Transmigrated as the Novel's Final Boss-Chapter 108:Rankings [4]

In the distance, past the hundreds of waves charging forward and pushing us back, a small speck appeared, flashing across my vision for a mere second.

If I hadn’t been looking for it, I would have just assumed that I had some dust in my eye and was seeing things.

Turning around, I gazed past Sage at the three other surfboards following me, making sure no one had capsized.

And sure enough, all three of them were behind me.

Jade and Ren were right on my tail, only a few inches of water away from each other, while Kim lagged behind them.

Perhaps, thinking I was staring at her and not at our teammates behind, Sage raised her yellow eyes, her purple hair falling backward due to the wind, and tilted her head.

Maybe it was just my paranoia, but it seemed my teammates were not truly my "teammates."

It had all started with the addition of the Worldly students.

They had been added because of me.

But, after some time thinking, I could not think of a single reason why my actions could have affected the practical exam.

Then, I realized that it had not been my actions, but my existence itself.

The Imperial dorm was capped at twenty students, and this year, exactly twenty students were enlightened at the entrance ceremony.

Even if students within the Worldly class became enlightened right now, they wouldn’t be able to join the Imperial class.

However, in the original book, that was not the case

Neither Evangel nor I were supposed to be Imperial students, meaning in the original book, only eighteen of the twenty Imperial slots were filled.

That meant the first two Worldly students who became enlightened would immediately transfer to the Imperial class.

But with Evangel and I taking up two slots, the two royals, who were supposed to be in the Imperial class this year, were not.

The Brutus Family’s heir and the nephew of the Emperor.

But, what reason was there for one of those two families to change the Practical Exam and add Worldly students?

Teachers couldn’t directly interfere in practicals, but students could.

They wanted to sabotage an Imperial-class student, making sure that the student received a low individual ranking and got kicked out, making space in the Imperial dorm for their child.

And, as far as I knew, Evangel, Mira, and I were the easiest targets due to our lack of a background and connections.

As we approached a massive wave, two times the height of both Sage and I combined, the sun was immediately blocked out, casting a void of darkness on our surfboard.

I didn’t have time for this.

Looking forward at the wave about to completely consume us, I casually said.

"Whatever they’re paying you, I’ll pay you double."

Placing her finger below her chin and looking up at the sky, ignoring the wave before us, Sage pretended to think for a moment before answering.

"Double of 0 is still nothing, you know?"

"So you’re just doing it for the love of the game?"

"Doing what? Oh, we’re playing a game?"

Sighing and bending my knees, I answered.

"It’s hard to take you seriously when you smile like that every time you talk."

Smiling even harder, perhaps to just annoy me, she opened her mouth, her cheeks red from the sun’s rays, and asked.

"Are we heading to that island over the-"

However, before Sage could finish her sentence, our surfboard suddenly crashed through the wave, going straight through it.

I had never surfed in my life, so there was no way I was going to attempt to ride a wave.

Instead, I powered right through it, ignoring the massive amounts of water crashing against my body.

It felt as if I were one of these cultivators sitting below a waterfall.

By some miracle, the two of us managed to get to the other side of the wave while staying on the surfboard, but we were both drenched.

Though a portion of the rock had broken off from the impact of the water, forcing the two of us closer on the now-smaller surfboard.

Coughing up water, I slowly turned around, seeing Sage sitting on the surfboard, her drenched hair resting on her face and covering her eyes.

Behind Sage, the wave continued forward to the shore, like a moving wall, separating us from Kim, Ren, and Jade.

However, in front of us, the ocean seemed to separate into two parts.

The waves were no longer crashing against us but away from us.

Waves were quite literally forming under us, carrying us forward, and heading toward the island Sage had pointed out.

It was as if we were on a rollercoaster.

Earlier, we had to use all our strength to paddle and move forward against the current and waves that pushed us back.

Now, the two of us could just sit back while being propelled forward.

Placing her hand on her forehead, pushing back the wet strands of hair on her face, Sage smiled even harder, displaying her two sets of pearly-white teeth, and raised her hands.

Like the waves, the wind now pushed us forward, blowing against the back of our heads like a fan.

Sitting down on the surfboard as well, I questioned.

"Any chance you have any of those speed buffs left?"

Looking up at me with narrowed eyes, she responded.

"Really, after all that questioning, you’ve decided to trust me? What did it?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I pointed at the island, which was no longer a speck but now a massive piece of land, and answered.

"It’s not like I have a choice. I can’t fight the boss alone, can I?"

Not showing any form of doubt or fear in her expression, Sage tilted her head and replied.

"What of our other teammates, then? Won’t they be of help?"

Smiling, I simply pointed behind us, waiting for her to turn around and look.

The wave we had powered through had come down at this point, revealing four surfboards on the other side.

Instead of crashing through it like us, they had simply waited it out and moved to the side.

And, at that moment, as the wave died down, our teammates went in the exact opposite direction instead of heading toward us and the island.

That was because "I" was riding on a surfboard, leading them there.