The next three days, the exam takers had the leisure to exit the academy and connect with their families.
Caecus just went to Amelia, chatted with her a little, and explored the city.
The rest of the time was spent waiting for the results.
And now, finally, they were out.
The academy would post the results to their social media every day, and they could also be seen on their app, along with a billboard in the dorm area.
To make it more exciting, Caecus decided to refrain from looking at the results until the billboard was up, and told Amelia not to look at them either.
Now the billboard stood tall in front of the academy, and only the accepted people were listed.
Of course, there were four different rankings: one for the first overall measurements of soul rank and density, one for the physical exam results, one for the written exams, and one which showed your overall ranking.
Caecus had asked Titus to look at the results with him, and he agreed.
Now the blind boy stood in front of the incredibly tall boy's door and knocked.
After a few seconds, Titus stepped out, dressed appropriately as always.
He wore long black pants, along with some sneakers and a button-up shirt.
Titus had a smile on his face already when he opened the door, closed it behind himself, and walked towards the elevators with Caecus following.
Caecus was already extremely nervous, with his heart feeling like it would explode just from pure excitement.
"I really hope I passed," he just said.
"I'm pretty sure you did, even if you didn't perform well on the other tests, your theoretical grade must be high."
"Yeah…"
The elevators opened, and the duo stepped in, Titus already pressing the button for the ground floor.
When they reached it, they walked towards the cafeteria, but unfortunately many people had the same idea as them, and the way towards the billboard was incredibly crowded.
A few people could be seen, or in Caecus' case, sensed, already leaving the academy, and when thousands of people tried walking on the same path, it got hard to navigate.
After a few minutes of struggling against the current of students, the both of them finally reached the billboard.
"Alright, let's see…" Titus said, looking at the rankings.
At that moment, Caecus realized something.
'Fuck! I can't read the billboards!'
"Titus, I forgot my glasses, and it's hard to see the billboard from here. Can you see my ranking?"
"You wear glasses? I never saw you wear them…" Titus remarked.
"Yeah I do, I always forget them though haha…"
"Alright, let's see… I'm fourth in the physical exams!" the huge boy exclaimed happily.
"Really?! I'm so happy for you!" A bright smile entered Caecus' face when he dapped Titus up.
"How many people got accepted?"
"This year… wow, a lot. Five thousand this time. Five thousand on the dot."
"Alright, tell me where I am in the physical ranking."
"Uhh, let me see… three thousand two hundred thirty-six, that's you."
"What?! I'm not in last place? Yes!"
Titus looked at him like he got excited over receiving a piece of shit, but didn't comment on it.
"Alright, written exams… Caecus, you're in second!"
"Second?! What!" A huge wave of excitement washed over him, and he almost cried from the amount of joy he was feeling.
"Yes, second place. I told you you would score well!" Titus shook Caecus by his shoulder as he shared his joy, which looked comical, as his hands were the size of the other boy's head.
"What's your score?"
"One hundred and twenty-one."
"That's great!" Caecus was once again happy for his friend, but the friend didn't seem to share the sentiment.
"Eh… I expected it. I would have hoped to place sub one hundred…"
"Don't fret now! What matters is the overall ranking, and one hundred and twenty-one is great!"
"Let's look at the soul exam results now…" Titus just answered.
"I'm in place twenty-three, and you're in place… ten?!"
Caecus' brain went blank for a second.
"T-ten?"
"Yes, ten."
"What's the overall ranking?" the blind boy just asked.
"Well… let's see… eh, I'm rank thirty. It's okay."
"What about me?"
"You're… rank eight hundred and fifteen, since the soul results count double, I think."
"..."
"What's wrong?"
Walking away from the crowd to not embarrass himself, Caecus had his head lowered.
Titus followed him closely, looking confused.
"What's wrong?"
Sniffle.
"I-I'm sorry, it's just like a d-dream come true for me…"
Caecus' eyes were red, and tears were spilling out involuntarily.
"So those are happy tears?" Titus asked carefully.
"Yes, they are happy tears! I would have been happy to be accepted into the academy, but reaching under one thousand in the overall rankings?! That's huge! Especially second rank in the written exams and rank ten in the soul exams!"
Titus didn't know how to react to that, and just smiled awkwardly.
"Rank two!" Caecus repeated again, his voice filled with more excitement than ever before, his face covered with tears.
Awkwardly, Titus patted his back and stood beside him.
"I'm glad you're happy."
…
In an academy dorm room, a girl sat on her bed, staring at her phone.
She had jet-black hair that reached her shoulders, so it wouldn't disturb her in combat, but it was still styled perfectly.
At around one hundred eighty centimeters, she was above average height for girls her age in the corpora.
A pair of black eyes was on her face, accompanied by a birthmark next to her eye, a trait which she shared with her twin brother.
Just like him, she also had pale skin, but her face looked more feminine, and her body was in better shape than his.
She had wide shoulders, which differentiated her from her brother, who had a rather small frame.
Her physique clearly showed that she was trained since birth as the heiress of a corpus.
Aurelia looked at her phone and checked out the rankings.
Soul Rankings
Soul Rankings
1. Aurelia Caelum
2. Nyx Noctis
3. Julius Aeternus
…
10. Caecus Caelum
'I am first like I expected, after all my soul core is rank three, and my soul density is the highest. But Caecus?!'
Although her mind was a storm of feelings and thoughts, her face remained blank and aloof, just like she learned from her parents.
Theory Rankings
1. Aurelia Caelum
2. Caecus Caelum
3. Nyx Noctis
'Second in theory?!'
At that moment, she knew Caecus was accepted.
Overall Rankings:
Aurelia Caelum
2. Nyx Noctis
3. Julius Aeternus
…
9. Elijah Willson
…
815. Caecus Caelum
'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck—this should have been the last thing that happened!'
If she were a normal person, she would have thrown things in outrage or done other things, but Aurelia just sat there, her face showing no emotion, and turned off her phone.
'But how did he manage to reach rank two? I mean, I told father specifically that he should not give Caecus any resources.'
'Should I stop him? I need to make him drop out in some way. But it's too late already…'
Aurelia stood there thinking for a few seconds, and left towards the door of her room.
'I stopped watching him just for one year because of my training, and all of this happened?! How? He was supposed to be married off to a girl and live happily, not get involved in this type of life…'
Her thoughts raced, and she finally reached a conclusion.
'I need to cripple him during the tournament. That way he won't be able to continue with the academy.'
The thought of doing that to Caecus pained her much, but she had to do it.
…
Amelia and Caecus were sitting in a diner in a restaurant in Eureka.
They were celebrating his achievement, and Amelia was extremely happy for him.
Caecus had actually never seen her this happy, but he shared her sentiment very deeply.
Unbeknownst to him, her joy wasn't solely due to being happy for him.
'Aurelia surely wasn't happy seeing that Caecus got accepted! This is my revenge!' Amelia thought.
They ate together and exchanged their experiences, Caecus talking about what happened to him during the exams and the past few days.
When they were finally done, Amelia got a call.
Caecus couldn't hear anything that was said in that call, but Amelia turned towards him with an apologetic smile on her face.
"What's wrong?"
"Eh… I was called back into the manor, sorry, Young Master. I need to return."
"Oh… won't you be here to watch me during the tournament?"
"No, I'm sorry."
Apparently, it was really urgent, and she had to leave right away.
"I promise to watch you when the tournament is streamed. I promise, I'll be cheering for you back in the manor."
They hugged, and Amelia walked away, leaving Caecus feeling empty.
He was kind of sad, but returned to the academy dorms anyway.
Now it was time for the tournament, which would decide his class.