It was not just the apprentices. Even the several high-ranking wizards standing at the edge of the square, responsible for receiving apprentices and recording data, cast scrutinizing, curious looks over.
Amy and Victor were startled. Only after carefully sensing the situation did they realize that the apprentices were not looking at the two of them, but at... Benjamin, who stood between them.
Benjamin noticed it too. At first, he was bewildered, but he quickly understood.
It turned out that they were now at the stage of announcing the results and stepping forward to receive rewards.
According to past custom, to maintain order and convenience, the first-place winner should have stepped forward first, followed by the others in sequence to collect their rewards.
Yet at that moment, the vast majority of apprentices did not move or step forward.
They merely watched Benjamin in silence, their eyes filled with incomparably complicated emotions.
These apprentices had all personally witnessed Benjamin unleash his full firepower on the valley battlefield.
Although Benjamin was not ranked highly on the points leaderboard, placing only thirty-sixth.
In the hearts of those who had experienced the Blood Valley and the slaughter in the skies, that figure who had single-handedly crushed the entire Indigenous Coalition beneath an unceasing torrent of wizardry was the true, indisputable first place in this trial!
Rankings and such appeared so pale and powerless before his overwhelming strength.
That instinctive reverence for power made these normally proud geniuses choose silence and wait at this very moment.
They all subconsciously believed that this powerful being who had shattered the rules deserved to be the first to step forward and claim his reward.
Even Miss Bert Vera Augusta, who ranked first in points and appeared incomparably arrogant, merely stood where she was with an unwilling expression.
Benjamin saw