“Cough cough, Student Ximo is indeed… quite unique. She must be very confident in her own strength, which is why she’s so relaxed during the competition.”
Ximo had no idea that most of the teachers watching the surveillance monitors were wearing embarrassed expressions at that moment. Shirley quickly smiled and tried to smooth things over.
The only two who remained unmoved were the Principal and Instructor Shasta. The Principal stroked his beard and chuckled as he spoke, “It looks like the Academy has recruited an interesting student this year. Instructor Shasta, your eye for talent is spot on.”
Instructor Shasta, standing nearby, merely shrugged, her expression unchanging. She truly didn’t care about it at all.
“Principal, the upperclassmen are all prepared.”
At that moment, Melrose, dressed in her school uniform, walked over and happened to notice the scene on the surveillance monitor.
Ximo? What was she doing? Cooking?
Melrose stared at Ximo with great interest. In the footage, the little maid was preparing to roast the rabbit she had just caught.
“Good. Remember to go easy on them, Melrose. Don’t bully the new students too much.”
The Principal chuckled and waved his hand. Thus, Melrose and several other upperclassmen stepped onto the Teleportation Array. Under Shirley’s operation, a blinding white light flashed, and everyone’s figures vanished in an instant.
Interesting. I wonder if I’ll have a chance to run into Ximo in the forest later… In the blurry final second before her vision faded, Melrose glanced once more at the monitor screen. Unfortunately, Ximo’s feed had already been switched away.
Damn it. If only I’d learned some practical magic from Miss in the past couple of days… like how to start a fire or something.
Ximo shook out her hands. Rubbing sticks together to make fire had nearly given her cramps earlier. Now, looking at the bubbling pot in front of her and the rabbit roasting over the nearby fire, Ximo nodded in satisfaction.
Alright, at least this food should meet the standards for the “have a good meal” task, right?
Foraging for ingredients wasn’t difficult for an Assassin. With the power of her [Eye of Discernment], Ximo quickly found plenty of ingredients and seasoning plants in the woods, along with an unlucky rabbit that darted right in front of her.
Soon, everything was prepared and ready. System had even kindly sponsored a large pot as a task reward. When Ximo watched System produce the pot out of thin air thanks to the System reward, she was stunned. This System reward ability seemed far more useful than she’d imagined.
“Then why don’t you just casually issue a couple of tasks to give me some awesome rewards? Like an Advanced Magic Conductor or a thousand Magic Crystals or something.”
“Darling, with my current abilities, I can’t do that much… Being able to hand out these trivial little items is already giving it my all…”
Thinking of this made Ximo fume. So, she summoned System again.
“Go on, keep an eye on the pot. I’m going to rest for a bit.”
The brand-new magic staff that Xiliya had given her two days ago had met an untimely end before even seeing action. Not having cast a single spell, it was now serving as a soup ladle, being vigorously stirred in the pot by System.
“And the rabbit over there—one side’s about to burn! Flip it over already, you clumsy oaf!”
Lying in the shade of a tree, Ximo waved her hand, directing System like a plantation owner bossing around slaves picking cotton.
“I’m doing it, I’m doing it! Don’t rush me, darling…”
“…System, come back!”
Ximo’s voice suddenly turned serious. System blinked in confusion.
“Huh? No way, right, darling? My work isn’t that awful, is it?”
“It’s not about that.” Ximo shot to her feet in an instant. “Someone’s coming.”
System turned into a streak of blue light and merged back into Ximo’s body. Ximo gripped the soup-stained magic staff and pointed it toward the distance.
“Who’s there?”
“Don’t worry, we’re also taking the exam… How is it you?”
Three people appeared in Ximo’s line of sight, traveling together. Jackson, who was in the lead, changed his expression mid-sentence. Seeing the roasting rabbit and the bubbling pot, Jackson couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Talk about enemies on a narrow road. Who would’ve thought I’d run into a loser like you here… What are you doing, going camping in the wild?”
Jackson let out a brazen laugh. “You’ve given up on passing the exam, so you’re just slacking off now, huh?”
The two people beside Jackson laughed along. It was clear they were his cronies. The three of them advanced on Ximo with malicious intent, and Ximo quickly understood what they wanted.
Well, teaming up to help each other pass the exam was probably common enough.
“Well, the exam rules don’t explicitly forbid teaming up…” Ximo shrugged. “But even if you take me out here, it won’t mean much. I haven’t taken down a single Magic Beast so far. You won’t steal any points from me even if you do.”
“Heh, points don’t matter anymore. I think this is a perfect chance to settle some scores with you.”
Jackson’s gaze turned dangerous. He completely ignored the soup-covered magic staff in Ximo’s hand, clearly not taking her seriously at all.
“Of course, if you’re scared, you can sincerely apologize to me now. I might let what happened before slide… Otherwise…”
Jackson provocatively drew his own magic staff, but Ximo showed no fear in the face of the three. She merely sighed and turned back to stir the pot on her own.
“Sigh. You want to save face without wasting any mana, so you won’t have trouble dealing with other opponents later, right?”
Ximo slowly stirred the soup. “If you want to fight, fine. How about after I finish this meal?”
“Don’t you dare look down on us!” Ximo’s nonchalant attitude instantly enraged Jackson. “A magicless waste like you has no right to provoke us like this!”
“Any one of us three could crush you with ease. You don’t seriously think you stand a chance, do you?”
A ferocious grin spread across Jackson’s face. “Perfect. The first elimination in the Class Division Exam being a magicless waste? Sounds perfectly legitimate.”
Ximo quietly clenched her fist… But if they fought here for real, her hard-earned meal would be ruined. Otherwise, she wouldn’t mind sending these three packing from the exam right then and there.
“We can fight later; it won’t make a difference. My soup’s almost done…”
Before Ximo could finish speaking, her body reflexively twisted to the side. The next second, a Magic Beam grazed past her and blasted a nearby tree.
“In the end, you’re still just a magicless waste. So what if you got picked as an Assistant Student?”
Ximo’s expression darkened. She glanced down at the food, which hadn’t been affected yet, then kicked off and fled in one direction.
“Hahaha! You were acting all cocky earlier, but in the end, you’re still running? Let’s chase her!”
