By the end of the instructor’s speech, everyone had a clear idea of what their second year would be like.

For the first six months after becoming second-year students, they would not be required to attend classes and were free to roam outside the university during this time, applying what they had learned during their first year in the real world.

During these six months, they were all required to reach the Expert mage rank before resumption. Anyone who didn’t reach the Expert mage rank by the end of the six months should just continue roaming outside and never come back.

This meant that the six months’ free period wasn’t actually for roaming but for the students to work on their ranks.

As for those students who were already at the Expert mage rank, they were free to play around or work hard to avoid the others catching up to them; it was simply their choice.

After the speech, the instructor waved his hands and a large screen appeared in front of the students just like the previous times that the ranking lists were revealed. But compared to previous times, there were more names on the screen this time.

The hall instantly fell into silence, the students stopped talking and they all focused on the huge screen. Each of them was searching for their names with eyes full of hope and nervousness.

On the other hand, Alex was very relaxed even after the screen appeared. He calmly moved his gaze and looked at the name in the first place.

1/ ALEX ZORAN POINTS: 1000

.....

Alex had gotten a complete score, which didn’t surprise him much. After all, he had given his all during this assessment compared to the previous ones.

After confirming his first place, Alex’s eyes shifted down to see who was behind him; he also wanted to know Eric’s rank. The kid had come in third place during the previous two assessments, he wondered if he would improve this time.

2/ ROSELINE DORMAN POINTS: 998

.....

Alex "...."

He decided not to comment on this and just kept looking down. Third place was another student whom Alex didn’t know, this student had gotten 995 points and was only 3 points behind Roseline.

Looks like he wasn’t the only one who went all out for this assessment, someone else had taken Eric’s spot. Alex wondered how Eric felt about this.

He didn’t stop looking and moved to the fourth name.

’Not bad, he only fell by one rank,’ Alex thought to himself after finally finding Eric’s name in fourth place with 994 points.

"So close. Well, at least I’m still in the top five." Eric mumbled from the side.

Alex pulled his gaze away from the screen and looked at the boy. Eric had a familiar cheeky smile on his face as he stared at the screen, it appeared that he wasn’t upset that someone else had replaced him on the ranking and was more concerned about being in the top five.

This made Alex smile, that was a good way to look at things.

Eric also stared at Alex at this time and his smile instantly turned into a grin.

"Hehe, you came in first place again, looks like I won the bet." Eric chuckled mischievously.

"What are you talking about? I never agreed to it," Alex replied with a smirk.

Eric’s face stiffened for a moment before saying.

"Don’t be like that, I promise I won’t ask you to do anything extreme." He protested.

"I don’t want to hear it!" Alex replied firmly.

"Tks, how boring. You’re starting to act like those grumpy adults." Eric clicked his tongue and said.

Alex "..."

Could it be that acting as Mr Chen and being around the older generations was starting to affect him so much?

.....

In the end, only a bit over 600 students had managed to get up to 800 points and successfully pass the assessment. As for the rest, they were to pack their bags and leave the university.

It was a bit tragic since there were over a thousand first-year students but nearly half of them had failed. Those who passed didn’t dare to celebrate too much in consideration for their friends who didn’t make it.

"That’s all. For those who made it into the top 300, you can meet any of the instructors for your rewards before going on your break. See you all six months later," The instructor said before leaving the hall.

The students started leaving the hall, and Alex and Eric stood up and left as well. Reaching outside, a figure stood in front of them.

It was Roseline.

"What do you want again?" Alex asked in annoyance.

"Why are you being so difficult? Acting like I’m not worth your time, I’m in second place so stop treating me like I’m at the bottom of the ranking!" Roseline spat out, equally annoyed by the way Alex was treating her.

"Yeah yeah, so what is it?" Alex replied, not taking her words seriously.

Roseline bit her lips, Alex’s attitude was getting on her nerves.

"You aren’t better than me, I was only behind by 2 points so it’s the same thing." She said in a low tone.

"Stop," Alex suddenly said, raising a finger to stop her as his expression turned serious.

The passing students had stopped by to look at their interaction.

Roseline also looked at Alex in surprise, he had never spoken to her so seriously before.

On the other hand, Alex slowly lowered his hand before opening his mouth.

"It’s not the same even if you’re in second place. You only got 998 because it was the best you could do, I got 1000 because it was all there was to get; understandable? Now tell me why you stopped me, I have other things to do." He explained slowly.

Roseline froze, her eyes trembling subtly after listening to Alex’s words.

Eric glanced at both of them before leaning towards.

"I think that was a bit too harsh," he whispered, but Alex didn’t respond and kept staring at the girl in front of him.

After seconds of awkward silence, Roseline’s expression calmed and she returned to her usual self.

"You know what? Forget it," she said coldly and walked off.

The surrounding students quickly made way for her to pass through.

Alex stared at her retreating back without a change in his expression.

’That works too,’ he thought before also leaving the place with Eric.

They arrived outside the building and amidst the crowd of students, a lone figure stood in the corner as if waiting for someone.

At a glance, Alex could instantly tell that she was different. Of course, that feeling was because she was at the Master mage rank despite looking as young as the surrounding students.

A young girl who looked to be in her early twenties with long dark hair, and black pupils that scanned the passing students. She had a poker face that stopped anyone from approaching her casually.

"Sister!" Eric suddenly exclaimed from beside Alex before hurrying toward this strange girl.

Alex "..."

That’s the sister that he talked about?

Alex watched as Eric rushed toward the girl and hugged her. He was taller than her but somehow managed to look smaller in her embrace.