First test (1)

"...and with all that information, one can certainly predict the time it would take for a hunter to spot you. Of course, there are also some ways on how to extend that time and..."

Zenith stood in front of the class, giving a lecture about Depths theory.

While everyone focused on the class, Ophelia buried her face in the book, taking a nap, as she already knew everything.

Although she wouldn't say that she had more experience than Zenith, in sole knowledge, she had the upper hand.

While Zenith was forty at most, if you count in his time in the depths, Ophelia was three and a half times older than him and spent all of her time in the Depths.

As such, her knowledge about it was vast, even surpassing the knowledge of multiple libraries together.

Besides that, her memory was also extraordinary due to a passive effect of 'shared memories', so she didn't have to bother paying attention, anyway.

"Ahh, that certainly makes sense."

With great speed, Seraphir took notes of the class, giving her all to not miss a single thing Zenith said.

"You sure are very motivated."

Ophelia whispered to Seraphir in an amused tone when she turned her head to the side.

However, Seraphir didn't answer.

Instead, she just ignored her and kept taking notes.

"Don't mind her." Ellen laughed as she turned her head to Ophelia. "She has tunnel vision right now."

"Yes, I can certainly see that."

"I mean, the test is next class, after all, so it's understandable why she is working so hard right now."

Turning her head to Ellen, Ophelia gave her a questioning smile.

"Don't you also have to take notes, though?"

In contrast to Seraphir, who worked hard to make notes of everything Zenith said, Ellen didn't bother taking any notes and just spend the whole lesson drawing weird sketches in her notebook.

Ophelia was quite impressed by Ellen's art skills. She had never seen such a thing before.

"Instead of taking notes, you keep making weird drawings. I must say..." Ophelia closed her eyes, nodding approvingly. "You have a hidden talent. Please keep it hidden."

Frankly, she had never seen such a grotesque artwork before.

Although Ophelia had seen some children's drawings in various books Zenith bought her, Ellen's art skills were vastly below that level.

"Wow." Ellen laughed, rolling her eyes. "How supportive you are."

"Thanks. I got it from my brother."

"Yes, the resemblance is uncannily striking."

Snickering, the two girls threw sarcastic jabs at each other.

"Besides that..." Ellen pointed her finger at Seraphir. "I don't need to take any notes if I can just copy hers."

"Aren't you using her, then?"

"Please, every relationship has its benefits. If you carefully reflect on it, there's not a single relationship, that is based on no worth, Even if you were to form a relationship solely based on your sympathy toward the-"

As Ellen started to ramble, Ophelia interrupted her, already having enough from all of Zenith's lectures.

'Seriously. I have already a Zenith at home. I don't need Ellen to also start lecturing me.'

"Yes, yes. I get it. Now please stop going so in-depth with such a trivial topic."

"You asked for it."

"I'm pretty sure I didn't."

Ophelia deadpanned, looking at Ellen with a raised eyebrow before turning her attention back to Zenith.

"...and that's it with the topic."

Zenith, who stood in front of all students, far in the distance, nodded confidently as he put the board he used to explain everything in his dimensional storage.

"Remember. Next class, we'll be writing a test. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me."

Ding—! Dang—!

As he finished explaining, the bell rang out, signaling the end of the lecture.

Closing his notebook, Zenith then raised his head, looking toward his students.

"Are there any questions right now?"

Only a single hand was raised.

It was Raum.

"Yes, Mr-..Raum?"

"Haha, you call me by my name now, teach." Raum closed his eyes in a smile for a split second, before returning to his usual expression. "I just wanted to ask if it'll be a boring memorization test. I'm sick of them already."

Chuckling, Zenith gave him a mysterious smile.

"Don't worry. It'll be much more interesting."

"Is that so? Then I am eager to see what you have to offer."

***

***

"Can't you just give me the solutions, brotheeer?"

Ophelia complained to Zenith as he prepared their dinner.

"No, I am impartial to my students."

"But you know..." Twirling her hair, Ophelia lazily leaned her head to the side- "...wouldn't it be great if everybody would think that I am amazing after scoring full marks on the test? They would all be like 'Woah, the Voidwalkers are so smart!'."

"That certainly would be great." Zenith chuckled before patting Ophelia on the forehead. "So please study well and get full marks. I want everybody to know that my sister is amazing."

"That's right!" Proudly sticking her chest out, she exclaimed, as her ears slowly turned red, not used to that sort of expectation. "And that's why I'll get full marks!"

"That's right, and that's why you'll get full marks without my help, right?" Zenith flashed a smile as he put down the food on the table. "After all, you're a smart girl, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes! Praise me more."

Smiling brightly, she bobbed around, humming, as she closed her eyes.

Ophelia was weak at sudden compliments, as she didn't have the time to get used to them until now.

Unfortunately, she was put against someone like Zenith, who knew how to take advantage of such weaknesses and would gladly do so without any shame.

"Yes, my smart sister will be the best!"

With a gentle voice, Zenith cheered her on, ruffling through her hair, as he kept praising her.

Looking back at the day, Ophelia realized that she had made a grave mistake, as she forgot an important fact.

Zenith Voidwalker was the most trustworthy, but also untrustworthy, person at the same time.

While you can always rely on him, you should never let your guard down when you're in his presence.

After all, he is still the same manipulative sadistic prick he always was.

And forgetting that fact, again, she fell into his trap, spending the entire week until the next class revising everything she knew once again to get praised by her brother.

***

***

"I should've studied sooner..."

Ellen whined as she buried her face in her arms.

"Why am I so laaaazyyy..."

Seraphir, who stood beside her with a blank expression, just patted her on the head, while revising her notes.

"What a shame."

Uninterested in Ellen's whining, she turned her head to Ophelia.

"What about you, Ophelia?"

In the last few weeks, Ophelia gradually got closer to Seraphir and Ellen, essentially getting adopted into their friend group, which led to Seraphir now being more casual with her.

"Well..." Putting a hand on her chest, she formed and proud expression, releasing satisfied laughter. "...I am fully prepared to take everything on. Don't underestimate the Voidwalkers!"

With the passing of time, she got used to her last name and her familial ties with her brother.

No, rather, she was proud of it.

While only being together for some weeks, she had gotten the feeling that everything was worth it, as long as he kept being by her side.

Although Ophelia was aware that it wasn't good to be dependent on someone, it was her brother, so it was alright, wasn't it?

She won't ever let anyone take him away from her.

After all, he was her guardian, and he promised to protect her.

"I see..." Seraphir chuckled with an amused gaze in her eyes. "I'll be wishing you the best of luck then."

And with those words, Seraphir hurried back into her own seat.

Click—

Only a few seconds later, with a click of the entrance door, their professor entered, silencing every conversation that took place, as everybody turned their attention to him.

Waiting for a few seconds, until everybody returned to their seats, he started to speak.

"As everyone knows, today is the day of your first test."

He then paused for a while before skimming through the audience with his eyes, letting his words sink in.

"As I know that many of you will be worried about the difficulty of the test, I can assure you that I constructed it in a way that everyone could solve it."

Tilting his head to the side, he flashed a gentle smile before using Ophelia's ability to create some needles.

Shiek—!

Taking out the needles, he threw all the papers in the air before throwing them.

Each of the needles pierced a test, landing directly in front of each student and burying itself in their tables.

Clap—!

"Now then."

Zenith's expression hardened as he clapped with his hands.

His sharp voice echoing through the room, being the starting signal for the test.

"You can start now."