Chapter 59: Chapter 57: Shocking! Is This Really an Undead Apprentice?

Avril bit her lower lip and sighed helplessly.

"Hmph. He can run, but he can’t hide. We’ll just wait for him after the assessment is over," she muttered under her breath before steeling herself again. "All right, let’s go."

The three girls reached an agreement and quickly left the square together, heading for the mission area.

After the three girls left, Maurice and the other Undead apprentices looked at each other in bewilderment.

Those three were all major figures in their respective Systems. And they had come looking for Brother Lynch? They even looked disappointed when they couldn’t find him.

’Brother Lynch is just too awesome.’

In that moment, their admiration for Brother Lynch surged like an unstoppable flood.

Maurice, in particular, felt he had absolutely made the right choice in following Brother Lynch. ’If I can just learn a fraction of what he knows,’ he thought, ’I could easily pick up some noble girl and be set for life.’

"Let’s go, let’s go!" Maurice’s morale soared. He immediately called out to his fellow apprentices, "Move out! This time, we have to make Brother Lynch proud!" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

* * *

「More than two hours later.」

Dark Forest, on the edge of the green zone.

Maurice and the group of Undead apprentices gathered in a small forest clearing. They stared at the thirty-odd fresh goblin corpses Lynch had "left" for them, their eyes gleaming and their throats bobbing.

However, the right ears of these goblins had all been cut off, so they couldn’t be used to score assessment points.

"Don’t just stand there gawking!" Maurice shouted, his spirits high despite one side of his face being swollen. "Same as always! Come and get what you need. Once you’ve picked, convert them quickly. If you’re short on cash, I’ll put it on a tab. You can pay me back by exchanging points for money after the assessment."

Soon, the Undead apprentices had divided all the corpses among themselves, making up for their previous losses.

With troops at their command once more, their confidence returned. Spurred on by Maurice, they all started clamoring about teaching those Holy Light System folks a lesson out in the wilds.

This mixed force, composed of a dozen or so Undead apprentices and over a hundred Skeleton Servants, marched with a grim new presence, even if their formation was still a bit loose and their Skeletons a motley assortment.

* * *

「Two days passed in the blink of an eye.」

The Dark Forest.

Inside the largest tent at the academy’s temporary base camp, which served as the tutors’ command center.

The main tent was sparsely furnished, but a massive Magic Light Curtain, sustained by Magic Power, floated in the center.

The screen was divided into two main sections. The top showed the overall real-time point rankings and the total scores for each System, while the bottom half displayed a separate leaderboard for the junior students.

The points that determined the rankings were calculated in real-time based on the spoils of battle that examinees turned in at the various supply points.

At that moment, seven or eight tutors from different specializations were gathered in the tent, chatting casually while keeping an eye on the leaderboards.

Suddenly, the tent flap was thrown open.

A middle-aged male tutor in a cyan Mage Robe strode in.

"Saved another two little rascals. I’m dead tired," the male tutor grumbled as he poured himself a glass of water and chugged it down. GLUG GLUG GLUG.

He was Gwen McCart, an Elemental System tutor who specialized in Wind Element Magic.

After finishing the water, he wiped his mouth and looked at the Magic Light Curtain in the center. "What’s the latest on the rankings? My prized disciple, Lorenzo ’the Blade of the Swift Wind,’ hasn’t dropped out of the top three, has he?"

A Holy Light Priest Tutor with a gentle demeanor smiled warmly at his words. "No need to worry, Master Gwen. Student Lorenzo is performing exceptionally well. He’s currently ranked third on the overall leaderboard."

Master Gwen focused his gaze on the screen.

The current overall rankings were:

Catherine Adela (Holy Light Knight) - Points: 445

Amadis Hayes (Necromancer) - Points: 430

Lorenzo Biler (Elemental Mage - Wind) - Points: 291

"Third? Still third?" Master Gwen seemed a bit dissatisfied with this rank.

But when he saw the scores of the top two, a look of grudging admiration appeared in his eyes. "Catherine and Amadis... those two girls are real monsters. The way their points are climbing... Tsk. It looks like they’ve set their sights on those tough nuts to crack in the zone where the yellow and red areas meet."

The data on the leaderboard clearly showed that Catherine and Amadis’s point totals were growing far faster than those below them.

The two of them were trading the top spot back and forth in a fiercely competitive race.

Hearing this, another Holy Light Priest Tutor, Lady Lianna, smiled with a hint of pride in her voice. "Student Catherine possesses outstanding leadership and healing abilities. Her team cooperates seamlessly, so their efficiency is naturally high. Those points are well-deserved."

Hearing this, Old Harvey, who had been sitting in the corner with his eyes half-closed, couldn’t help but mutter under his breath, "Hmph, ’well-deserved’ my ass. Isn’t she just taking most of the credit for her team’s kills? Otherwise, as fellow Tier One students, how could she possibly compare to that Amadis girl’s sea of Undead when it comes to kill efficiency...?"

Lady Lianna’s expression stiffened, and her tone grew cold. "Old Harvey, do you have a problem with that? Teamwork is part of the assessment. The Holy Light System’s strength lies in our numbers and our cohesion. That’s a strength in itself! And aren’t our Holy Light System’s total points also far ahead of everyone else?"

On the secondary leaderboard, the Holy Light System’s total points were in a league of their own. The Elemental System followed close behind, with the Warrior Series in third. As for the Undead System... it was dead last, with a significant gap between it and second-to-last.

Not wanting the atmosphere to turn sour, Master Gwen quickly changed the subject. "By the way, didn’t someone say the Undead System’s junior class had a promising new talent this year? What was his name... Lynch something?"

His eyes quickly scanned the bottom section of the light curtain. "Huh? Why don’t I see his name in the top ten?" he asked, puzzled.

Everyone else also turned to look at the junior student rankings.

The top spots on the list were mostly filled with the names of apprentices from the Holy Light, Elemental, and Warrior Systems who had already made a name for themselves.

As for the Undead System apprentices, there was one kid named Maurice ranked in the thirties.

But as for Lynch, he was nowhere to be found in the top one hundred of the real-time rankings.

"Heh. It seems he’s nothing special after all," Lady Lianna said with a mocking smile. "The talent in the Undead System has truly dried up. It would be better to just get rid of it already."

As she spoke, she noticed a name on the list, and a pleased expression appeared on her face. "Well, look at that! Avril has been improving quickly. She’s broken into the top ten!"

"Our Ophelia is doing well, too. She’s been working so hard these past two months..." a burly Warrior tutor added, his face filled with gratification.

Master Gwen also saw one of his own students with pleasant surprise. "Our Elemental System’s Lilith finally learned to apply herself! She’s doing exceptionally well this time. And she’s only fifteen! To think she’s already managed to squeeze into twelfth place."

While the tutors from the other three Systems were rejoicing over the outstanding performance of their students...

...Master Annabella’s face remained perfectly calm, as if she were waiting for something.

Old Harvey, however, looked confused and couldn’t help but mutter to himself, ’Something’s not right... Didn’t that Lynch kid sell a bunch of troops to the other students?’

’Even if he couldn’t break into the junior top ten, it’s not like... he shouldn’t even have a decent ranking, right? Or could it be that he hasn’t been to a single supply point to turn in his kills?’

Before he could finish his thought, Master Gwen suddenly cried out in alarm. "Wait, look at the rankings! Holy shit, my disciple just got kicked down to fourth!"

Huh?

’There’s another expert among the senior students?’

All the tutors’ eyes immediately shot toward the large screen.

There, in what was previously the third-place spot, a new name was now displayed in bright letters.

Lynch Blackwood (Necromancer) - Points: 321.

What the hell?

The tutors were collectively stunned.

...