Lost in Thoughts
Xalafel was quite nervous a while ago. Linfel's group had entered a cave without surveillance, so he was afraid something could have happened to them. Sometime later, they suddenly resurfaced near the last flag of the exam, much to his surprise.
However, it was also at that moment that the sensor around the exam area detected a different type of Magic Energy approaching. Before even Linfel could notice the serpent Magic Beast, Xalafel and his subordinates already understood a Level Four Magic Beast, a creature of immense power and danger, had appeared.
Xalafel immediately disappeared from the room, flying to the end of the examination area as fast as he could. The collars can not be activated by them. Only the users themselves can do it. That's to make sure the Maguses in the exam understand the Magic Academy would not intervene in the Field Exams.
Still, Xalafel's expression wasn't good. Even at his level, he would take a while to arrive. He could only hope Linfel's group would hold on during that time, although he wasn't very confident. To his immense relief and admiration, Linfel's group not only held on but also managed to fend off one of the serpent's attacks. He quickly came crashing against the serpent like a meteor, and the rest is history.
Of course, even after Xalafel took Linfel's group away, the exam itself wasn't over. Xalafel simply ordered the instructors hidden in several parts of the Exam Field to remain vigilant in case another of these rare and formidable Level Four Magic Beasts appeared. 'Well, Level Four Magic Beasts are a rarity in this part of the country. There shouldn't be any more of them,' he thought to himself, underlining the exceptional nature of the situation.
The next group to arrive at the Purple Flag ended up taking over an entire extra hour to do so. It was Rirano's group, of course. After all, Rirano had acquired information about this field exam in advance.
The next one was a single Magus and a Familiar from the older groups that were dropped in a different place of the Dark Canyons. Rirano's group was already gone by then, so the guy just approached the flag, excited.
Even considering Linfel and Rirano's group, the total number of Maguses to arrive at the last flag was only five. However, there was an exception. Independent Familiars have their own IDs and accounts in the Academy. That said, they also count. That means Linfel and Nori were considered on their own, different from Felia and Tratil, who were counted as being part of Alvin and Connor's own strength.
In the end, five Maguses and two Familiars were the first seven participants to get to the last flag. When the older Magus arrived, he became the eighth one. Of course, the bonuses still applied, so it didn't matter to him. After his magic Energy Signature was taken, he simply used his Collar and exited the exam as well.
The last two Maguses to arrive were from the middle groups, the ones between 17 and 21 years old. The difficulty of their journey was something between the young and the oldest ones. In fact, these last two were in the same group with another three Maguses and their Familiars. It's just that these two reacted faster and got closer to the Flag first, leaving the other three out of the bonus.
The exam continued normally after that, with no other Level Four Magic Beasts appearing. At most, you would find Level Three Magic Beasts, but these ones were placed in the route taken by the oldest Maguses since there were even Level Three Maguses between them.
One thing was certain, though. Pretty much everyone who arrived in the last Flag were Maguses and Familiars from Ranked A and B Classes. There were a few Rank C, but those were truly few. Last but not least, one single student from a Rank D class also managed to miraculously arrive at the end, although in his case, it was most due to his luck.
Well, there were also Alvin and Connor, two Rank F students. But their cases were extraordinary.
The exam concluded with no issues. This kind of exam was thought through and through, aiming to give the Maguses and Familiars experience instead of killing them. The collar was proof that the Academy didn't really want anyone to die. That was exactly what happened. There were some very serious injuries, like the ones in the Maguses from Linfel's Group back when they fought the Rock Breakers. But deaths were truly hard to come by.
All the Airship then took off from the Dark Canyon, only leaving behind a few instructors from the Academy who would clean up the place of the equipment used. As for the Magic Energy Pond hidden deep underground, no one found that since Linfel took quite a hidden passage. The instructors themselves wouldn't enter the cave Linfel's Group came from either since there wasn't a need to check the environment anymore.
Later that night, Alvin woke up in a tank filled with some weird yellow liquid. Several Diagram Runes operated it, seeming to act on Alvin's injuries. "T-This..."
"Oh! You finally woke up," said a woman wearing a doctor's attire on the other side of the room. She quickly pressed a few options on the screen in front of her, which caused all the liquid inside the tank to be drained away. Finally, the tank itself opened, allowing Alvin to come out.
"Master!" Felia quickly jumped to Alvin's head, feeling extremely happy. She wasn't too bad. It was Alvin's body that took most of the burden during the serpent incident. After she was given a few Magic Stones and absorbed them into her core, she was able to take her Familiar Form once again and had been waiting by Alvin's side all this while.
Alvin smiled and patted the Familiar's head. Not too far from him, he saw Linfel, seeming to be lost in his own thoughts. "So... what happened after that?"