The news made all the current first-year students excited.

After all, the year that the changes will be implemented is the year they'll be in their fourth year! It means that they'll be the first Fourth-Year students who will be participating in this event!

In addition to that, they know that they can earn plenty of contribution points if they were able to win a few medals even if they don't win the whole event.

All of them were looking forward to the day of this event. Some of them were even starting to think of what Mystical Item they would exchange for the contribution points they'll earn in the future.

"What a coincidence" Vale muttered but he didn't think too much of it. Although this is a good opportunity, he feels that it will still take a long time before this event happens.

He has no idea that this was implemented because of Headmaster Jean and Isaac Vermont's decision to advance their plans after seeing his skills.

They have motives for pushing these changes and would only be later known by Vale.

***

After a few weeks, the buzz about this event died down as they still have to face the reality. There were monthly assessments and plenty of studying to do in their first year.

As such, it didn't take long before several months had passed and the end of the year is approaching. It means that they will have some time off in the academy.

They will have two weeks of vacation allowing them to return to their homes Well, this is only possible for lower years since those in sixth-year or maybe even the fifth-year students or higher, have plenty of things to do if they wanted to graduate or earn contribution points

They have to focus on learning the third Academy-Exclusive Dark Spell if they were even thinking of participating in the next competitions or if they want to accept top-rated Missions

Well, the competition isn't the only source of Contribution Points after all. Missions issued by the Academy are the common source of these points. However, those with high rewards would have high requirements as well.

The most common requirement was recording the 3 Academy-Exclusive Spells or the Darkness Manipulation Spell, Light Absorption Spell, and the Create: Shadow Soldier Spell.

Today, December 20th of Year 894, Vale stayed in the Academy even though most of his classmates returned to their homes.

The reason was simple, he doesn't have a place to return to He can't even think of returning to Kyle Marshall's father since he felt guilty as his real son is no longer here.

He might've even been informed already that Kyle has already died.

As for the countryside where the Chambers Family is located, he also doesn't feel right going there since he only registered himself as a member of that family for the sake of entering the Academy with a different identity and to help his Master

"Vale, are you going to stay in the Academy?"

A familiar gentle voice called out to him as he walk inside the library It was Lisa Grayback who was currently tasked by her club to manage the library. She was behind the counter near the entrance and saw Vale entering with a composed look.

She was looking at Vale with worry

Apparently, another Spirit Strand assessment has been conducted two weeks ago Vale's Spirit Strand remained the same and everyone has basically confirmed that Vale's talent was already exhausted.

It no longer garnered much attention since they already predicted this in the second assessment

Currently, Maya Featherstar and Crystal Ravinie of Class 1 hold the highest record in the Spirit Strand having 29 and 26 Spirit Strand respectively.

It was well known that they both used a massive amount of wealth to accomplish this feat but no one talked about it since they were from the Core Families of the Darkness Path

Of course, it wouldn't be surprising if the two of them would also have a stagnant improvement once they turned 18 in a few more years.

With the rate of their improvement, they should have 40 to 45 Spirit Strand before they turn 18 As for Vale, many of them believe that he would no longer obtain an increase in his Spirit If he turned 18 and stayed at 25 Spirit Strand, that would basically confirm his fate.

Nevertheless, none of this bothered Vale anymore

After he showed his hostility to Neil Sommerhalder, the latter no longer bothered him afraid that he would really act on it. As for the others who were speaking some nonsense about him, he would only threaten them with his Dark Spirit if they did it in front of his face.

"Lisa"

Vale smiled after hearing Lisa's voice.

Among his friends, he felt a lot closer to her probably because she's also a commoner like him Of course, she doesn't know about Vale's background so she might have different thoughts about his identity as a son of a low-ranking noble. Nevertheless, he likes her genuine personality as she's always eager to learn about everything

"I'm not planning to leave the academy this vacation, how about you?" Vale asked.

Lisa shook her head as she replied. "We're the same It's not like someone is waiting for me at home."

Vale noticed her dejected expression so he decided to just shift the topic

"Right, have you found anything related to the Immortals?" Vale asked.

He actually asked for Lisa's help since she's always at the library and he knows that he could trust her.

"I tried However, it's not going well. There are only a few more books I have to check and I can't be sure if there's anything related to Immortals in those books. Perhaps, they're on the second floor?"

"Second floor, huh I heard that I need to pay one contribution point to access the Second Floor for a single day." Vale wryly smiled.

Although he already has some contribution points on him, he felt hesitant to use them unless he was sure that it would give him the result he wanted.

"Yes Perhaps, you can just ask the professors about them."

"I tried However, our Professors are only Second-Class and barely First-Class Practitioners so they're not aware of them as well." Vale replied since he already asked Professor Stella and Professor Lucius about the Immortals. Unfortunately, they were also clueless.

In the end, Vale had no other choice but to use his Contribution Points as he decided to explore the Library's second floor today.