Chapter 4

Once things began to heat up by wave 35, I was definitely ready for this to end. the little bastards were zipping and zagging in the air, though my Angels were sniping them slowly, some of them have suicided and actually managed to hit Indri in the stomach. There wasn't much damage but she was definitely moving slower. The Small Drakes were not very strong but they were fast and a low Tier7 monster and there were 20 of them circling around us. Well there were anyways, Isabelle was finally forced to use her Chain Lightning and it lit quite a few of them up. When the other bird brains were trying to fly away, the other Angels finally managed to hit them cleanly taking out even more.

I could also tell that Irina was getting frustrated with this, or maybe more specifically annoyed that they wouldn't die faster? Who knows how women think honestly, I know I don't.

What none of us noticed though, while they were firing at the last remaining Small Drakes, one of them had managed to get behind us and aimed directly for Irinas back. I was the one who noticed it first some how, but I could see Irina turning around already from the corner of my eyes, probably sensing it herself as well but it would have been just a fraction too late so without thought I pushed her out of the way taking the hit myself to my left shoulder, thankfully it was only a glancing blow so it didn't do any life threatening damage, not that it mattered in this mirror world… but it still hurt like a bitch and I just laid there grimacing in pain.

I could see Irinas eyes, they had pretty much turned blood red when she saw me on the ground and something clicked in my mind, signaling an update to one of my soldiers statuses in some way. That way became fairly obvious when she pointed her hand in the direction of the offending monster and hit it with some type of yellow beam, it quickly disintegrated under it's power while screeching its heart out in the process. Then I was also soon hit by a second yellow beam and I began to feel better and could see myself begin to heal.

Irinas eyes, when I looked again, were back to their beautiful violet color. She was looking slightly winded and tired, her eyes were a little bloodshot or her equivalent, I would have to end this soon as I could see the other Angels were also some what exhausted or on their last legs.

All I could do was sigh in my own mind. They did well considering the monsters last group equaled most of their Tiers but the enemy was far higher levels while mine were basically infants. I had just managed to stand up when there was a flash of light, my Soldiers were gone now and I was standing in the middle of the auditorium with a bunch of other students who took the exam. Many of them looked dejected, some looked like they may have accomplished something and others looked smug.

"Well done students, well done!" The principal of the academy boomed out from up on the podium that he hadn't moved from, everyone could see the monitors that showed the examinees going through the exam and I had forgotten about that tidbit in the excitement. But now, I definitely remembered as I was currently getting curious and appraising eyes from many members of the staff and many of the watching students.

"The highest ranked student to finish the exam today, Alexander!" He said pointing in my direction. I was confused and slightly stunned. Had none of these mooks finished faster or gone as far? I know we have at least a few strong people here, maybe not quite stronger than me surely, but they can't be that far off surely. After that he congratulated a few other people but I was no longer paying attention as I was engulfed in an excited hug by my friend Sasha and I was currently trapped between her two pillars of paradise. Nikita wasn't too far behind her followed quickly by Sarah. Thankfully I only got bro hugs from my guy friend Anthony.

We had all talked and they told me where they managed to get in their exams. It seems that the 35th wave was the end of the exam. I had thought it would have gone farther though, maybe to high powered Tier7 or low Tier8 but I'm grateful it didn't as I was seconds from tapping out as I could no longer condone the risk to my team.

It would seem I wasnt the only one to pick Difficult as my choice, Sasha did the same thing though it took her longer, she did manage to get to the 31st wave before calling it as her Arachne were becoming slightly wounded. The others only made it to the 32nd wave of the easiest difficulty, not horrid I suppose, probably decent on a world stage, but nowhere near top tier at all. Hell, I am not even sure that I am top tier really, not yet anyways but that will come with time and effort, This should be the weakest I will ever be by far.

"For first place, the school prize is 100 Energy Crystals!" The school president said grandly raising his hands as a box appeared in front of him, probably with the crystals in it. Thats too much though right? Is Ren Qi's fancy school so cheap? he only got 50kg of tier 1 meat! what the hell, are you just trying to show other schools up? Probably so from the glint i could see in his eyes. I knew he was a rich old timer but damn!

"There should also be other rewards coming your way depending on how well you did on the City, State as well as the kingdoms rankings. Good luck to you, and to you all!" He said looking around at everyone around him. That was a clear dismissal if I never heard one and me and my friends quickly dispersed. We would get our rankings in 3 days from today.

I would have to check the trading exchange later today as I needed to know what I could afford but honestly I wouldn't be able to afford much as I had already used a lot of my resources on Tier2 meats. Though I have to admit, I did order as much Tier-0 Demonic Meat as I could get my grubby hands on even from different countries. It should be useful for starting in the coming month. Tier-0 demonic meat might not increase the level of a monster by much but it did sate basic hunger, kept loyalty from eroding and would be good for the weaker lords in the black fog areas plus I could sell the shit out of it for unprepared lords.

Either way I was finally done with school and wouldn't have to be back here until the morning my Lords Space would materialize in 29 days. With that I made my way to our families home within the city as I had already packed a bag and brought everything with me from the academy dorms as I wouldn't be back here.

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It only took me around an hour to get to our home in the city, it was a fairly nice estate but our father didn't go overboard because most of us would never be able to spend much time here other than special occasions and at that only when there isn't a demon wave going on. We only really lived here when me and my siblings were young, and since both my sisters already awakened their lords space and I'm about to do the same, we didn't spend time here anymore.

Hopefully you will understand my surprise when I entered my family home only to see my entire family waiting for me, Congratulation signs and balloons floating everywhere and even a small cake could be seen on a table nearby. "Congratulation son!" My father in this life exclaimed loudly, quickly followed by a round of hugs from my mom and two sisters who looked excited for some reason.

"You did well in your exam Alexander. I now understand why you thought your Soldiers were special... You managed to obtain some type of unique or mutated unit didn't you?" My dad and the rest of my family looked excited... excited for me! I was terrified they might be upset or even jealous even though they have always been supportive and caring, this world can be cruel... I would have to correct this misunderstanding though as they are my family in this world and truly they did love and support me unconditionally, I'm positive even if i had trash units they would have protected me and helped me the best that they could.

"No Father.. Well also yes as well..." how to say it? hmm "Irina is a special unit that's true but that's because she is specifically a Tier 8 Angel and a Seraph. But that isn't it exactly... its because my Recruitment Pool says Unique in its description as well." I explained it to them as best I could, not sure how well I did but they all had their jaws dropped.

"Thats not technically the worst of it though... last night Irina said she felt something weird was going to happen in about one month, that will be around the time my lords space will materialize, she says its connected to the black mist from 100 years ago but cant tell anything else about it..." Sorry Irina I had to throw you under the buss a little bit!

They went from excited to grim in an instant, no one knew how to take that really even myself. "Either way, right now I see cake in front of me and cake is life!" They couldn't help but smile slightly. I knew they would support me though, no matter what.

In the end none of them could stay away from their territories for long considering the ongoing demon wave though I know they now intended to pool their resources and send me higher tier demon meat now that they knew the potential of my soldiers and the possible danger I or possibly we, would face soon.

My father pulled me aside before he left though and handed me a small box that was barely bigger than a large fist. "Good luck my son! I hope this helps to serve you well, I just wish I could do far more sooner." He said with regret clear in his voice. I looked inside the box and instantly became excited and awed. It was a Magic Crystal, these things were stupidly expensive, around 80Million Energy Coins for just one! Even Tier 5 or 6 monsters only had a tiny chance to drop one outside of the black fog, a very small chance. This was a true gift even though I knew they would be more plentiful in the black fog area, right now they were amazing things, and maybe I would be able to upgrade my Recruitment Pool earlier than thought!

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It was three days later, three recruitments later as well, I had some decent luck in that time but couldnt really do much in the interim as I only had Tier-0 demonic meat that I was saving to sell and Tier - 2-3 Demonic Meat to feed my soldiers right now, though my family did send me a little bit every day in the Tier 2 and 3 ranges, they could only send so much so often even with how strong my father was in comparison to the others. He did send some Tier 4 whenever he managed to find it but it wasn't plentiful.

In those 3 days, on the day my family left I used all my saved up Energy Crystals with the Magic Crystal my father gave me to upgrade my summoning pool. The only change was that instead of 4 Angels I would get 5 Angels. That means I currently have 15 new Angels and 16 in total. My Angels were a zerg race it seems though I'm not sure how i feel about that as the zerg died in droves. Though this isn't really accurate because my units aren't fodder.

In that time I did manage to recruit another Tier 7 but she was not a champion class existence, though I cant complain about that. She was a Tier-7

The rest were Tier 5 and 6's.

These 3 days have simply been a big holding pattern to see where I placed in the exams and what my reward would be. The placement results would be placed online for anyone to see and those that scored really high would probably be all over the news. I didnt really pay attention to too much as I knew this world was cringe based on canon, though thankfully my own country wasnt too horrible with it, it still existed. I was surprised that I still managed to place in the top 10 in the national qualifications, 5th place to be exact. I knew I did decently and finished relatively fast but I figured more people would do far better than myself as they have better starting with Tier-8 solders, though I dont know how many people in the country have Tier 7,8,9 soldiers as its not announced, I assumed it was more.

Once I was announced as the number 5 placement my academy gave me a further reward, 100kg of Tier3 Demon Meat. That could be considered a fairly rich reward especially from a school, though my academy is considered prestigious i didn't think they would flex that much. Maybe it's because the other schools in different countries are also trying to flex?

My country was considered one of if not the most powerful country in the world, though quickly followed by dragon country, simply called the confederation, was slightly isolated by distance to most of the world powers so there wasn't much interaction other than trade between countries.

That being said, my city, sent me a congratulatory message as well as 500,000 Energy Coins and 150 Energy Crystals and my state sent me 5million Energy Coins and 1 Magic Crystal and 200 Energy Crystals.

For those who placed top 5 in the nation, the government would also send a specialized package to compliment their soldiers shown in the exam. Other than that, random alliances would send resources to try to entice new lords who placed in the top 10 in the nation, those resources were not insignificant. It made the pain I went through worth it to be honest.

overall I managed to walk away with 15million Energy Coins, 750 Energy Crystals and 1 Magic Crystal, without knowing what the government would send. All in all, a hefty sum that would get me pretty far.

I of course immediately began feeding my Angels the Demon Meats as I wanted them to be as high a level as possible before materialization.

There wasn't much else I could do currently aside from browse the shopping exchange and spend my Energy Coins as they would be worthless inside the black fog.