Nobody moved.
Nova's hand then extended in the air. The moment Lucas saw Nova raise his right hand, his reaction was instant. Whisperfang materialized in his grip, the dagger appearing out of thin air as he brought it up, ready.
"...Nice to meet you," Nova said, carefully. "I'm Nova. I think we'll get along really well."
Silence.
Then Celia and Gideon both said "WHAT" at exactly the same time.
Lucas blinked. Looked at the extended hand. Looked at Nova's face. "What?"
"Huh," he said. "Hey- yeah, easy with that thing." Nova raised his other hand too, full surrender, eyes on the blade. "I'm serious, I'm not here to fight. Look you got disowned from the Ironharts, so as far as I'm concerned you're not my problem. The whole Frostvale-Ironhart thing doesn't apply to you anymore." He scratched the back of his neck. "I just have a weird way of introducing myself apparently."
"That was your introduction?" Celia stared at him. "You stood up, stared him down, made the whole room think you were about to start something, and that was your introduction?"
"I said it was weird!"
Gideon had both hands over his face.
Lucas kept looking at Nova for a moment longer. Trying to figure out if this was genuine or if there was something underneath it. Nova looked back at him with that open, slightly awkward expression of someone who genuinely means what they're saying and is aware they've made it much harder to believe than it needed to be.
Lucas let out a quiet breath. The dagger disappeared.
"Sure," he said. "We'll get along."
He reached out and shook Nova's hand. Nova's grin came back immediately wide and easy, like the last thirty seconds had never happened. Celia and Gideon both exhaled at the same time.
Across the room, Sylvia, who had watched the entire thing with the calm detached attention of someone observing something mildly interesting, turned her gaze away again. Done with it.
The room settled.
The door opened and a staff member stepped in, thin, precise, adjusting his glasses before speaking.
"The Headmaster will see you now."
The office was different from everywhere else in the academy.
Everything else Lucas had seen so far was built to impress the towers, the training grounds, the library that seemed to absorb light.
This room was built for something quieter than that. Shelves along every wall, books and artifacts arranged with real care, the kind of care that says these things are used not just displayed. Wide windows letting in clean afternoon light. The polished floor catching it and spreading it evenly. Nothing in the room was there by accident.
Beatrice was behind the desk, relaxed, watching them file in.
"Thank you for coming," she said. "Sit."
They sat.
Lucas glanced at her while the others were settling into their chairs. Just a look. Casual. Then quietly, without moving his eyes from her face —
'Perception.'
The screen appeared.
________________
[Analyzing — Beatrice Gray]
[Strength: 100]
[Mana: 140]
[Magic: Nature]
[Age: 51]
________________
'A hundred strength.' He looked at her sitting there, completely at ease, one hand resting on the desk, the other in her lap. 'Mana at a hundred and forty.' She looked like someone's composed, slightly strict aunt. She could level the building they were sitting in without breaking a sweat. 'She is genuinely terrifying.'
He kept his face completely still.
"I'll get straight to it," Beatrice said, folding her hands on the desk. "I called you here because I want to understand something. Specifically, how each of you interpreted the real objective of the entrance exam. Not the stated one. The actual one." Her eyes moved across the group. "How did you figure out how performance points were earned?"
A brief silence.
Then Sylvia stepped forward slightly in her seat.
"It wasn't complicated," she said, her voice flat and unhurried. "You told us to survive and defeat mana beasts. Survival alone just means passing, it's the floor, not the ceiling. The ranking had to come from something else. Defeating beasts earns points. The harder the beast, the more points. Efficiency in combat determines rank, not just making it to day five."
Nobody in the room disagreed. Because nobody in the room had thought about it any differently.
'That's exactly it,' Lucas thought. 'Word for word what I figured out during all those days in the forest.'
Beatrice smiled. She clapped twice, soft and clean, the sound carrying easily in the quiet room.
"Correct," she said. "Precisely what I expected from cadets who ranked where you did." She looked across the rest of them. "Walk me through your individual approaches."
"Volume," Nova said, arms folded. "I hit as many goblins as I could find early, then moved up to harder beasts when I had the momentum. Kept moving the whole time."
"I tried to be balanced about it," Celia said. "Didn't want to overcommit to fights I wasn't sure about, so I picked targets carefully and made sure I was surviving well enough to keep going."
"Pretty much the same logic," Lucas said. "Fight what you can handle, survive the rest, and keep pushing forward."
Gideon gave a small smile. "Similar approach, but I leaned toward the safer end. Consistent and careful rather than aggressive."
Beatrice nodded at each of them. Then she looked at Sylvia.
"And you?"
"I ignored the goblins entirely," Sylvia said. "Only mana beasts. From the start."
The room went quiet for a second.
Nova turned his head slowly. "...The whole time? Only mana beasts?"
Sylvia didn't answer that like it was a question that needed answering.
"That's risky," Celia said. She wasn't criticizing, she genuinely meant it. One bad fight in the first hour and the exam would have been over.
Gideon let out a quiet breath. "Well. That explains first place." He shook his head slightly, not resentful, just honest.
Lucas looked at Sylvia for a moment. She wasn't watching any of them. Just sitting straight, eyes forward, like this conversation was a formality she was waiting to be done with. 'She's not just strong... she's insane,' he thought.
Beatrice unfolded her hands and leaned forward slightly.
"One more question," she said. Her tone shifted, not harder, just more focused. More personal. "This one is for you, Lucas."
Lucas looked up. "Me?"
"You," she said, without hesitation. "I've heard what people say about you. Talentless. No magic. An embarrassment to the family name. Those words have been following you for a while."
She said it plainly, the way you say something you've already decided you don't fully believe. "And then you walked into a forest with those rumors attached to you and came out ranked fourth." Her golden eyes settled on him, steady and curious. "So I want to know — what is your magic element?"
The question landed in the room and stayed there.
"Yeah," Nova said immediately, leaning forward. The easy grin was gone, this was genuine. "I've been wondering that since I saw your name on the screen. Fourth place with no element doesn't add up."
"Same," Celia said, eyes on him. "Someone who places above that many cadets isn't average. There's no version of this where you're average."
Gideon nodded slowly. "I was honestly expecting fire. Most Ironharts are fire element. But I don't think that's it." He looked at Lucas with quiet curiosity. "After everything the rumors, the disownment, the ranking, I really can't figure you out."
All five of them watching him now. Beatrice with that steady, patient curiosity. Nova leaning in. Celia's eyes not leaving his face. Gideon waiting calmly. Even Sylvia and this was the thing that surprised him most had turned her head slightly. Just slightly. Just enough.
Everyone in the room wanted the same answer.