Dragon Necromancer: Starting With First Dragon Bloodline-Chapter 31: Results

So, instead of writing some nonsense again, Noa smirked, crossed out the question, and quietly wrote something beneath it.

[There are no weak beasts. Only the tamers who give up on them are.]

The answer was wrong by every standard this world had set, and everyone would disagree with him without batting an eye.

Noa knew that.

He understood the consequences of writing something the academy wouldn’t agree with.

But he did it anyway.

This last question was one he didn’t want to answer with a lie.

It felt like he was accepting the fate that people believed he was destined for because of the Graveworm.

Noa didn’t want that.

Even if it meant losing a point, he wrote his thought confidently.

Then he stormed out of the room, ignoring the stares he was getting while also not even glancing at the short boy who had walked with him.

’I win, right?’ Noa pondered, looking around the hallway.

Before Irina announced the results, at least ten minutes remained.

So, upon noticing that Thalia had yet to finish her exam, Noa prepared to see what the Arcane Academy had to offer up close.

Just then—

The hurried footsteps closed the distance, almost running after him.

"I am done!" the voice called out, appearing in front of Noa in seconds while also glaring at him.

"You lost," Noa said, smirking at his maid.

Thalia gulped heavily.

She wanted to argue, but the result was apparent.

Noa had finished the test one step earlier than she did, causing her defeat.

"I-I think," she said, trailing her words. But as she was about to accept her loss, an idea struck her. "What if you wrote faster than me? At the end of the day, all that matters is how many of your answers were correct."

Her competitive nature was plain to see.

Refusing to say that she lost the bet was too hard for her, so she introduced additional terms instead.

As for Noa, all he could do was smirk at her enthusiasm.

It wasn’t rare to see Thalia this fired up, yet it still brought a smile to his face every time.

He also knew that he couldn’t get a perfect score.

The girl shouldn’t have the same problem, but the probability that she didn’t make even a single mistake was low enough to make Noa risk one wish.

"Sure," he said, nodding. "I knew losers were this childish."

Thalia glared at him again.

She sent piercing daggers with her eyes.

Still, she breathed in and didn’t argue against the provocation Noa had set up for her.

Meanwhile, other students also finished their assignments.

One by one, they stepped out of the classroom and waited for the results, looking nervously at each other.

There was a familiar face in the crowd as well.

It belonged to the boy who had spoken to Noa just moments ago, and based on the direction he was walking, Noa realized he was coming closer.

"Heyo!" he said, darting his eyes between Thalia and Noa.

Every time he made eye contact with the former, he blushed slightly, clearly not used to girls.

Even his voice became deeper.

"How did you do, my friend? I am sure it wouldn’t have been hard for someone like you," he said, suddenly praising Noa.

"Who?" Thalia asked.

But she wasn’t looking at the boy.

The only person on her radar was Noa, and he was the one to speak this time.

"I don’t know. He is just a weird guy."

"Dude, I can hear you," the boy said, his shoulders wobbling. He wanted to befriend Noa but he showed no interest whatsoever. "You are mean!"

"Is he bothering you, young ma—Noa?" Thalia asked, quickly correcting herself, her voice sinking with a hint of embarrassment.

Noa shook his head. "No. He simply has no idea when to close his mouth."

"We can get rid of him, right? I don’t think the academy would mind. They might even thank us for the service," the maid joked with a serious tone.

The short boy looked on the verge of bursting with embarrassment.

"Tsk. You two make a great pair—bullying a defenseless, cute guy like me," he said, and quickly changed the subject. "Your name is Noa, huh? I am called Marlo Vellin."

Noa sighed, barely reacting.

"Cool," he said flatly. His voice was so dry and uninterested that it would easily depress average folks.

Yes, Noa wanted to form connections, but reaching out before knowing whether the boy would be accepted felt like a waste of effort.

Acting uninterested also worked like magic.

It increased his appeal to the boy and gave him a certain mysterious aura he hadn’t really planned for.

As the conversation shifted subjects a couple of times, Irina appeared again.

This time, she was in her actual form.

"All examinees, listen well..." Her voice, calm and commanding, cut through the chatter like a blade of dominance. "The results are out."

Then—

The air shifted in a sudden green glow.

It charred the world in magical flame and showed the same plate as before.

Each plate bore a name and a grade, arranged in order from 1 to 200 based on their scores.

Hearing her announcement, the students held their breath.

It was one of the most important moments of their lives since the contracting ceremony, and each point could determine their future.

Noa tilted his head.

He searched for his name, looking at how quickly the plates arranged themselves.

Some of them were bad. Like really bad.

But most of the scores were quite high, ranging from 25 to 30 out of 32.

Then—

Two plates rose higher than the rest.

[Noa Osborn → 31 Points]

[Thalia Moretti → 31 Points]

They had the same score, blazing hot at the top of the rankings.

Irina stepped forward.

"Noa Osborn and Thalia Moretti," she uttered their names, her lips curling into a cold, yet mischievous smile. "You two achieved the highest scores in this batch. But the only mistake you two made was on the last question—arguably the easiest one on the test.

Even your answers were nearly identical. Why is that?"