The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　They lack sufficient physical fitness and knowledge to pass the assessment.

　All we can say is that after this assessment, we hope these students will feel ashamed and then strive to improve.

　Unlike those who achieved obvious results, another group of students who finished the task later were quite conflicted.

　They don't know the order in which they completed the assessment tasks, so they can't judge whether they are qualified.

　Becoming one of the "forties" in the bottom forty is worse than eating bitter melon.

　……

　Professor Jones called Dak over.

　After Professor Jones finished inspecting a magic collector, he announced a time.

　He noted down the times and roughly sorted them.

　Finally, all the times are reordered and plotted in a table.

　The entire task was not completed until after 2 p.m.

　After receiving the forms, Professor Jones had the students line up again and said, "Let's start with the first one... Dark Deemon!"

　Dak wasn't surprised, after all, it was the table he compiled.

　Later, Sarah, Emma, ​​and others also made it into the top ten.

　"The top ten students will receive academic credits; come to me after class to collect them. Next are the remaining thirty people from the top forty. The magic collectors you have will be your prizes."

　Professor Jones read out the names one by one.

　Diana, Rose, Doron, and others were among these forty people.

　Surprisingly, the much-anticipated Son of the Hero seems to be absent from this group.

　Witt Gold looked rather grim.

　The argument at the dungeon entrance and the journey through the dense forest wasted too much of his time.

　At the entrance to the dungeon, he was unable to collect the magic power from the magic marker.

　After finally finding the magical marker in the dense forest, the number on the stone pillar had already reached zero!

　These two misfortunes completely brought him down.

　Although he eventually managed to complete twenty collection missions, he lacked confidence that he would pass.

　Robert, however, was even slower than him.

　Once he's ranked in the bottom forty, Robert won't escape either.

　Their planned trip to the underground city was completely ruined.

　……

　After announcing the first forty, Professor Jones took a sip of hot water from his thermos and continued, "Next, let's start from the last one..."

　As each name was called out, the junior mage whose name was called almost burst open on the spot.

　Every name that appears draws attention.

　Students paid even more attention to the "unqualified" than to the "qualified".

　Students who were unsure of the outcome and whose names weren't called were filled with dread, fearing they would be the next to be called.

　In this increasingly tense atmosphere, one student after another was eliminated.

　Forty spots are indeed too many.

　There are only about 160 students in the second grade, so 40 is a full quarter of them!

　This means that one of the four people will be eliminated.

　In this situation, it would be no surprise if anyone other than the top forty were to report for duty.

　From some unknown point in time, those whose names were called couldn't help but wail, and the sound of wailing filled the air.

　"That's the thirty-fifth!"

　Finally, Professor Jones read out the name that was thirty-fifth.

　Many people breathed a sigh of relief, but others looked increasingly grim.

　Robert Broheim was one of them.

　His face looked even worse than Witt's.

　To relieve the pressure, Witt whispered, "Robert, do you remember how much faster you were than that guy?"

　Robert, unusually quiet, took a deep breath and said, "Not much faster. Witt, I have a very bad feeling, I'm doomed."

　“No, no way,” Witt chuckled dryly. “I’m not much faster than you, you can’t be finished.”

　Robert pressed his hand to his heart, feeling for the first time how fast his heart was beating.

　He whispered, "Don't try to comfort me. I know I'm not very good... I even lost my debut match against Rose."

　Witt managed a weak reply: "How could that be? You run so fast."

　“What’s the use of running fast?” Robert said with a wry smile. “I was the first to find the magic marker, but I couldn’t solve the puzzle at all. I only managed to get it after everyone else had solved it and left. Witt, I’m probably done for. When the results come out, don’t forget to find a guide. Going into the dungeon alone is just too dangerous.”

　Witt's face stiffened: "No, we agreed to do it together the first time."

　"The thirty-seventh..."

　Robert's face grew increasingly grim, yet he couldn't help but cling to a sliver of hope.

　“There are only three left!” Witt said quickly. “The chances are great, just bear with it.”

　"I can't hold back any longer..." Robert gritted his teeth and muttered, "The thirty-eighth, two left!"

　Witt secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

　There were only two left, and there were at least two or three people between him and Robert.

　This means that there's no way he can be eliminated.

　The probability of Robert being eliminated is not particularly high.

　“The thirty-ninth one…” Robert’s eyes widened suddenly.

　This is the thirty-ninth from the bottom, and it's still not him!

　"There's only one left!" Witt said quickly. "Think quickly, are there people who were later than you and haven't been called yet?"

　Robert trembled all over: "Yes, it seems so, let me think, let me think..."

　Robert Broheim.

　Professor Jones read out the last name in a calm tone.

　In this world, there are always people who don't work hard usually, but when it comes to the final moment, they take chances.

　And all these missing efforts will be reflected in the final result.

　Robert Broheim is out!

　……

　When the name of the 40th person from the bottom was announced, almost all eyes in the audience instantly focused on Robert.

　The intensity of that gaze was so strong that even Witt, standing next to Robert, felt it was blinding.

　He wanted to comfort Robert, but his heart was filled with a feeling of "luck".

　If Robert is the fortieth from the bottom, then he is the forty-third from the bottom, or the forty-fourth from the bottom...

　He's only a few people away from being eliminated!

　If he's eliminated even in this situation, he'll be too ashamed to face his mother.

　……

　Dak looked at Robert with curiosity and some surprise.

　He originally thought that with Robert's physical advantage, he would be able to find the magical markers faster and have more time to think about how to solve the puzzle, so it was unlikely that he would be eliminated.

　And it's even less likely that Witt will be eliminated.

　If the duo can't even get into the dungeon...

　"It seems that Witt will have to fight alone on the dungeon trip in October."

　Dak blinked, thinking that this might not be all bad.

　"Could this be what they call an accident?"

　His mind raced as he analyzed the current situation and gradually grew more excited about the upcoming trip to the underground city this weekend.

　……

　In short, for every person who is happy, there is bound to be someone who is sad.

　No matter how frustrated Robert is, he can't change the fact that he's out of the game.

　After reading his name, Professor Jones slowly said, "Don't think you can get away with it just because your name wasn't called. If I decide that any of you are still not qualified to enter the dungeon, I will issue a ban at any time. The same applies to the forty people who are temporarily eliminated. Don't think that you can enter the dungeon in November just because you survived October. If I still can't see any progress by October, this semester might just be over. Alright, dismissed!"

　Professor Jones' tone became increasingly stern as he spoke.

　So much so that when she shouted "Dismissed," the students did not cheer.

　After a while.

　The students, having regained their senses, finally started moving.

　Students who did not make it into the top 40 began to hand in their "magic collectors".

　The students who made it into the top ten began to come before Professor Jones to receive their credits.

　Dak also received the credits.

　Although the academic credits weren't much compared to his savings, he was still very happy because it was the reward for being number one in the assessment.

　Well, it's better than nothing.

　As for Diana and Rose, they missed out on the top ten credit rewards due to their respective shortcomings in mental and physical abilities, which was regrettable.

　However, for them, not being eliminated is a victory, let alone squeezing into the top forty.

　"Let's go, let's have a big meal to celebrate!"

　Diana beckoned and then rushed off to the cafeteria.

　There are no classes on Wednesday afternoon, and the cafeteria is quite empty at this time of day. You might even be able to enjoy some delicious food cooked on the spot by the halfling chefs.

　"Let's go, let's eat something and calm down."

　Witt patted Robert on the shoulder and said helplessly.

　Robert was in low spirits, completely lacking his usual enthusiasm.

　Witt didn't know how to comfort him, so he could only take him to the cafeteria first.

　After all, you can't exactly invite him to play a magical simulation duel at this time, can you?

　"Witt, let's duel."

　"what?"

　Witt looked completely bewildered.

　Robert's gaze was grave: "I need a resounding victory to wash away today's humiliation!"

　……

　After lunch.

　The second-year students, who had qualified to enter the dungeon, flocked into the mission hall in groups of three or five.

　Since we're going on an adventure in the dungeon on Friday afternoon, we naturally need to be fully prepared.

　Besides the various tools needed for adventure, the most important thing for newcomers to do is to take on as many official quests as possible—especially the gathering quests!

　The academy's official collection tasks generally have no penalties and no upper limit on what can be collected.

　Basically, it acquires anything of value that students are able to gather through tasks.

　The college certainly wouldn't covet the students' money, so the acquisition price wouldn't be low.