Done with their business, Morgan entered the area where Tan's dorm students hid. It was located in a cliff gap, and each group inhabited a maximum of two caves where they could rest or take shelter.
Morgan handed Lilia a black pouch, three black pouches to be distributed to each group, and one black pouch would belong entirely to Morgan's group.
"Even though you defeated them, you should have handed over the pouches to be shared equally!" declared someone, appearing from the top of the cliff and pointing roughly at Morgan.
Morgan looked up and grinned. The young man who dared to yell at him like that was Jared. It seemed Jared's strength had significantly increased compared to their first meeting.
"Are you gonna act like a hero here? I remember well that I fought against them alone. Where the hell are you?" Morgan asked.
"I didn't know there was a fight down there!" affirmed Jared, annoyed at being mocked.
"There was such a huge bang and explosion in the fight that even a squirrel on the farthest branch sensed the danger," Morgan explained.
"Don't be arrogant, Morgan! Don't think that because you're the dorm leader, you have the support of the other students," Jared complained, continuing to point at Morgan as he dared to come down using his magic abilities from the top of the cliff.
'He's getting stronger. I'll need to be careful,' said Morgan.
Jared brought up the spear accumulating from the flame magic control in his hand, then pointed the flame spear he wielded forward to threaten Morgan.
"Hand over the pouch to me, and we won't have to get into a fight!" commanded Jared.
Lilia and Lara paused as they shared the three black pouches. They focused their attention on the cliff's crevice, watching Jared threaten Morgan.
Because of Jared's increase in strength over the past week, some students were quite confident Jared could match Morgan's strength. However, not a few also believed Morgan had an ace up his sleeve.
'If I give up the pouch, then the other students will think I don't have a stand,' Morgan explained.
'Oh, crap. I should have let him resign the first time,' Morgan replied, regretting letting Jared stay with the Tan Dorm.
"If I really don't want to give it up, then are we gonna fight?" asked Morgan, firmly giving Jared an intimidating look.
"You made me do this, Morgan!" snapped Jared.
Suddenly, Jared swung his flame spear to the side, nearly slicing Morgan's eyes in two. Morgan felt not only strength but also Jared's speed had increased.
Morgan chose a large arena at the front of the cliff gap to fight with Jared. Morgan knew well the consequences of using a flame spear, one of the many weapons controlled by one's magic aura, just like Adeline did.
Jared's current weakness was his stamina. To fight against a person like that, the only option for Morgan was to buy time.
"For all I know, you're a weak student who can only throw temper tantrums without a second thought. Now, you've learned the weapon techniques of magic realization," Morgan explained.
"You don't need to know from whom I learned it. All you need to know is that I'm going to beat you and become the leader of the Tan Dorm!" declared Jared.
With a vengeful mind, Jared continued to dart forward, unleashing one attack after another that he thought was deadly to Morgan's body. Morgan cracked a grin; Jared's swinging flame spear attacks did not significantly impact him.
Morgan jumped up when a swinging spear attack was aimed at his feet, "You fool! Last time you lost to me because of the speed. Do you think you can match my strength with that flame spear?"
"Shut up, Morgan!" snapped Jared.
[Mid Magic: Spears of flame fly]
Ten flame spears appeared behind Jared's body, the same size and length as the one he was holding. Morgan crossed his eyes; he had never seen Jared cast a spell like that before.
'Who taught him?" asked Morgan, curious.
"Attack!" shouted Jared, sending the flame spears flying towards Morgan.
"Shit!"
BOM!
Explosions were created in the sky above the battle arena. All the students gasped, not expecting that Jared could be so powerful. Lilia, who had been smiling earlier, now began showing concern.
'Are you okay, Morgan?' asked Lilia, her right hand covering her slightly open mouth, both shocked and worried.
"HAHAHA!"
"Your leader is weak. Morgan is dead. Now, it's your turn to obey me!" declared Jared, shouting to emphasize his position.
"Don't think such a weak attack can kill me, Jared," Morgan explained.
He blocked the spear attack simply with his own magic aura. Now, Morgan was floating in the air with the help of wind magic under his feet. Jared gasped in shock, unable to believe Morgan was unharmed by his attack.
"How can you be uninjured?" asked Jared, pointing at Morgan.
Morgan didn't respond to Jared's question. Instead, he flew quickly forward while his right hand choked Jared's neck. Morgan strangled the young man's throat as he lifted Jared into the sky.
"Put me down!" snapped Jared.
"Tell me, who taught you those techniques?" asked Morgan.
"I'm not telling!"
Morgan's eyebrows knitted together, flying higher into the sky again while choking Jared's neck. Jared's magic aura began to blink and appear transparent, a sign his mana was being drained.
"I'm going to let your mana run out, then throw you from this high," Morgan threatened, glaring at Jared, "I want to know if you can still survive or not!"
"D-Don't kill me. Please, Morgan!" pleaded Jared, realizing his life was completely in Morgan's hands.
"Tell me, who taught you?!" insisted Morgan.
"Let him go!" commanded a girl, emerging from the cliff's crevice.
Morgan shifted his eyes down ahead, seeing the girl named Hilda appear from within the cliff. Morgan's eyes sharpened, full of questions about the girl.
"Did you teach him?" Morgan asked.
"It was because he was weak. I never thought he'd use the technique on you!" Hilda insisted.
The two continued to exchange glances for a moment. Morgan already had a bad impression of Hilda but never expected a girl with light attributes to teach Jared such a technique.
"Can you let him go? He's my group leader. It'll be a big trouble if he dies!" pleaded Hilda.
Morgan lowered the altitude to a safe height. He threw Jared's body down, and he immediately started coughing due to the long choking. Now, Morgan had his feet right on the ground.
"I'll bring the entire Tan dorm to pass together. If you don't want to help, then I don't mind at all," Morgan explained, stepping closer to Hilda.
"We're still part of Tan's dorm group. We have to work together to pass," Hilda insisted.
Tension was created between them, Morgan still felt the beast aura around the girl. However, he could not find the fox's whereabouts.
In the end, the two agreed to work with each other. However, Morgan asked Hilda and Jared to promise not to attack any dorm residents.
"If you break the promise, then I will kill you by myself. I will take the beast and make it mine. Do you understand?" asked Morgan, making sure to whisper sternly.
Hilda only responded with a nod. She took Jared back inside the cliff to recover. Lilia approached Morgan, trying to check on her friend's condition.
"I'm fine, Lilia."
"You really always surprise me," Albert stated, walking over.
"Now, what's your plan?" Albert asked.
Morgan stared straight ahead with his back to the students of the Tan Dormitory. Morgan's ambition was to pass the first exam and get an extra reward that might not have happened to the previous Rune class students.
"Get ready. We're going to hunt down the other dorm students."
***
Two weeks later.
The Colossal Forest Center.
Student Group Ranking Stone Monument.
"Have you heard about the Rune class student issue?" asked another student in that place.
"Woah. I've heard about it briefly. I heard they target rune class students to defeat, even though they're both rune class students," confirmed the student beside him, speaking as much as he knew.
The two looked forward, watching the names attached to the stone monument of student group rankings.
For the top three ranks, it was held by the first group of the Sovereign dorm with Aiden as their group leader, the second rank was held by the first group of the Viridian dorm with Tobias as their leader, and the third rank was also held by the second group of the Sovereign dorm with Nathan as their leader.
The number of plates they had was more than 500, which was quite tricky to catch up with by the fourth rank, only had 350 plates.
The tenth place in the top ten plate rankings was filled by the group from Sovereign Dormitory, led by Brandon.
Among the rankings, none of Tan's Rune-class dorm groups were in the top ten. As for Morgan, his group held 267 plates and was a few plates short of the tenth rank itself.
"How poor that group is. They have to get involved in a conflict that they don't want at all," said the student.
At the student group ranking stone monument, three groups came as delegates from each dormitory. The three groups were delegates from three dorms; Sovereign, Viridian, and Cobalt.
"I agree. After all, none of the groups from the Rune class have ever been in the top ten of the student rankings," explained the student.
"You're right. The most suitable place for them is at the bottom. No matter how hard they try, they won't be able to reach the top."
Currently, the Sovereign dorm is the one that could potentially get the extra reward because it has five groups ranked in the top ten. The Viridian dorm had four groups while the Cobalt dorm only had one, which was Jake's group that was ranked eighth.
"It's a pity three of the five Cobalt dorm groups had to resign because they died in this exam. I heard that they were killed by a Rune class student," explained the student, returning to gossiping.
"Don't talk nonsense! Tobias confirmed the Cobalt Dorm's defeat wasn't caused by a rune class student, but by a mysterious figure we know as a servant," said the student.
"Servant? Can any of us really summon them?" the student asked again, gasping.
"Magic is really mysterious. We never know what's going on, do we?"
WOSH!
A gust of wind blew strongly in the place, startling many people so that a few began to avert their eyes. They saw a group's arrival in the rune class's black uniforms.
Morgan came with Lilia and Albert. The three compactly wore the rune class uniform to show their existence, saying they were the rulers of the entire rune class dorms.
The Azure and Clovis were destroyed. Gerald had been defeated, as well as Darren —the leader of the Clovis dorm. Now, all that remained were the students from the Tan.
Five Tan dorm groups still survived. The majority of them had as many as 100 plates, while Morgan's own group had more than them.
With the defeat of two Rune class dorms and one Arcana class dorm, it was confirmed that students with a plate of more than 100 would be safely ranked to qualify. Morgan stepped past several students, not a few of whom called Morgan a Rune beast.
"He's the one who destroyed two rune class dorms."
"What a terrifying magic aura. Is he really a Rune student?"
"If he continues to hunt monsters in the last week, it's not impossible that he'll enter the top ten and take our place."
The envoy from Jake's group continued to stare at Morgan with an angry gaze. Hatred and resentment continued to fester in their hearts because Morgan was the mastermind of the destruction of the Cobalt dorm in the first exam this time.
Even though they met at that place, the rules clearly stated that no fighting could occur around the student-ranking monument. The envoy could only attack the other group after leaving the range of the monument's territory.
Morgan stopped his stride and looked forward, reading the rankings one by one, with the group name and leader's name clearly displayed there. Lilia and Albert saw the same thing.
'The second group is led by Adeline. They are fifth, only 10 plates ahead of the Sovereign dorm group,' Morgan explained.
"It looks like it will be difficult for us to take the top ten with our current number of plates," Lilia explained.
"With the condition of the other two rune-class dorms destroyed, it's a good bet that we'll pass this first exam," Albert replied.
"Don't get carried away."
"I promised you the extra reward," Morgan continued, looking back at Lilia and Albert.
The two continued to stare at Morgan intently. This week, making Tan's five dormitory groups all in the top ten would be difficult. Lilia didn't know what Morgan was really after.
"Then what's your next plan?" asked Lilia.
"I'm going to hunt down the groups ranked six through ten. We can't break the alliance with the Viridian dorm because I respect Adeline," Morgan explained.
"Don't tell me you're planning to—"
"We're gonna attack the Sovereign dorm group!"