“Neo Hargraves.
“Number of Shadow defeated: 3 (Arthur’s Shadow, Lucas’ Shadow, and Harrison’s Shadow)
“Number of Shadow monsters defeated: 1,243”
Charlotte stopped speaking and stared at Neo.
The hall was submerged into an icy silence.
No one could believe what they heard.
Neo alone defeated three of the strongest Shadows and killed more than twice Shadow monsters than all of them combined.
Surprisingly, no one objected to the report.
After hearing what happened during the mission from Nathan, they had guessed Neo was stronger than he revealed.
Nonetheless, the contents of the reports were beyond their imagination. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Jack opened his mouth.
“I thought the team defeated Arthur’s Shadow together?”
“I did it alone.”
“But you said….”
Jack closed his mouth.
Clearly, he had misunderstood Neo’s words back then.
“You defeated that monster and came to rescue to me after that?”
His rhetorical words sent the hall words in a flurry.
“Neo, why have you been hiding your strength!?”
“I knew my rival…”
“You…”
They surrounded Neo and spoke without a break.
“Silence!” Charlotte shouted. “The mission evaluation has not ended yet!”
The group became quiet.
They returned to their seats.
“Neo Hargraves, it’s clear to everyone that the S-mission’s success would’ve been impossible without you.
“However, you’ve failed miserably as a team leader.
“You left only three members at Depth Level 2. Did it occur to you what would’ve happened if a Shadow managed to sneak past you into Depth Level 2?
“Those three could’ve died and your path of retreat would’ve been blocked.
“You failed to make proper use of Mars Everhart. Despite being one of the strongest demigods in the mission, he barely had any opportunity to make use of his strength.
“You did not take into account the probability of Lucas’ Shadow appearing when you entered the Window. Your carelessness led to death of Gwen di Langley, Kendrick di Valemont, Clara Brown, and Jack Hanma.
“You failed to pursue Leonora von Villiers and took her to Depth Level 3 when she was in no condition to fight. Your lack of decisiveness led to the death of a once in a century genius.
“After the first defeat against the Shadows, you should’ve retreated and left the Window. But you did not. Instead of low-risk and low-reward scenario, you took the high-risk and high-reward path, which led to death of multiple students.
“Your Death affinity was an important technique to detect the ambushes. It could decide the life and death of entire team.
“Even after knowing this, you left the team and proceeded to go towards Depth Level 5 alone to rescue a teammate who might or might not have been alive.
“It needs to be mentioned you had no sure-fire method of defeating Arthur’s Shadow. You gambled with your life and the entire team’s life.
“Mission Evaluation: F-”
Her words made the group’s face harden.
None of the mistakes were Neo’s alone.
All of them were to be equally blamed.
They could not have done better than Neo if they were the mission leader.
“Neo Hargraves, the deaths of the students in S-rank mission are your responsibility and yours alone.
“Do you accept the mission evaluation?”
“I do.”
Charlotte smiled.
“Good. It seems you understand your own weaknesses.
“Take this report as a lesson and improve as much as you can.”
When Neo went to recieve the report, she added in a whisper,
“Your evaluation is better than what most mission leaders receive for their first S-rank mission.”
Neo nodded.
He knew most of them received FFF rank evaluation.
Percival, the current student council president, made a record by receiving an FF+ rank evaluation.
Neo’s F- rank evaluation was a new record.
However, Neo was not satisfied with it.
Just because others failed didn’t mean he had to fail too.
He could’ve done better.
He should’ve done better.
‘One F-rank evaluation from the A-rank phoenix mission and another from S-rank mission.’
‘One more F rank evaluation and our team will be disbanded.’
Neo returned to the seats.
After another speech, Charlotte ended the mission evaluation ceremony.
The group left the assembly hall.
Neo was bombarded with questions.
He decided to leave when the questions seemed like they would continue on forever.
“I need to meet Prof. Daniel to heal my injuries. See you guys later.”
Neo slipped away before anyone could stop him.
He approached the meditation hall.
The place was empty.
After entering the dojo-like building, he went towards the office.
He knocked.
“Professor Daniel?”
There was no reply.
He knocked again, louder.
“Professor Daniel, I was sent to you by the principal.”
“Stop crying. I’m opening the door.”
The door opened.
Professor Daniel stood at the door and stared at Neo.
“Why are you here? You seem to be already healed.”
“I wanted to ask if you could help me awaken my Time element. Of course, I’ll compensate you.”
Professor Daniel took a good look at him.
Before he could speak, a voice flowed from the office,
“Daniel, who is there?”
“No one important.”
He turned to Neo.
“Wait here, I’m busy right now.”
Professor Daniel shut the door at Neo’s face.
Neo sat on the seats outside on the corridor.
The sun reached the peak and hid behind the horizon after a few hours.
The voices from the office disappeared.
“Did he leave from a backdoor?”
It confirmed Neo’s suspicion.
“He is just messing with me.”
Still Neo did not leave.
He remained seated outside the office room.
To pass time, he manifested the Aura of Darkness and trained with it.
Neo was focused on improving his control.
He lost the track of time.
A familiar voice shook him out of his reverie.
“Neo, where have you been for the past two days?”
“…?”
Neo opened his eyes.
He saw Jack.
“Two days?”
His stomach grumbled.
Sighing, Neo stood up.
“Since you are here, I guess it’s time to meet the Sphinx?”
“Yeah, that’s why I came to find you.”
“I see. Let’s go.”
They met with others.
Mars and Arthur seemed to have become quite close after training together.
While the group was waiting for someone to bring them to the Sphinx, Felix brought him snacks.