Quest Academy: Silvers, page 62
So, one of our highest results!
Only broken by our next group. A flawless record of nineteen straight wins, as well as an average team score of 93.2%! Silver Cohort’s Team #2, led by Salvatore Argento.
To have two teams with the last picks of the roster, achieving results like this? It calls for an acknowledgment.
Your rewards have been allocated based on cohort, but now, we’d like to allocate some spot prizes for exemplary performance across the whole group of first-years.
Who better to start with than our flawless teams?
Both will be exempt from outing costs for the remainder of the semester, to give them more experience out in the field. In addition to that, we’ll be giving them Challenge crests to showcase their incredible achievement. This will be worn on their uniform and accredited on their Q-Cards, for all the guilds to see.
Now, before we move on to the rankings, which I know you’re all desperately interested in…we need to shuffle the cohort leaderboards to reflect your overall grades in the class.
Sal looked up at the screen and was pleasantly surprised to see that a whole screen was dedicated to the Gold and Silver cohorts. His eyes locked onto Erika’s name first, before flitting over to the Silver column to see his name. It was showing their current standings, as it had been before. And then the shuffle began.
1. Salvatore Argento - Team #2 - 93%
2. Jenni Stravos - Team #17 - 89%
3. Divinity Khan - Team #1 - 87%
4. Lucia Hernandez - Team #4 - 83%
5. Whisper Ding - Team #12 - 82%
6. Victoria Chase - Team #7 - 79%
7. Evan McGregor - Team #6 - 72%
8. Crypto Daniels - Team #18 - 71%
9. Gerard Kilsee - Team #20 - 68%
10. Sanna Sinervo - Team #16 - 65%
11. Marta Virgo - Team #14 - 64%
12. Borja Diez - Team #15 - 63%
13. Con LaFleur - Team #13 - 61%
14. Trent Golde - Team #11 - 60%
15. Dominic Walters - Team #3 - Fail
16. Xander Michaels - Team #9 - Fail
17. Zachary Lowe - Team #10 - Fail
18. Michael Welling - Team #8 - Fail
19. Christopher Gage - Team #5 - Fail
20. Harold Gunn - Team #19 - Fail
Sal couldn’t believe there was such a small margin between the teams. The average scores were crippling a lot of the teams that had a strong captain and a weak team. He was delighted to see that Divinity had gone up a place, but sad for Lucia going down two. It made sense to him, though, considering Lucia was very much the strongest on her team, which likely didn’t give them much opportunity to shine. Gerard dropping down the list was a beautiful thing to see, too.
Okay, you should have had ample time to see your new position on the board.
Every team that achieved over 80% is an example to the rest of you. As a reward, all that got over 80% as an average will be eligible to fast-track into the Intermediate Combat class from this point forward.
The top six you see on each board right now will be moving into the inter-cohort competition. We’ve rewarded the previous listings with Q-Cred prizes, but the competition will be for those who heeded our teachings and achieved cohesion and synergy on their team.
Now, I think it’s time for us to show the new rankings!
Sal’s stomach was tied in knots. Not only were his rewards terrible, but now he was potentially going to be fast-tracked into the next tier of Combat class? Outings sounded like the last thing he wanted to do in the first place, so having an exemption for those was somewhat useless. The only thing that kept his smile intact was the look on Gerard’s face at hearing that he was out of the competition.
Chapter 84:
Rankings
As this day marks the end of your first month at the academy, I’d like to remind you all that the rankings will be determined by more than just the results of this competition. Your behavior, performance, and willingness to take that extra step…all of those factors were taken into consideration. Some of the students in this amphitheater helped save countless lives by using their abilities to prevent a horrific outcome.
We had a group of Controllers come together to stamp out bullying and anti-social behavior, making the campus safer for first-years than ever before. Community outreach programs were established by some of you, volunteering your time and abilities to helping those in need. We’ve had students spending sleepless nights working for the guilds to build their reputation and personal brand.
We even have a secret Healer who has been submitting anonymous diagnostic reports to faculty, which resulted in helping a lot of people who didn’t even know they were sick.
I tell you all of this so you know that just attending your classes and doing the bare minimum required of you? It’s not going to help you in the rankings, because we see everything. This shift in rankings will not affect your cohorts. From this point onward, it’s very possible that one of the cohorts with the highest increase in rank will become substantially stronger than the others. But that’s something that’s not relevant just yet.
So, you can stop holding your breath!
Here are the new overall listings!
Sal’s eyes shot upward and started to look for his name but was dismayed to find that it was starting in reverse order. He knew it was to build suspense for the finale, and the look on Quest’s face confirmed that very suspicion. What was more troublesome was the fact that these were the new rankings. Every name that appeared, starting from one thousandth, was likely going to fail at the end of the semester and lose their place in the academy. If the estimates were to be believed, the first two hundred and fifty names out of the thousand that appeared, in reverse order, would be going home in a few months.
Blathnaid’s knuckles were white as she gripped her knees tightly. Her eyes watched the screen as it flicked through a new name every second.
Sal leaned across Barry and placed a reassuring hand on hers. “You’re going to be fine! We did great.”
Her quick look to Sal had a half smile, but the lack of color in her cheeks told Sal that he wasn’t going to convince her any time soon. Jack was playing it nonchalant while he reclined in his seat, but his eyes were also locked onto it. The first familiar name that appeared on the screen made Sal’s stomach lurch, because it suddenly became real. Kane was in the nine hundreds and had somehow lost places from his original rank. Sal hadn’t seen him since they had those coffees together in the first week. He knew that Kane had been injured, but with everything going on with Combat class and the workshop, Sal had completely forgotten about him.
Harold Gunn was the next familiar name to appear on the list, still in the nine hundreds and likely another decrease in rank. When it entered the eight hundreds, Sal realized that Melanie’s name hadn’t yet appeared. If he recalled correctly, her original rank was somewhere in the high nine hundreds. He and Divinity had managed to give her a list of instructions with Divinity’s premonitions of who to pick for the battle, but he hadn’t even thought to check her results. He couldn’t believe that he had left a potential calamity to chance like this.
“You know, you could always just ask?” Divinity laughed from behind him, causing Sal to whirl around to see her seated beside Anthony, with her team to her left.
Sal smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. “Was I that obvious in my concern?”
Instead of answering, Divinity gestured to where Melanie sat. “While you were busy making toys for the team, I saved the world. Don’t worry about it.”
Sal exhaled in relief as he sank back into his chair. “This way of revealing the rankings is torturous. Are you sure you don’t want to just tell us all where we end up?” Sal gave Divinity a pleading look, but she shook her head with a small smile.
“I wanted it to be a surprise, so I didn’t bother looking today. Other than for Melanie, and that worked out rather well, so no need to fret.”
With that, she gave Sal a wink, and he was left to wait with everyone else in a state of constant dread.
When the ranks counted down from seven hundred and fifty, a collective sigh of relief coursed through three-quarters of the amphitheater. It was insensitive to the bottom two hundred and fifty, but it was at least a sign that they weren’t at risk of being expelled. Smiles started to appear on the mid-rank faces in the crowd, but all the top rankers were tense. There was likely going to be a hectic shuffle in the last few hundred, and everyone wanted to know where they stood.
As if to reinforce the relief of the rankings, cheers and celebration started to pop out from the stands as names were revealed. It looked like many of the teams had managed to elevate some of their lower ranks through the tournament. Sal watched for names that were familiar, but he hadn’t networked all that much with the others in the class. It was a reminder of what Divinity had warned him against, of not getting to know his classmates.
Sal stopped looking at the new updates and scanned the lower ranks again to see whether there were any he missed. His eyes eventually landed on Joshua Mitchell, who was down at #846, but he wasn’t really sure where he had started. Anderson Royce was another name that Sal spotted in the early seven hundreds, which was a small relief.
“Well done, Stephen!” Divinity’s voice sounded out from behind him, and Sal looked around to see her congratulating one of the Supports on her team.
Jack and Blathnaid turned around with smiles, and Sal wondered whether being in the six hundreds was really something to celebrate at this stage. Going by Stephen’s bright grin, it was worthy of celebration to him. This happened a few more times with Divinity’s team, and that’s when the first shock happened.
Sal almost missed it, but Barry was watching the names closely. “Dominic is down in the six hundreds!”
Everyone in their row looked at the board in shock at the sudden upset, with none more horrified than Dominic himself, who let out an aggravated roar of denial. It was drowned out by the sporadic cheers from everywhere in the audience, and there didn’t look to be a single person who empathized with the Defender. For someone as promising and as strong as him, to drop from the top thirty…it had to be a crushing blow to his self-confidence. Some of the lower team captains from the Silver cohort started seeing their names, with Gerard Kilsee having found his way into the five hundreds.
“You can’t be serious…” Jack said when he saw his name appear on the screen. He must have thought that his name had got lost among the others in the lower tiers, but it shone proudly at the top of the board, indicating that his new rank was #473.
Blathnaid screamed as she slapped his shoulder in excitement, and she whipped her head around to see whether her name came up close to it. But the names kept coming and hers was nowhere to be found. Anthony appeared next, with his new rank of #412. And judging by his gaping mouth, he hadn’t been expecting such a dramatic shift up the ranks either. When Blathnaid’s name did finally appear, it was beside the #391 rank, and Jack held her as she started to cry into her hands. The next surprise for Sal was Melanie’s name, who popped up after Blathnaid, taking the #365 spot.
Barry shook his head as he looked over at Sal. “This is killing me. Should we just go and take a walk and then come back when it’s done?”
Sal wanted to agree, but Divinity gave them both a playful slap at the back of their heads.
“Nope! You’re staying until we’re all accounted for…besides, you’ll look smug if you leave before your name is called!”
Barry slumped into his seat and continued to shake his head as he watched the names. He sat in silence before a wry smile crossed his lips. “Looks like your girlfriend is doing well.”
Sal grinned at the sight of Hannah’s name on the screen. She had managed to snag the #272 spot for herself, which was a definite leap up the table for her. He couldn’t wait to find out how she had done in the tournament and how much of an impact the gauntlets had made for her team.
“Is it bad that I only know the names of the team captains?” Sal laughed nervously, but Barry snorted.
“You’re doing better than me. I barely remember Jacob’s name.”
He gestured over at Jack without looking at him. Blathnaid brought her hands away from her face long enough to slap Barry’s shoulder with a laugh. “You’re the worst.”
Sal looked at the names and noticed that Barry’s hadn’t appeared yet, which was a great sign for his progress. It suddenly dawned on him that he had no idea about Barry’s starting rank. “What was your rank when we started?”
Barry shrugged as he continued to look at the screen. “Somewhere in the low nine hundreds. I had a nap when I got to the dorms and didn’t see the message about the race or the mixer. Trust me, I’m just as perplexed as you about all of this.”
Sal burst out laughing and looked at Barry with tears growing in his eyes. “Are you serious—you had a nap?”
Barry waved his hands like it was no big deal. “I was tired.” Eventually, Barry’s face cracked into a smile as he shook his head. “Most expensive fucking nap of my life when you think about it. Looks like I’m being boosted up the ranks, though…so I guess I should thank Divinity for guilt-tripping me into using my powers?” With a turn, he gave Divinity a wide smile and in the most uncharacteristic moment of Sal knowing her, Divinity just raised her middle finger.
He laughed at Sal. “Couldn’t resist.”
In one of the most dramatic jumps, Whisper managed to break into the top two hundred. Her original spot as one of the lowest team captains had her down in the nine hundreds. Sal looked over to see her being hugged tightly by Lucia, and it looked like she was moments from being squeezed to death. It warmed his heart to see her being rewarded for her performance in the tournament, as she had definitely been one of the hardest opponents Sal faced.
With that thought in mind, his eyes wandered across the Silver cohort to see Jenni Stravos looking anxiously up at the scoreboard. Since she was the seventeenth captain, her starting rank was #969. For her name to not appear yet meant that she probably had one of the most dramatic jumps out of everyone in the amphitheater.
Sal was waiting to see the top one hundred ranks, as that would reflect the top ten original team captains of each cohort. Barry raised his hand into the air, and Sal saw the green runes activated on his arm. Before he could ask what he was doing, an explosion of fireworks appeared over the audience, catching everyone in a delighted surprise. Sal looked at him as though he were crazy, but the reasoning behind it was on the scoreboard above them.
Barry Francis - Overall Rank #98
“They’re hardly going to knock me down a few places for celebrating!” Barry chuckled as he quickly deactivated his ability.
Sal clapped his knee and laughed. “Well done, man. You deserve it!”
Rather than his usual default of deflecting away from anything serious, Barry nodded. “Thanks, Captain.” There was no hint of mockery in his tone.
Divinity, on the other hand, frowned at Barry. “You’re happy with that? You should be higher. It only puts you at #9 in our cohort if you use the original rank system.”
Barry turned around and was surprised to see that Divinity wasn’t joking. He gave her a grin and shrugged. “It’s only month one…plenty of time to get into the Savior roster!”
Sal tapped Barry on the knee to catch his attention. “Looks like things are heating up. Michael, Xander, and Zachary have dropped out of the top ten with Christopher. With Dominic gone too, that means there’s likely going to be five new people in the top ten. Four, actually, since we know you’re there.”
Divinity sighed as she shook her head. “That’s not how it works. You heard Quest…some cohorts might have more top-ranked people with this reshuffle.”
Sal nodded as he kept his eyes locked on the scoreboard. He was obviously waiting on his own name to appear on the board, but he was curious about where Lucia would land on the list. Familiar names started to pop up, and Sal was surprised to see that many of the Silver captains had stayed relatively high.
Divinity’s voice sounded out from behind Sal. “Oh, Victoria isn’t going to like that. Looks like she dropped around twenty places?”
Barry pointed at Blathnaid as if to say that it was her fault for Victoria’s demise, which only earned him another shove.
Divinity continued as she watched the names. “Evan dropped too…looks like they’ve had a similar shift. What was Lucia before the tournament?”
Sal glanced over his shoulder. “She was #39, so in fourth place in the cohort. Looks like she won’t have too much of a drop, though.”
Divinity sighed as she looked at the scoreboard. “If you think about it, for the Savior class and our cohort system, the top three out of each cohort are the ones eligible for a spot. Really puts it into perspective how competitive it’s going to be.”
The smiles on everyone’s faces faded a bit at that, but Barry just shook his head.
“It’s only the first month. We’ve got another five to get our scores up, and we’re all in the inter-cohort competition! That’s another chance to show off our skills! Just imagine what sort of equipment we could get with all this money and all that time…” Barry gave Sal a meaningful look before he returned his attention to the screen.
When Sal looked up to the scoreboard, he grimaced at the sight of Lucia’s name. She had been pushed down to #46 in the rankings, and he doubted she’d be delighted with that. When he glanced over at her, he was surprised to see her smiling back at him with a thumbs-up gesture. Lucia pointed at Sal and then at the scoreboard before holding out a single finger. She wanted him to take the top spot, but he could only shake his head and flash both of his hands at her twice, as if she’d be able to understand that he’d be happy to stay in the top twenty.
