''The winners of this year's Dungeon Expedition are: Mason White and Remi Nightfall!''
The crowd didn't go as wild this time, they knew that Remi would be top 3 at least, they expected her to be first if she wasn't second or third.
'Well, that's underwhelming.' Mason thought with a bitter look on his face.
Remi approached Mason as they walked up the stage together.
''Congratulations to you two, it's a very impressive feat to be able to do this without a full squad! Not that I didn't expect this...'' The headmaster said as he sent a wink to Mason.
Mason looked away since he felt awkward with the old guy.
''Since you guys got first place, I will allow you to give a speech. Make it quick, however.''
Mason immediately looked at Remi when he noticed she clearly didn't want to do it.
'She's a princess, isn't this supposed to be her time to shine? Damn it all.'
Mason walked up to the headmaster and received the microphone.
The crowd looked at him weirdly.
'Who is this side-character giving the speech instead of the princess? Who does he think he is.'
Allan and his group, however, were all getting flashbacks to their time in the arena.
They thought it was only natural that Mason was the one giving the speech.
''Test, test'' Mason said quietly as he tested if the microphone worked.
''I am Mason White, remember it, since you will be hearing of me a lot from now on.''
''If you were thinking: 'Who is this guy?' Then you are one of the people who does not know the difference between weak and strong.''
''I wish you all success in the rest of the year, you can always try for second place.''
Just as the headmaster asked, he kept it short, very short.
The crowd went completely quiet, they couldn't believe their ears.
'Mason White, who the fuck is he supposed to be???'
One of the people in the crowd broke the silence.
''Who the fuck do you think you are, you lucked out being in the same squad as the princess! You probably wouldn't even have been in the top 20 without her!''
Mason ignored him completely as he waited for the headmaster to give him his reward.
Remi chuckled quietly as she found it funny how everyone refused to acknowledge Mason just because they didn't know who he was.
''Well, interesting speech, kid.''
''On to the rewards for both of the first placed students.''
''I would've let you guys finish your intermediate spells too, but you guys both already mastered them.''
The headmaster had been given the hard task of distributing rewards, they had been the same every year before now. But now these monster-kids arrived, it seemed he would have to change them up a bit.
''The rewards for this year's winn-
''Wait!'' The headmaster was cut short as a student yelled out.
''Shouldn't you announce how many points everyone got before giving them their rewards, I want to know the true difference between all of us. You do this every year!''
The headmaster got an annoyed look on his face.
''This year, we won't tell you the exact points. If you want to know what place you got, just ask your teacher! Now quiet!''
The student looked confused, why wouldn't he just tell everyone?
''As I was saying, the rewards for this year's winners of the Dungeon Expedition: 2 Mana Flowers!''
While Mason looked confused, everyone else looked shocked. This included even Remi.
Mason walked up to Remi and whispered in her ear.
''What's a Mana Flower?''
Remi wanted to hit this kid, what kind of dumb question was that?
Who doesn't know about Mana Flowers?
''They are so expensive even my family can't buy them whenever.''
''They're so rare that only about 50 of them are to be sold each year in our kingdom! I don't know how the headmaster got two of them but we should be really grateful!''
After listening to the girl, Mason walked up to the headmaster once again to receive his Mana Flower.
''Why thank you for this generous gift Headmaster. For someone as low as me does not deserve this.'' Mason said.
Remi cringed.
'Why is he speaking like some 500 year old wizard?' She wanted to beat him up really badly.
The Headmaster also looked at him with a slight cringe.
''You deserve it, now go back to your room and absorb it quickly!'' he said.
Mason took both of the flowers and gave one to Remi as he started making his way back to his dorm room.
Remi thanked the Headmaster as she also hurriedly went after her roommate.
After both of them had left, the crowd had finally got out of their temporary state of perplexment.
''It seems we have to work harder.'' They all made up their minds as they all started making their way back with sulking faces.
''Damn it all! If I knew these were the rewards I would've been training all the time, why didn't anybody tell me!'' This was what more than a couple of kids said.
After making it back to the dorm room, Mason could finally ask what he had been wanting to ask for the entire time.
''Remi, what's the effect of this Mana Flower. People were hyping it up so much but what does it actually do?''
Remi was happy at the moment, so she started explaining it to him without complaining first.
''A Mana Flower has multiple effects, everything to do with Mana gets a boost!''
''For example, depending on how you absorb it. You can get 3-5 years worth of Mana Practice!''
''It also upgrades your Mana Sensitivity by a lot, more than a lesser potion of it.''
''The last effect is that you will be able to use your Mana way more effectively, that is the most important upgrade and why even experts would pay a lot to get this Flower!''
Mason was impressed by the Flower as he made a face that Remi recognized immediately.
''Don't you dare sell the Flower, or I will personally beat you up!''
Mason made an innocent face knowing he got caught.
''I won't, okay. It was just a thought!''
Remi ignored him as she started to absorb the Flower, Mason decided he would do the same.
He held the flower in his hand as he started absorbing it, the Flower disappeared quickly as he felt Mana enter his body.
He started to circulate the Mana throughout his body.
It was now ten hours later and he had finally finished absorbing the entire thing, it took way longer than he had expected!
He looked to Remi and saw she was still going at it so he decided he would take a quick peek at his current status.
'System, show me my status!'
[Calculating new Status]
[Status]
[Name: Mason White]
[Level: 39]
[Physique: None]
[Affinities: Ice, Space]
[Active Skills: Ice Bullet, Ice Wall, Freeze, Ice Domain, Ice Lance, Ice Wave, Ice Armour, Ice Golem, Ice Wind, Distortion of Space]
[Passive Skills: Beast-Hunter]
[Mana: 14250/14250]
[System Points: 7400]
''Sweet!'' Mason exclaimed.