The Last Place Hero's Return-Chapter 112: Final Evaluation (2)

On the day of the exam, even before Professor Kane announced the contents of the final evaluation, the lecture hall was already in complete chaos. Every corner was abuzz with cadets discussing it.

“Did you all manage to find all your party members?”

“Nope, half of us got assigned randomly.”

“Ugh, this exam is doomed!”

“Aaargh! Why on earth did Professor Kane dump me into this mess of a party?”

Someone even recited, “Abracadabra, blame the professor!”

“Shut up, you bastard!”

Some cadets wore relaxed expressions, having already finalized their party members. Others were in visible despair, groaning over their mismatched, haphazard parties. A few were even teasing the less fortunate ones.

With the final evaluation looming over their heads like a giant mountain, the cadets were in utter disarray. It was as if they had wandered into a frenzied marketplace.

Professor Kane stepped into the room, and his low voice cut through the noise. “Quiet.”

Like someone had splashed cold water over the crowd, silence immediately fell over the lecture hall.

Professor Kane scanned the room, then smiled slyly. “Judging by your faces, it looks like everyone’s a bundle of nerves.”

He set a large box down on the lectern and continued, “I figured this might happen, so I made a special juice just for you guys.”

Seeing the thick, green sludge inside the box, all cadets frantically shook their heads.

“No, thank you!”

“We’re not nervous at all!”

Professor Kane glanced longingly at the box of juice, clearly disappointed. “Really? Well, if you insist. Hmm! Still, I went through the trouble of gathering ingredients in the back hills just yesterday to make this... It would be a shame to waste it. Since we’re short on time, I’ll pick just one person to drink it.”

The moment he said that, every cadet’s gaze shifted to a particular individual. A cadet with a freckled face and a dazed, slightly goofy look turned pale and shook his head in horror.

Professor Kane beamed at him. “Albert. You look particularly tense today.”

Albert quickly replied, “N-no, sir! I’m fine, really! Not nervous at all!”

“Haha, I get it. You didn’t manage to form a party and got assigned randomly, right? That would make anyone nervous.”

“No, not at all! D-Dale actually welcomed me very kindly!” Albert replied.

Professor Kane turned to me with a skeptical frown. “Dale? That guy was kind to you?”

He shook his head in firm disbelief. “Nonsense. There’s no way Dale would ever kindly welcome anyone.”

What the hell? What did I ever do? I thought.

“Anyway, since you ended up in that rude punk’s party, then of course you would be more nervous than usual.” Professor Kane smirked and pulled out a bottle of the green juice, stepping closer to Albert. “Here, it’s good for your health. Drink up, Albert.”

Albert let out a scream and thrashed wildly. “Ack! Aaaargh!”

However, he was no match for the professor’s brute strength. Just like that, poor Albert was forcefully fed the special protein juice and somehow got healthier.

With that, it was finally time for the real business of the day. Professor Kane turned to the class. “Now then, let’s talk about the final evaluation. As you all know, this final evaluation will be conducted in parties. Everyone should’ve confirmed their party assignments by now, right?”

The cadets nodded.

“Of course, I don’t expect everyone here to be thrilled about their party line-ups. Some of you probably got stuck with people you didn’t want at all.”

A few cadets let out audible sighs of frustration.

Professor Kane looked around at the group before continuing, “But that’s how it’ll be out there in the real world too. Sometimes, your party won’t have a single support class. Other times, you might be missing a proper frontliner entirely.” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

An ideal five-member party had two to three warrior-type frontliners, one to two mages for firepower, and at least one support role to keep the party going. But reality was often different. Plenty of parties consisted of five warriors with no magic or support-type members. On the flip side, one could get three support types in one group, a completely unbalanced disaster. Creating the perfect party setup was almost impossible.

Professor Kane’s tone turned firm and serious. “More often than not, you’ll end up working with people who don’t suit you at all.”

This was precisely why the academy rarely intervened in how cadets formed their parties. It was because after graduation, they would be on their own, and chances were high that their party wouldn’t be anywhere near ideal.

“There’ll be times when your party members are way below your level, and other times when they’re far more capable than you. What matters isn’t who you’re teamed up with. What matters is whether you understand your role and contribution within the team.”

Professor Kane swept his gaze slowly across the cadets, speaking in a low, steady voice. “Think deeply, reflect, and struggle with it. Figure out how you can prove your worth in the small world that is your party. Because once you graduate, you might not get that chance again.”

A heavy silence settled over the room. Those who had been complaining about their party members swallowed dryly.

I looked over at Professor Kane, smirking slightly. Honestly, the guy sure knows how to make a dramatic speech.

Of course, that didn’t mean he was wrong. As he said, after graduation, it was all too common for people to be kicked out of their party without even having the chance to think about what role they could fill.

Moreover, even if someone thought about it, a role that never existed in the first place wasn’t suddenly going to appear. Just like in my previous life, if the skill gap between a person and the rest of their party was too great, that person sometimes wasn’t given any role at all.

And in that case, ugh, I thought.

I shuddered at the unwelcome memories of my past life slowly creeping up on me.

Professor Kane continued, “Alright, I trust you all now understand how the party system works, so let’s move on to the next topic.”

He powered on the magical device sitting on the lectern. Light flared from the device, and a massive holographic map appeared in the air. It displayed the vast interior of some ancient ruins, so large that one couldn’t take it all in at a glance.

He explained, “The final evaluation site this time is an entire ancient ruin that was once fully explored, then renovated specifically for our purposes.”

The cadets gawked at the sprawling holographic map.

“Whoa! T-that’s insane.”

“Just how big is that place?”

“We’re definitely going to get lost.”

Professor Kane gave them a faint, amused smile. “Each party’s objective is to locate the secret spaces hidden throughout these ruins, complete the trial inside, and collect as many tokens as possible. That will be the basis for your final evaluation.”

Naturally, the secret spaces he mentioned weren’t marked on the map.

One cadet raised their hand. “Do different tokens give different scores?”

Professor Kane replied, “Good question. As Morris said, the tokens from each secret space are divided into Gold, Silver, and Bronze grades.”

When Professor Kane manipulated the device, three tokens of different colors appeared on the map, along with a fourth, unmentioned token. The cadets’ attention immediately shifted to that one.

“What’s that?” someone asked.

“That’s the Diamond-grade token. There’s only one in the entire ruin. You all experienced something similar during the midterms, so you should have an idea of what it means,” answered the professor.

The cadets nodded.

“The party that obtains the Diamond token automatically receives the highest score, regardless of how many other tokens they’ve collected. Ah, but there are still individual contribution points awarded separately, so getting it doesn’t guarantee first place.”

A few cadets, who were in parties far above their own skill level, let out quiet sounds of disappointment.

Professor Kane grinned at their reactions. “Oh, and the ruins are full of guardian golems, traps, and puzzles, so finding the secret spaces won’t be boring.”

Just hearing the description of the final evaluation was enough to make everyone tense up. The lecture hall began to buzz with uneasy chatter again.

“They say the real exams start in the third-year finals. Guess they weren’t kidding.”

“In ruins that big, how are we even supposed to find these secret spaces?”

“I get the guardian golems, but traps and puzzles too? That’s just cruel.”

Professor Kane lightly smacked the lectern. “Quiet.”

The room immediately fell silent.

He asked, “Any other questions about the final exam?”

One cadet hesitantly raised their hand. “Uh, you said we have to take a trial once we enter the secret space. What kind of trial is it? We don’t have to fight something like a six-eyed demonic monster, do we?”

Professor Kane nodded in satisfaction. “Ohh, that’s a good question. Don’t worry. There are no monsters inside the secret spaces.”

“Phew!”

His lips curled into a sharp, wolfish grin. “Instead, there will be professors waiting for you.”

The cadets stared at him with wide eyes.

“Sorry, what?”

“Professors? Waiting for us? What does that mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like.” The soul stigmata on the left side of Professor Kane’s chest began to glow, leaking waves of mana. “The professors will enter the secret spaces first and wait inside.”

The steel podium beneath Professor Kane creaked under the pressure of his mana.

“And you’ll have to fight us, and win,” he added.

A deathly silence fell over the lecture hall.

Professor Kane clenched his fist and beamed. “Oh, and for the record, anyone who ends up in the same room as me should be ready to lose at least a limb or two.