Chapter 126: Leaderboard! Who's at the top!?
Alison did not notice the bewildered expressions on their faces and disappeared from her spot, only to reappear a moment later with a boy having messy hair and fog leaving his mouth.
It was Daniel, and he was unconscious, perhaps from the impact earlier that sent him out.
A vial appeared in Alison\'s hand carrying a strawberry-red liquid as she slowly poured the contents into Daniel\'s mouth.
"Cough…" he slowly woke up and looked around in confusion before looking at the person holding him.
His face paled as he looked at her with a look of horror. Just now, when he was thrown back by her, he landed among some strange vines that bit him in multiple places, making his vision blurry and his surroundings strange, and after that, he blacked out.
Only now did he wake up and realize those vines were definitely poisonous.
This was a terrifying woman… he didn\'t want to be held by her.
"Hey there, it\'s my fault for earlier, haha. I will give you a gift too… let\'s pretend nothing happened."
She put him down and patted his back as if nothing had happened, then took him to stand beside the others.
This time, he was subdued and did not speak much for fear of offending this woman again.
As for having a masculine teacher with big and strong muscles? He put that matter aside for now.
______________
"So, here\'s the ranking leaderboard!"
[Ranking board:
[1st: White-haired kid — 8438 steps]
[2nd: Girl with platinum hair — 6975 steps]
[3rd: Girl with no expressions — 6897 steps]
[4th: Golden-haired girl — 5493 steps]
[5th: Tool-using girl — 3482 steps]
[6th: Muscle-headed kid — 3395 steps]
[7th: Weak-looking kid — 2987 steps]
_____________
"…."
They looked at the peculiar nicknames they had been assigned by their new \'teacher\' and could not help but have blank expressions.
"Huh? What\'s with the look? Did you not understand something this simple?" she looked at them confusedly.
"Miss Alison, I demand that you change my name!" Alphonso raised his hand again and complained, "Why am I the only one written with such a demeaning name?"
"That\'s because you were the last and weakest of the bunch. I don\'t know your names either. So on that note, start introducing yourselves one by one."
The others remained silent unlike him, their eyes were fixated on the first rank, that was now assigned to Oliver, all of them had a strong expression in their eyes.
Especially Bella, whose eyes were burning with determination and spirit, she was burning this sight in her memory, she could not believe that there was such wide gap between her and him.
He was younger than her and despite this was able to cross her with such a huge gap, she was really unwilling. She remembered the scene of her duel with him and how effortlessly he had dodged each one of her strikes.
Oliver was definitely a guy with many secrets, she was equally curious about what was he hiding and how strong was he actually, his powers, his espera, his rank as an exorcist, she wanted to know them and compare.
\'I will defeat you sooner or later…\' she thought with an intense glint passing through her eyes.
Oliver suddenly felt goosebumps crawling all over his skin as he looked around.
He noticed Nadia staring at him with her usual cold eyes.
He could guess that she was probably wondering how he managed to overtake her by such a margin.
He smiled wryly, this result made him aware of his current standing. It was neither good nor bad. Decent at most in his opinion. He felt he could do more if he used Abyss energy as well.
Such was the case with Daniel and Amber as well, despite getting thrown off, he still felt that Oliver was indeed a worthy opponent.
Not to mention, it was definitely a surprise for him, he had expected Bella to top the rankings considering how she defeated Oliver in their duel but it was opposite now.
He clutched the handle of his sword hard, he would really like to test Oliver\'s sword skills too and see if he was better than him in that aspect or not.
If he was, then…
An unreadable glint flashed past his dark eyes.
Amber, on the other hand, was also looking at the board with narrowed eyes. She had expected this result.
That\'s right, to her this was not an unexpected result unlike others who were predicting Bella to rank at top.
While others might not have thought or noticed, she did see it during his fight with Bella, her entire focus was on Oliver—more specifically his nonchalant expression during the whole fight.
It did not look to her that he was struggling a bit at all.
If anything, he had a calculating look in his eyes at that time, she had seen that sort of look many times so she was familiar with it. It was a look she often had when analyzing her tools or artifacts, determining their structure or use.
Perhaps this was also why she had been more interested in talking with him since the beginning. She could feel that he and her were similar to some degree.
Alphonso wanted to argue more but could not. He remembered what happened to Daniel and shut his mouth. He was having a hard time swallowing such humiliation for the first time ever. If he spoke more then he would only look like a loser having hard time accepting his position.
After everyone introduced themselves, the teacher nodded and pointed towards the house in the back.
"Since all of you are tired now, I will start the proper training from tomorrow. For now, all of you can choose a room on the first floor for yourself."
"As for Oliver and Daniel, I will prepare gifts for you boys later."
She said this as she left in a hurry.
"Well, fuck! She finally left!"
Daniel fell to his knees as he happily shouted. He was really relieved now.
"Damn, where did you even fly to?"
Oliver could not help but ask curiously, making Daniel shudder.
"I-I… forget it…"
He didn\'t elaborate and simply walked up to the huge mansion or dormitory for them.
"We should also quickly get ourselves a room too and rest."
Bella asked the others, and they too soon entered the house.
Oliver picked a room in the farthest corner possible to avoid being near any of them. The others saw this and did not intrude or take a room close to him.
It was basic courtesy that since the other party did not want to share too much space, they should not insist either.
They all had their pride to uphold as well.
The day was uneventful as all of them rested in their rooms and set up their belongings. The whole house had polished wooden flooring and looked quite simple and peaceful inside.