The thing with mana and magic is, people start to obsess over acquiring more power, more mana, more skills, etc.
However, if you are fighting a battle, with a goal other than to kill your opponent, strategies are far better than tactics.
That's why it's better to have a skilled strategist, rather than having 100 skilled soldiers.
Well, as for me, I did nothing more than betraying my group.
Still, how did it come on top, while all other groups were disqualified?
The main turning point was the hidden info part.
The first info, that I got was that, there was an agent from the school among students.
It was surprising, but understandable, considering I know nothing about this new curriculum.
But this info alone wouldn't help me win the lesson.
My group had collected more than 40 mana stone, with which we could have easily won.
However, there was a twist to the story.
Rafaela Harrington.
A typical arrogant noble, who would plot schemes to get whatever she wanted.
She gathered 20 groups including hers, under the promise of granting the required 5 mana stones.
The other students were obviously scared of fighting such scary monsters, due to which they agreed on the spot.
Only groups that refused or didn't come under her wings, were group 1 and group 2, to which my friend Wilhelm belongs.
After gathering 100 students from all the 20 groups, she started defeating the monsters, gathering information, etc.
Unfortunately, the monstere couldn't stand against such number of mana users.
But the process was inefficient for which, they were able to collect only 102 mana stones after spending on transmitters and stuff.
There was only 30 minutes left.
Her goal was clear, though.
Her group 3 must be at the top of the rankings, and she would provide the mana stones to other groups as she had promised.
After giving 5 mana stones to each of the other 19 groups, the remaining number of mana stones was 7 for her own group.
So she tried to find the other two groups to find out the number of mana stones they had.
With the manpower of 100 students, if any group refused to cooperate, then she would resort to violence.
That was the plan.
She found group 2 members, and got to know that they had 6 mana stones remaining after using some on transmitters and healing potions.
As they had less mana stones than her, and she had confirmed that there was not a single monster or mana stone remaining, Rafaela decided to leave them alone.
Then, her target shifted to group 1.
And, at that time, I decided to step in, as I had used all the 3 chances of getting hidden info, and the third one was especially a deal breaker for me, a way to win, without any further bloodshed.
I got into contact with her, with one of her lackeys.
I showed her my shop menu, which indicated that our group had only 14 mana stones remaining, after using the hidden info.
But, as group 1 had more mana stones than her, she decided to snatch away a major part of them, by deception at first.
And it worked.
Selena handed her 5 mana stones over, under the pretense of rescuing a group from disqualification.
But, as Rafaela showed her true colors in the end, Selena noticed the major flaw too.
If any member of your group touches the mana stone, it gets added to your group's collection and shows on the shop menu.
So, if you put the mana stone in a bag, without directly touching it, then it wouldn't show up in your shop menu too.
Using this info, she made it so that her shop menu showed 95 mana stones, but in reality, she had 102 mana stones.
And when, Selena gave her 5 more mana stones, even after distribution, her group would possess 12 mana stones.
On the other hand, Selena's group would have 9 mana stones remaining.
And that's how it exactly happened.
However, as I said, the third hidden info I got, was a real shock.
"If a mana stone that is under your group's collection and touched by another group's member, then it's value decreases by half. "
That's why, I traded the information I had on my group, with the promise that I would personally distribute the mana stones.
As the mana stones had been touched by Rafaela at first, and were included in group 3's collection, when I touched the value decreased by half, that is 2.5 .
And, when the members of that group received from me, it's value dropped again to 1.25, due to which all the other 19 groups were disqualified.
As for Rafaela's group, their mana stones were not touched, but kept in a small pouch that she hold, due to which Selena was deceived.
The 5 mana stones that were given by Selena, decreased in value by half, as they were given to Rafaela, which is 2.5 .
And the other 7 mana stones which she kept, were touched by 2 students of different groups, after which Rafaela touched them, decreasing their value by one forth, which amounts to 1.75 at best.
So after this ordeal, the total collection of Rafaela's group was 4.25,less than the required amount which is 5.
That's why her group was disqualified too.
And as for how she couldn't notice the drop in value, was because of another condition of the third hidden info, I got.
It said that during the lesson, no change in value would occur, but the value reduction would be applied after lesson has ended.
"And that's how I screwed her over. "
Wilehlm was listening to my story, while engulfed in some of his otherworldly thoughts.
"Hahahaha..... I knew it! You should have looked at the face Rafaela was making after seeing the results."
As I was happily chatting with my friend, someone called me from behind.
"Kai Rayleigh."
It was a female voice.
As I turned around, I saw the second ranked student of our class, Aria Leafsong.
"Yes? "
"Are you free on Saturday? "
"....Huh? "
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Author's Notes :
Next chapter - A Casual Meeting.