The weekend passed, and a new week began—the week of the Cyclops performance evaluation.
At the same time, life at Kizen underwent a major change starting this week.
That was—
"Scott Snyder. Ten-point deduction."
The student protection period had completely ended.
From this point on, professors could officially evaluate and grade students. Penalties and disciplinary actions could now be issued without restriction.
"You brought this garbage and dared to call it homework?"
"Too slow! Too slow! You're all way too slow! TAs! Deduct twenty points from anyone who can't keep up!"
"Get out of my class immediately."
The professors of Kizen revealed their true colors as if they had been waiting for this moment.
It was hard to believe they were the same professors who had treated students so kindly before. Their attitudes had flipped completely.
Classes became far more intense, and students who failed to keep up lost points without mercy. Some were even thrown out of class outright for falling behind.
Though despair filled the students' faces as they faced the faculty's sudden change in attitude, they finally began to understand what it truly meant to study at Kizen.
The weak are not needed at Kizen.
That principle proved itself quickly.
Within just two days after the protection period ended, twenty students were already packing their bags and leaving the school.
And this was before midterms, performance evaluations, or duel assessments had even begun.
For Knox, this sudden shift in atmosphere over the past two days somehow made him reminisce about his past life—back when even the smallest mistake could make the most dangerous and temperamental professors immediately scold and grind whoever made that mistake to dust.
If there was one professor who continued treating students the same as before—
"Alright, run!"
"Yes!"
—it was Hong Feng, the Magical Combat professor.
To be precise, she had never really acknowledged the protection period in the first place. From the very beginning, she had students cling to running hippos, cast curses on them while climbing hills, and even charge head-on into entire herds of hippos.
So unlike other professors whose classes suddenly became much harder, Hong Feng's class felt exactly the same as ever.
If anything, students had begun to see Magical Combat class as a relatively comfortable one.
She also wasn't the type to nitpick over small mistakes for point deductions or pressure students psychologically.
"Huff! Huff! Still, this kind of activity that doesn't require using your brain is the best!"
Cindy gasped for breath as she ran beside Knox, Claudia, and Merida.
"I can still see Professor Bahil's eyes when he deducted ten points from Rick back-to-back! Huff! Huff! Magical Combat forever! Damn it! I'm taking it again next semester!"
Hearing this, Knox and Claudia giggled.
As for Merida, she remained silent as usual. But this time her silence felt a little different from her usual quiet demeanor.
After all, Knox had managed to brib— ahem, convince her with a generous supply of desserts so she wouldn't slack off during the run.
Then Knox suddenly noticed something.
"Hm?"
Cindy, Claudia, and Merida turned their heads as well, only to notice something strange—something out of place.
"Huh… Meilyn?" Claudia asked.
The usually lagging Meilyn was now running alongside them, gasping for breath yet stubbornly maintaining her pace.
"…She's seriously fired up. Huff! But why's she like that?" Claudia asked.
"Because tomorrow's the Cyclops evaluation," Knox replied.
As the leader and designated combatant of Team 7, Meilyn felt a strong sense of responsibility toward the performance evaluation.
Her greatest weakness was her lack of stamina. Her movements were slow, making her vulnerable to a Cyclops' attacks.
That was why, instead of focusing entirely on practicing Dark Flare, she had devoted her remaining time to physical training.
Top score in the written entrance exam.
One of top students of Class A.
The only one to average scores in the 90s on Professor Jane's test.
(Excluding Knox, who scored perfect hundreds on everything.)
Knox already knew that this genius, Meilyn, was also a relentless hard worker.
According to the original novel, Meilyn barely even slept because of her studies.
If you went to the girls' dorm lounge late at night after finishing your own study session and returned the next morning, you could still find Meilyn sitting in the exact same spot—tissue stuffed in her nose, still studying.
She used medication to fight off fatigue and drowsiness so her classes wouldn't suffer.
From the moment she woke up to the moment she collapsed—
Study. Study. Study.
The problem was, Knox didn't even realize that he himself had become one of the biggest reasons Meilyn pushed herself this hard.
Meilyn possessed an extremely competitive personality.
Before, she believed that proving herself at Kizen would allow her to surpass Serene.
But with Knox's appearance, the path she had imagined suddenly felt blocked by an immeasurable wall.
Then suddenly—
"Alright, now rest!"
As soon as Hong Feng gave the command, the students collapsed onto the grass as if they had been waiting for that moment.
The TAs immediately went around, distributing recovery drinks to the exhausted students.
The teaching assistants distributed the recovery drinks they had prepared to each student.
Knox also accepted a drink and headed toward Cindy and Claudia.
"Ah, Knox."
"Hmm, you two. Where's Merida?"
"Sleeping soundly over there."
"...Ah."
While Knox was casually chatting with the two of them, from a distance, the teaching assistants suddenly clapped their hands and raised their voices.
"Okay, everyone, wake up! Let's run straight to our next destination!"
The students groaned but got up again and started running in a line.
After running like that for a while, they arrived at a field of yellow rapeseed flowers in full bloom and took a short break.
While the students rested, the professors and teaching assistants checked their progress and offered guidance.
An assistant also approached Cindy to check her ability to use the pitch-black spell.
Then suddenly—
a noisy sound echoed from somewhere nearby.
"Huh? What is that?"
"…I think someone got hurt."
"Huh, someone got hurt?" Claudia said.
Hearing that, Knox let out a quiet sigh.
Looks like this 'event' will still happen even if I'm here…
Then he spoke aloud.
"Let's go, guys. I have a feeling it's someone we know."
Hearing this, Cindy and Claudia immediately followed behind Knox.
Meanwhile, Merida—who had been lying lazily on the grass a moment ago—was suddenly lifted into the air by the back of her collar, pulled along by Knox's telekinesis magic.
"…Kidnapping," Merida muttered flatly as she dangled slightly behind them.
They quickly moved toward the source of the commotion.
Then—
Group 8 froze in place, except for Knox.
Among the murmuring students, they saw a female student being carried on a TA's back.
Bandages were tightly wrapped around her ankle.
It was Meilyn.