The Golem Mage

The entire team had already gathered at the camp area, awaiting the arrival of the last person before the deadline.

General Edward was expected to reveal their final mission, but he was conspicuously absent, leaving the assembled teams uncertain and waiting for both him and Alec.

”I guess your leader might be having difficulty completing missions on his own since he has no team, which is why he’s delaying things to earn extra points and avoid embarrassment, Otherwise, why else would he not be here yet?”

Pale queried Agnes, who was engaged in conversation with her team, including Brandon’s team and Arthur’s team, about their mission options and their preferences for daring tasks.

As Agnes glanced back at Pale, who was confronting her about General Edward’s absence, while trying to blame Alec,

”He is not worth the time,” Brandon said, placing his hands on Agnes’ shoulders.

She smiled and turned back to her conversation, completely ignoring Pale and making him angry, Agnes, who Pale knew would go mad if anyone said anything bad about Alec, had expected to get a reaction from her when he spoke ill of Alec.

However, his plan had failed miserably, in fact, he had noticed almost all of the Gordon clansmen were acting as if they didn’t see him since their return, they constantly looked past him or turned their gaze away.

To the extent that it made him feel they were viewing him as someone insignificant.

”Just you wait, when the list comes up and you all get lower positions, I won’t hesitate to bring you down even further,” Pale thought.

”You should hold your horses because we all know that Alec still has until midnight before he misses the deadline, it’s not time yet, he still has a couple of hours left before you can truly blame him for something, don’t you think?”

Lucas Blade said as he walked forward with his hands folded in front of him, Pale was pleased when he saw that someone took his bait, even though it wasn’t Agnes whom he had been targeting.

The fact that Lucas her commander was stepping up meant she wouldn’t be able to avoid the situation.

The rest of Pale’s team stood up and gathered behind him for support, when Agnes, Katie, Knight, and the rest of Lucas’ team noticed this, they all moved behind Lucas as well.

The two teams met at the middle and started a staring contest, with the other teams resting nearby unable to resist watching the show, eagerly waited for the impending clash.

The tranquil atmosphere was abruptly interrupted by the creaking of the gate as a guard emerged, leading a mysterious figure into the yard.

All eyes turned towards the newcomer, following a slow, anticipatory gaze from head to toe.

The ragged cloak, the bamboo hat obscuring the face, the gleaming dual blade weapons at the waist, and the imposing ice Golem accompanying him from behind left no doubt in anyone’s mind about the identity of the person arriving, they were certain Alec had finally touched down.

”He’s back!” Arthur exclaimed with a laugh, leading the charge towards Alec, followed closely by Brandon and the rest of the Gordon clansmen.

As they enveloped Alec in a heart warming, familial hug, the guard who had escorted him couldn’t help but marvel at the outpouring of love, he respectfully bowed to the group before discreetly departing.

In the square, the other teams watched the Gordons’ reunion with curiosity, Some like Lucas, wore a small smirk, appreciating the seldom seen display of familial unity among the clansmen.

Everything changed when water emerged from the ground and materialized into Selene.

The sight prompted Pale to swiftly step aside, a smirk playing on his lips as he couldn’t help but wait for Alec to face a humiliating attack in front of the assembled teams.

”Finally, the one I’ve been waiting for, Captain Alec, the one who is to lead this entire army of students!, I look forward to discovering what other surprises you have in store,”

Selene declared before the water body she had used to communicate with Alec dissipated and merged back into the ground.

All eyes in the vicinity gravitated towards Alec’s student badge as they processed Selene’s words, their curiosity piqued as they awaited further revelations.

When they observed the navy-coloured badge bearing the rank of captain, there was no denying the implication as the everybody felt their mind exploding.

In that moment, it became evident to everyone present that Alec Gordons had ascended to a level beyond even the Tier 4 mages commanders.

Pale, in particular, was left reeling with disbelief, he didn’t need to consult the scoreboard to ascertain that his plans for his team to claim the top spot had swiftly crumbled to dust.

He was acutely aware of who was now a shoo-in for that coveted first position, after the type of treatment Selene had showned Alec.

”But how?, How was he able to amass that many points to attain a captain rank?” Pale muttered under his breath, his disbelief palpable.

Beatrice’s smile faded into a frosty expression after seeing Alec’s progress, while Lucas eyed Alec with a warrior’s resolve, a silent challenge flickering in his gaze.

However, he restrained himself, recognizing that this was not the appropriate time or place to engage in a spar with Alec, as he seriously wanted to ask for a spar.

”Gather round, for I am about to reveal your rankings and outline the details of your final external training,” General Edward announced, finally appearing at the central house with Selene by his side.

Despite his lingering grievances about Alec’s badges, Pale hoped that their competition scores would somehow rectify Alec’s rank.

As he believed there is no way Alec had single-handedly accrued over a hundred thousand achievement points.

As Edward prepared to address them, Pale harboured doubts about the legitimacy of Alec’s student badge, he even started to have mixed thoughts thinking maybe Alec might have not even claimed the top spot but a spot in the top three.

With a wave of her hand, Selene conjured a warrior screen in front of them after receiving a nod from Edward.

1. ^Alec Gordons (Captain) – 101, 756points

2. Lucas Blade Team (Commander) – 25,767 points

3. Beatrice Marionette Team (Commander) – 20, 675points

4. Pale Zero Team (Commander) – 5, 890points

5. Brandon Gordons Team (Sergeant) – 5,500 points

6. ^Arthur Gordons Team (Sergeant) – 5,008 Points

Seeing the ranking in front of him seemed to take a toll on him, as Pale staggered, unable to believe what he was seeing at the moment.

He had always believed he was not that bad and should not be that far from first, even if he didn’t carry the first position.

However, not only was there a high gap of over fourteen thousand points between his team and the top 3, but there were even smaller teams that were so close to overthrowing him, which made him really pissed.

”There is something wrong somewhere, there is no way that Alec, would have gotten that many points alone, after all, he is only one individual. It’s not humanly possible.”

” The ranking should be checked properly,” Pale said. But when he looked up, he was met with the angry face of Selene.

Edward was not even ready to put himself in between this again, the fact that Selene had to control all her spirit crows for so long took a toll on her.

And for her to put such dedication into following their points and ranking it carefully to imitate the points they got on their student badge took a lot of skill, and Pale just open his mouth and discard her work in one sentence due to his own downfall, had fully infuriated her.

Edward knew it would take more than a bow to survive this one.

”I practically told this idiot, his seniors that outrank him, can choose to kill him and he still ignored it, I pray she goes easy on him.” Edward shook his head at Pale’s surprising stupidity.