“Greg, your girlfriend is amazing! She actually got ninety-two points!”
Rom's words exploded in Greg's ears like a bolt of lightning.
He instantly felt his scalp tingle, and the hair on his arms stood on end.
If this got out and Victoria or the others heard it, he’d be a dead man!
Greg instinctively clamped his hand over Rom's mouth and hissed in a low, urgent voice, “Shh! Right now, we’re just more than friends but less than lovers. Don’t go saying things like that!”
Rom let out a few muffled grunts behind Greg's hand. When he finally managed to break free, an even more excited expression plastered itself onto his face.
“More than friends but less than lovers? You’ve already reached that stage?! Quick, tell me how you made progress so fast. I need to see if I can learn—”
“No! There’s nothing!”
Greg decisively cut off his fantasies. “Can you stop thinking about romance all day? You big lug, you really should spend more time pumping iron every day and let some gay guys give you a proper ‘education’...”
“Hey, I’m just looking out for you!” Rom said righteously.
“Look at you—handsome, top grades—how do you not have an official girlfriend yet? That Victoria girl is great. She’s beautiful and powerful. You’d better not miss out.”
“...”
Greg took a deep breath, preparing to fabricate another excuse to brush him off, but his peripheral vision caught Corwin sitting on the other side. Corwin hadn’t said a word, his gaze fixed intently on the speaker’s podium.
Taking the opportunity to change the subject, Greg asked, “Corwin, what’s up? Why so focused?”
Corwin snapped out of it and gave a somewhat embarrassed smile.
“Ah... it’s because it’s almost time for a Junior from our academy to go up. I felt like I should pay close attention.”
Rom scratched his head, confused. “A Junior from your academy? Who?”
Greg didn’t answer, but he already knew the name.
As if to confirm his suspicion, as the previous student walked off the stage looking dejected, a quiet figure stepped up.
It was a black-haired girl wearing the uniform of an ordinary magic academy. Her face was plain and unremarkable, the kind that would disappear in a crowd.
Yet, the moment she stood on the podium, the air in the entire defense hall seemed to settle.
Melina—this name was almost unknown to any student before the exchange meeting began, but now, many people in the exchange knew her.
She was the only student from an ordinary magic academy who had managed to rank among the top, surpassing many geniuses from the Five Great Academies during the preliminary defense.
Her outstanding performance hadn’t just won over all the students from the ordinary magic academies; it had also given many students from the Five Great Academies a strong sense of rivalry.
In this exchange meeting, she was arguably the most well-known figure aside from Greg.
But Greg knew that she wasn’t as harmless as her current disguised appearance suggested.
In reality, she was extremely dangerous.
And the reason she was performing so excellently now was to gain the legitimate qualification to enter Glory Cael Magic Academy.
“I’ll have to find a chance to warn Headmistress Olivia. If someone like her officially enters the academy, it’ll be far too dangerous.”
While Greg was lost in thought, Melina had already begun her presentation.
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it possessed a peculiar quality that made everyone in the hall subconsciously quiet down to listen to her words.
She started from the basic principles of elemental resonance, clearly analyzing application strategies for different environments. Then, she shifted her focus and proposed a rather novel perspective:
The limitations of elemental resonance do not stem entirely from external environments; more often than not, they originate from the caster’s own differences in affinity for different attributes of mana.
Based on this, she proposed a personalized resonance adjustment plan, advocating for customizing resonance strategies according to the caster’s own mana characteristics rather than blindly applying general theoretical templates.
The entire speech was seamless, logically rigorous, and offered a perspective that was both fresh and practical.
When she finished her final sentence, several professors on the judging panel couldn’t help but nod in approval.
Subsequently, the ten professors raised their paddles one by one: nine, nine, ten, nine, nine, ten, nine, nine, ten, nine.
A total of ninety-two points—exactly tying with Victoria’s score!
Clap, clap, clap!
The students from the ordinary magic academies could no longer contain their excitement and burst into applause.
To them, Melina was not just their pride; she was proof that students from ordinary backgrounds could compete with the geniuses of the Five Great Academies.
On the other side of the audience, Victoria’s lips were pressed into a thin line, a fire of frustration burning in her gray eyes.
Even with Greg’s help, even after achieving a ninety-two—which was the best she could possibly do—that woman had still caught up to her.
She gritted her teeth, her competitive spirit reignited.
“Thank you, everyone~”
Amidst the applause, Melina bowed humbly to the judging panel like a typical first-year student.
Then she looked up, her gaze scanning the audience as if searching for someone, finally locking onto Greg’s direction. A faint, barely perceptible smile played on her lips.
Greg felt a chill run down his spine.
However, some of the boys sitting in that direction began to stir, whispering in low, competitive voices:
“Did she just smile at me?”
“Clearly she was looking at me!”
“You’re both dreaming. She was just looking in our general direction...”
It seemed her popularity had reached a new level during this secondary defense.
Even without shedding her disguise, she had already managed to charm many of the male students.
After Melina stepped down, several more students from ordinary magic academies took the stage for their secondary defenses.
However, the highest scores among them only hovered around seventy points.
While this wasn’t much different from the average students of the Five Great Academies, there was still a clear gap compared to the true geniuses.
For instance, the Young Mistress of the Gloom Wolf Tribe from Trench Altar Magic Academy proved her strength with a score of eighty-six.
The Prince of the Elf Kingdom from Branch-String Sanctuary took eighty-nine points with a composed demeanor.
And Sarah, the Third Imperial Princess from Ironpledge Crucible Magic Academy, also achieved an excellent score of eighty-six.
But to Greg’s surprise, Juno, the little dragon girl from Ember-Eye Tower Magic Academy, had actually passed the preliminary defense and managed to score eighty-one points in the secondary defense.
Greg couldn’t understand it.
She was such a silly dragon, so why was she here, and how did she get such a high score?
Was it just because she wore a pair of glasses during her speech?
Though Greg was utterly baffled, he quickly pulled his thoughts back together.
It was almost his turn.
Rate on N.U.
