4-01: Before the Examination

4-01: Before the Examination

The Garesto Academy Survival Test, one of the practical exams held twice at the academy every year, is held at the beginning of June and December for three days. Its main subject is the hunting of raybeasts at the fields. It is a big event that requires all students to participate regardless of if theyre from the Normal Class, the Special Class, or the Technology Class. It is an exam meant to test the survival and combat abilities of the students against the raybeasts of the vast artificial nature.

The results from this exam will greatly affect the ranking of the students within the school. To the lower ranking students, it is a rare opportunity for them to quickly climb up the rankings. To the high ranking students, it is an opportunity to test their mettle. And to the newly enrolled first years, it will be their first official field battle. Due to the possibility of going up in ranking, all the students are tense and excited. Or at least, all of them except a certain male student.

Fuhaa I got to sleep until the very last moment, but Im still so sleepy.

Fukyu

At the area between the school campus and the vast artificial nature were the students lined up according to class. Among those students was a yawning boy with a sleeping small animal curled into a ball atop his head. No matter how biased one might be seeing that, it was evident that the boy had no interest in the exam.

But that couldnt be helped, after all, because of all the spars that the boy had to do these past few days, he has already entered this place 20 times, and it was no longer new to him. He also didnt have any interest in the ranking, so this place really held no significance to him.

To make things worse, surviving out in the wilds was an everyday routine for him until just a few months ago. Thats why its hard to fault him for not being tense or nervous. After all, the very factors that would lead to such feelings were completely absent.

Unfortunately, the other students couldnt possibly know his circumstances, and so they glared at him sharply. Alas, the glares of the young boys and girls were no different from the rocks by the wayside to him. And just as usual, Shinichi didnt feel like responding in the slightest.

Please do remember to prioritize safety as you challenge this exam. We hope that you all take care not to incur any heavy wounds.

Naturally, the voice of the principal, who was standing right in front of the students, didnt reach him either. Although, to be more precise, it wasnt exactly from the principal himself that the sound was coming from, but rather from the giant display projected into the air. Moreover, part of the reason why Shinichi wasnt listening was because this speech was needlessly long for perfunctory reasons.

The overall supervisor of the exam will be Teacher Frire Doneju. I believe she has a few words to share. Teacher, please.

As youve heard, I will be the head supervisor substitute.

When she appeared on stage, the atmosphere around the students changed, and Shinichi was no different.

The attention she was getting couldnt be compared to the principal, and the gazes that fell on her ranged from defiant to intoxicated.

Seeing her like this, I guess she really is famous.

But of course she didnt look like this at all during their morning spars, so Shinichi just wryly smiled.

The real teacher whos been supervising this test for three years is feeling unwell, so Ive been chosen as the substitute. We may be lacking hands because of that, but I intend to keep the test even stricter than the previous years, as well as ensure impartiality in the grading. So whether youre an experience upper year student or a newly enrolled first year student, make sure to challenge this exam with all of your strength!

To Shinichi it looked like she was working herself up too much to try and bluff the students, but to the other students, it was an amazing speech. There were even some who saw her as a godlike existence.

Part of the reason behind that is because Frire was in charge of the D Class, so other than those students, she didnt really have much interaction with the other students. It was curious whether she noticed the reaction of the student body or not, but either way, she continued her explanations as the head supervisor of the exam.

The rules havent changed, but Ill explain them anyway according to precedent. First, the different classes will separate and go to their assigned areas. Your designated areas will be explained to you by your respective supervisors. How you will be graded will also be explained once youve reached your designated areas. Make sure you dont let your guard down.

As she explained the rules and reminded the students to take care, the screen changed to show a simple map of the fields.

The map was demarcated with various lines, and each area was labeled with a letter from A to D.

The difficulty of the fields are as such. The higher the rank, the less suitable for human habitation. The raybeasts have already been driven into their respective area thats suitable for its rank. Youll be hunting the raybeasts in your respective areas, but the grading criteria will be left to your exam supervisor.

It could be based on the number of raybeasts youve hunted. It could be based off your crystal collection rate or your individual fighting ability or your ability to fight as a group. The criteria will be explained to you on the spot since whats demanded of you will vary per class. Be sure to pay attention to that too.

Hmm.

It was curious if it was because she was explaining the rules or because she was helping him, most likely it was the latter, but either way Shinichi actually paid attention to her speech. Because of that the students evaluation of her became even higher, but Shinichi didnt know that.

This test will test not only test your combat abilities but also your ability to adapt to a different environment. The first years should take extra care since they have little to no experience in the fields. Its not unusual for a student to be unable to exhibit his abilities because of a change in environment. What youll be entering isnt a truly natural area but a man made one, but make no mistake that its still a vast uncivilized world without regard to human will.

Frire warned in a serious tone, as it was a very important matter, but it was curious if the students truly understood just how dangerous this place was.

Of course, your supervisor will step in when necessary, but by then, your grades will be deducted. The points deducted will greatly vary on whether your supervisor had to stepped in because you tried to force an impossible situation or because something unexpected happened. I expect all of you not to overestimate your strength and move with a calm mind.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

Marching, subjugating, and the ability to adapt, huh. Thats a rather greedy test.

While the students raised their voice in affirmation to Frires words, Shinichi alone smiled.

The reason behind that smile was because he realized that despite them calling this a test, this was actually a way to give the students experience in live combat. If they didnt have this test, the students mid-level and below will have little opportunity to gain live combat experience.

It was one thing to treat the higher level students differently, but it was another thing altogether if they didnt give the students a chance to rise up in the rankings. After all, there were also students who could do well in actual combat while having bad grades. Hence, this test was basically a kind of relief prepared for those kind of students. Truly a greedy test.

Each class will now enter the field one at a time. Theres a risk of opening the barrier too big, so well have you enter by class one at a time. The special class should put on their exoskeleton and enter by air to save time. The opened areas are shown on your foster, so dont make a mistake and accidentally crash into the barrier. That concludes everything I have to say.

After Frire finished her explanations, the special class did as instructed, and a female student stepped forward.

Attention!

She was a young beautiful girl unlike the other female students with her ringlet curls and ladylike appearance.

At her command, the students of the special class lined up with equal spacing between them and equipped their foster.

After deploying the exoskeletons, I will stand at the head of the formation and enter the field. Do avoid putting on a shameful display as members of the special class.

After giving a brief explanation and warning, she too put on her foster on her left arm, then pressed on the word Stand By written in the Garesto tongue on her screen, and called out, Fortified Exoskeleton (Powered Armor), activate!

The rest of the students followed suit and activated their exoskeletons.

In the blink of an eye, light covered each of the students, and their uniforms were returned to their foster. In their uniforms place, a body suit covered their bodies, and armor parts appeared on top of it. The various parts combined together and changed sizes until eventually it became a complete armor. Lastly, a circlet-like protector fitted itself onto their heads. All of this took place within that momentary flash of light.

So this is how transformation scenes look like when done in real life.

The students that still didnt have their own exoskeletons were all hyped up, so the only one who was able to observe the process of transformation properly was someone who didnt fit in the rules. But his thoughts on the matter went a completely unexpected direction.

But with this the special effects heroes will lose face On second thought, maybe with this a real transformation would be possible?

The exoskeletons used by the students were mass produced products that only differed a little in the shape of the circlets, but if someone made an exoskeleton that resembled a heros transformation, then perhaps

Although Shinichi might be like this now, he was still once a child who admired heroes.

So to this day he still held that small dream of being able to enact those transformation scenes.

Its also because of that that he firmly refuses to acknowledge his transformation as Masquerade as a hero transformation.

Hed heard about their achievements, but seeing it right before his eyes was somewhat moving. Those twins that could only follow him from behind have gotten this far. When he thought of what they had to sacrifice to get that far, his chest ached. They probably couldnt spend their school life as they pleased. They probably couldnt even allow themselves to wonder if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Thats why the least he could do was to give a thumbs up to Yousuke and nod his head, as if to say, Congratulations.

Alright, Nee-chan! Lets do this! Were going to aim for that perfect score!

H-Huh? Hey, what are you being so excited for all of the sudden!? Dont push me!

By the time Yousukes expression was all sparkles, the rest of B Class had already entered the fields, so all that was left was him and his older sister. Completely fired up, he pushed her into the fields and they entered together.

Meanwhile, Shinichi was troubled by how fired up he was.

Was the little brother always like that?

W-Who knows?

Shinichi was at a loss after seeing such a strange sight.

After that it was C classs turn to enter the fields, and then the upper classes of the D Class. Gradually, the excitement of the students fell, and they finally started to realize that Frire was there. Frire didnt react, however, and just patiently waited until only 1-D was left.

Now then. The only ones left to enter the fields are you guys, but theres something I need to inform you first.

When they were the only ones left, she finally spoke.

The tone she used was heavy, and somewhere someway her expression even seemed apologetic as she looked at 1-D.

As Ive explained beforehand, I will be acting as the head supervisor in this exam, so unfortunately, I wont be able to oversee your exam personally.

The head supervisor was in charge of the overall management, coordination, and security of the exam. She needed to look over the entire exam and couldnt focus on just one class. Thats why she couldnt act as the examiner or supervisor for 1-D.

When Shinichi heard that, he immediately had a bad feeling, while the rest of the students clamored.

T-Then whos going to be our examiner?

Theres no practical skills teacher left.

Will a teacher from the technology department do it?

Teacher, you cant mean were going to be left out of the exam, right!?

If you just give us a topic, well do something by ourselves.

Stupid, we cant enter that place alone!

Having the teacher recognized as the strongest in their academy as their supervisor had inadvertently reassured them. So when they realized that she wasnt going to be there, the fear of entering the fields suddenly became that much worse.

Frire herself was also a little shaken in the face of this clamor that never once appeared during their classes. It seems she wasnt aware of just how reassuring her presence was to the class.

Sigh Dont shout while the teacher is in the middle of talking, you donkeys.

Thats why he laughed with such a cold voice and spoke loudly so that everyone could hear him.

When he saw Frire at the end of her wits from the corner of his eyes, he just shrugged a little.

W-What was that!? Youre not participating anyway, so you shut up!

Yeah! If you dont feel like doing the exam, then at the very least you shouldnt get in our way!

When the male students said that, the other students also agreed.

At that, Shinichi smiled and turned to Frire.

Well then, please continue, Sensei.

Hah?

Seriously, you always do things so recklessly. You dont even understand peoples feelings. Now its gotten even harder to say it.

Shinichi had brought together the clamoring class by making them angry at him. In the face of that, Frire found her head aching, at a loss what to do.

Ah, whatever, Ill just say it, so you all better listen up! I understand your worries, but dont worry, you wont be left out of the exam, and neither will you have to enter the fields without supervision.

But Frire knew that it was more important right now to explain what needed to be explained.

The class of 1-D was also relieved when they heard her words and listened closely.

Unfortunately, the technology department dont have any more teachers to spare, and of course, there arent any more practical skills teacher either. All of the special class students are also doing their exams, so it wont be possible to get help from them either.

Frire eliminated the candidates for the examiner that the students could think of one by one. And then after the list had been completely eliminated, she looked at the entire class of 1-D before stopping at a certain student.

And so, because of that, as the head supervisor, I formally request that the student, Nakamura Shinichi, assist the class of 1-D.

The moment Frire named their examiner, all of 1-D went quiet as if time had stopped.

There were various reasons for that. Some couldnt understand what shed just said, others thought that their hearing had gone bad, and then there were those that did understand but became petrified precisely because of that.

As for the person in question, his expression was wrought with shock as if someone had just betrayed him.

Of course, Frire hadnt actually done this on purpose, but she still felt like she had finally gotten back at him, so she smiled.

In other words, you be the examiner substitute, Nakamura. Im counting on you.

HAAAaaaa!!!??? The class of 1-D yelled.

In that moment, the entire class of 1-D that has never really been united finally became one in thought.

What is this person saying!? They all thought.