When her followers came back home, the entire divine realm erupted into celebration. They planted the high-yield crops they'd brought back, and everyone was cheering, ready to grow the population.
Laia stared at them, her face blank. She sighed. Fine. It was fine. She didn't care that she'd missed out on ten thousand divine power crystals. It was nothing. Totally fine.
She was just annoyed. In this divine realm, you couldn't sell anything privately. Everything had to be registered. Otherwise, she could have sold those stupid rewards, gotten the money she needed. She shook her head, still hoping. Maybe… maybe she didn't get enough points? Maybe she didn't win?
She opened the ranking list, her heart pounding.
First place: Contestant 105.
Second place: Contestant 149.
Third place: Contestant 172.
Laia stared at her own tag, the bright red 105 burning into her eyes.
Of course. Of course she'd gotten first. The one thing she didn't want, and it was handed to her on a silver platter. She couldn't believe it.
Next to her, Elara stared at the list, stunned. Eighth place: Contestant 176.
She looked down at her own tag, 176, bright and clear. She couldn't believe it. She'd gotten lucky, that hidden god had taken her in, let her survive to the end, gotten her this high rank. She still didn't get it, why that god had only asked her to build carts and give him her spatial bags. But whatever. It worked.
Then the private award ceremony started. No live stream this time. Elara looked around, and saw Laia, looking depressed. She walked over, trying to comfort her.
"Laia? What's wrong? It's just a tournament, right? It's okay if you lost."
Laia sighed. She didn't want to talk about it. Her stupid followers had messed everything up.
Elara just smiled awkwardly, hugging her own tag, worried that Laia would be upset if she knew she'd gotten eighth. She asked softly. "So… how did you do?"
Laia sighed. "I tried so hard. But my followers did… whatever they did. And I got first place. I missed the ten thousand divine crystals. I'm so upset."
Elara: …
She blinked. She looked at the legendary artifact sitting on the table, then at her own reward, worth over a hundred thousand divine crystals, and just… nodded. Okay. Rich people problems. She got it. She wouldn't ask.
Then the ceremony started. In front of the 200 students, Laia, Lex, and Finn walked up to the stage.
Lex and Finn stared at Laia, their eyes full of curiosity. They'd lost to her, and they wanted to know what she was like. Laia stared back, getting goosebumps. She knew it. Her followers' stupid tricks had gotten her attention. Now people were going to bother her. She frowned. She was just going to stay in the academy for a while, not go out, to avoid trouble.
But in Finn and Lex's eyes, this beautiful girl was calm, in control, like everything had gone according to her plan. She was amazing. They had to be her friend. Even if they couldn't recruit her, they couldn't afford to be her enemy.
They each had their own plans. They had big families backing them, but they also had pressure. And this girl? She was someone they had to respect.
The ceremony went by fast. Laia watched Lex take her prize, a bag of ten thousand divine crystals, and toss it to her servant, like it was nothing.
Laia's heart broke. Just like that. She'd wanted that so bad.
She dragged herself back to the classroom, collapsing into her chair. What was she going to do now?
Elara walked over, grinning. "Laia! You were so amazing! You got first place! And you took me with you! Thank you so much! I never would have gotten top eight without you!"
Laia waved her hand. "Don't thank me. I didn't do anything. I couldn't control what my followers did. I didn't even know it was you. They just had too much food, so they let you stay."
Elara's eyes lit up. Oh right! She was just being humble! She was so strong, and so nice! She was the perfect classmate!
She smiled, happy to have such a great friend.
In the headmaster's office, the headmaster stared at the data. Laia had over thirty thousand points. The second and third place had less than ten thousand. It was unbelievable.
He replayed the entire tournament, step by step. Every move the moles had made. It all made sense, in hindsight.
He turned to the old man next to him. "Valerius. She's amazing. She gave me such a surprise. And she didn't even use her full power. Those Void-Forsaken followers of hers? They didn't even need to go all out."
The old man huffed. "She's just average. To be my student? She's not good enough yet. Even with that void affinity, what does that matter? In this world, you need strength, talent, luck, effort. All of it. If she doesn't get the abyss resistance trait, that secret can't get out."
The headmaster frowned. "So what do you mean?"
Valerius smiled. "I'll give her a chance. The first place prize, the invitation. But if she can't learn the abyss resistance trait in a year? Then that secret stays with me."