hundred.

The lower section, naturally, showed the points leaderboard for the lower-grade students.

Rather unexpectedly, on the lower-grade leaderboard, the Imperial Capital Academy only held four of the top ten spots.

Considering the quality of their student body and their overall standards, this number was surprisingly low.

And Silver Moon Academy, despite having the largest number of students, only held two spots in the top ten.

Instead, it was the underdog, Hurst Academy, that took up a full four spots. What’s more, three of those were occupied by students from Hurst Academy’s Undead System.

What displeased the masters from the Imperial Capital and Silver Moon Academies even more was that the number one ranked lower-grade student was none other than Charlotte Aiselle, from Hurst Academy’s Undead System.

Furthermore, her point total was leagues ahead of second place.

"That little girl... Is she the personal disciple Annabella so carefully cultivated?" An Elf master from Silver Moon Academy, dressed in emerald green robes, squinted at the leaderboard thoughtfully. "Judging by her points, the number of elite units she’s hunted alone is nearly equal to what entire teams of other students have managed."

"Hmph. She’s just relying on a few decent Undead Units," a Holy Light System master from the Imperial Capital Academy snorted, his expression sour. "It takes no real skill for a Necromancer to use Undead Units someone else raised for them."

"Oh? Is that so?" Over on the Hurst Academy side, old Master Harvey of the Undead System grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Then how is it that your Imperial Capital Academy can’t even produce a few students with this so-called ’no real skill’? That Black Corpse the Charlotte girl has, its aura... Tsk, tsk. I’m afraid that’s reached Tier Two, hasn’t it?"

At his words, the master from the Imperial Capital Academy’s expression darkened further.

A lower-grade student in possession of a Tier Two Black Corpse was indeed an overwhelming advantage.

However, the most important part of this tri-academy joint examination was still the performance of the graduating students.

So, after a few more words, the masters’ attention quickly returned to the graduating students’ overall leaderboard.

As the students’ rankings fluctuated, so too did the moods of the masters, a mix of delight and concern.

The masters from Silver Moon Academy, in particular, were grinning from ear to ear.

The reason was simple: students from Silver Moon Academy held a full five of the top ten spots for graduating students.

Moreover, their top student—the Tier Three Forest Ranger, Airendra Moon Language—was firmly holding the number one spot.

"That girl, Airendra, truly hasn’t disappointed us," the Elf master said, nodding in satisfaction. "She’s already hunted two Tier Three Magical Beasts. Her score is far ahead of the rest."

Meanwhile, highly-touted elites from the Imperial Capital Academy, like Karl von Hohenlohe, had plummeted to ranks below seventieth or eightieth place. Their point totals were pitifully low; some hadn’t even broken one hundred.

In contrast, one student from the Imperial Capital Academy, Eleanor Frost, was performing exceptionally well, ranked third among all graduating students.

Because of her close ties to Hurst, no one from the Imperial Capital Academy would team up with her. But she charged through the red zone alone, Magic Staff in hand, unleashing a relentless barrage of Frost Magic on any target she met. Her kill efficiency was remarkably high.

Ranked fifth among the graduating students was another student from the Imperial Capital Academy, Adora Carrot.

It was said this young lady was the daughter of the Imperial Capital’s Duke Carrot. She had always marched to the beat of her own drum and paid no mind to Carl and his gang of spoiled nobles.