The Next day.

The tournament gave too many people a shock. The finals didn't happen, but the semifinals felt like finals themselves. Sam's strength scared the crap out of many people, freshmen and Grade 2 seniors alike.

Sam who took the brunt of an Elder's attack woke up after a great night's sleep. He woke up at sunrise and stretched lazily. He learned of the incidents from Dove who came to check up on him.

"So, the Zeus Academy did make a move. I should have anticipated this, I was carried away in the moment.

"

He muttered to himself and didn't think much of it.

"What are the numbers that White said out loud? He said they were coordinates. What are the coordinates for?

"

"Should I answer it?

"

"If you want to. I won't force you. But you need to understand that many people are curious about it. Those coordinates provoked you too much and showed a massive reaction. You were a mystery since the start and finally there is a crack in that mist around you. I doubt the Zeus Academy was more interested in that information than White himself.

"

"Its better if the Academy realm acts ignorant about it. It will not do anyone any good.

"

Sam got off the bed and asked.

"When is the award ceremony?

"

"Tomorrow. The Thor Academy needs some time to clean up the mess from the competitions. Before that, I need to tell you something.

"

"What is it?

"

"It's the Thor Academy. The Dean of the Academy asked for a meeting with you. It is about the rigged lotteries and the interference of the elders and conspiracies against you. Elder Chorus agreed to put it in front of the Judiciary of the Academy realm. They are the only ones who have a right to judge something like this.

However, Dean Olaf asked for a meeting with you before we proceed with this.

He is confident that he can convince you.

"

"So, if I am convinced, we are not going to proceed forward?

"

"Yes. If the victim himself steps back, there is no point in the Academy officials poking around the case. We will do as you say.

If you really want to not added the meeting, then it is fine too. We can cancel it. Since we decided to go all out against them, one less meeting wouldn't make much of a difference.

"

"No, I will take the meeting. I also need to discuss some terms for my extra rewards in the formation competition. I won it with flying colors after all.

"

"As you wish. Be ready in an hour.

"

Dove left.

After an hour, they met at the entrance of the Thor Academy. An Elder met them at the entrance and guided them to a conference room.

Dean Olaf and a bunch of Elders are there. Even the Chorus and Ivar are already there waiting or him. Sam greeted Ivar with a wave and took the seat that was offered to him.

"So, here I am, Dean Olaf. Why did you want to meet me?

" Sam asked directly.

"I am here to discuss a deal with you. From the information I knew, you are a man that loves cutting deals.

"

"I am sure you have it on good authority, so I won't bother denying it. So, what is the deal that you are talking about?

"

Sam asked while looking at the Elder standing beside Olaf. He is the youngest Elder of the Thor Academy in the history and everyone knows he climbed there because of his retired father's influence. He has potential to become an Elder, but not this fast.

Since, everyone subjected him to criticism because of his situation, he was desperate to gain some approval and he figured helping Thor out with some scheme would gain him that. Too bad, Gambler Academy's adamant attitude and investigation caught him off guard.

He didn't expect that Dean Olaf will relent up on the threats given by the Gambler's Academy.

"As your Academy representatives have suspected, our contestant and the Elder both acted against the rules and ethics of the competition to rig your lottery, in the hopes of defeating you. Your Elder said that they are willing to put this in front of the Judicial authorities of the Academy Realm.

Even if you do it, there is no actual evidence that is connecting the Elder Bjor and Thor who are involved in this incident to the actual rigging.

All you have is Likhma's confession and it was obtained in questionable circumstances.

It won't be beneficial for either of us.

So, I ask that you withdraw it and in return you will be compensated fairly.

"

"What is your idea of compensation?

"

"Resources? Territory? Opportunities? It can be discussed.

" A different Elder spoke.

"Resources are the only things that interest me. Fine, we can discuss, but I have a few conditions.

"

"What are they?

" Olaf asked.

"Elder Bjorn, should be dismissed from the position. He should face whatever punishment that he would have gotten from a fair trial for this blunder.

And, I want you guys to put all of this blame on Likhma and someone mysterious that he collaborated to rig the test.

This is all on top of the resources that I am going to name. I want them all delivered to me in instalments over coming months.

And this is only for not making this matter public. I will deal with Thor and anyone else that got involved, including the Thor Academy with my own ways.

"

"Don't push it too far. You…

" An Elder was about to speak up, but Olaf stopped.

"So, you will be retaliating against us without making this matter public?

"

"Yes, that will preserve whatever reputation you have, that is all you wanted anyway.

"

"What would the retaliation be? Are you confident that you can go against the whole Academy by yourself?

"

Olaf asked.

"It seems like you don't have enough information about me. It will do you good, if you do more research.

If you are okay with these conditions, we have a deal. Or, we can go with the official procedures.

"

"Deal.

"

Sam gave out the list of resources that he wanted and left with Chorus and Dove.

"Didn't expect that you can easily bribed.

" Chorus remarked.

"I would like to think of it as a payment. And the way I am going to deal with them… It would be better if the news doesn't come out actually. It will have a better impact.

"

"So, what are you planning? Should the Academy and the other students be aware?

" Dove asked.

"I don't know how the Thor Academy is going to react. However it is better to be safe than sorry I guess. Just tell them to not piss off any Thor Academy people or pick fights with them.

Same goes with the Hel Academy students.

"

Dove just nodded and didn't answer. They left the Academy grounds and went to the Paradise inn. That day went without a hitch. Sam met with Noah to discuss a few things. He couldn't help but wait to go back.

He felt the whole tournament was drawnout for way too long. It felt like he spent ages in here.

The next day, the award ceremony was conducted. Sam was the MVP. He got awards in many categories. The Gambler Academy won the team competition and finally Sam also got the Solo Combat. He didn't care much about the rewards perse.

The recognition and attraction was what he was after.

However, most people, particularly the Elders and Seniors noticed something else that made them vigilant.

It is the Olympian Academies. The Solo Combat rankings are dominated by the Olympian Academy Rankings.

Even though Vidyuth and White's participation has been revoked because of what the Elder did, everyone tacitly agreed both of them are in top 8 and they believed White should be ranked second.

This only made them more vigilant. Not only did the Olympian academies dominated the ranks, three of the top ten are from Zeus Academy which is even more unusual. The Academy realm is not just about grooming individual talents, the quantity also plays a role and based on the results, Olympians seemed to be way ahead of the others.

Sam is pleased by these results.

This is exactly what he wanted.

Now, the eyes of all the other Academies in the Academy realm are on the Olympian region. These students will be targeted, tailed and some times even be attacked, so the other academies won't lose out an edge.

The ceremony was over without too much commotion. There was just another banquet at night to honor the winners.

In the banquet, Sam had to meet a lot of people. Particularly seniors from other academies that specialized in auxiliary professions. They are the ones that didn't think too bad of Sam, because they lost less compared to the academies that tried to get high ranks in combat competitions.

After some tedious meetings, Noah finally came to his rescue and pretended like they need some privacy.

He felt relieved.