A Fate Worse Than

Some time later

John cast Observe one more time on the slime as it dissolved another sheet of paper. Its relationship score had reached +100 earlier and then stopped. John had tried to see if maybe he could get it higher, but it refused to budge by even just a single point. John sighed as he put his more than half emptied notebook back into his schoolbag, and then put that into his inventory. It seemed that he now had little choice but to have faith that what he had done so far would be enough. 

But what should he do now? The troll-slime still hadn’t moved from its spot. As long as you didn’t count the fact that it still slowly but surely spread itself across the hallway. So it wasn’t like he would be able to squeeze past now that he had fed it. Observe had told him that it had the intelligence of trolls, and as far as he knew, trolls could actually be really smart in reality. But although his hopeful side told him that, the realist within him felt that it was probably closer to the classic big, dumb brute he was familiar with.

Let’s see, how do I want to go about this? Do I push forward and hope that it’s smart enough to not dissolve me? Hmm, well this is Wentworth that we’re talking about. So maybe how I chose to deal with the slime was actually part of some test? Or maybe the safer option is that since this is Miss. Wentworth we’re talking about, how I chose to deal with the slime was all part of some test. So perhaps the safer option would be to check if the spatial loop she placed is gone now? Well, I guess it’s worth a shot, anyway, John thought to himself as he began to walk away from the living wall of slime.

John placed his hands into his pockets as he casually moved through the hallway. He had dismissed his Soul Weapon earlier in the name of mana preservation. Since there were seemingly no further threats, it would have been a waste to keep it out. He knew that the only other things in the Barrer, aside from himself, were the slime and Wentworth. But he didn’t put it past her to suddenly create or summon more monsters for him to face. As such, he may need to recall his scythe.

Soon enough, he had walked past the point where he would have normally looped back to the slime. It seemed like he had indeed passed Wentwoth’s test and was now allowed to continue forward. He took the long way around to reach her class, and during that time, was lucky enough to not encounter any more obstacles or challenges. Now, did that mean that he thought that he was already done? That there wouldn't be anything else? Of course not. But at the same time, a questionable ease was still better than a new hurdle around every corner.

He was soon able to see her classroom, whose front door had been left wide open. John peeked around the corner of the doorway. He looked into the classroom, but couldn’t see anyone or anything. He guessed that Wentworth was likely in her office, and took a tentative step into the room. Thankfully, although he had been paranoid about last second traps or enemies, nothing appeared. He walked past her desk and noticed a paper on it. One that had his name written on the top. 

That of course, was enough to grab his attention and make him look closer. It was a simple, white sheet of paper. And aside from his name, it was completely devoid of anything else.

”Your next test, Mr. Newman, will be one of intellect instead of wisdom. Take that paper and sit down at a desk, then you may begin,” Wentworth’s voice instructed him from inside his mind. Why she couldn’t just tell him all this in person, he didn’t know for sure. But perhaps she was just someone who had a thing for the dramatic and theatrical? Although her exterior certainly never alluded to that.

He pushed those kinds of thoughts to the side as he grabbed the paper and sat down at his own desk. There wasn’t really a reason why he picked it except out of reflex. After he made himself as comfortable as he could on the seat, John reached into his inventory to pull out his backpack and grab a pencil. After he did so, he looked down at the paper before him. And his eyes widened. 

It had somehow multiplied from being just one sheet to now being a small stack of papers that were stapled together! He quickly skimmed over each page, only to see that they were completely covered with question upon question! Wentworth hadn’t done him the favor of numbering them, but there had to be at least over a hundred! And that was before taking into account the ones with multiple parts. There were few multiple choice or other easy looking ones, and many, many short questions that demanded at least a paragraph each.

He looked at the topics of the questions themselves. The first couple of pages were dedicated solely to demons. From the history of their species, the hierarchy and politics of the 13 Devils, down to the general anatomy for each kind of demon. The next set was about the Abyss as a whole, Which asked about different guilds such as the Order of the Golden Rose and the different events they were a part of, both seemingly Abyssal and mundane.

Holy Hell. I know Wentworth asked me to do some research on all this stuff, but this is just ridiculous! I would have done more if I had known there would be a pop quiz on it! Actually no, no amount of studying could have prepared me for this, John thought to himself as he glanced at the entrance to Wentworth’s office. Blair had told him that putting one Barrier on top of another was a bad idea. So if he had to guess, then that meant she was in this Barrier’s copy of her real office and not her true one. Although then one would have to wonder how it went from this Barrier to the other. Did this Barrier end at the office’s entrance? No, that shouldn’t work. 

John shook his head to try and focus his wandering mind. Like it or not, this was the path he had chosen, and now he would just have to resign himself to his fate. Although a part of him wanted to try to just hand her the test without answering it, or to just give random answers, John had a feeling that wouldn't fly well with her.

With a sigh heavier than Mt. Everest, John flipped to the front page and began to fill it out as best he could.