Compared to the theoretical exams, the practical exams were a whole another ball game for Rocky.

There was not a single student who had the guts to face Rocky in the final exams spar, as after his successful promotion to tier2, Rocky had become a force to reckon with amongst the university students and was far clear of his peers.

After the first couple of spars which ended within 4 seconds of swordsmanship instructor Mae calling for the start, Rocky no longer faced a single opponent, as everyone else forfeited their match when it came to facing him.

This prompted Swordsmanship Instructor Mae to pull out Rocky from the final evaluation pool as she decided to grant him full marks in her subject.

Not only had Rocky managed to learn whatever she wanted to teach him throughout the year, but he had also achieved a high level of control over the skills [ sword intent ] and [ swords projection ] which was enough proof of competence for Mae to award him full marks.

Similarly, in the subject of practical combat conducted by the now Principal Maven, Rocky passed all the criteria set by Professor Maven with flying colors.

He was not only the fastest in the university to complete the 10km dash, but he was also the one with the best overall physique and body endurance, as even though he was competing against races such as elves and beastmen, who had naturally high agility and stamina, Rocky outperformed everyone in the physical test placing number one in all test criteria.

Apart from the physicals, Rocky also placed first in hand to hand combat and practical combat drills, as nobody within his batch came even close to scratching him during the evaluation.

*******

Rocky was not the only one who had an impressive display in the final exams for the elective subjects as Erin and Buhara also performed extraordinarily well in theirs.

Unexpectedly beating all the stereotypes surrounding Orcs being bad mages, Buhara clinched the first spot in the battle mage final evaluation, breaking the social stigma about orcs only belonging on the front lines big time.

Not only did he demonstrate a precise control over his spells but with his quadra-elemental affinity, Buhara dominated his opponents during the finals by using triple and quadra spell casting, as he gave them no room to retaliate.

From the guy that was underestimated and looked down on when he joined the class on the first day, to becoming the best mage of the class by the last, Buhara had come a long way in his university journey and had created a reputation for himself along the way.

However, while Buhara was looked at as an oddball within the mage specializing students, Erin was looked at as a freak and a genius amongst the curse and support mage specializing students, as Erin’s rise within his class was equally as impressive as Buhara’s.

When the year had just started Erin was only a very average student who was shy, timid and unnoticeable, however, by the end of the year he had transformed into becoming a confident, bold and excellent individual.

Even after his loss to Sophia, Erin did not feel disheartened or fearful as he continued to maintain his usual mindset of self growth and self improvement.

In the final exams, Erin demonstrated a very proficient command over all the major aspects of a support mage, which was buffing one’s allies, debuffing one’s opponent, setting up and dismantling traps etc.

If not for him having already committed to become a part of Rocky’s champion party, there were many major guilds in the tower who were interested in recruiting him, however, as of now, Erin was not interested in them.

*********

Contrary to Rocky, Erin, and Buhara, Sophia struggled significantly in the final exams.

In the written tests, she performed averagely, having trouble memorizing all the knowledge that the professors required, and thus half-guessing her answers. Although she got enough answers right to pass, she did not score high enough to be considered among the top percentile of students.

In the physical tests, while she had recovered enough to move, mobilizing her mana was still a struggle, preventing her from performing adequately. This prompted the professors to give her special consideration.

Both sword instructor Mae and Principal Maven allowed Sophia to graduate from their courses, but she only received a passing grade due to her inability to showcase her abilities in the final exams.

Some students who were Olympian sympathizers felt bad for Sophia for being unable to showcase her strength due to her injury, but Sophia herself was very happy with how things turned out.

Having a plausible reason not to compete, she saved face and garnered sympathy from others without having to expose her lack of strength had she actually competed.

Moreover, her relief was palpable as she realized that the injury had unintentionally given her a graceful exit from a challenging situation.

With that, the final exams of the university had concluded and now the only wait was for the results to come out two days later which would officially be the last day of the semester.

For students who had not yet made it to floor 21 of the tower, the degree issued would only be a provisional degree that could be upgraded to a proper degree once they reached floor21.

Whereas the students who did reach floor 21 and had completed the ‘Survival Training’ subject, would be eligible to get a proper degree and graduate for good from the university.

Should Rocky and his crew have been chosen for the inter-university tournament, then after the university finals, they would be focusing on the inter-university tournament, however, before he died, Liam had ensured that neither Rocky nor Sophia took part in the inter-university tournament as he feared for their lives in such hostile public environments.

**********

( The university cafeteria, Rocky, Erin, Buhara and Sophia’s POV )

On the last day of university, after all the exams had been concluded, the four friends sat together to have one last dinner together at the university cafeteria as although no words were exchanged, everyone did feel slightly emotional about leaving this institution.

Looking around the cafeteria, Rocky noticed the happy smiles of all the students present in the hall, as they talked excitedly talks about their futures, however, even as they talked happily about their futures, their eyes were unmistakable sad as everyone knew that they were never going to get an environment as homely and as safe as the university for nourishment of young talents again.

Sadly, they were the last batch to have officially studied under Principal Liam, the mad man and on their last day at the institute, there was not a single student who did not offer a silent plea of gratitude to that man.

Eccentric as he may be, Liam truly loved all his students and once he died, his absence started to be sorely felt by everyone around.

“I guess I’m sad university is ending, however, I also know that I have no room to be sad, since I have to accompany you guys to take revenge on my family–” Sophia said, breaking the awkward silence at the table as Rocky almost choked on his food listening to those fake words.

The atmosphere between the four was already awkward because of Erin and Sophia being face to face with each other for the first time after their spar, however, Erin tolerated her presence solely because Rocky asked him to, whereas Sophia had a blast watching Erin avoid eye contact with her.

“Buhara is going to crush the bad guys and help puny human save his sister! Buhara can’t wait to jump into his first big battle–” said Buhara, as he ate a large bite of his food portion, which was almost as big as Sophia’s food plate.

Sophia winced momentarily when Buhara mentioned about Rocky’s sister, however, she quickly hid that expression and pretended as if she did not hear Buhara as she engrossed herself in sipping wine.

“Yeah, from now on we are no longer students and can be considered as proper climbers and soon we will be going to war for my sister.

It feels like only yesterday when we were first sitting in this cafeteria and I was tasting alien food dishes for the first time with you guys, however, time has flown by quickly and we are now graduates.

It’s been a wild year, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way even if I could re-do it all over again.

I feel blessed to have friends like you and for me meeting you guys has been a greater blessing than studying here at this prestigious institution” Rocky said, as he expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Erin and Buhara, while speaking empty words for Sophia.

“Haha, it’s my greatest honor to have met you Sir Rocky, I’ll follow you to the gates of hell if I have to” Said Erin, as he stared at Sophia when wording ‘Gates Of Hell’ as if implying that her company was like hell, to which Sophia snorted in response.

Rocky and Buhara chuckled slightly looking at this banter, knowing full well that these fleeting moments of harmless jokes will never come again.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep