Chapter 359 – Final Score

Chapter 359 – Final Score

Kai staggered through the dim tunnel, grateful the ground had leveled out in the last— How long had it been since the last trial chamber? An hour? Two?

The faint line on his bracelet could have given him an estimate, if he’d bothered to lift his arm. He couldn’t muster the care. Flaring Empower to fight off the exhaustion felt like dragging sandpaper through his veins, but it kept him moving.

Each step ached, miles and miles of tunnels through the dim dark on the fleeting promise of sunlight. They hadn’t realized just how deep they were. The stitches pulled at his ribs with a dull throb, torn when he tried to shortcut a trapped chamber.

Alden brushed his hair aside, treading close enough to catch him if he fell, though Kai had no energy to complain. The Pale Stalker’s venom had sapped his strength, leaving him racked with bone-deep shivers and a chill no potion could dispel. He wished nothing more than sitting down to rest and knew that, if he did, he wouldn’t stand up again anytime soon.

Only the next step mattered. And the next.

One foot planted in front of the other.

Thank the Spirits we went for the quick exit.

Kai let out a rueful breath. Few chambers had posed a challenge as they ascended, and fewer still accounted for his Luck, but the numbers added up. Following Hobbes’ inspired guidance, they’d neared the surface twice when Hallowed Intuition had strongly urged another detour.

It felt as though they’d walked for days. Once they realized leaving would take longer than anticipated, they were too committed to rest. He’d only triggered Nature Healing once more since the Stalker fight, so it couldn’t be that long. Even now, the passive trickle of green motes kept him on his feet—albeit barely.

Is that…

Light spilled over the tunnel ahead, warmer than the gleam of quartz. Relief flushed through his heavy limbs and cleared his thoughts.

“We’ve made it,” Kai said, surprised by his hoarse voice.

Alden stopped beside him. A faint exhale slipped through his composure, wariness edged with hope. “Is this the exit?”

“Yes.” He quickened his pace before his paranoia clamped down on the excitement. Too many accidents had marked the Trials to let his guard drop. His senses stretched wide. Hallowed Intuition stayed silent. No traps, no ambushes—only the faint seams of stone beneath his boots.

The gate stood exactly where Hobbes had said it would. Wards shrouded the sight and sounds from the outside.

With a shared glance, they crossed the threshold together.

Kai squinted at the sudden brightness that stabbed his eyes. The sun hung low in a cloudless, open sky. A breeze ruffled his sweat-matted hair, carrying the scents of grass, wildflowers, and people.

Several human signatures loitered around a gazebo ringed with inlaid tables and crates. Idle chatter cut off abruptly. The gate opened at the bottom of a rocky rise into a meadow hemmed with rusty shrubs. A domed building of pale stone rose on the hill above, its facade sculpted with warrior reliefs, Raelion’s crest gleaming along its walls.

Uhm… are we in the Martial Grounds?

Before Kai could speak, a stiff-faced man in the academy’s livery bolted from a chair, face smoothed into practiced neutrality. The motion broke the crowd of stares, prompting the rest of the attendants to snap into formal postures.

In a heartbeat, a dozen people stood poised to greet them. At the table below the gazebo, a woman fumbled with a golden pocketwatch, hastily scribbling on a stack of papers.

“Congratulations on complet—.”

“Do you require—”

“May I—“

The voices garbled together, and again as they tried to apologize at once, falling back with a swallow bow and throwing discreet glares at each other.

Too tired to care, Kai scanned the meadow for signs of other students. “Are we the first out?” They couldn’t have been that fast.

“I can confirm you’ve successfully completed the Mid-Term Trials within the time limit.” The stiff-faced man took the lead. His expression didn’t so much as twitch as he looked over their filthy, blood-stained clothes. “You’re the first group to emerge from this particular gate. I must apologize for our shameful display. The academy has prepared several exits to the first-year testing, though the arrivals have been… slower than predicted. We were notified the academy had steered the trial takers away from the peripheral—”

“Please excuse our bureaucratic miscommunication.” A woman in an immaculate uniform cut off the other attendant. “Do any of you require medical assistance?” She spoke in a clipped, rehearsed cadence. Her eyes narrowed on the cut on his face with a tight smile. “I can see you’ve been injured and… poisoned. Please, let me offer assistance. ”

Before Kai could refuse, a cool mist of mana washed over his skin, seeping into his weary muscles and melting his exhaustion. The glow softened his bruises and cuts into a gentle numbness before rippling to dull the throb in his ribs. Relief flooded him, so clean and sudden that he almost groaned aloud.

The healer led him toward the gazebo with the promise of a chair. He sank into the wooden seat as if it were a plush armchair. The attendants were talking again, tones sliding back into professional composure as they went through a list of rote questions and polished reassurances.

At some point, a porcelain mug appeared in his hands. The steam warmed his fingers, carrying a sweet, floral fragrance that soothed the chill in his bones. He took slow sips, more to stay awake than out of thirst, and murmured distracted answers.

I’m… actually out.

Kai looked at the open sky and almost laughed.

Another wave of apologies and deeper bows followed once they revealed their names, shifting the attention away from him.

“I’ve no injuries requiring your assistance,” Alden sat as if he were a marble statue, gazing ahead, his drink untouched. “Treat him first.”

“May I check—”

“Now.”

The woman dipped her head in acquiescence before returning her attention to Kai with a polite smile. “May I examine your wound, sir?”

Eager to get it over with, he pulled aside the torn fabric. At this point, only one goal occupied his mind—getting to his bed. Everything else was measured by how quickly it’d help him get there.

The healer crouched at his side. A damp cloth wiped away the crusted blood before she undid the stitches with deft hands. “Please, hold still. It won’t hurt.” She murmured a lilting chant under her breath. Soft light bloomed across her palms, spilling over his wounds.

The warmth turned into itching. Kai could only stare as the torn flesh knitted together under his eyes, red edges paling to pink, then smoothing into unbroken skin. No scar left. He carefully poked the lines of paler skin.

So that’s how an actual healer works?

His flicker of curiosity drowned beneath a wave of wooziness. The throb had vanished, but the pull of fatigue revealed a common aspect between potions and healing spells—magic might mend the body, but the strength it used still came from him.

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Maybe a brief nap— No, stay awake.

He might have fallen asleep right there if he hadn’t bitten his cheek. Besides the embarrassment, he still needed to get his answers. What had gone wrong during the Trials? Because something most definitely did.

After addressing his minor injuries, an attendant with graying hair stepped forward to record their information, flipping the pages of his clipboard as the pen scratched briskly. “Names confirmed… injuries noted… escort not required.” He ticked the boxes with bored precision. “For emerging three minutes and seventeen seconds before the end of the second day and as the first to exit through this gate, additional points will be added to your final score. Any other weighted achievements will be evaluated by the monitoring judges…”

His eyelids fought to remain open as the man droned on, and a woman approached to remove their bracelets. The silver bands clicked open along an invisible seam at the touch of an engraved stylus. Too late, Kai remembered he hadn’t checked his score after the last challenge chambers.

Whatever… not like it matters till I see the final ranking. Didn’t they say something about wondrous rewards? When do I get paid?

All his focus went into staying awake through the endless rambling, glad Alden took the brunt of the attention.

At any moment, Kai expected someone to ask if they’d noticed anything unusual, mention the Pale Stalker, or the malfunctioning arrays. His boots crunched on the cobbled path back toward his dorm when he realized no one ever did.

Did they not know? How could they not?

Aside from the blank zone around the Stalker’s attack, Hobbes insisted people had been snooping on them in nearly every chamber. And their points had still spiked after defeating the pale monster. They’d almost gotten killed and—