Magical Cat

Melina smiled and quietly watched the excited children, waiting for them to finish expressing their emotions.

Once everyone had quieted down, Melina added, "Eleanor, Safina, Zoe, Barbara, and Webber, as the top five students in the class, you are not allowed to team up with each other."

Those whose names were called all showed expressions of pride.

Elaine and Safina were considered low-key, but Webber and Barbara stood tall and proud like peacocks displaying their plumage, welcoming the envious gazes of everyone.

As for Zoe, her performance is usually only below Elaine and Safina.

This child is just a little special, which makes everyone subconsciously overlook her existence.

Zoe was small, even smaller than Elaine, with blonde hair tied in a high ponytail. She was blinking her big eyes, curiously looking back at everyone who was watching her.

No one believed that the child was sixteen years old.

And that is indeed the case.

Although the official age for admission to the college is sixteen, there are still occasional students who change their age to attend school.

Zoe is one of them.

Everyone guessed that the child's real age was only around ten years old, completely like a child, unlike these teenagers, which was obvious to the naked eye.

Learning magic at such a young age is extremely dangerous, but Zoe's family has a special talent, and the academy, after testing her, ruled out any danger and tacitly approved her changing her age to start school.

Everyone takes good care of this little girl, mainly because Zoe is very cute and lovable, though she can be a bit mischievous at times.

Because of her young age, her classmates and teachers mostly overlooked her mischievous behavior.

However, it must be admitted that although Zoe's theoretical grades were not good, her practical skills were excellent.

This must be what is known as family talent.

This semester, Zoe's practical course attendance score also rose rapidly, second only to the two top students in the class.

Melina restricted the top five students in the class based on their usual grades from forming teams with each other.

This was not seen as a limitation by anyone, but as an honor.

At least all five of them are so strong that even Teacher Melina acknowledges their abilities.

Every student present hoped that they would be the ones receiving this special treatment.

But that wasn't all. Melina raised another finger and announced:

"Our class originally had an even number of students, but due to some adjustments, the total number of students is now an odd number."

Upon hearing this, Barbara shrank back guiltily.

Isn't that extra one just yourself who changed classes?

Barbara has stayed here to attend classes ever since she switched classes to get special instruction from Melina.

Her intention was to compete closely with Elaine and Safina.

Especially Elaine, Barbara wouldn't allow anyone to be closer to Teacher Melina than herself.

Unfortunately, this was even more disheartening for Barbara than catching up with Elaine's achievements.

For some reason, Ms. Melina took good care of that student who received financial aid from a poor family.

After much thought, Barbara could only explain it by saying that Ms. Melina was too kind.

But right now, in a real-life PK where teams are paired up, she's at a disadvantage because she's an extra odd number.

If it's just a matter of forming teams freely, Barbara is confident she can find teammates.

As for who ultimately couldn't form a team, that's already quite obvious.

Fearing that Ms. Melina would once again give Elaine special treatment and single her out as the odd one out, she quickly made eye contact with her best friend and her admirer.

Her best friend and sycophant immediately understood Barbara's meaning and shouted before Melina could speak further, "Teacher, let's handle this ourselves."

"It's fine to let people form teams freely, but you can't force people who don't want to team up with you."

"Yes, teacher, that's the fairest way."

"..."

The group made a series of suggestions, all saying that they should form teams freely and that if they couldn't find anyone to team up with, it would be because they were incompetent.

Barbara didn't say a word throughout, but she had already swayed public opinion and achieved her goal.

In response to her classmates' suggestion, Melina simply smiled and glanced at Barbara in the crowd.

"Don't worry, students. Teams will be formed freely. The teacher has no intention of assigning you to teams. After all, this is also a test of your interpersonal skills, which will be very useful for your future."

Melina's words relieved Barbara.

She knew that Ms. Melina would not target her.

But Melina's next words stunned everyone.

"So I've decided to have Elaine, who usually gets the highest marks, form a team by herself. This is a challenge, and Elaine can refuse, but if she succeeds, she'll receive a small gift from the teacher."

"Teacher, I object!"

Elaine, who was about to agree, blinked her big eyes and looked at the speaker with a blank expression.

Li En also looked completely bewildered.

"No, how could you possibly object to this?"

Lee En muttered to himself as he glanced at Barbara, who was reacting fiercely.

That's right, it wasn't Elaine who spoke out against it, but Barbara.

Before Elaine, the person involved, could even voice her opinion on Melina's suggestion, Barbara intervened and stopped her.

Her initial smugness vanished, replaced by anger and jealousy.

"Teacher, this is not fair!" Barbara protested.

The students' expressions immediately changed from shock to bewilderment.

When Melina first suggested that Elaine be on her own, everyone was surprised.

Although many people expected that Elaine would likely end up alone if she formed a team freely.

After all, Safina was the only one in the class who could be considered to be close to Elaine.

Melina had previously stipulated that the top five students in each class should not team up, thus eliminating the possibility of Elaine and Safina teaming up.

In other words, it's almost certain that Elaine will be alone.

But being left behind passively is a completely different matter from the challenge proposed by Melina.

Doesn't this mean that Melina thinks Elaine can easily take on two opponents?

First-year students are all magic apprentices, so it's normal for their grades to vary. But to say that someone can take on two at once is a bit disrespectful.

The students almost thought it was an old woman who had just spoken, instead of Melina.

As everyone was pondering why Melina, who was usually kind to Elaine, was being so difficult, Barbara spoke up in protest.

And they were so righteous and indignant that anyone who didn't know better would think Barbara and Elaine were best friends.

But anyone with eyes can see how much Barbara hates Elaine.

"Did we really survive that corruption scandal?"

"I understand now! It must be that the old woman's embezzlement case couldn't be covered up, so she cast a large-scale illusion spell to trap us all!"

"Students, concentrate! Break through the illusion! We must wake up!"

The illusionist conspirators, who had only recently calmed down, have resurfaced, attempting to awaken everyone who is under the control of illusions.

Melina raised her hand in exasperation and used a water balloon to shut up the mouths of these unruly classmates, leaving them only able to make gurgling sounds.

"Sigh, these kids these days are such a headache."