Chapter 11. Midterm

"Ken! Time to get up! We are all here to get you today! You don't want to be late for the midterm now do you? Your time to shine is finally here!" Alice shouted as she, Genesis, Clare and Lovetta all waited outside of his dorm room on the Saturday morning of the midterm.

After listening to Ken's suggestion, Genesis was able to sit down and give the girls she was originally with a basic explanation of why she used the fake name and why she decided to ditch the group and the struggles she was dealing with. At the end, she was able to give a sincere apology to those girls and they accepted graciously.

Genesis also apologized to Ken's group and gave them more details but is still not comfortable enough to share everything like she did with Ken and their kiss stayed private as Ken also knew it would create unnecessary amount of drama that he did not want to deal with so close to midterm.

Even though Genesis's old group accepted her apology and was acting friendly towards her, they still don't know the major details like her actual family situation or the environment she grew up in and after her heartfelt conversation with Ken, she obviously decided to stay with his group.

As Ken got ready and greeted the girls at his door, the group headed to the dining hall to get some breakfast before the all-important exam where Ken could finally show his worth to the entire class.

Unlike the entry exam where everyone was required to take the tests, for every exam after, only those that chose to do so will be taking the test and since the majority of the students have already passed the beginner selection and have spent the first semester partying and doing no schoolwork at all, not many signed up for the midterm.

To most, this week is actually much more important than the midterm as the tournament is beginning in 2 days and for the first time since the school year started, Ken saw people studying and training like never before.

"Why are they studying and training so hard when they aren't even taking the midterm?" Ken asked curiously.

"Well, why do you think this school has all this pointless scoring and ranking and showing your rank when to graduate they only care about mastering in one area?

It's so all those parents of the nobles and royals can brag to each other, and the kids have something to show off since most won't ever stay long enough to graduate.

That's why they all participant in the tournaments and why they all have those worthless events to show off the students when it got nothing to do with actual combat ability." Alice answered matter-of-factly.

"Is that why you are participating too Alice?" Ken asked offhandedly.

"You bet it is. I have to put up some good performance so my parents will keep giving me allowance so I can stay in my private room.

I am sure Clare will be trying hard as well, especially with her current situation where I'm sure her family will be hearing all the rumors and gossip."

"Shouldn't you be more worried about the exams we are having today instead of gossiping about the tournament?" Clare said while giving Ken a side glance.

"Clare, at times like this, you should be supportive and be encouraging to me! But it's fine, I did everything I could with my studying and now it's just time to put everything I learned into practice and see where I rank amongst this group of lazy entitled nobles and royals."

"Sorry Ken, since I am in your class, you won't ever be rank 1 no matter how hard you try." Clare replied while sticking her tongue out at Ken.

After some more playful bickering, Ken, Clare and Lovetta said goodbye to Genesis and Alice at 8:30 and headed to take their midterm which starts at 9 while Alice and Genesis headed to the training room where Alice wanted to practice some more for the upcoming tournament.

Since the total number of students taking the midterm was low, those first year that signed up were told to gather at one of the large classrooms where the 200 or so first year students easily fitted with plenty of space remaining.

Sitting between Clare and Lovetta, Ken wished them both the best of luck and once the tests began, it was time for Ken to put all of his studying to work.

Unbeknownst to the students, the enchanted tests have different versions where no two-person next to each other will be taking the same test and that made it easy for the professor to watch over the students without needing to worry about any cheating that could be taking place.

For Ken, obviously Clare would be the best person if he wanted to cheat, but she is not even taking the same exams since she already had a perfect 40 points for all of the written exams up to advanced level and is instead here taking expert and master level tests for other subjects to improve her overall score.

Looking at the tests for the second time, unlike 5 months ago when Ken was so lost and had no idea where to begin, he was able to easily answer quite a few questions and felt a sense of relief and happiness that all of his studying wasn't in vain.

After focusing for over 2 hours and looking through all of his answers and being satisfied, Ken finally looked around and saw Clare was still fully concentrated on her exams while Lovetta was already fast asleep next to him.

Since Clare is taking more than 4 subjects, she was provided much longer to finish her exams than the 3 hours for Ken and Lovetta. Ken decided to poke Lovetta on the stomach which startled the wolf girl awake and wished Clare good luck and told her to meet up later in the dining hall.

"How long did you take? Seems like you were sound sleep for quite a while." Ken asked as he and Lovetta handed in their tests and headed to the training hall to meet up with Alice and Genesis.

"I think after about 30minutes, I just couldn't answer anything else and fell asleep shorter after while waiting for you." Lovetta answered sheepishly.

Knowing she has been struggling with the written portion, Ken didn't want to push her too far since they still have the practical exam in the afternoon.

After meeting up with Alice and Genesis, the four stayed in the packed training room for a while to get in some last-minute training and tips. The four headed for the dining room a bit after noon, ready for some food and the practical exams later in the day.

Clare joined the group around 1 after taking 5 whole hours to finish her exams.

"How did it go Clare? Do you think you passed the expert portions yet?" Ken asked as Clare sat down with her food.

"Don't think I was able to pass any expert level, I did pretty well but there are still a lot of things I need to learn to pass the expert levels and the master level portion was mostly beyond me, but I did at least get a few questions right on each." Clare was clearly disappointed that all of her studying and hard work wasn't enough to get the results she wanted.

"Clare, you need to set your expectation a little lower. They give you 5 whole years to pass one single expert level and here you are upset you couldn't pass any after a single semester? You know how much pressure you are putting on a lowly peasant like me? Why do you care about the written tests anyways, aren't you trying to be the number one hero?" Ken tried his best to cheer Clare up the only way he knows how.

"Well, you are a lowly peasant anyways, so you don't need to set your goals like me.

You know there is more to fighting and magic than just the practical part, right? You know healing magic can only be performed by combining scientific knowledge and understanding of the human body and time magic? Same with teleportation, protection, and almost every other high-level magic.

Most of those that couldn't graduate and are stuck at divine level is either because they understand the theory behind what they need to do and can't do it physically or they have the physical ability but lacks the knowledge." Teasing Ken while explaining, Clare was able to calm down slightly.

"Well, that's good to know all my efforts learning all those subjects aren't going to go to waste." Ken replied cheerfully both because of what Clare said and her improved mood.

With the practical exams taking place at the stadium, the group decided to head out at 3 just to have plenty of time to slowly walk together and be ready when the exam starts at 4.

When the group arrived outside the stadium, it looked much grander and different than compared to 3 weeks ago when Ken was out here helping out.

All of the stalls have now been fully set up with shop names and decorations placed all around to give each one its individuality and charm.

Unlike the written portion where each year was provided their own classroom to take the test, everyone is taking their practical exams together in the stadium. As the group got inside, those that are taking the exams are asked to go down to the arena while those that are watching are asked to find a seat in the stadium.

Wishing the three good luck, Alice and Genesis got some nice seats in the mostly empty stadium and watched the three joining a growing crowd getting ready to start their exam.

Unlike the written part, the practical portion is quite simple and most of the of the time spent is waiting and having a staff member record their scores and making sure the magic slabs are restored properly after each use.

The only difference between when Ken first took the exam verse now is that instead of the 12-inch magic slab used for one day, to accommodate the older students, those have been replaced with slabs twice as thick which are good enough to test magic powers up to master level.

The three decided to take the practical parts together with Ken going first while Clare going last and unlike day one, Ken was able to produce a legit spell at each of the four elemental stations nevertheless how weak they were, he was more than happy with the results.

While Clare is still as impressive as ever, it was clear to see that some of the older students with their extra years of experience, are producing better results and it was clear for Ken to see how it irks the extremely prideful and competitive elf princess even when those people are much older in age and have way more time to train.

As they have reached the physical portion of the exam, Ken is met with the sword, box and baton once again and unlike the first time where he simply completed the tasks with brute strength. He was able to channel everything he learned over the past 5 months and enhanced his power while swinging the sword, enhanced his durability while holding the box and speed as he ran.

After the three finished their tests and the staff input their data, they joined back up with Alice and Genesis where Alice offered to buy them dinner in town as a celebration for working so hard for a whole semester.

So happy that he had finally finished the first semester of school in his life and at his own improvement, he graciously took the offer and the group left for town to look for a nice place to have dinner.

"I can't wait for tomorrow when they post the grades and update our rankings. I have for sure done will enough to be in the top 1000 overall." Ken declared as they walked around town looking for a restaurant while chatting happily that the first semester is finally over.

After arriving in front of a busy restaurant filled with mostly students, the group decided to celebrate here and sat down at one of the few tablets still empty.

"You are right Alice; I can see why most of those tests are absolutely worthless in actual combat. who would only enhance their speed instead of speed, power and endurance while in combat. To divide the enhancements into categories would only benefit those that want to see a meaningless score instead of how strong someone actually is." Ken complained.

"Yep, you are exactly right, the point of those tests is to give us an arbitrary ranking that's meaningless but good for the nobles and royals for bragging rights. Besides, in actual combat, you would need to account for someone's base ability instead of just how good they are at enhancement.

Even though Clare and Lovetta are slightly better at enhancing than me, with my natural speed and power, I'm sure I am faster and stronger and be more useful if we happened to be on a battlefield.

But since the world have been in peace for so long, what's useful matters less and less and it's more about what makes a good storyline to make someone in power look good." Alice replied as Clare and Genesis went to order food for the group.

Even though Alice is paying for the meal, since she has no clue what any of the food actually tastes like, the duty of ordering fell on Clare and Genesis while Ken, Alice and Lovetta continued to discuss about how the school's ranking system is full of flaws.

When the food arrived, it seemed like Alice and Genesis went all out with the ordering. Plates full of different types of meats, vegetables, soups, bread, rice, pasta filled their table to the brink.

"Did you two order everything on the menu or something?" Alice asked in bewilderment at the amount of food that was brought to their table.

"Since I didn't have to pay, might as well go all out." Clare answered with a smirk.

"Ken? When are you going to be making it big so you can step up and support your wife?" Alice replied in a soft seductive tone while hugging Ken just to agitate Clare.

"I don't have any big dreams like becoming the top hero. I just want to eventually get strong enough to get a decent job where I get paid well and can eat whatever I want.

Oh! Also, let my family live a good life and my young siblings go to school so they don't end up like me and look like an idiot getting all zeros." Ken replied in between taking huge bites of food.

"You can come to Vespera! I will tell my dad to hire you as my private personal guard and pay you whatever we need for a happy life." Alice added enthusiastically.

"You can come to Yelwraek, plenty of jobs for someone as smart as you once you have more time to study and learn." Clare intervened.

Before Alice could respond, Ken forcibly changed the topic before the two could get heated. Just like he does at home with his younger siblings, Ken has the important job of being the peacemaker to keep this group with a noble and a royal from going out of control.

"You know, maybe I should try and study language and become an ambassador to keep the races at peace like I already do right now." Ken joked as the group returned to a calmer mood.

After hours of eating, drinking and chatting, thanks to Lovetta's monstrous appetite and Ken's refusal to waste any food. They managed to stuff down the whole table of food that ended up costing Alice 100 academy points, a whole month's worth of allowance for the poor.

By the time the group reached the common room, it was already way past normal bedtime and with exams over and Ken stuffed to the brim. He told them to let him be tomorrow and sleep until he naturally wakes up.

Knowing their personalities, Ken specifically told Lovetta not to wait for him and to get breakfast when she is hungry. Reluctantly, Lovetta agreed, and the girls said their goodnight to Ken, and each returned to their own room.

Exhausted and too stuffed with food to think about the exam results, Ken slumped into bed and fell sound asleep almost instantly.