Chapter 457: Discussions.

Chapter 457: 457: Discussions.

Eventually Ravenna lifted her head and looked up at him.

"You really are an idiot sometimes."

Silver laughed softly.

"That’s becoming your favorite thing to call me."

"Because you keep proving my point every single time. You always find a way to make me worry," she complained.

Silver leaned in and lightly kissed her lips.

"I’m sorry."

"You better be."

"Did your squad make it?" He changed the subject.

Ravenna nodded.

"Yes."

"All objectives?"

"All three."

He smiled.

"Look at that, you’re the best."

"We had two simulated casualties, though. One of our teammates took a direct hit from a Tier Three beast, and another injured his leg when part of a building collapsed."

"Everyone extracted?"

"Yes."

"Then you did well. Injuries are part of the extraction, some teams will get lucky but most always have someone getting injured."

Ravenna’s expression softened.

"We really did well, despite all that."

Silver brushed a loose strand of white hair away from her face. She looked at him for a moment, then leaned forward and kissed him.

This time she took her time.

Silver’s arm tightened slightly around her waist as he returned it, and Ravenna rose onto her toes to close the small difference in height between them. Her fingers curled into the front of his replacement jacket, holding him close for several seconds before she finally pulled back.

He smiled.

She looked pleased with herself.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You’re smiling."

"My girlfriend just kissed me, I think I’ll be smiling the whole day today."

Ravenna rolled her eyes.

"That happens."

"I know. I’m very fortunate."

She laughed and rested her forehead briefly against his.

Silver kissed her again.

This one was shorter, but Ravenna smiled against his lips before stepping back and looking around.

Several students had noticed them. One girl quickly turned away when Ravenna caught her looking.

She sighed.

"We should go, we’re becoming a spectacle."

Silver nodded.

"Food?"

"Please. I’m starving."

He took her hand.

She intertwined their fingers and they walked toward the cafeteria together.

The academy didn’t announce the assessment results that evening.

Instead, all first-years received a notification informing them that official evaluations would be published the following morning after the instructors completed their review of the recorded missions.

That didn’t stop students from discussing what had happened and possibly panicking for no apparent reasons.

By dinner, the cafeteria had become a noisy collection of competing stories.

Some squads had encountered multiple peak Tier Three beasts. Others had struggled with injured personnel. Several had lost their military cases.

A few had failed to reach extraction before their time expired and could clearly be seen from their faces.

One squad from Class Six had apparently spent almost forty minutes trying to defeat a beast that they could’ve avoided by taking another street.

Silver didn’t know whether that story was true or not but considering how some students behaved during training, he wouldn’t have been surprised.

He and Ravenna sat with Antony, Rebecca, Helena, Jude and several others near the back of the cafeteria.

Dillian joined them later, carrying his meal and looking considerably less exhausted than most of the first-years.

Antony immediately pointed at him.

"There he is. The man who apparently froze half a street."

He sat down.

"It was a small street," Dillian calmly said.

Rebecca laughed.

"That’s not what I heard."

"People exaggerate."

Silver looked toward him.

"How’d your squad do?"

"Completed all objectives. We lost some equipment during the final extraction, but nobody was left behind."

"As expected," Silver said.

Dillian nodded.

"What about yours?"

"Same. Three personnel and the case."

Antony looked offended.

"Why is everyone so calm about this? We nearly got crushed by a peak Tier Three beast, and you’re discussing it like you just finished a group assignment."

Jude looked toward him.

"It was a group assignment, Antony."

He stared, then pointed at him.

"You’re becoming my least favorite roommate."

Jude continued eating.

Rebecca laughed.

Silver smiled.

Ravenna leaned slightly against his shoulder while listening to the conversation.

Helena noticed, smiled faintly, then looked toward Silver.

"You know, I still think you were too relaxed during that bear encounter."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Relaxed?"

"You were smiling."

"I was concentrating, making sure thatvthing didn’t kill sny of us."

"You were smiling."

"Those aren’t mutually exclusive," he said.

Helena shook her head.

Ravenna looked toward him.

"What bear?"

Silver paused.

Antony immediately became interested.

"Oh?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Helena looked toward Ravenna.

"Peak Tier Three Dreadclaw Iron Bear. Almost Tier Four. It was guarding the building where we found the final personnel and the case."

Ravenna turned toward Silver who continued eating.

She stared.

"You fought a beast that was about to become Tier Four alone?"

He swallowed.

"Briefly."

Helena laughed.

"That’s exactly what he told us."

Her expression flattened.

"Silver."

He looked toward her.

"It was necessary."

"Did you kill it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because we already had the personnel and the case."

Ravenna considered that, then nodded.

"Oh."

Silver smiled.

She continued.

"Still an idiot for walking through my fire."

Antony slammed his hand against the table.

"Thank you!"

Everyone laughed.

Silver sighed.

He was beginning to suspect that particular incident would follow him for the rest of his academy life.

The following morning, the first-year students gathered in the academy’s central auditorium.

Unlike the initial orientation, the atmosphere was noticeably different. There were fewer nervous conversations and more familiarity and confidence.

The students had spent nearly a month attending classes, training together, competing against one another and learning exactly how difficult academy life could become.

Now they wanted to know where they stood.

Silver sat beside Ravenna.

Antony and Rebecca occupied seats behind them. Dillian sat several rows ahead with other Class One students. Jude was farther to the right.

Helena sat beside Mina and Caleb. Shirley occupied a seat near the middle of Class Four’s section, quietly speaking with another girl.

Silver noticed her glance toward him once and smile politely at him. He returned a small nod before looking forward.

Ravenna saw the exchange.

Her expression immediately changed.

Silver leaned toward her.

"Don’t."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were thinking loudly."

Ravenna looked at him.

Silver sweetly smiled.

She sighed.

"She’s being too nice."

"Maybe she’s trying something different."

"Silver."

"All right. I’ll be careful."

That seemed to satisfy her slightly.

The auditorium lights dimmed and a large screen illuminated above the stage.

Several instructors entered, followed by representatives from the academy’s assessment department.

Peter stood among them.

An older instructor with silver-gray hair approached the podium.

"Good morning, first-years."

The room quieted.

"Over the past several days, all seven first-year classes participated in the same graded search-and-extraction assessment within Urban Training Sector Seven."