Academy Rankings

(Third Person Pov)

The calendar for the year was no different in this world than Noah's previous one, just a tad bit different

Instead of 12, there are about 14 months in a year in this world.

Each month contains around 40 or 41 days depending on the month it is.

The first month for the students in the academy passed, and May came.

Oliver entered the class like he always does and looked at all the students sitting in their seats with stiff expressions on their faces.

"Why are you all so serious?" He asked taking his place behind the podium. 

"Um... Is what our bracelet showing related to our ranks?" One of the students asked.

A few days before the month had ended there were a lot of discussions related to the workings of the school on the school forums.

Students started discussing things they found suspicious, this led to help even the students who hadn't given any thought to things until now to think again.

The school hadn't forced students to train themselves, the studies were quite basic and the lecturers didn't bother the students who slept, talked, or used phones in the classroom instead of listening to them.

Would an academy like theirs, a top academy make things so easy?

Questions arose among the minds of students and the most concerning of them were

What is the evaluation method?

When will they have to change the classes?

How will the students get evaluated?

When will they get more AP and how much?

And, this morning they found themselves wondering what the number that their bracelet showed meant.

A smile crept on Oliver's face.

"It is."

He answered watching the anxious expressions of the students.

"Um! I have a question!" A student raised his hand and asked

"Go ahead" Oliver replied leaning on the podium.

"Will our rank impact the AP we get? If so, which rank will it be that most impact our AP, grade ranking, or academy ranking? And when will we get our AP?"

"It's as you think, your rank will impact the AP which you will be receiving on the first of every month" Oliver replied

"I-I have only gotten a single AP!?" A boy nervously asked 

"I got only 100 AP added!" another one shouted.

The panic was visible on the student's faces.

"Well, I am sure you have talked among yourselves, you all already have an understanding, don't you? You have been given the AP as per your evaluation. The amount of AP you have been given this month is the amount of worth you currently possess in this academy." 

Oliver said his words felt chilly.

"My bracelet shows, 998! But I still only got 2,048 AP"

"Oh my, congratulations. You are better than half the students in your grade. That's pretty commendable. Ah, the number your bracelet shows is your grade rank, if you want to see your academy rank you can simply check your phones."

"Grade ranking and academy rankings are evaluated quite differently. Your grade ranking depends upon how much you have improved. Of course, a G- ranker could improve more than an A+ ranker in a month, everyone knows the higher you go up the more difficult it is to improve but don't worry about those things, we take those factors into account and then decide your grade rankings."

"As for academy rankings, that's pretty simple. It's solely based on your prowess. The stronger you are, the higher your rank"

"Now let's talk about how your rankings affect your AP. Well, it's a simple formula ((Total number of students in the grade - Your grade ranking)*2 + (Total number of students in the Academy - Your Academy ranking )*0.5) That's all."

"Let's take your case, Mr. Watson. Your grade ranking is 998 out of 2000 and your academy ranking is 4975 out of 5979 students. Putting the values in the formula

((2000-998)*2 + (5979-4975)*0.5) , which gives us 

=(1002)*2 + (1004)*0.5

=2506

See, simple" 

Oliver said, showing the calculation on the projector.

"I-I got 2048! Not 2506!"

"Well, that's simply because of the lack of discipline in the class. Just like AP is given to you, it can also be deducted. The bracelet comes with a special AI built for each individual. It's what constantly keeps evaluating you." Oliver shrugged not giving a glance at the boy's crumbled expression and continued "You can check in your apps about your designated classes and your academy ranks"

Most of the students started looking at their phone screens, and reading their information.

Julianna was no different but her neighbor definitely is.

Julianna was sitting next to Noah.

Just as fast as Noah's handsome face attracted people, his actions also drove them away. They simply became wary of him, keeping their distance after the videos that went viral of him killing the horde of monsters.

It wasn't just that though, it was something else, Noah in normal circumstances should have been surrounded by people but he simply didn't associate with them.

Instead, he mostly ignored others when they tried to talk to him.

Things escalated when one of the students had enough of Noah ignoring him and the student became a bit violent with his actions.

The result of that was quite... something.

Noah cut off the hands of that student and then poured an Elixir on his hand to reattach the hand.

Pouring a potion to heal causes immense pain and that's why people prefer to drink the potion instead.

Well, the aftermath of the incident is quite easy to conclude. He had gotten the title of a psychopath.

And from there, Aqua and Alyssa got the same title to them. The other two were simply dragged into this without even intending to! Aqua learned about the real context behind their psychopath title from Allen later, he was curious about the reason why he was given the psychopath title but he wasn't willing to read the whole chat on the school forums and as for Alyssa ... well she is friendless, wanting to make friends but unable to.

Anyways, students avoided Noah, they didn't want to sit anywhere near him, which left Julianna with no choice but to sit next to him, other seats were simply always occupied.

At the time of the incident Julianna had a simple thought Gosh, did.. he just use an ELIXIR on something like this!? Fucking rick people!

It was a thought many others shared as well.

To think this was their first concern, some future heroes they are.

And well, that brings us to our current seating structure of the classroom where Julianna and Noah are sitting in back seats, side by side.

"Must be nice to be so carefree" Julianna said looking at Noah's leisurely sprawled on his seat.

Noah in response simply shrugged.

Julianna opened the app and started looking into her newly found ranks and the AP.

==================================================

Name : Julianna Claire

Course: Hero Programme, First Year Student. Class Assigned-> I-1

Current Rank: F-

Potential Rank: None *The individual is a Human*

Academy Rank: 4445/5979

Grade Rank: 680/2000

Current Academy Points: 18407 AP (+3407)

Class: Assassin

Affinity: None

Skills : [Stealth lvl.2] [Hearing lvl.2]↑ [Silent Footsteps lvl.2] [Cooking lvl.2] [Poison Resistance lvl.1] [Mental Fortitude lvl.1] [Dual Weilding Dagger lvl.1] [Mana combustion lvl.1] [Mana Surge lvl.2] [Shadow swap lvl.1]

========================================================

I spent 5000 AP last month, and I got 3407 AP for this month, doesn't seem like my points were deducted... Man, I had be screwed if not for Noah's free ingredients.

Julianna thought.

Just a simple math was enough to tell her that the AP she had been given wouldn't help her at all to sustain herself.

The only way she would be able to live would be ...to have the free food and necessities that the school provides but she would rather not have them. She had tried the free food once in the cafeteria and it was horrendous.

She looked towards Noah.

"I will be in your care. Tell me whatever you want to eat. I am always at your service, dear sir." Julianna courtesied a bow as she said those words to Noah.

Noah simply found her weird as he thought Well, whatever. The chief's acquired.

Julianna then looked at her screen once more.

Also 5979, where did the rest of the 21 academy students go? There are 2000 students admitted to the heroes program in the academy every year. So the number should have been 6000. Did they leave or were expelled? So, we can get expelled? And my class would be I-2 from now on, huh...

Julianna thought to herself, she was going to ask Noah for his class but Oliver began to speak once more. 

"Well, should we move on now? I am sure you are wondering about other things as well. Like your class, and what happened to the rest of the 21 people of the academy, right?"

Students simply nodded their heads and Oliver clapped his hands

"Well, some were expelled and some are simply dead"

Dead?

Julianna found herself unable to speak or utter a single word, finding herself shell-shocked. 

Her reaction was similar to most of the students in the classroom.

A still silence followed.

"H-How?" One of the students managed to choke the words out of his mouth.

"You see, in this academy we have courses and some missions, despite the safety we provide there are some unfortunate cases where students end up dead" Oliver shrugged and then with a chilly tone and a smile on his face he continued "and some simply die by the hands the fellow students of the academy"

The next moment, all students involuntarily looked toward Noah remembering the incident that had happened once in their classroom.

Noah noticing their gazes for whatever reason took out his burger, put the red sauce on it, and then took the bite, slowly chewing it then he gulped it down.

And he finally licked his lips clean of the sauce.

It was just a 3-second event but it was enough to send chills down their spines.

Oliver watching the scenario unfold mused.

To think, that such a simple act as eating could create such intense fear in others.

Oliver chuckled as continued with his explanations with a clap to bring everyone's attention back to himself.

"Of course, it goes without saying that those who killed their fellow students are now facing the consequences of their actions behind bars. Though I don't think it is something I need to tell you about but please don't even think about killing your schoolmates such an act wouldn't be entertained."

"Okay, Let's talk about the classes that you have been designated. They are of course temporary. As I have said, in this school classes are temporarily assigned, Your next class designation will be done after your first semester ends. How does class designation work? Well, it's based on your grade rankings. The better your rank, the higher your class. Each of your classes will consist of 40 students from A-1, A-2, B-1, B-2 to Y-1"

"Um, shouldn't it be from A-1 to Y-2?" One of the students asked hesitantly.

"Well, that's because the remaining 40 students are going to be sorted into two different categories. 20 students who are exceptionally good in your year and 20 who are exceptionally bad. The number of bad students is always varying depending on how many geniuses we have on our hands, this year we have a bit too many of those extraordinary geniuses."

"Um, does being in a higher class matter?"

"Being in a higher class matters. Well, let me just show you why it matters" Oliver said and then ran his fingers on the keyboard.

A sudden notification sound popped up on students' phones and they all looked at it.

Julianna did the same and found her AP to have increased by 330.

The projector screen changed.

___________________________________________________________________________

A1 - 1130 F1- 390 K1 - 290 P1 - 190 U1 - 90

A2 - 930 F2 - 380 K2 - 280 P2 - 180 U2 - 80

B1 - 830 G1 - 370 L1 - 270 Q1 - 170 V1 - 70

B2 - 740 G2 - 360 L2 - 260 Q2 - 160 V2 - 60

C1 - 660 H1 - 350 M1 - 250 R1 - 150 W1 - 50

C2 - 590 H2 - 340 M2 - 240 R2 - 140 W2 - 40 

D1 - 530 I1 - 330 N1 - 230 S1 - 130 X1 - 30

D2 - 480 I2 - 320 N2 - 220 S2 - 120 X2 - 20 

E1 - 440 J1 - 310 O1 - 210 T1 - 110 Y1 - 10

E2 - 410 J2 - 300 O2 - 200 T2 - 100 

_____________________________________________________________________________

"You should have gotten the additional amount according to your class. As for the rest of those 40 students? The worse 20 are going to get nothing while the 20 geniuses will get 10000 AP points."

Students gasped at the information.

Julianna looked at Noah.

"Forget the life outside, now you are rich even when considering the standards of this academy? The hell kind of luck do you have?"

To her, it felt obvious that Noah would be in the classes of extraordinary geniuses.

"I am in the class of worst students."

....

Julianna blinked her eyes again and again, thinking she had misheard she questioned

"Come again?"