Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 11. Midterm

Since the total number of students taking the midterm was low, those first year that signed up were told to gather at one of the large classrooms where the 200 or so first year students easily fitted with plenty of space remaining.

Sitting between Clare and Lovetta, Ken wished them both the best of luck and once the tests began, it was time for Ken to put all of his studying to work.

Unbeknownst to the students, the enchanted tests have different versions where no two-person next to each other will be taking the same test and that made it easy for the professor to watch over the students without needing to worry about any cheating that could be taking place.

For Ken, obviously Clare would be the best person if he wanted to cheat, but she is not even taking the same exams since she already had a perfect 40 points for all of the written exams up to advanced level and is instead here taking expert and master level tests for other subjects to improve her overall score.

Looking at the tests for the second time, unlike 5 months ago when Ken was so lost and had no idea where to begin, he was able to easily answer quite a few questions and felt a sense of relief and happiness that all of his studying wasn't in vain.

After focusing for over 2 hours and looking through all of his answers and being satisfied, Ken finally looked around and saw Clare was still fully concentrated on her exams while Lovetta was already fast asleep next to him.

Since Clare is taking more than 4 subjects, she was provided much longer to finish her exams than the 3 hours for Ken and Lovetta. Ken decided to poke Lovetta on the stomach which startled the wolf girl awake and wished Clare good luck and told her to meet up later in the dining hall.

"How long did you take? Seems like you were sound sleep for quite a while." Ken asked as he and Lovetta handed in their tests and headed to the training hall to meet up with Alice and Genesis.

"I think after about 30minutes, I just couldn't answer anything else and fell asleep shorter after while waiting for you." Lovetta answered sheepishly.

Knowing she has been struggling with the written portion, Ken didn't want to push her too far since they still have the practical exam in the afternoon.

After meeting up with Alice and Genesis, the four stayed in the packed training room for a while to get in some last-minute training and tips. The four headed for the dining room a bit after noon, ready for some food and the practical exams later in the day.

Clare joined the group around 1 after taking 5 whole hours to finish her exams.

"How did it go Clare? Do you think you passed the expert portions yet?" Ken asked as Clare sat down with her food.

"Don't think I was able to pass any expert level, I did pretty well but there are still a lot of things I need to learn to pass the expert levels and the master level portion was mostly beyond me, but I did at least get a few questions right on each." Clare was clearly disappointed that all of her studying and hard work wasn't enough to get the results she wanted.

"Clare, you need to set your expectation a little lower. They give you 5 whole years to pass one single expert level and here you are upset you couldn't pass any after a single semester? You know how much pressure you are putting on a lowly peasant like me? Why do you care about the written tests anyways, aren't you trying to be the number one hero?" Ken tried his best to cheer Clare up the only way he knows how.

"Well, you are a lowly peasant anyways, so you don't need to set your goals like me.

You know there is more to fighting and magic than just the practical part, right? You know healing magic can only be performed by combining scientific knowledge and understanding of the human body and time magic? Same with teleportation, protection, and almost every other high-level magic.