Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest novel Chapter 988

"A third-tier caster activates a dual-element resonance cycle within a limited-containment zone. The first-phase elemental burst triggers a reverse-polarity response. Explain why the rejection spike does not destabilize the outer channel seal."

She clicked her tongue.

"Alright," she muttered, more to herself than to him. "We’re dealing with containment logic now. Phase interactions, dual-elemental systems..."

Astron, sitting across from her with his usual unreadable calm, glanced at the problem sheet. "The spike is offset by the caster’s pre-loop binding before the second phase begins. The rejection doesn’t destabilize the seal because it’s absorbed into the oscillation buffer during the harmonics delay window."

Irina raised an eyebrow. "You memorized this already?"

Astron shrugged lightly, flipping the page with his usual composure. "This question’s structure is nearly identical to the one Instructor Bellis solved on the board two weeks ago. The elemental inversion model was part of the class demonstration." He paused briefly. "It’s fairly easy."

Irina smirked, leaning back a little. "Indeed it is. Almost disappointingly so."

Astron didn’t respond, but his eyes flicked down to the next section of the review sheet. "Which is why it won’t be on the exam," he added simply. "Not this time. Not with all the rumors going around."

Irina’s eyes narrowed slightly. "You think they’re true? The ones about the exam being modified again?"

"I do," Astron said. "There’s too much unrest lately. Someone will want to establish control again. Academic filters are the cleanest way to do it."

Irina hummed in agreement, tapping the edge of her pen against her notebook. Her gaze drifted slightly, thoughtful, and then—

"Heh," she said suddenly, a sly grin tugging at her lips. "I thought of something fun just now."

Astron didn’t look up. "What?"

She leaned in a little, eyes glinting. "Let’s have a competition."

Astron blinked. "What competition?"

Irina straightened, lifting her pen like it was a sword about to be drawn. "Trying to predict the exam questions."

There was a short pause.

Astron looked at her with the faintest trace of skepticism, as if deciding whether or not to humor the challenge. "That is not how studying works."

"Maybe not for you," Irina said smugly. "But if I’m going to suffer through this, I might as well make it interesting."

Astron glanced at the problem set again, then back at her. "And what would the winner receive?"

Irina grinned. "Bragging rights. And maybe…" She let the word hang for a second. "A favor."

Astron raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Irina leaned back, crossing her arms. "Well? Afraid I’ll win?"

"No," he said flatly. "I just think it’s a low-return gamble."

She grinned wider. "That means you’re in."

Astron sighed, turning to the next page. "Fine."

And just like that, the study session shifted.

Now it was a game.

A quiet battle of minds in the warm, lamplit room—predicting which part of the academy’s twisted curriculum would be weaponized next.

******

Irina let out a long, dramatic sigh as she leaned back, tilting her head until it rested against the edge of the cushion behind her.

"Finally it’s over…"

Her arms stretched above her head as she sprawled out across the floor mat, the slow creak of her joints echoing slightly in the quiet of the dorm. She stared up at the ceiling for a moment, letting her limbs loosen, her entire posture shifting from tension to exhaustion.

"Ugh… my brain is officially fried," she muttered.

Across from her, Astron quietly lowered his pen.

The sound was subtle—just a soft tap as it came to rest atop a stack of notes now half-filled with annotations, diagrams, and mana circuit sketches. He sat still for a second, eyes scanning the last equation before finally closing the booklet in front of him.

They had gone through dozens of questions—technical, theoretical, layered with trap wording and subtle exceptions. It hadn’t just been a review. It had been a full dissection of the curriculum.

And it showed.

Irina turned her head slightly to look at him. "I’d never thought about that last one like that," she admitted, nodding toward the last solved question about circuit pressure diffusion during simultaneous multi-cast. "Using the auxiliary loop as the anchor point instead of just a redundancy? That flipped the whole structure."

Astron’s gaze didn’t lift from the closed booklet. "Sometimes approaching it as a designer is harder to do."

Irina blinked. "Designer?"