The moment Liam Hunter’s name left Lucia’s mouth, the Eastern Grand Hall grew lively in a way it had not been since the ranking announcement began.

For an instant, almost everyone forgot about the image being shown on the magical screen. They forgot that the display had just revealed Liam appearing high above Nalim’s dense canopy and falling toward the forest as though the realm itself had decided to throw him into danger before he even touched the ground.

Their attention was instead seized by something far more immediate, far more shocking, and, for many of them, far more difficult to understand.

Liam Hunter had dropped from rank one to rank three.

The reaction spread through the second years in waves of whispers, sharp breaths, and stunned looks. Some students turned toward Liam openly before remembering themselves and quickly looking away.

Others stared at the screen as though waiting for Lucia to correct herself. A few exchanged glances with friends, their expressions caught between disbelief and confusion.

Liam was feared by many, even if they would never admit that fear aloud. Others hated him simply because of what he was, because dark magic had a way of making people see monsters before they saw a person.

Yet regardless of fear, hatred, jealousy, or distrust, most of the second years understood one thing clearly.

Liam Hunter was not weak.

He was not someone whose rank could casually fall without explanation.

Those who had seen his capabilities firsthand during the previous assessments, training sessions, or smaller encounters knew that his strength was not exaggerated.

Those who had never witnessed it directly still heard enough, saw enough, and felt enough of his presence to understand that he stood somewhere abnormal among them. So for him to drop from first place all the way to third sounded almost absurd.

Naturally, not everyone felt the same way.

Some students, especially those who disliked him, felt a bitter satisfaction at the announcement. They did not care why he had fallen. They only cared that he had. In their minds, Liam had stood too high for too long, too silently, too effortlessly, as if the entire academy had been forced to acknowledge him no matter how much they hated the idea.

To them, whatever reason had caused his drop was deserved. Some even thought he should have fallen lower. If anything, they believed this would humble him, though none of them knew Liam well enough to understand that rank itself had never been the thing feeding his pride.

Still, the hall grew louder with restrained chatter.

"Quiet."

Regulus’s voice cut through the noise so cleanly that the hall stilled almost immediately.

He stepped forward with the same measured calm he had carried throughout the ranking announcement, but there was an unmistakable edge beneath his tone now.

His gaze swept over the gathered second years, and for a moment, even the most exhausted students seemed to remember that they were standing before instructors who had just watched every second of their assessment.

"If you all have that much energy to waste on talking in your current state," Regulus said, his voice cold enough to make several students straighten unconsciously, "then I can provide you with a more productive way to spend whatever strength you still possess."

The hall went silent. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Even Charlotte, who had been seconds away from making some kind of comment near Liam, wisely held her tongue for once, though the slight curve of her lips suggested she was enjoying the tension.

Regulus allowed the silence to settle before turning his gaze toward Liam within the crowd.

For a brief moment, he simply studied him. Liam stood near Charlotte, calm as ever, his visible injuries mostly healed but not fully gone. The torn condition of his attire, the lingering bruises, and the faint stiffness in the way he carried himself were enough to show that he had not returned from Nalim untouched. Yet his expression remained unchanged, almost indifferent, as if the crowd’s reaction to his ranking had nothing to do with him.

"Liam Hunter," Regulus said at last.

The screen above the stage continued playing his highlights.

The first scene returned to Liam’s entry into Nalim, showing him falling from the sky toward the thick canopy. It showed him clutching his bag tightly as the wind tore at him, twisting his body just before impact, and crashing through leaves, vines, and branches into the hostile swamp below.

Then the footage moved quickly into the first attack, displaying Gravecoils surging from the trees in overwhelming numbers. Liam, still in mid-fall, summoned his dagger and began cutting through them with precise flame-assisted movements, using branches, trunks, and even the demons’ bodies as footholds.

"Without a doubt," Regulus began, "you were placed in a zone that most of your fellow students would not have survived for even the first minute without triggering a Forced Extraction or overexerting themselves immediately."

The students watched as Liam killed one Gravecoil after another, his movements sharp and controlled despite the terrain offering no stable ground. The footage showed the swamp below, the countless hostile presences around him, and the evolved three-headed Gravecoil emerging from beneath the water.

Some students who had not seen this footage before looked visibly disturbed. Others stared with wide eyes as Liam was struck, lost his supplies, and then returned to slaughter the surrounding demons with terrifying efficiency.

"You performed exceptionally well during this assessment," Regulus continued. "That is not merely my opinion. It is the assessment of the authoritative figures who observed your time within Nalim. Your feats, survival instincts, survival skills, judgment, decision-making, adaptability, and combat execution were all exceptional."

The screen showed Liam destroying the evolved Gravecoil with a miniature sun, the light consuming the forest from the inside before leaving the swamp in ruins. Then it shifted to him treating his own punctured thigh using medicinal plants, tearing cloth from his attire, binding the wound, and continuing to move despite injury and depleted resources.

It showed him navigating the forest without supplies, locating water, creating a makeshift treatment, hunting, storing food, crafting a wooden water container, and securing a hidden shelter within the rocky outcrop.

"Among all students," Regulus said, "you are the only one who made it through the first day in Nalim after losing all supplies and sustaining a puncture wound through the thigh. Within the first hour alone, you killed over a hundred Feral-class demons and an Advanced Horror-class demon. There were multiple moments that first day where your situation could have justified a Forced Extraction, and yet you continued."

The hall remained silent now.

Not because everyone had suddenly become comfortable with Liam’s rank, but because the footage gave them no room to dismiss what was being said. Some students who had felt satisfied moments earlier now found themselves watching with reluctant tension as the screen displayed the kind of first day most of them would not have survived.

Regulus continued, "You also accomplished something no other student managed during this assessment. You restored part of your Myst reserves within a heavily unstable zone. Even if the amount was small, the act itself required focus, control, and an understanding of Myst flow that many students here still lack. The environment was working against you, and yet you adapted."