A series of system messages appeared in front of Ray right after he slayed the mutated night spider's head. The messages were,
[Ding!!, The host has killed a pseudo intermediate tier beast.]
[Ding!!, The host has leveled up]
[Ding!!, The host has leveled up]
[Ding!!, The host has leveled up] ….
[Ding!!, The host has completed a hidden quest,
(Kill 10 pseudo intermediate tier beasts),
[Reward, New featu-],
****
Ray cleared the notifications from his system after reading the initial ones and thought of checking out all of his rewards later when he had free time. Ray then glanced at the headless corpse of the mutated night spider and saw it turning into motes of lights. This further proved his theory that the pseudo intermediate tier mutated night spider was not a wild beast but rather a summoned or contracted beast.
Seeing that the matter with the beast was done, Ray looked back to his teammates and noticed that all of them were on the ground with their chests heaving in and out profusely due to exhaustion. After all, the previous fight against the beast was not as easy as it seemed. Moreover, if not for Ray's precise calculations, and their impeccable strategy along with their formation, the beast would have either killed someone or seriously injured at least one of them before it was brought down.
The whole team rested on the ground for 5 more minutes and after they had calmed down their nerves, everyone got up and approached Ray. As Ray was their leader, it was natural for them to approach him.
All five of his teammates stood in front of him and Ray understood that they had subconsciously taken him as their leader and were waiting for his instructions. After all, bonds and trusts made while someone was within a life and death situation were more foolproof than bonds between companions or lifetime friends. As the one on the battlefield would unconditionally trust the other with their life when in difficult circumstances, and also help each other on the battlefield for the sake of survival. However, bonds such as friendships or lifetime companions could betray you more easily for ulterior motives or worldly possessions such as wealth and power.
Therefore, trust gained through a baptism of blood was much stronger than that gained from friendships and companionship, while Ray fully understood the situation and took the opportunity to act as a leader. Therefore, when he saw his teammates standing in front of him, he smiled and said,
"We did it guys, we defeated an intermediate tier beast together while working as a team. Moreover, I do not think there should be any more tests or any other enemy to fight. So let's just rest and wait for the instructor's signal"
After listening to Ray's words, his teammates sighed and dropped their guards while exhaustion covered their expressions. Then, they unequipped their beast souls, and artifacts while Sirius and Tim undid their transformations. The hair on Sirius's body receded while his hands, feet, and mouth reverted to that of a normal human. As for Tim, the metallic sheen around his body also disappeared while his bulging muscles returned to normal. Other than these two, Elina had also kept her calligraphy pen that she used to write curses back in her system inventory. While Noah strapped his mask to the side of his belt while he kept his needles within a space around his arm bracers. As for Aliya, she also seemed to place her staff and armor within her system inventory as well.
Ray also unequipped his beast souls while the mana that churned within his body also stopped churning. Afterward, Ray also relaxed his nerves and noticed that all of his teammates had a system inventory other than Noah. As for Sirius, Ray did not know as he only transformed into a werewolf and did not use any materialistic artifact or weapon.
Sometime later, when everyone had recovered almost half of their strength. The door of the training room snapped open and the instructor's voice sounded.
"All of the students, please step out of the training hall. Everyone's results have been announced along with their rankings".
Listening to this, Ray and his teammates stood up and stepped out of the training room. When they came out of the training room, they saw the instructor standing in front of them while a middle-aged man was standing beside the instructor.
The middle-aged man wore a silver combat suit, while the sides of his hair had turned white with some grey hair outlining the top of his head full of silky brown hair. Other than that, the man stood tall at a height of 6ft with a straight military posture while a light smile adored his face. His trimmed beard greatly contrasted with his messy hair which gave him a different charm. While his face had a few freckles and a sharp jawline that hid his real age.
Many youths, upon seeing the middle-aged man gasped while some muttered something under their breath. However, Ray did not understand the reason for the reaction of these youths as he was only focused on getting to know his test results.
****
After seeing that everyone had arrived, the instructor said,
"This year, about 500 students gave the test for joining the Academy For System Users while 100 amongst them gave the test for being special class students. Amongst those 100, only 35 passed the first stage of the test while 5 amongst those 35 fainted under the pressure from intermediate tier beast thus, disqualifying them. Hence, only 30 people passed the test for being special class candidates while within those 30 5 team leaders lead their team members against the intermediate tier beasts".
He then continued,
"The rankings of candidates this year were calculated from the start of the test while considering their behavior, control over emotions, body reactions upon sudden threat, and way of thinking during a crisis. Whereas, for team leaders, their strategy-making skills along with leadership skills were also tested. Hence, after observing each characteristic of all of the candidates that had participated in the special class's test. A ranking would be given to them along with a leaderboard with top rankings. The candidates will have a total of top 10 rankings on the leaderboard with the best rewards going to those at the top of the rankings. Lastly, there will also be a monitor for the special class, who will act as the team leader of the whole class while also enjoying special privileges.
Moreover, the monitor would be chosen from the top-ranked candidates in a special class and would be a candidate with an exceptional team leading and situation analyzing qualities along with the grit to handle different situations calmly without losing his calmness to his temper".
The instructor then gestured toward the middle-aged man beside him and said,
"Now, as all of the explanations are done. I would like the dean of our academy to come forward and announce the rankings of special candidates test".
The middle-aged man then stepped forward, while something clicked in Ray's mind as he now identified the middle-aged man as the dean of the academy. Someone, whom Ray wanted to have a chat with about his Versatile System.
....
A/N:- I hope you are all doing well, here is another chapter for you guys. So enjoy reading it and tell me in the comments how it was and also your thoughts on it.
Don't forget to add to the library if you haven't and also don't forget to vote power stones.