A hard staredown occurred between Everlearn and Sir Lycanthrope as crushing pressure descended upon the room.

Everlearn had zero idea why this was happening at all.

Was the academy blaming him for the deaths of the others on the mission?

Or expecting him to be upset that two strangers he barely knew died on a mission he was part of?

Students died every day in the academy, whether due to challenges, vengeful fights, or even bullying.

Some students don't even survive the torment of protecting the points they clawed their way to earn from the grasp of thieves.

And it was X Guard itself that had allowed all of these to happen, probably to instill that indifference towards death into their students.

Why else would they turn a blind eye to most of the students' complaints and the endless footage of violence posted on the Xnet?

And now they wanted to hold him accountable?

"Now that you'll be moving to the 2nd year…" Sir Lycanthrope began.

"We need to talk about some of the crimes you've committed during your three-month stay as a Newcomer."

"And that is?"

"Here." Sir Lycanthrope tapped his fingers on the table twice, and a holographic light appeared in the darkness, revealing footage.

It was a recording of him jumping off the school walls and moving into the wastelands.

'Guess they have a camera around,' he mused silently, though his expression didn't change much.

"Offences do not go unpunished, Everlearn Snowfall," Sir Lycanthrope said.

"At the end of the year, all offences, bullying, thieving, and the rest are counted as negative Metric Marks deducted from a student's total metric score."

"That is why many of them never make it into the 2nd year."

"Offences," Everlearn said.

"Are defined by the academy as actions that go against the rules."

"There are clear aspects of the rules that state bullying, killing, and thieving are against academy conduct, though most of them go unnoticed."

"I'm not surprised if they're eventually punished later."

"My offence of going into the academy wasteland isn't mentioned or hinted at anywhere in the rules."

"So whether we can even call it an offence is another debate entirely."

The golden glint in the instructor's eyes sharpened.

"But still, let's say I accept that going to the wasteland is an offence. How did you plan to punish me? Deduct my metric points?"

"Yes, actually. I'm going to deduct from your metric points." He said, a mocking grin on his lips as if that had only been decided on because Everlearn made mention of it.

"I'm going to the 2nd year as a reward for an expedition done well, not because of metric points."

"So what use are those points even?" He asked, wiping off his smirk.

"You don't seem to be taking this seriously..." He said, and Everlearn felt lost for words.

"Taking this seriously? What the fuck is there..."

At this point, Everlearn paused, reframing his tone.

"With all due respect, Sir Lycanthrope, I don't think you understand how this Academy works." He said, as a sharp glint crossed the man's eyes.

"Oh, really?"

"You're telling me people kill others and only get points deducted, and I'm supposed to be worried about jumping over a wall?"

He said in such a way that the stupidity was so clear.

"Is that all the recorded offences about me?" he asked, glancing at the holograms showing different angles of his jumping actions.

"That's it," Sir Lycanthrope replied, clicking the table as the hologram disappeared.

"So...can I get back my card and device now?" Everlearn asked.

For whatever reason, he didn't want to remain in this room for a second longer.

"The academy has a couple of anomaly reports about you that I would like to discuss," Sir Lycanthrope suddenly said, reaching into a drawer and bringing out a file.

At the top of the file page were the words:

Achievements and Records in Newcomer Year.

Everlearn's eyes briefly caught a bottom note:

The content of this file rightfully belongs to the student.

"You have some anomaly power."

"A Mech Module that the academy never ordained," Sir Lycanthrope said, lifting the book and showing several images of Everlearn in the training room or Challenge rankings where he had fully transformed into his Illumino form.

"And according to Emirirs, you unleashed some powerful transformation module that allowed you to kill the bone giant that was easily able to slaughter both Zeke and Van." He said, and Everlearn simply listened quietly.

"This transformation you only unleashed at the last second, after Zeke and Van's deaths, and you also were close to death."

"So I have every reason to believe you did that to protect the secret of this anomaly power of yours."

"Perhaps if you weren't hiding it, you could have unleashed it at the start of the battle, saving both Zeke and Van."

Everlearn's eyes narrowed.

"But that, of course, is another debate for another day."

"According to your reports, you could not have fused with this Mech Module before your entrance into the academy, as you only fuse with a core within the academy."

"And on the talk of that, it said you also have never fused with a Mecha Module from the academy, meaning right now you should have no Mech Modules at all."

"Yet here you are, obviously fused with one."

"I want to know where you got it from, Everlearn Snowfall."

He stared directly at Everlearn.

Everlearn stared back, leaning forward slightly before speaking slowly and quietly.

"First of all… you're blaming me for the deaths of Zeke and Van."

"Just as I should. They died on the expedition because you were trying to keep your little dark secret."

"And not only that, Penelope has lost her head while Emirirs blames himself."

"You're the only one who got out unscathed and unaffected, not even in the least."

"Isn't that suspicious?" Sir Lycanthrope asked.

Everlearn hummed.

"Suspicious because I was strong enough to survive?"

"Suspicious because I was smart enough to realize I'm not responsible for their lives?" he asked, watching the instructor falter for a moment.

"And second… you're reading my information from a file that, according to X-Guard Academy, only I am supposed to see first."

"It makes me wonder, my so-called secret."

"Is it the academy that wants to know it… or just you?"

Sir Lycanthrope raised an eyebrow.

It was true that students were supposed to see their own file first. But what did it matter?

The kid was only a Newcomer.

"Actually, it is my personal interest, though I trust the academy will—"

"No." Everlearn said, cutting him off.

"I have no interest in telling you my secrets."

"If the academy wants to know, it will issue me a command to appear before the board of staff, and in front of all the instructors, I will undergo a legal verbal query test."

"But I have no interest in fulfilling your personal curiosity." He made it clear.

"Now hand me my device…"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.