Chapter 99: Welcome Ceremony

A few minutes later, Leonard finished cleaning up the ignorant monsters and approached the portal.

With a simple gesture, Leonard forcefully restricted the portal and restored its functionality.

However, that wasn’t the end of it.

To prevent another potential outbreak or intruder, Leonard placed multiple formations and runes around the portal, alongside its vicinity.

Additionally, he also added a drone where he could monitor the situation whenever he wanted.

"If someone enters without permission, I’d let them know what it means to choose death instead." Leon coldly muttered. At such an important event, the Midnight Specters actually dared to pull such a move.

He wouldn’t be known as the Eighth Circle Mage Leonard if he let them slide. They would have to pay the price, and he would also verify whether the news was true or not.

The possibility that they might be framed wasn’t low, either.

But what truly made Leonard wary was that someone else knew that he was injured.

Not even the Vice Principal was informed of this matter. The only person who knew about it was the Emperor, who was with him at the time of the incident.

And he highly doubted the emperor would spread this kind of news.

After all, Leonard was ultimately a citizen of Crestellan.

Unless the emperor had lost his brain, spreading such news would only be detrimental to them.

As Leonard closed the portal, back at the auditorium, Elsa heaved a sigh of relief when she saw the return of the other professors. She wasn’t worried about the principal because she was confident in his ability.

"Everything’s alright?" Elsa still asked the obvious question.

Margaret nodded. "It should be fine for now, but we’ve lost two new students."

Upon hearing that they had lost two new students at the welcome ceremony, Elsa’s expression darkened slightly. It lasted only for a brief moment, though.

The time was sensitive, and this was no place to have any overreaction.

"Oh, the student you went to search for has arrived." Elsa suddenly changed the topic and brought up Raymond.

"Huh? That bastard is here?" Margaret was startled. She had thought he really went to the dorm to rest.

"Where is he?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

"Over there in the most spacious area."

Elsa mused and found the situation quite comical.

The auditorium space wasn’t that spacious with so many people, but Raymond happened to be the only one without anyone near him.

"Hah, you’re right." Margaret was equally speechless. "His face is hideous enough, but his deeds topped that off. Who would want to sit next to him?"

As she stared at him, Ray was comfortably lying down on multiple chairs.

He didn’t care about how others viewed him.

’If you don’t want to sit next to me, I’ll gladly use it as a makeshift bed.’ He sneered inwardly.

Had it not been for the fact that he needed to be present in the welcome ceremony to prove an alibi that he wasn’t involved with the killing in the portal outbreak, he would have really gone back to his dorm.

When he arrived, all he heard was these sponsors advertising their stores or teams.

The process was no different than those ridiculous job fairs that literally offered no jobs or interviews, and only some brief talk after wasting them hours and hours in line.

"Young Master, you really are unpopular." Belva approached him and smiled awkwardly. She could already imagine how isolated he would be with that infamy of his, but to think it was this bad.

Even though the other students were forced to crowd among themselves in a tighter space, they still refused to associate themselves with him.

"Popular or not, at least I know I’m better than them." Ray shrugged his shoulders. He was never the type to care about insignificant people, much less all these background characters who were here only to fill up the large auditorium.

"Yes, but what about group activities that you need in the future?" She asked in concern and stood next to him. The academy might have sought individual talent, but they also cared about how well they worked with others.

Even the most talented would falter when there was no one else to assist him.

Of course, that wouldn’t matter much if Belva accounted for his necromancy-like ability. But there was no way Ray could just use those skills in public without the consequences.

He obviously knew of the consequences too and made sure no one else was present when he used it either.

Just when Ray was about to respond, the center stage suddenly changed people. The sponsors who had only been clamoring about their benefits and whatnot stepped down.

In return, Margaret took the stage, and almost all the students who were bored with the same thing began to sit upright. They didn’t care much about the sponsors, but they certainly knew better than to disrespect the professors.

These professors would be the ones to determine their grades and standings from wherever they belonged.

They didn’t have the courage or the audacity like Ray to completely disregard professors.

After all, they cared about their grades and advancement as opposed to Ray, who was only here for another objective.

Academy arc?

Hard pass!

"Good morning, everyone. I reckon you must have waited long and some must have been starving." Margaret greeted the crowd and snapped her fingers.

Soon, numerous academy staff began to come out with trolley carts filled with an abundance of aromatic food and beverages.

Ray narrowed his eyes when he saw the rows of food.

’So it’s this event...’ Memories that had been dwelling in his brain were starting to resurface.

He was wondering what ploy Margaret had changed up, and it was apparently about the non-discrimination entry trial.

The food that each student received was essentially the ticket to enter an illusion formation where they would soon battle and complete missions.

What was the purpose of that?

It was to assign each student their designated classes without any regard for their social status or background.

And Margaret’s presence definitely made sure to ban those who dared to throw their status weight during the trial.

With surveillance drones capturing everything, those who pulled the moves were immediately assigned the worst class, F.

’Looks like I’m going to Class F!’ Ray thought to himself.