Tempy's body stiffened in shock as she stared at Liam's once lifeless body now full of vitality as if he was never dead. The only difference between now and before is the whitening of half of Liam's hair.
Liam and Tempy stared at each other for some time without saying a word. The rest of the group stopped walking as they stared at Tempy in confusion, they were all mentally strained and couldn't bear with Tempy's crying any longer.
"What's wrong now...n-now? N-...Wha...t?" Lisa said as she walked up to Tempy to check on her but she was greeted with a familiar pair of eyes that caused her to stiffen up as well.
The other 2 noticed Lisa's sudden reaction and walked ahead to see what was going on, and when they arrived their eyes contracted in shock as they saw the alive and well Liam still partially wrapped in cloth.
It was a weird situation for everyone present as they all stared at each other. Feeling slightly embarrassed, Liam got out of Tempy's hands and stood up straight. His eyes were filled with happiness as he stared intently at each one of them.
The first person to break out crying was Michael, as usual. He couldn't help but start crying after seeing one of his friends supposedly come back to life, it could only be considered a miracle or so he thought.
Tempy couldn't resist it anymore and asked, "Li-Liam?" She was worried that whoever took control of Liam wasn't him. As she asked her question, a smile formed on Liam's face. This was a new experience for him as he never had someone that cared about him before.
The only thing he could do was give an awkward reply: "Y-Yeah...It's me..." He said while nervously rubbing the back of his head. As she heard Liam's words, Tempy's overall condition recovered by a margin; the same for the rest of the group.
Dean unhesitantly went in for a hug. "I'm glad you're back. I won't ask what happened since it might be uncomfortable for you to explain it." Dean was right on the mark with what he said.
It would be awkward and unbelievable if Liam suddenly told them what exactly happened after he died. It was apparent that Dean was a true friend although they only knew each other for a few days.
As the 5 were talking, they felt a sudden gust of wind and looked up, to their surprise it was the helicopter that dropped them off here for the test. Inside the test was none of than Mr Hilbert, well, the way he was positioned look strange as if he was being restrained by something.
Another thing that stood out was that Miss Jenkins was in the helicopter as well, although she looked perfectly fine.
After the helicopter landed, Miss Jenkins got out and walked over to the group of students. Her heart was beating out of her chest when she found out that these students were assigned to fight a boss-grade Sun Crow.
Fighting a regular Sun Crow was only allowed after a freshman of the academy became a sophomore or senior as their combat abilities weren't up to par to have a chance against the monster. The situation intensified when she heard that the Sun Crow the students were looking for was a boss.
She immediately confronted Mr Hilbert who feigned ignorance and claimed it wasn't true, but the students in the classroom ratted him out and now he was being detained and arrested for endangering the students.
Sun Crows strictly weren't allowed to be used for combat tests for freshmen and Mr Hilbert knew this as he worked at the academy for 5 whole years. Miss Jenkins wondered why he all of a sudden decided to break the rules.
She didn't have any strong feelings towards Mr Hilbert so she didn't believe his lies even for a second which led to them being able to find the students. The guards in the academy detained Mr Hilbert and interrogated him until he spilled the information of where the students were.
Apparently, they were in the droughtlands. It was a desert that completely beyond redemption, even if an immortal came down and used heavenly magic, the desert wouldn't show the slightest reaction, it was weird. Some say that the desert was cursed by a heavenly being and some say the desert is filled with dense chaotic energy that prevents the desert from growing any type of plants.
"Are you kids okay? Liam, why is your hair like that?" Miss Jenkins asked in a worried tone as she inspected the students. When inspecting Dean she noticed a long slash on his back that wasn't close to healing any time soon.
Because she was prepared for this, Miss Jenkins pulled out a Clumerika Potion and gave it to Dead before questioning Liam about his new hair color.
"...U-Uhm, one of my withering curses backfired? The effect should wear off in a few days I think..." Liam said. Although he said this, it was a complete lie, although the withering curse could affect a person's hair, it wasn't capable of backfiring and hurting the caster by any means. And also, Liam didn't know if the color of his hair was gonna change back or not.
Miss Jenkins gave him a worried look before turning around and glaring at Mr. Hilbert; her eyes filled with extreme anger. She just couldn't understand why such a good teacher that nurtured a few excellent seniors would try and endanger a few of his students.
"How dare you try to send these kids to their deaths!" She exclaimed as the anger in her voice was as clear as water. However, Mr Hilbert didn't become hostile in any way and just smirked like any other day; frustrating Miss Jenkins.
Miss Jenkins turned back to the students with an even more worried look than before.
"Even though you were tricked into almost losing your lives, you still...technically failed the combat capability test." She said with a frustrated look. It wasn't her choice to decide whether the students failed or not, and frankly, she believed that these freshman students deserved to pass the test.
They managed to escape the Sun Crow with only one of their teammates injured, well, one of them also died but she didn't know that and it remained a secret.
The 5 students showed bitter expressions as they listened to Miss Jenkins's words. They felt angry and extremely sad knowing that they didn't pass the combat capability test, but ultimately it turned out not to be their fault even though they still failed.
They all felt like they were being cheated and this was against or breaking some kind of rule, but unfortunately, no rules were being broken besides Mr Hilbert endangering freshmen students.
Inside the helicopter, a wide grin formed across Mr Hilbert's face. It looked like he accomplished some sort of mission and didn't care about his current situation.
"We'll take you back to your homes, hopefully, you can try and apply to the school again next year, although...I highly doubt it..." Miss Jenkin sighed with a helpless expression, she was obviously just as stressed as them about the entire matter.
Hearing what Miss Jenkins said, Liam felt his heart instinctively beat faster as he began to feel nervous. He didn't have a home to return to which made his heart sink every time he thought about it.
'I guess I'll live in the wilderness or something...' Liam solemnly thought to himself as he sighed. There was no way his father would accept him back into the clan and neither would anyone else. Just like the academy, the clan didn't accept weaklings and people without decent aptitude.
Seeing Liam's worried look, Michael decided to ask him a question.
"What's the matter? Do you think your family will be disappointed in you? Don't worry, it wasn't either of our faults." Michael was trying to reassure Liam and calm him down as he noticed Liam started to breathe faster.
"My father kicked me out of the clan when I was 15...I don't have a home." Liam said while looking down. As if he realized something, he lifted his head up.
'Maybe I can ask to live with one of them?' Liam turned around only to see disappointed, nervous, anxious, and angry expressions on his friend's faces, it seemed like that option was off the table as they had to confront their angered parents when they got home.
'I guess I'll be living in the wild huh?' Liam thought to himself with a bitter expression as he looked at the grinning Mr Hilbert. For some reason, he felt anger building up inside of him as he stared at Mr Hilbert's face.
"Sigh...Alright, get on the helicopter..." Miss Jenkins said as she gestured with her hands towards the helicopter, although the majority of the group wasn't so comfortable sitting in the helicopter. Nobody would want to sit in a helicopter with the person who tried to get them killed.