Chapter 324: Sweet, Beautiful, and Glorious Freedom

"Time’s up," Vice President Helene’s voice rang through the grand hall, sharp as a cracked whip. "Put your pens down immediately."

Across the rows, the quiet scratching of pens stopped instantly.

"Step away from your desks. Papers will be collected automatically," she instructed, her grey eyes coolly scanning the room as stacks of completed answer sheets floated from each table toward her podium. "The written exam results will be posted on the notice board or sent to your mana watches after your practical exams are finished. You are dismissed."

She didn’t stay. She gathered the thick stacks, turned with a sweep of her dark coat, and walked out through the side doors.

The second the doors clicked shut behind her, the silence in the lecture hall shattered.

A collective groan erupted from hundreds of throats at once. Students collapsed across their desks, buried their faces in their hands, or stared blankly at the ceiling like men who had barely survived a nightmare.

"Ugh, I’m done," a student whimpered, sliding straight out of his chair onto the floor. "My life is over. My family is going to disown me."

I let out a long, heavy breath and slowly stood up from my seat. Beside me, Roan was practically flat against his desk, his arms hanging limp over the edges.

"Leo..." Roan rasped, his voice sounding like he had swallowed a handful of sand. "Tell me... did any of those questions make sense to you? Why did Vance give us questions like that?"

"Not even a little bit," I admitted dryly. "I wrote down a few basic concepts I remembered while learning under Sylvia, then prayed Vance would feel merciful enough to give me points just for writing in full sentences."

Roan groaned, dragging his hands down his face. "I literally made stuff up. I stared at the blank lines for ten minutes and wrote down the first thing that popped into my head. If Vance ever reads my paper, he’ll surely kill me."

I chuckled softly, shaking my head.

Truthfully, the wave of panic that hit me earlier had already started to settle.

Back when I was staring at those ridiculous questions, my brain had completely frozen for a second. But once I forced myself to calm down, take a breath, and actually write what I knew, things weren’t as hopeless as they looked.

The first few questions were basic theory, the exact stuff Sylvia had drilled into my head until my ears bled. Even if some questions were nightmares meant to crush us, my opening answers were solid. I wasn’t aiming to top the grade board, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to fail either.

I had done enough to get a clean pass and keep my head above water.

We walked down the steps toward the middle row, where Alice, Lyssaria, Caster, and Malva were waiting for us. Noticing us, Lyssaria turned our way with a quiet, sympathetic smile.

"How bad was it?" Lyssaria asked softly as we approached.

"I think my soul left my body halfway through," Roan muttered, practically collapsing against Caster’s shoulder like a corpse. "Caster, please tell me you failed too. Give me some hope to hold onto here."

Caster snorted and shoved Roan off him with a shake of his head. "Failed? Are you serious? The theory questions were straightforward if you actually paid attention in class instead of sleeping. Even you could answer them."

Roan straightened up and tossed his head back with a look of betrayal. "Look at you, boasting. Caster, my friend, some of us aren’t as smart as you, you know."

Caster just laughed, took the jab in stride, and folded his arms.

Since none of us had any more written tests left for the rest of the day, we didn’t stick around the lingering panic of the main hall. We moved out together, heading down the wide halls toward the central courtyard.

The air outside was crisp, cutting through the heavy tension that had filled the lecture hall. Students were scattered all over the courtyard grounds. Some leaned against pillars, talking over the exam. Others headed straight for their dorms to sleep off the exhaustion.

"I’m heading back to the dormitory," Alice announced as we hit the main split in the walkway, rubbing the back of her neck. "If I don’t sleep right now, I’m going to collapse."

"Same here," Caster nodded, rolling his shoulders. "I have to work under Professor Zane this afternoon, and I need a clear head."

One by one, the group split up to rest or review for their own electives.

I said a brief goodbye and made my way back toward my own room. The written exams were far from over, I still had my electives lined up over the next couple of days, and I needed to make sure I didn’t lose my edge before the practical midterms hit.

_

Over the next few days, Aegis Academy didn’t give us enough time to breathe, let alone rest.

The moment the mandatory core paper wrapped up, everything shifted to our chosen electives. The days became a crammed blur, with different classes taking their specialized written tests across the smaller halls of the academic wing.

Some students had picked four or five different electives, trying to load up their record. By the time the next round of tests hit, those same people were dragging their feet down the halls looking half-dead. I was just glad I had kept things simple with my three choices.

When it came to Elemental Control and Theory, I found myself sitting in the same medium-sized lecture hall alongside Alice, Lyssaria, Amelia, and, of course... Roan.

The test was run under Lorien.

Unlike Vance’s abstract mana theory, it focused heavily on practical elemental interactions and preventing internal backlash when handling unstable affinities. For me, balancing Lightning, Space, and Soul Flame was a daily life-or-death exercise, so answering theory questions on channel stabilization felt almost natural.

My second elective, History of the Gates, was supposed to be my easy nap class, a subject I originally took just to sit in the back row and collect easy credits.

But the written paper turned out to be surprisingly detailed.

It asked for specific dates of Gate incidents, monster names and types, and how Gates cleared. Thankfully, having actually stood inside active Gates and seen the corrupted architecture of the Abyss King firsthand, I managed to bullshit my way through the questions with surprising accuracy.

My final paper, Runes and Arrays, was where the real pain came back.

While Caster finished his paper in half the given time and walked out looking bored, I spent two agonizing hours staring at the runic paper, drawing lines that looked right but probably weren’t, and praying Zane wouldn’t personally hunt me down after grading.

By the time the final written exam bell rang on the last afternoon, the relief across the first-year wing was almost something you could touch.

_

The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, painting the stone courtyards of Aegis Academy in warm hues of gold and orange.

Most of the students who were crazy enough to take extra electives were still trapped in the lower halls, suffering and preparing for their fourth or fifth papers. But for our group, the written nightmare was officially over.

A large crowd of first-years had gathered near the open courtyard outside the Main Academic Wing. The heavy, suffocating tension that had hung over the campus for the past week had finally broken, replaced by loud chatter, bursts of sudden laughter, and the collective noise of teenagers realizing they had survived.

Roan threw his arms out wide and took a deep, dramatic gulp of the cool evening air. "Freedom! Sweet, beautiful, glorious freedom!"

"You haven’t even gotten your grades back yet," Alice pointed out dryly, walking beside us. "You might be celebrating your own expulsion."

"Hey, hey, Alice, stop!" Roan declared with a wave of his hand. He turned to face us, a bright, mischievous grin breaking across his face. "The written torture is done. My brain is fried, my fingers are permanently stained with ink, and if I look at another piece of parchment today, I’m going to set it on fire. We are going out today!"

"Going out?" Lyssaria asked, raising an eyebrow. "Where?"

"Where else? Of course we’re going to eat something good in the academy city," Roan said, leaning in with a sharp grin. "I’m tired of eating the same thing from the cafeteria. Today is my treat. We’re celebrating!"

"I’m in," Caster said immediately. "I’d like to drink something good today."

Even Alice let out a small, quiet laugh, the sharp tension in her shoulders finally melting away. "Fine. But I swear to God, Roan, don’t you dare get drunk and start singing crown prince ballads again. I don’t want to hear that crap ever again."

"Huh? What?" Roan scoffed, clapping his hands together. "Come on, my singing isn’t even that bad! You guys just don’t appreciate real music."

He turned toward Malva, who was standing quietly at the edge of the group, trailing slightly behind. "What about you, Malva? You’re coming too, right?"

Malva blinked, caught off guard for a second before giving a small nod. "...Yeah. I’d like to join."

"That’s everyone then," Roan said, looking around before his eyes landed on me.

The whole group paused, turning their heads to stare right at me, waiting for my answer.

I let out a quiet breath and rested my hands in my pockets. "Count me in. I also need something good to eat."

As we started walking down the wide path toward the main gates, a faint buzz shook against my wrist. All around us, the same quiet hum echoed as other students’ mana watches buzzed almost at the same time.

From the sudden shift in the crowd and the low, nervous whispering spreading across the walkway, I could already guess what the message said without even looking at my wrist.

Everyone already knew the schedule.

While the last few students finished their remaining electives over the next couple of days, the rest of us had three days before the practical midterms under Morgana began. The written papers were barely out of the way. The real field test was coming next.

Ahead of me, Roan cracked a joke that made Caster bark with a sharp laugh, while Lyssaria shook her head in amusement.

I picked up my pace to catch up with them. Whatever Morgana had planned for us in three days could wait. Right now, I just wanted a decent meal.