The dining hall of Etherlight Academy was usually filled with clattering spoons, steaming trays, and students pretending to eat vegetables. But today, it echoed with something else—existential dread.
"Shit!" groaned a student from Class D, dramatically dropping his half-eaten bread onto the plate. "I got a back in Non-Elemental Magic Theory! This is the end of me. Tell me—what's the cost of a carry-over paper form?"
His friend sitting beside him, who looked just as dead inside, sighed. "How should I know? I've got two backs—one in History of the World and the other in Monster Knowledge. Even I'm hunting for answers. But you know what I heard? My senior told me the price of a COP form is, like, 500 Achievement points!"
The Class D student nearly choked on his misery. "FIVE HUNDRED AP?! Bro, I can't even afford extra sauce with my noodles, how am I supposed to pay that?"
