Jace and the others headed toward the nearest posting board, where the results from the second contest were displayed.
The tension that had lingered among them earlier had eased somewhat, and they chatted about the matches they'd watched, discussing strategies and lessons they could take from them.
However, as they walked, they noticed a sudden shift in the atmosphere, people were running toward the board, excitement buzzing through the crowd.
"What's going on?" Jace was the first to voice the question, eyes scanning the crowd.
Ethan shrugged. "Maybe they added something new to the results?"
"Not sure," Aurora said, her brows furrowing. "We'll find out soon enough."
They kept moving, but before they got much farther, Selene came sprinting toward them.
"You guys need to hurry up," she panted, hands on her knees. "They posted a staff-voted top ten with the results."
Jace and Ethan's heads snapped toward each other, eyes locking. Then, without a word, they both took off at a sprint.
"Try not to hurt anyone, you psychopaths," Aurora called after them, her voice barely audible over the rush of footsteps.
The two of them sprinted at full speed, as if reaching the board faster would somehow change the results.
Finally, they skidded to a stop, their eyes scanning past all other information, searching only for the top ten list.
And then, they found it.
1 - Kael Bane - Team Elizabeth
2 - Elizabeth Dusk - Team Elizabeth
3 - Qwin Curse - Team Elizabeth
4 - Ethan Hayes - Team Aurora
5 - Hannah Raust - Team Hannah
6 - Harper Simmons - Team Hannah
7 - Mason Reynolds - Team Finn
8 - Finn Plot - Team Finn
9 - Jace Carter - Team Aurora
10 - Aurora Dusk - Team Aurora
Jace and Ethan looked at each other, their faces doing nothing to hide their excitement.
"We're both on it!" Jace said loudly, his grin growing only wider.
"I can't help but notice one of us is higher, though," Ethan added with a laugh, tapping the board near his name.
Jace rolled his eyes but couldn't shake his grin. "Yeah, yeah, enjoy it while it lasts. But you can keep the fourth spot, I'm aiming for higher than that."
Ethan smirked. "Good luck with that my friend. You're going to have to settle for second at best."
Jace snorted. "You act like you can stop me from getting first."
Ethan raised an eyebrow, still grinning. "Can and will." Laughing again.
Their competitive banter only made their excitement grow, just as Jace was about to make another quip, he noticed Aurora and the others had finally caught up.
"Aurora, can you bench Ethan from the next contest please?" he said, still chuckling.
"Hey! That's not fair, Aurora likes you better than me. She actually might do that." Ethan teased.
"Why would I bench the current number four?" Aurora said, surprisingly joining in on their little game.
"Because I asked you nicely." Jace put his hands under his chin and batted his eyelashes.
Aurora's face was deadpan, staring straight at him without blinking. "I think not." She said looking at the board, there was a sense of satisfaction at seeing her name on the list, even if it was only at number ten.
She wasn't particularly surprised to see Elizabeth and Kael at the top, and Qwin had always given off the impression that he was far stronger than he let on.
Most of the names weren't unexpected, but one stood out.
Finn Plot.
Jace and I ranked lower than him?
It wasn't that Finn wasn't talented, but he had been demoted as a captain after his team failed to secure a point. The ranking felt strange.
If she was honest, she hadn't expected to be on the list at all, especially after completely losing a point in the last contest.
"Aurora!" Jace called, snapping his fingers to get her attention.
She blinked, shaking herself out of her thoughts. "Sorry, I was thinking."
"It's fine, just look." He pointed toward the results of the second contest.
They turned to the next set of rankings and stared at them in confusion.
Team Aurora (Rank 1) - 3-0 - (Rank 3) Team Jasper.
Aurora frowned. "But… you said we finished second…"
"You definitely did, but look." Jace gestured toward the bottom of the post.
There, in smaller text, was a sentence that changed everything.
'The conjuration challenge scores are adjusted based on the quality of work on the final golem.'
They all stood there, dumbfounded.
Wasn't it just about speed?
Astra threw her hands up. "Wait… so we actually won the first round? Weird, but I'll take it." She laughed.
Orion crossed his arms. "This changes things, though. We'll need to be more careful going forward. We assumed speed was the only factor, but if they're also grading quality, we'll have to start balancing both."
Jace rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, that's… kind of annoying. I mean, I'll take the win, but a little clarity on the rules would be nice."
Aurora scoffed. "It's just like the academy, always grading based on different hidden metrics. We'll need to start thinking about these contests differently."