Subscriber of the Gods Chapter 381 - Preparation Complete

Evaluations were held daily in Ethan’s Introduction to Practical Studies class.

He assessed and scored all 150 students, noting their strengths and reinforcing their weaknesses.

Although quite strict, the scoring system inevitably led to rankings.

And those rankings changed weekly, but there was one position that remained constant.

That was the first place.

Since the implementation of scores and rankings, the top spot had never changed.

One might have thought it would be Oz, who had gained practical experience during the attack incident, but Oz consistently alternated between second and third place.

‘Roanna has never lost her first-place position.’

Roanna’s talent was frighteningly impressive.

‘She’s comparable to Yerica.’

However, there was a clear difference between the two.

Yerica had inherited all the legacies of her grandfather, Archmage Hecate, while Roanna had not.

Although she came from the Prochet family, a prestigious magical lineage, they had no mages comparable to Hecate. Despite this, she was on par with the granddaughter who had inherited everything from an Archmage, so it was fair to say this was pure innate talent.

‘It was Roanna who first discovered and utilized the brule method.’

Ethan recalled that while Roanna had made a name for herself as a magical researcher, she hadn’t shown Archmage-level talent like this before.

‘Have I unlocked a choice that was originally closed?’

He wondered if he had awakened Roanna by opening some kind of hidden option.

“Then I guess the rumors must be true.”

Ethan had inadvertently created something.

A magical combat machine.

‘I’ve done it. Unintentionally.’

That was actually the reason he had placed his favorite students in Team 5.

If Roanna were to join another team, that team would inevitably dominate first place. Moreover, other students wouldn’t even have the chance to shine.

Roanna would handle everything herself.

In fact, the midterm evaluation wasn’t even necessary.

‘She’s become too strong.’

Of course, it’s hard to say her talent has fully matured. But she was certainly beyond the level of a student. Probably, even if one searched all the academies on the continent, they wouldn’t find a student stronger than the current Roanna.

Be it swordsman or mage, it didn’t matter.

‘In terms of magic alone, she could probably beat Teacher Iris now. Even Teacher Duty might not be a match anymore.’

It was only a matter of time now.

‘At first, I was the one unilaterally teaching her. Now, even I am influenced by Roanna’s magic.’

Her prowess as a magical researcher was also considerable.

Because of this, Ethan paid more attention to the other students, excluding Roanna.

“Next up is the golem army.”

Until now, they had engaged in combat with small numbers, but from here on, they would be fighting against more than 50 units.

They would be battling golems outnumbering them by more than five times in a fairly large area.

‘There’s a high chance of injuries.’

Crack-!

No sooner had he thought this than a student from Team 3, who had just begun engaging with the golem army, took a solid hit to the shoulder. It was quite a severe wound.

Blood spurted, and the position that student had been holding collapsed.

As the balance crumbled, the burden increased on the students holding off golems in other areas.

The assistant instructors moved quickly to intervene, but Ethan signaled them.

It meant not to interfere.

“That level is fine. They can heal and move on. It’s just a result of letting their guard down.”

“Is that level really okay? It’s a serious injury. This should be stopped……”

Normally, it would be an injury severe enough to halt proceedings immediately, but Ethan was adamant.

“This class is Introduction to Practical Studies. We’ve been providing education as close to real combat as possible. Injuries of that level have been sustained countless times during class hours. It’s dangerous, but if we intervene in situations like this, they’ll end up getting hurt even more severely when they go out into the real world.”

“Huh……”

Ciron let out a gasp of admiration.

Meanwhile, Ethan continued to write evaluations of the students on parchment.

All the worries that had been occupying Ciron’s mind until the start of this midterm evaluation vanished completely.

His words changing and coloring the lives of students?

That was only natural.

No, rather, they should be colored. There’s no need to create perfect students. Just do as much as you can.

Seeing Ethan so easily provide the answer, Ciron was both astonished and felt a sense of relief.

“There was no need to worry. It was too arrogant a concern.”

Ciron muttered to himself. Iris also seemed to have received quite a shock, appearing as though she too had gained some insight.

“You’re really amazing. Until now, I thought that educating safely was the most important thing. But seeing this, I think it’s a bit different. It’s not about centering education on safety, but on growth. You’re truly incredible, Teacher Ethan!”

Nadia was looking at Ethan with sparkling eyes. Ciron and Iris chuckled.

The attraction in her eyes was no joke.

“But…… I wonder if Teacher Ethan is even interested in romance.”

“Indeed.”

Iris clicked her tongue.

“I’ll focus again!”

“Me too!”

The midterm evaluation was still ongoing.

Bang-! Bang-!

As they ventured deeper into the dungeon, unique special golems began to appear.

“Wow, what’s that?”

“There were things like this!?”

Even Ciron and Iris, who were already familiar with special golems, looked surprised.

“These are newly developed special golems. We invited an expert in golems to the Whiskers domain. He’s now part of our workshop, unleashing hos passion endlessly.”

Ethan explained.

Bang-! Bang-!

While previous special golems had human-like forms and movements, these new special golems resembled monsters.

The special golems, similar to orcs, ogres, and four-legged monsters, weren’t just monster-like in appearance.

They even accurately reproduced the movements, giving the students an experience akin to facing real monsters.

“Shield!”

Students with shields at the front blocked attacks while those behind eliminated the golems with high-powered attacks.

“We need to bind those arms!”

“Mages!”

“Cover the rear! Cover the rear!”

Some students were suddenly surrounded, but they dealt with it quickly.

Ethan had made sure to include at least one person with diverse knowledge capable of handling such situations in each team.

Balancing the teams this way created significant synergy between them.

“Target eliminated!”

“Advance again!”

As the students who had ventured deep into the dungeon like this came upon a rather large cavern.

And with a thunderous sound, a golem unlike any they had encountered before appeared.

It was a giant golem with new patterns. This special golem was the boss of this dungeon.

The first team to encounter it was Team 1, which Max belonged to, followed by Team 5.

While there were differences in speed, there were almost no issues with how they were conquering the dungeon.

“It’s no easy feat to nurture them so uniformly.”

“It took quite a bit of effort.”

Ethan responded to Ciron’s comment.

“So this level of effort is what you consider ‘quite a bit’? Well, your standards are so high it’s dizzying. But it’s also reassuring because they’re high. It’s not easy.”

Ciron, whose grandfather was the Sword Saint, found it comforting to have someone so incredibly strong nearby.

It was always easy for him to set goals because of this.

“Everyone, please focus. This is the most difficult section, so we might need to intervene.”

Ethan also concentrated. This was the section that would determine the success or failure of this Introduction to Practical Studies class.

If Ethan’s teaching had fully permeated them, no student should sustain a fatal injury here.

But if Ethan’s education was lacking and they hadn’t fully grasped this Introduction to Practical Studies……

‘Students will sustain fatal injuries.’

Ethan could fix that. But all Ethan could fix was the physical body.

The mind belongs solely to the student. This incident could become a trauma for them.

‘I too must take risks.’

Even if a student is left with trauma, it won’t tarnish Ethan’s reputation.

But it will crack the standard Ethan has set for himself.

Some might say it’s fine since others don’t know, but that wasn’t the case.

‘Because I know.’

He knows that the standard he set for himself has been cracked. So Ethan couldn’t help but be quite tense as well.

Boom-!

The giant special golem struck the ground.

Simultaneously, multiple arms suddenly sprouted from its back.

“!”

“Stay calm!”

The suddenly sprouted arms. It was a pattern they hadn’t seen before, so the students were startled, but they quickly regained their composure.

The content of the three months of classes kept flashing through their minds.

Ethan had consistently emphasized the most important things in practical situations.

Move efficiently.

Eliminate flashiness.

And if you don’t kill……

“……recognize that you will die.”

One student who muttered this gripped their sword and leaped forward.

Ethan had instructed them to discard laxity in practical situations. Even a Sword Master can die due to carelessness.

Conversely, this meant that if you’re not careless, you might get a chance to defeat a Sword Master.

Ethan’s teachings were influencing all the students.

Crack!

Bang-!

With thunderous sounds, the golems facing each team began to crumble one by one.

Even in dangerous situations, they remained vigilant and proceeded step by step.

Starting with Team 5, then Team 1, followed by Teams 2 and 10, they dealt with the special golems.

Rumble-!

After all teams had destroyed the giant special golems and collected their cores.

“……”

The teachers who had been watching with bated breath finally smiled with relief.

Then they looked at Ethan.

Ethan responded with a slight smile.

“Everyone worked hard.”

Midterm evaluation results.

150 students taking the Introduction to Practical Studies class.

All passed.

“It seems we’re ready for the exchange event.”

The preparations were now complete.

All that remained was to show what they could do.