Neil Sommerhalder couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. He had been waiting for this day for several weeks, hoping to impress everyone with his own power. He had always wanted to be a top student, excelling in the theory and practice of Dark Arts.
His bloodline may have stopped him from becoming an excellent Runecaster, but his talent in Dark Arts was supposed to be at a higher level! It was confirmed by the elders of his Clan, and as a matter of fact, he only had to recuperate for about three hours after he consumed the Darkness Possession Potion.
His talent could not be denied with such an achievement.
Furthermore, he had trained his body since he was young. He was aiming to become a Necromancer, and it has the highest demand in terms of physical requirements.
He was confident that he would get at least four strands, maybe even five strands!
Having done everything he could, he knew that his own efforts wouldn't betray him.
But then, Vale Chambers had to ruin everything.
He had seen Vale touch the red crystal and produce twenty strands, the maximum possible in that crystal. He had seen the whole class go wild with applause and admiration. He had seen the teacher congratulate him and call him a prodigy.
He hated him.
He hated him for stealing his spotlight, for making him look like a fool, for being better than him. He hated him for being so calm and confident, as if he knew he would ace the assessment.
He couldn't accept that Vale had such a diverse and versatile power while he couldn't even advance his Dark Spells to the intermediate realm.
'I can't just stay like this…' Neil then looked around him and confirmed that he had a few classmates who were looking at Vale with the same gaze.
They also didn't like how Vale took all the spotlight in today's assessment.
'Good… They will surely support me.' Neil thought with a wicked smile as he considered how to reveal Vale's true colors.
He refused to believe that Vale was that talented, that gifted, or that lucky. There was no way he was that inferior, that mediocre, that unlucky.
'I don't believe that the test was fair, that the crystal was accurate, and that the result was final!'
With this in mind, Neil decided to challenge it.
"Professor! This is definitely weird! Having a 20 Power Strand is just too suspicious! There must be something wrong with the crystal… or perhaps, Vale used one of the Forbidden Rituals of the Dark Arts Faction to increase his strength! Should we not report him to the Association to have him investigated?!"
He decided to accuse Vale of cheating, of using some forbidden ritual to boost his power. In case that was too much, he didn't forget to suggest that there may be something wrong with the crystal, that it was probably faulty or tampered with. He wanted Vale to retake the assessment under his supervision and scrutiny.
'I bet you're a fraud… I'll see how you cheated if you do the test once again.'
***
The accusation had obviously stunned many of his classmates.
The other students reacted to Neil's accusation with a mix of shock, anger, disbelief, and amusement. Some of them, especially Vale's close friends, were appalled by his rudeness and jealousy as they defended Vale's achievement.
"Neil, what are you talking about? Vale didn't cheat. He's just amazing. You're just jealous because he's better than you. Stop being such a sore loser and accept the fact that he's a genius." Chad immediately said as he looked at Neil, filled with disdain.
Chad had always felt that Neil was trying hard to be at the top of the class and that there was nothing wrong with that. However, Neil had finally crossed the line.
Chad wasn't sure why he was doing it, but no matter what, he shouldn't accuse his classmate of the usage of Forbidden Ritual. This is a grave matter and shouldn't be joked about.
"That's right. Do you have any proof that Vale used a forbidden ritual? Do you even know what a forbidden ritual is? Do you realize how serious your accusation is? You could get in trouble for making false claims. You should apologize to Vale right now." Aubrey Hall demanded as she felt that it was so ridiculous to accuse Vale of something so serious.
He even has the audacity to report it to the Association of the Harmonious Arcane Paths!
Neil was obviously startled as he heard those words, but he looked at his friends to get them on his side.
Some of them were curious and wondered if he indeed had a point.
"I don't think that a Forbidden Ritual was used. It will be up to the experts to decide that. However, perhaps there's something wrong with the crystal as you said. In any case, we should let the others use the crystals to make sure. If they also get a ridiculous result, then you can be right." Alvin said cautiously.
Junius, his seatmate, also whispered something to him.
"Do you really want Vale to take the test again? Do you think he'll fail this time—I mean, would he get fewer strands? What if nothing changed? What will you do about this situation?" Junius reminded his friend worriedly. It feels as if his friend was being rash in his decisions and he felt genuinely concerned about it.
At this time, Leonore found an opportunity to speak. Since she offended Vale just a few moments ago, she had to redeem herself!
"Why are you so angry at Vale? He didn't do anything to you. He just took the test like what we're about to. He just happened to be awesome at it. He doesn't deserve your hate. You should be happy for him and congratulate him."
As Leonore said this, she looked at Vale with a pleased smile on her face.
"Alright… That's enough." Professor Shirley finally made up her mind after hearing all their opinions.
She then took something out of her pocket. It was an obsidian stone and felt quite heavy.
The students looked curiously at this stone, but Shirley's next action stunned them.
She threw the stone at Neil, which startled him for a bit.
Thud!
He easily caught the stone and realized it weighed about 8 kilograms. It was heavy.
"Professor, what's this?" Neil curiously asked as he failed to understand what was going on.
Professor Shirley didn't waste her words and briefly answered.
"Crush it without using your Dark Energy. Just your pure physical strength. I want to see what would happen."
