Aeon Nether & Idol Effigy

Chapter 66- Final results

Students on either side of me were staring wide eyed at the options. It wasn't necessarily the end result of our shelters. Even if a year passed in the options we'd need to wait for our constructed shelters to either completely collapse or be repaired excessively after our initial shelters build truly has its durability tested and broken.

Now the dolls in the options were still mostly alive. All of the dolls in my options all survived, as was the case for four other people, because most people in the room focused on certain options to make their shelters to their best in their first or get luck with the second or third option.

However the cases of those dolls who absconded were expected. We weren't watching them with keen eyes that were strictly paying attention to them twenty four seven observant every second of time that passed for us as a second, but for them might equate to a couple of minutes at times. I don't know how time works in any world without this fast forward type of version debacle.

As I sat in a seat near the options that were being viewed per person, the options that had no dolls in were talked about in a manner akin to analysis and then sent away from the table we'd be observing. Those options were sped up after briefly analysing until we heard a single high pealing bell sound. The sound announced that the shelter could no longer act as a shelter anymore through its state of decreased durability and damage intake. To cheese the results people normally made various rooms and floors into their designs to elongate the time their designs can maintain their nouns. I didn't try the whole two floors or more thing in my first two options, but tried for my third. However, the design clearly showed no attempts to cheese the results. Moreso an attempt of endangering the results by building two shelters connected by a thin passage somewhat deep underwater.

About fifteen shelters were eliminated in the first go through this morning. After the mandatory break and lecturer we came back to the shelters to find more than two months had passed.

The first first option shelter had been eliminated this time, along with five other first option ones and everyone else's second option shelters. However, this time everyone more or less was pleased, because getting to pass more than a month meant that they had passed the average of the world's result for this course. So this observation was more relaxed even though five people were entirely eliminated this time.

After a while of breaks, lectures, note taking and observations Sir Eustace stated the final overall results. Yet all I could hear clearly was, "... congratulations Aeon you came in at first place and had the shelter that both survived the longest and was in the best condition."

"Aeon!", a joyful Aster grappled me into a hug as she shouted my name in a half screech.

I let my arms gently coddle her in a consoling manner. From past experiences she wasn't one to become so excited so easily unless she or someone close to her lived through a life threatening situation. This time her excitement was slightly strange. If I'd just survived some sort of trial it would only raise more questions.

Why? Who also was tried? Were we the only ones seizing life that we didn't know we were seizing, except from a few who were aware of it all? Did they really put a course like this up?

I didn't ask.

Instead I complied with her episode with no questions in my usual manner, "Um, Aster? I think I'm straight." I joked in an amused half whisper that was clearly heard by everyone else. It was a bragging right for a girl like Aster to fall for me. Although, all she was was a girl to me. Same for that Harold or Harvey guy. I liked the concept, but it wasn't a long term thing. It felt acceptable to play a girlfriend fanning role and then potentially move onto a mother role. I wasn't going to let Trina's whole destroying this world thing get to me. Another example of how Emma's emotionlessness had somehow been ingrained into me.

"Ahem." Sir Eustace interrupted our mid class celebration. "You all still need to wait in class for your other results to come in- Oh! It seems they've arrived. Please open your envelopes and turn on your tablets to see your rankings."

A yellow trolley had brought in our manilla envelopes. Everyone got their envelopes or larger parcels. My results were in a parcel showing just how many courses I'd applied to. Now that they and the certificate were piled up in a parcel it showed just how impossible for my previous world this amount of studying was. Or maybe it was just my lack of brains and nutrition in my past life that made this an impossibility, knowing that people would work three or so jobs to pay for the course they take whilst in university alongside studying without a good amount of sleep or food. With such amazing people my pessimism just grew through the little amount of life that I had.

A list of A's and A pluses or stars filled my results, another indicator from this impossible world.

The tablet made me breathe once again. I'd just missed out of the top three by giving all my best. I noticed Felix was first and Harvey had stopped his enactment on the motif of being average to come in second place. Average Harvey, that was holistically above average, coming in second place was too real for me. It was always the real average scores that one up me, a couple of times. The third place was Drag and after my name I noticed a whole slew of names of non-human/half-human names, along with names of those who were all people who had finished dungeon service tagged onto their name. It made me think for half a second before I looked up to find everyone pleased with their results. After finding the pleased expressions I was more or less aware that everyone in this class were geniuses in their own rights. I feel like I'd accidentally entered the overachievers class by mistake.