The tensions were running high. However, most of them except those who finished in the top five were too exhausted to do anything. The Gruntas might have tried to instigate a fight, but even they were not going to waste their precious time on such a squabble.
But Anna siding with a mutt came as a surprise to all of them. She was of noble descent, in fact, her family was one of the first ones to mobilise and fight against the humans. They why the hell was she siding with someone who was once a human himself?
"Anna, do you think you're making a wise choice?" Nicole Asked her, while her voice was as polite as it could possibly have been, her eyes were filled with disgust.
"We are werewolves. Not vampires who believe in blood supremacy." Anna shrugged her shoulders before replying, "We are supposed to encourage the strong ones to reach beyond their limits. I for one will like to have capable soldiers by my side than useless nobles who can do nothing but talk."
Her last line was obviously a jab at Lucas. After all, it was no secret that talking was all he was good at and nothing else. Hell, he couldn't even properly wield a sword even if his life depended on it.
"Anna, you're crossing the line-" Before Nick could complete what he was saying, he was interrupted by a sudden sound of clapping.
"Well said, Ms Swan. But then again I would have expected nothing less from the heiress of the holy kingdom of the south."
"It's a pleasure to be praised by Madam Director herself." Anna who was about to burst into flames quickly regained her composure and respectfully greeted her composure.
"Oh my, and here I was thinking I would have to introduce myself. Thanks for the assist on that part Ms Swan." Madam Director gave her a curt nod before facing the nobles, "Looks like you need to be taught a lesson if you think nobility is superior to others in anything apart from the privileged upbringing most of you have."
"I am a so-called Mutt." The director continued, "Do you still think Mutts are weaker than those with pure and noble blood?"
No one had any answer to her question. In other words, t could be said that none of them was foolish enough to talk back with someone of her status and strength. The city of Contingent was the only place where Nobility could be looked down upon. Albeit, no one openly admitted it.
It was also one of the reasons why the merchants set up shops there instead of the nearby kingdoms. That way they don't need to deal with the hassle of dealing with the nobility and paying unnecessary taxes. They could do their business without worrying about offending a noble or anything.
However, just getting them to go silent wasn't enough. Also, she had taken a liking to both Ashton and Anna. Therefore, she wanted to give them their rewards for entertaining her during the first round.
"On the grounds of provoking violence on academy campus and propagating hateful speech, I hereby strip Nicole and Nick Grunta from their places on the leaderboards." The director proclaimed and snapped her fingers.
The following moment there was a change in the leaderboards and the first and second places had been interchanged with the third and fourth place. Effectively making the Gruntas go from occupying the first and second place to third and fourth place respectively.
Just like that, Ashton and Anna got the first and the second place respectively. The rest of the board remained unchanged. However, it did not look like the Gruntas were going to stand for such blatant favouritism.
"This is not fair!" Nicole yelled at the top of her lungs as the Director essentially stripped their rewards away from them, "You cannot do this-"
"I think I know very well what I can and can't do Ms Nicole. Also, your and your brother's qualification score is currently being investigated for foul play. You should be grateful that I am still keeping you on the list and not throwing you out this instant."
The director immediately shot her down, "So if you don't want that to happen, I'll suggest you keep it down or I'll be forced to revoke your admission altogether."
But Nicole wasn't going to stop. She had completely lost her calm demeanour and was about to make another absurd remark. However, before she could do that, Nick stepped in and cut her off.
"I would like to apologise on behalf of my sister, Madam Director. You won't hear any complaints about us from now on."
"I wouldn't count on it, but I guess I can give you a second chance. Do not disappoint me. " The director nodded before turning to face Ashton, "Now gentleman, would you accompany me to the rewards room?"
Although Ashton was happy that he will get the best of the rewards, the look on the faces of the others had him worried. His plans to stay lowkey had been obliterated to shreds. On top of that, he wasn't so sure that the Gruntas or the other nobles were going to stay true to their words.
"Here we are." The Director mumbled entering a fairly empty room with just a chest in the centre of it, "Your rewards, well... you can keep the items obtained during the exam for yourself along with the belongings of this chest as well. I'll leave you to it then."
"Thank you. If you hadn't intervened, things might have gotten a bit... out of hand." Ashton gave her a genuinely respectful nod.
"Don't mention it. Goodbye, Ashton Fenrir."
Ashton smiled and turned around to unlock the chest. But then he turned back as fast as lightning.
"How do you... know my name?"
To Ashton's surprise, there was no one standing there. The director had disappeared already leaving him perplexed. For all Ashton knew, his real name was never revealed to anyone there. Then how the hell did the Director know his real last name?
'I have a feeling I should stay away from her... she's too enigmatic.' Ashton shook his head, "But first let's take a look at the rewards."
He opened the chest and was blinded by a sudden golden glow coming out of the chest. It took a couple of seconds for the glow to subside but when it did... it left Ashton in shock. Just a few hours ago he had obtained his first skill after hitting level 10 on his werewolf genes.
The skill he obtained back then was a basic skill as the skill page looked like a normal piece of paper. But this time... he had obtained a 'Golden Skill Page'. These were extremely rare. So much so that even the mistress had a hard time obtaining a couple of these for herself and Donovan.
Yet he had obtained one with minimal efforts. It was no wonder that Nicole was pissed after being stripped away from claiming the first place rewards.. Ashton was so excited he tore the page in half without even going through its contents.