Chapter 73: Class President [1]

Soon, Professor Yuki began calling the roll.

"Rank 1, Joseph Goldberg."

"Present."

"Rank 2, Lorenzo Riina."

"Present."

As soon as Lorenzo answered, several students turned their attention toward him.

After all, he was the second-ranked student in the entire first-year batch. However, that wasn’t the only reason he had attracted so much attention.

He was also the person who had opened a teleportation gate in Antarctica, allowing the entire Class A to escape safely.

And that wasn’t even the most shocking part.

Lorenzo had an S-rank Saint serving as his bodyguard, someone who had effortlessly crushed hundreds of Ice-Yetis with nothing more than his overwhelming mana pressure.

Such a person was hardly ordinary.

Naturally, many students were curious about Lorenzo’s identity. They wanted to know which family he belonged to, how he had managed to secure an S-rank bodyguard, and whether he had other powerful connections.

Unfortunately, Lorenzo’s identity remained a mystery to most of them.

"Rank 3, Alice Storms."

"Present."

Another name that attracted considerable attention was Alice Storms.

As the princess of the Storms Clan and the granddaughter of Dreck Storms, the Sword Saint and Overlord of Sword Domain, Alice possessed an extraordinary background.

Her family name alone was enough to make countless people eager to establish connections with her.

However, approaching her was easier said than done.

Alice had little interest in socializing with people who approached her solely because of her status. Anyone who tried to flatter her or curry favor with her would quickly discover just how difficult she could be to deal with.

"Rank 4, Lilly Ashfaq."

"Present."

The roll call continued.

One by one, the students answered their names, and the classroom gradually settled into silence.

Finally, Professor Yuki reached the last name on the list.

"Rank 80, Lucas Capone."

"Present!"

Lucas answered loudly, raising his hand with considerably more enthusiasm than the situation warranted.

The classroom immediately erupted into whispers.

"...What?"

"Rank 80? Isn’t there supposed to be another twenty students after him?"

"Then what happened to the others?"

Professor Yuki swept her gaze across the classroom.

The whispers died almost immediately.

No one wanted to attract the attention of the woman who had sent them to Antarctica for their very first lesson.

Once the classroom had fallen silent, Yuki nodded.

"Now that attendance is complete, allow me to introduce myself properly."

She stood at the front of the classroom, her expression unusually serious.

"My name is Yuki Hayasaka. I’ll be your homeroom teacher and will be responsible for teaching you Mana Control."

Her gaze swept across the students.

"Furthermore, I’ll remain your homeroom teacher throughout your entire time at Golden Dawn Academy. Unless something unexpected happens, you’ll be stuck with me until graduation."

’What? We’re going to have her as our teacher until graduation?’

’I’m not going to survive four years under this woman.’

’She’s completely insane! Who sends students to Antarctica for their first lesson?’

The memories of yesterday’s survival exercise remained fresh in everyone’s minds.

They could still remember the terrifying horde of Ice-Yetis, the freezing temperatures, and the gigantic D-rank monster that had nearly crushed them to death.

And now, they had learned that the person responsible for putting them through that ordeal would continue supervising them for the next several years.

It was a devastating realization.

Professor Yuki observed their expressions and nodded in satisfaction.

Apparently, she found their despair rather amusing.

"Good. It seems you’ve finally begun to understand your situation."

Yuki ignored their expressions and continued.

"Now, let’s discuss your training. First of all, I won’t be sending you into spirit realm during your first year. Consider this a golden opportunity to strengthen yourselves before facing the dangers beyond humanity’s territories."

Several students visibly relaxed.

At least they wouldn’t have to worry about being thrown into another monster-infested wasteland anytime soon.

However, their relief didn’t last long.

"By the time you reach your second year, I expect every one of you to have reached at least E+ rank. Those who have already reached E+ rank must advance to at least D- rank and demonstrate strong combat capabilities."

The students exchanged startled glances.

Reaching E+ rank within a year was already a demanding goal for many Awakeners.

Reaching D- rank was even more difficult. It required considerable mana accumulation, proper training, and the ability to overcome the bottlenecks that separated the lower ranks.

"It doesn’t matter whether you’ve specialized in support abilities or long-range combat. I expect every student in Class A to possess the ability to survive an encounter with an E+ rank monster. To be clear, I’m not expecting all of you to defeat such monsters by yourselves. However, I refuse to accept a student who dies the moment an E+ rank monster appears in front of them."

The atmosphere grew heavier.

"By the end of your first year, you must possess enough combat experience, mana control, and practical knowledge to survive in the field. If you specialize in support, you must learn how to protect yourself and escape dangerous situations. If you specialize in long-range combat, you must learn how to maintain distance and reposition yourselves when enemies close in."

Professor Yuki folded her arms.

"Of course, reaching the required rank isn’t enough. I want to see results. I want to see improvement. And I want to see that you’ve learned how to survive."

Her gaze moved from one student to another.

"Those who fail to meet my expectations will be removed from Class A."

The classroom fell deathly silent.

At the moment, one of brave students raised his hands.

"Umm...P-Professor there’s supposed to be 100 students at Class A but why is there only 80?"

Yuki looked at him before a smirk formed on fee face.

"Those 20 students? I kicked them out of Class A."

His face went pale.

"B-But why?!"

"Because they didn’t anything at all when I transported them at antartica. They were incompetent."

The classroom fell silent.

For several seconds, nobody said a word.

Then—

"YOU WHAT?!"

Several students stood up in disbelief.

"Professor, you can’t be serious!"

"Twenty students?! You expelled twenty students just like that?!"

"Wait a minute! Does that mean we could be expelled too?!"

Yuki Hayasaka tilted her head.

"Of course."

The students froze.

She smiled pleasantly.

"If you can’t meet my expectations, I’ll remove you from Class A without hesitation. Golden Dawn Academy has plenty of talented students waiting for an opportunity to take your place."

Now everyone understands that the her nickname wasn’t for sure.

She is really Mad Wolf.