Rank 2.

It was the same: Serena had received this same rank during the postponed practical.

Sighing, I stretched my arms and waited, trying my best to ignore Serena's glare, and awaited our exit portal.

Yet, as the purple smoke above us dispersed, there was no exit. Instead, a small drone came into sight, the familiar exam overseer's voice sounding from within it.

"Your first practical has come to an end, congratulations. Please stay still, now.

In the next moment, a light blue beam shot down from the bottom of the drone, carving the outline of a circle in the ground right below.

Then, before any of us could react, the ground below us began shining a dark purple, blinding my eyes.

I felt my body moving rapidly, as if I were in the passenger seat of a driverless car, but just as I opened my eyes, everything halted.

I found myself on a familiar field, though completely empty, and was immediatly met with a massive holographic screen, behind the stage.

[1. Leo's Team]

[2. Serena's Team]

[3. Magnus's Team]

[4. Carissa's Team]

[5. N/A]

Sighing, I turned around and prepared to head back to my dorm room. After all, I had a whole new movement to dedicate my time to.

Yet, before I could, a sudden hand grasped my shoulder, holding me in place.

Then, a soft whisper entered my ears, passing through my brain and freezing it.

"Tread carefully, Athen, was it?"

Retracing her head, Serena emotionlessly walked past me, a hint of...anger in her eyes.

It seemed my playful taunting had hurt her precious ego.

Serena didn't take revenge through conventional methods like violence...or perhaps bullying. She was psychotic, to put it best.

In the book, she had designed a robot to break into Leo's room in the middle of the night and stand over him with a knife...for three weeks straight, at a different time every time to make sure he never got any sleep.

Even after the ordeal, he couldn't rest for months.

Gazing at her back, I couldn't help but pause.

Surely...she can't infiltrate my painting, right? Right?

Although...I couldn't say it was all bad.

I now had a lot of money and a bunch of knowledge from the future.

With my ideas and funding, I could create a trillion-dollar corporation or develop potions to aid my training.

Yet...I needed a scientist, someone to make all the ideas I had come to life.

Snapping me out of my thoughts, for the first time, one of my teammates' voices sounded.

"Damn...she's fucking annoying, but I can't even complain."

Pausing, the boy next to me stretched his arms and asked while gazing at our other teammate, Joy.

"We're going to be in these teams for the rest of the semester; we might as well get along. Want to grab a snack?"

Realizing the question wasn't posed toward me, I simply walked away, unintentionally catching the discussion of Magnus's team.

"We would have got second, if not for her! She does nothing but slow us down."

"I know...but we can't do anything about it, though...can we?"

"What if...we make her drop out?"

Ignoring his two teammates beside him, Magnus strode toward Carissa in the distance, giving his silent agreement to the two boys' plan.

This was officially the start of Ruby's deterioration.

...should I do something?

I could end it all now, before it grew exponentially.

However, my body subconsciously walked past the two boys and toward my dorm room.

It was my fault. I knew it was.

I had written the scenes about Ruby's torment. Magnus's group was simply following the script I had written.

Yet, I couldn't bring myself to correct it.

...

...

...

Standing atop the lilypad, my body dripping with water, I once again leaped off and into the water, now for the thousandth time in ten hours.

Yet, no matter how much I moved my legs, my descent did not halt.

Stepping on air...how am I supposed to do it?

There was no movement for me to copy, unlike with Torrent Step.

The whited robed man had simply jumped...but not fallen.

Recalling my earlier insight into the movement, I lay down on the lilypad and sighed, taking in the bright sun above me.

I couldn't simply copy the images in my mind for this step; I had to conceptually realize it.

And, I already had the first fragment.

In the dance that I had created to unlock this martial art in the first place, I had defied the natural laws and jumped on water.

Jumping onto my feet, I wiped my face and exited the painting, immediatly wrapping a towel around my waist and heading to the bathroom to dry my hair.

However, instead of being with my reflection, I was met with a poster taped to my mirror.

[Dance Auditions This Friday! Come out and try out in the theatre at 3 PM!]

Maybe this could give me some inspiration?

With exams yesterday, there were no classes today, so I had all the free time in the world today.

Dressing in a white collared shirt and black pants, I headed toward the cafeteria, grabbing a tray and finding a seat.

Yet...just as I placed my tray on an empty table and prepared to sit down, a voice sounded from beside me.

"Can you see I'm sitting here?"

Another tray banged against mine, sending mine flying across the table and toward the floor.

Extending my right hand just in time, barely catching my tray before it flipped over, staining my clean white collared shirt in the process, I looked up at the source of the voice, my cheeks twitching.

This fucking...

"What was that?"

Sitting down at my table, Serena cupped her hands over her ears and eagerly repeated, mocking me.

"What? Have something to say? Spit it out? Not so confident anymore, are you? Rank 1600 for what?"

There are a million fucking geniuses in this world; the hell do I need her for?

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