Chapter 125: Reward

“I don’t like this kind of victory…” Oliver muttered.

He had wanted to win the battle fair and square. However, once Umbragore went berserk, all of his plans had been thrown out the window. The match had become less about defeating Kai and more about preventing a disaster.

A moment later, Oliver was teleported back to the auditorium. As soon as he arrived, a crowd of students gathered around him. Max immediately threw an arm around Oliver’s shoulders and grinned.

“Congratulations, Oliver! You looked amazing out there!”

“What was that wolf monster you summoned? What rank is it?”

“You’re officially the number one student in our batch now!”

Praise came from every direction. Oliver could only smile awkwardly as the students bombarded him with compliments and questions. Then his eyes wandered across the auditorium.

At the back of the seating area, Kai was there. Surprisingly, he wasn’t alone. A small group of students, mostly girls, had gathered around him.

“You did really well, Kai! I loved the way you fought!”

“Can you, um… teach us how to fight like you? You stayed so calm throughout the entire battle.”

“Yeah! Your control over your monsters was incredible!”

Despite the attention, Kai remained completely unbothered as his expression was as blank as ever. Neither the compliments nor the admiration seemed to affect him in the slightest as though the praise was directed at someone else entirely.

On the other side of the auditorium, Klade sat quietly while spinning a pen between his fingers. Outwardly, he appeared calm, but deep inside, he was frustrated. The spotlight that should have been on him was now completely focused on Oliver.

“Hmph! He’s just lucky. If he had faced Lucretia before Kai, he would’ve lost too,” one of the students in Klade’s group said.

Klade remained silent. What the student said might be true but another thought immediately surfaced in his mind. What if Oliver could have defeated Lucretia as well?

Crack!

The pen in his hand suddenly snapped into two pieces and the students beside him flinched. Klade lowered his gaze to the broken pen. He couldn’t let things continue like this.

The title of the strongest student should have been his. If he wanted to reclaim that position, there was only one thing he could do. Train harder, become stronger and take back the throne that rightfully belonged to him.

Meanwhile, not far away from him, Lucretia was lying across a table with a playful smile on her face.

“Hehehe! Looks like you lost faster than I did. Does that mean I’m stronger than you, Luss?”

She was speaking to someone seated opposite her. The person was a male student wearing the Noctis House uniform. He had dark green hair and sittinng in a relaxed posture. Hearing Lucretia’s teasing, he merely smirked.

“Is that how you measure strength?” he asked.

He was one of the students ranked among the bottom ten of the batch, just like Lucretia.

“I don’t want to make myself sweat over children’s games like this. Let them enjoy their little victory.” Luss said with a smile as he glanced toward Oliver’s group.

At the front of the auditorium, Isaak clapped his hands to regain everyone’s attention.

“Alright, alright! Please take your seats, students.” The noisy auditorium gradually quieted down. Isaak looked around at the class before smiling.

“So, how was the ice-breaking session? Did everyone enjoy their performance?”

The response was far from enthusiastic. Most of the students simply shook their heads. After witnessing the abilities of their classmates, many of them had become painfully aware of their own shortcomings.

“Good! If you’re not happy, then that means you’ve discovered your weaknesses. And if you’ve discovered your weaknesses, then you already know what to improve. And do not worry, you have four more years at this academy to fix those problems.”

A few students straightened their backs. The frustration they felt today could become the motivation they needed tomorrow.

“Now then, as I promised, it’s time to reward the winner of today’s competition.”

Oliver was then called forward by Isaak.

As he approached, Isaak handed him an orb-like object with swirling rainbow-colored light moving inside it.

“What is this?” Oliver asked as he examined the item in his hand.

“That…”

Most of the students were immediately surprised when they saw what Oliver was holding.

Because they knew exactly what it was.

“It seems most of you already know what it is, except for the person who won it.” Isaak smiled. “This is an Evolution Orb. And as the name suggests, it is used to evolve a monster into a higher rank. And this particular one is special, it can evolve any elemental monster you have.”

The moment Isaak finished speaking, the auditorium erupted into commotion.

“Ahhh… I should have been more serious earlier if I knew this was the reward.”

“Right?! I’m so jealous.”

“Please, Teacher! Another round of competition!”

“I want a rematch!”

Most of the students looked at Oliver with obvious envy.

After all, such a treasure was extremely valuable.

Besides Spirit Orbs, Evolution Orbs were considered even rarer and more precious. Their value was so high that if one were discovered inside a dungeon, it could easily spark a conflict between major factions, all competing to get their hands on it.

Oliver was astonished by what he was holding in his hand.

‘Such an amazing orb. But can I use this Evolution Orb to evolve one of my boss monsters? ‘ Oliver wondered. He was worried that his boss monsters might not be compatible with the resources from this world.

[Yes. Evolution Orbs from this world can be used to evolve monsters in your lineup. However, each monster has its own requirements that must be fulfilled before it can evolve. Most importantly, you must first increase your Tamer Level to 15 to unlock the Evolution feature.]

Oliver inwardly cheered upon hearing the answer. The thought of evolving his monsters into stronger forms immediately excited him. If his monsters became more powerful, then his overall strength would increase as well.

However, there was one problem. He wasn’t Level 15 yet.

‘First things first, I need to level up.’

Oliver thought as he carefully stored the Evolution Orb away.

“Alright now, that’s all for our first class session. But before you leave, I have an assignment for all of you,” Isaak said.

“Already? Give me a break…”

The students immediately reacted weakly when they heard the word assignment.

“Before this weekend, I want all of you to have at least three monsters in your lineup. That is the minimum requirement for students in this academy.”

“Choose your monsters wisely. Pick the ones that truly suit your battle style. Don’t just tame the first monster you come across.”

“And lastly, starting from now, all of you have access to the Dungeon Deep Mind, up to Rank 10. Good luck, and I’ll see you all in tomorrow’s class.” Isaak gave them a casual wave before he exit the auditorium.

The moment he was gone, the students immediately began discussing the assignment among themselves.

“Oh no… I only have one monster. I need to get two more…” Max groaned as he clutched his head.

Henrik and Alex looked equally troubled. Both of them only had one monster as well. Meanwhile, Oliver remained calm. After all, he already had more than enough monsters under his command.

“Oliver…” Max suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

“Please help us tame some monsters, will you?” he said while raising his eyebrows. Henrik immediately nodded and Alex also looked at him expectantly.

Oliver couldn’t help but laugh.

“Alright. I’ll help you guys.”.