A few moments earlier.

  Today was the final day of this first exam. The students who passed the final exam seemed to be preparing for it. Meanwhile, the students who didn't pass because they failed the third day's exam still came to the practice area and just watched the students who passed.

  "Hey, Rid. After the exam is over, how about we celebrate? Let's go out to eat," said Noa.

  "Are you sure? It looks like it's still hot this afternoon," I said.

  "If we can't eat out, let's eat in the dorm. We'll decide later whose dorm we'll eat in. I'm sure the others will want to join us, after all, this is a celebration of the completion of the first exam," said Noa.

  "Okay, but first we have to finish the last day's exam. There's no point in celebrating if we can't finish this one," I said.

  Then Mr. Alan and the four other staff members arrived.

  "Good morning, everyone," said Mr. Alan.

  "Good morning, sir," said the students.

  "It looks like you're all very ready to complete this final day's exam. So, without further ado, let's get started. Rid, please come forward," said Mr. Alan.

  I stepped forward to the center of the training ground. Meanwhile, Mr. Alan and the other four staff members began conjuring wooden puppets.

  - Wood Creation Magic, Fighting Wooden Puppet -

  The wooden puppets appeared. This time, they surrounded me. I was surrounded by them, attacking me from all directions.

  "There are... I think there are 100 of them," I thought.

  "To complete this exam, the method is still the same. You must destroy all 100 puppets within 2 minutes," said Mr. Alan.

  This time, the other students didn't seem surprised. They already knew this final day's exam would be more difficult than the previous ones.

  "Then, the final exam begins!" said Mr. Alan.

  As soon as Mr. Alan said that, the wooden puppets began attacking me from all directions.

  "I'll clear this exam with one attack. But if I use 'Great Flame Slash', I can only defeat the crowd of puppets in front of me. If I use 'Ring of Fire Slash', it can defeat the wooden puppets around me, but its attack range is very short and can only hit puppets close to me and not those far away. It seems I'll have to use that technique; it can pull in all the puppets, both near and far," I thought.

  - ?Flame Magic, Apply Magic Weapon, Flame Sword -

  I transformed my sword into a flame sword first. Then I immediately took my stance and prepared to attack. Meanwhile, the wooden puppets began to approach me. The puppets using ranged weapons were also preparing.

  - Secret Flame Sword Art, Flame Tornado Slash -

  I slashed my flame sword while spinning once. From the spinning slash, a fairly large tornado of fire emerged. The tornado pulled in the puppets surrounding me. Both near and far from me were drawn into the fire tornado. The wooden dummies that entered the fire tornado were immediately split apart as if slashed and burst into flames. Eventually, all the wooden dummies vanished without a trace. The other students seemed shocked by my actions.

  "Looks like you didn't hold back this time, Rid. Even with more wooden dummies than in the previous test, you still destroyed them all with one attack," said Mr. Alan, surprised to see so many of them destroyed by fire.

  -

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Back to the present.

  "But congratulations on completing this first test. You earned 2,000 points. Please return to the edge of the training ground, Rid," said Mr. Alan.

  "Yes, sir," I said.

  I returned to the edge of the training ground.

  "Next, Irene," said Mr. Alan.

  Irene stepped forward to the center of the training ground. Irene and I passed each other.

  "Good luck, Irene," I said.

  "Your technique just now was amazing, Rid. Then I'll also use the new technique I learned from you," Irene said.

  Then Irene prepared herself in the center of the training ground. Then, wooden dummies appeared and attacked Irene from all directions. But Irene casually touched the training ground floor with her right hand. Meanwhile, the wooden dummies were almost upon Irene.

  - ?Ice Magic, Full Frost -

  The floor around Irene instantly froze. The ice magic also froze all the wooden dummies around her.

  "That magic......that's the magic Rid used against Princess Amelia."

  "The Ice Princess can use that magic too?" another student asked.

  They were shocked to see Irene use that magic.

  "Area magic, huh? That's amazing. She's the second first-year student to use area magic after Rid," said Mr. Alan.

  Not stopping there, Irene stood back up and extended her right hand forward. She initially held her hand out with an open palm, then slowly closed it. As Irene's palm closed, the frozen wooden puppets began to crack. The cracks in the puppets grew larger until they all shattered into pieces. The students watching were even more shocked.

  "You've successfully destroyed all the puppets, Irene. You've successfully completed this first test. You've earned 2,000 points. Please return to the edge of the training ground," said Mr. Alan.

  "Okay," said Irene.

  Irene then went to the edge of the training ground.

  "Next," said Mr. Alan.

  -

  Charles also successfully completed the first exam by destroying the wooden dummies with his wave sword. Chloe completed the exam with her rain of fire arrows. Noa completed the exam with a combination of Magic Martial Arts and her Wind Ballista. Enzo completed the exam with a reaction of his water and electricity magic. Kotaro also successfully completed the exam using his family's sword technique. Leandra and Lily also successfully completed the first exam. The other students also successfully completed the first exam, although some failed. Twenty-three students successfully completed the first exam by the final day, while 17 failed. Those who failed could only hang their heads in dejection, lamenting their failure. However, Mr. Alan continued to encourage them, saying that this exam wasn't the end, as there were still three more exams left in the school year.

  "After this, you may go straight back to your dormitories or remain here in the training grounds to train. I remind you again that the academy will be closed tomorrow, and you will return on Monday. I hereby declare the first exam of this school year officially over," said Mr. Alan.

  After saying that, Mr. Alan and the other four staff members left the training ground.

  -

  "Come on, let's celebrate our success in passing this first exam," said Noa.

  "Where do you want to celebrate? If we eat out, it's so hot right now," said Charles.

  "How about at Rid's dorm?" asked Noa.

  "Why at my dorm? Why not at your own, since you were the one who wanted to hold this celebration?" I said.

  "Hmm, well, my dorm isn't very nice to look at, so I don't want you guys in it," said Noa.

  "Then let's go to my dorm," said Chloe.

  "Is that okay, Chloe?" asked Noa.

  "Yeah, it's okay. Besides, there's nothing to hide in my dorm," said Chloe.

  "I-I see," said Noa.

  "Okay, then let's go to Chloe's dorm," said Charles.

  While we were chatting, Enzo suddenly raised his hand.

  "Sorry, I can't join the celebration because I have something to do," Enzo said.

  "I see, that's fine, Enzo," Charles said.

  "Then I'll take my leave," Enzo said.

  "Okay, be careful," we all said.

  Enzo then left us. I watched him leave.

  "Let's go get some food and drinks," Charles said.

  "You guys go ahead, I have to pick up Lillian first," Noa said.

  "Okay then," Charles said.

  "Hey, Rid. Can you invite Irene to join us?" Chloe asked.

  "Invite Irene?" I asked.

  "Yeah, if possible, invite her two assistants too," Chloe said.

  "Okay, then I'll go find Irene first," I said.

  "Okay, we'll wait in the shopping area," Chloe said.

  I went to look for Irene. I decided to return to the dorm because she usually goes straight to my dorm after the exams are over. When I arrived in front of my dorm, I couldn't find Irene inside because I couldn't sense her aura. I stopped in front of Irene's dorm, but I couldn't sense her aura either. After that, I decided to go to the shopping area to look for Irene and finally found her shopping with Leandra and Lily.

  "Finally found you, Irene," I said.

  "What's up, Rid?" Irene asked.

  "Chloe invited you to the celebration for successfully passing your first exam. We'll hold the celebration at Chloe's dorm," I said.

  "Chloe invited me?" Irene asked.

  "Yeah, Leandra and Lily are invited too," I said.

  They seemed curious about why I was invited.

  "Okay, this is my first time hanging out with your friends, after all. It's a good opportunity to get to know each other," Irene said.

  Irene accepted Chloe's invitation, and Leandra and Lily also came along.

  After that, Chloe and the others arrived at the shopping district. I assumed they had already arrived. Then we started buying the food and drinks we wanted and brought them to Chloe's dorm.

  The celebratory party began.

  -To be continued