This Time, I Choose Humanity!

Students started to arrive at the platform and in less than a minute, the platform was filled with hundreds of students who were shattering with excitement and nervousness while looking at the massive dungeon gate ahead of them.

One of the teachers looked towards the Dean and the other seniors, his eyes asking if they wanted to take control of things.

"Don’t mind us, carry on. You don’t need to introduce us either." The Dean, a middle-aged-looking man with rough brown hair, said with a soft smile.

The teacher nodded and then stepped in front of the students, the dungeon gate just a few meters behind him.

"Quiet everyone," he said. His voice wasn’t that loud but his words entered the ears of all the students present.

They immediately stopped talking and a calm silence covered the platform.

The teacher nodded in satisfaction and went on to say a few words.

"As you all already know, your squad assessment will start anytime from now. You’ll get to see what a real dungeon looks like and face real dangers. We all hope that you can use what you have learnt during these past three months to overcome this.

Inside this dungeon is a world populated by orcs, hundreds of orc villages are scattered across the first region. You don’t need to clear the dungeon, you only need to stay within the first region to complete this assessment.

Points will be allocated based on how many orc villages your squad manages to destroy. A teacher will be assigned to each squad to keep count. But don’t think they’ll help you, they are just there to make sure your scores are accurately recorded.

That’s all, you may begin forming your squads. You have thirty minutes to do so, good luck!" The teacher said and went to stand on the side.

After listening to the teacher’s words, the students became noisy again as they started forming squads of five members.

On one side of the platform, Ivan stood silently with his arms folded in front of his chest. He watched the students move about, looking for members to join their squad.

Nobody approached Ivan and he didn’t actively try to form a squad, he just watched while shaking his head inwardly.

Seeing a squad of five mages was enough to make him laugh, Ivan feared he might not be able to hold it in if he walked around.

No matter what, there would eventually be students to team up with. And if he didn’t manage to find a team, he was alright with going alone as well.

If that was allowed.

Unknown to Ivan that a group of senior teachers had noticed him and were quietly discussing him. They were obviously the Dean and his crew.

They wondered why Ivan was just standing there and not trying to form a squad with the other students.

"His performance has been the best so far among all the first-year students, not even the kid from the Belmont family or the daughter of the Starling family was able to match him. Could it be that he’s looking down on them?" One of the board members asked.

"Or maybe he knows the others won’t want a Paladin on their squad so he’s just waiting for a last-minute crew?" Another person added.

They continued to watch.

Soon, the thirty minutes were up. Everyone except Ivan had formed a team, or so he thought.

The teacher who had spoken earlier came forward again and started to call each squad one after the other. Groups of five students went through the dungeon’s gates with a teacher.

Aside from recording their scores, the main reason for sending a teacher with them was actually to ensure their safety but that was only as a last resort. Once the teacher intervened, it meant that the squad had failed and couldn’t continue the assessment.

There was a delay of twenty seconds between each squad entering the dungeon, which was to prevent the entrance from being packed.

Almost half an hour later, all students who had formed squads had entered the dungeon. The only ones left outside were those who hadn’t managed to join a squad, which surprised Ivan because he thought he would be the only one.

"Ivan!"

Some suddenly called out to him. Ivan turned and saw Lucas waving at him, the white-haired kid was already walking over.

"You didn’t join a squad?" Ivan asked in surprise.

"Hehe, my Twingo is very tiny and can’t fight so nobody in my class invited me to team up with them," Lucas said with an embarrassed laugh. He was now much more comfortable around Ivan compared to the first time they met.

Ivan shook his head and then looked at the other students who were still standing because they didn’t join a squad.

Aside from himself and Lucas, there were two other students. A young girl of around 16 years old, and a boy whose face clearly said he was no more than 15 but had a huge build.

’That’s four, this should count as a squad, right?’ Ivan thought to himself.

At this moment, they noticed someone running towards the platform at full speed. Ivan, and the others stared at this newcomer with confused expressions.

This newcomer was a young girl with two long ponytails, she was in the same uniform as Ivan and the others, which meant that she was also a new student.

She stopped running when she reached Ivan and Lucas, gasping for air while staring at the platform.

"Where, is, everyone?" She turned to the two boys in front of her and asked while trying to steady her breathing.

"Everyone has already gone in, are you also here for the assessment?" Lucas asked, genuinely confused if this person was really a student.

"Of course I am, I was just too excited about it that I wasn’t able to sleep early and ended up waking late." She said honestly.

Ivan "..."

Lucas "..."

"Since that’s the case, why don’t the five of you form a squad? There’s no other option anyway," an aged voice sounded.

The three of them turned and looked, they saw a group of oldies in long robes walking over with the two other students who didn’t manage to join any squad earlier.

Ivan looked at the group of oldies, noticing that they were smiling at him.

’Are they teachers too?’ he thought.

"Mm, that really is the only choice at this point." The girl with a double ponytail who arrived last said and turned to the two other students.

"Let’s team up?!" she said with a bright smile.

Looking at the girl, Ivan felt that she was too energetic and would definitely talk a lot.

"We’ll leave you to get to know each other, come to the front of the dungeon once you’re ready." The Dean smiled at them before leaving with his crew.

Now left alone, the girl with the ponytail spoke first.

"Let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Lena Starling, plant mage." She said with a happy face. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

A look of surprise appeared on everyone’s face, including Ivan. The Starling family was also a first-rate noble family, just like the Castellan family.

"Is that why your hair is green?" Lucas asked, pure curiosity on his face; he didn’t look like he was trying to tease Lena.

"Fufuf, maybe. Your turn," Lena giggled and then pointed at Ivan.

"Ivan Castellan, I’m a Paladin," Ivan said easily.

Except for Lucas, the rest were shocked.

Another top family!