"Now that you've all arrived, I guess it's time to commence the test eh? I'll hand out a folder to each group that contains the boss monster you'll fight and it's weaknesses. If you somehow fail the test even with this much information on your enemy, then you're simply weak and unfit to attend this academy." Mr Hilbert said with a serious face.
All of the students were nervous about this test. They somehow had to work efficiently with people they don't know while fighting a monster that could kill them with but a swipe.
--5 Minutes--
"I'll give you 10 minutes to analyze the monster you're fighting and after that, on with the test." Mr Hilbert said before going back to his desk.
"Dude, really? A saber-horn lizard? How will we manage to defeat this monster?!"
"Mr Hilbert wants to kill us! He really assigned us the thorn-bodied frenzy boar! There's no way we can even get close to it!"
"I'm not gonna pass this test...how do we fight a lightning claw dire wolf? It's already fast enough but now it has lightning claws? I might as well withdraw from the academy and find somewhere else to go."
Many students were upset with the monsters they had to fight. Almost all of these monsters could kill them in a second if it weren't for them being in a group, although that might even make the situation worse considering most the people in the groups don't know each other.
Although this was a classroom, most of the students found a group of friends for the year and kept to themselves which is why if you switched the students up they wouldn't know anybody.
Liam looked in his groups direction and took a deep breathe.
'Okay, just go over there.'
"Where's our other teammate? We're a group of 5 right?" One of the women said while looking around.
'Hm? Is that our other teammate?' The woman's eyes met Liam's for a split second.
"Are you our other teammate?" She called out to Liam.
Liam took another deep breath and slowly walked over to the group of 4 people and tried to speak.
"Y-YeEesS" Liam's face turned bright red in embarrassment. While speaking just one simple word, his voice cracked in front of 4 people.
'This was my time to make a good impression! Why did my voice crack?!' Liam cursed in his head while still making eye contact with the 4 people.
After a few seconds, one of the guys in the group looked like he couldn't hold in his laughter and let it out.
"Bahahaha! Did you guys hear how he said 'yes'?" Although he was laughing, the other 3 people in the group weren't, the only thing close to that was the woman smiling at Liam. The group of 4 was 2 women and 2 men, although it's 3 men now.
Liam couldn't even fake being embarrassed, it was clear as day. He felt like digging a whole and hiding in it. Despite messing up his introduction, Liam tried not to let that affect the situation any more.
"W-well, who- what monster ar-are do we have to de-defeat?" Liam's everyday stuttering had made it's appearance, although rather late.
'Why am I stuttering now?' Liam was confused. Earlier he was able to answer Miss Jenkins alchemy question without stuttering in front of the entire class. Thankfully right now, most of the students were too stressed to pay attention to him.
The other guy in the group spoke up for the first time.
"We have to defeat a Sun Crow." That was all he said. The other 4 members of the group stared at him in shock. They were all thinking the exact same thing.
'Sun Crow?! Why?!' Sun Crows were one of the most annoying low-leveled boss monsters to exist. You had to fight them in the daytime because finding them at night was practically impossible and even in the day they're stronger than normal. The best time to fight a Sun Crow is during sunrise or sunset as the buff they receive from the sun is either weakened or completely gone.
"Maybe you read it wrong?" The guy previously laughing at Liam desperately asked. Not only did Sun Crows receive a buff from the sun, their initial power is already amazing.
"Although an average Sun Crow is around level 15, they can take on at most 3 level 20s! How are we to win such a battle?!" The guy said. Everyone agreed with his statement. Compared to them, the other students were let off easy with weaker boss monsters.
Liam's nervousness was going crazy as he heard what boss monster they had to defeat. Asking students to defeat a boss monster was already the limit, but a Sun Crow? That's nearly impossible is the student is a freshman, which all the students in the classroom were. Not to mention, neither of the 5 people in this group knew each other.
Liam quickly went and brought his desk over to the other 4 people, although, he looked like was a second away from dying as he struggled to push the desk, much less try to lift it. After managing to move the desk to the group, Liam sat down and asked a simple question.
"S-Since we're te-teammates for this test, it's only s-smart for us to get to k-know each other right? My n-name is Liam." It took a ton of effort for Liam to say this as the atmosphere in the group was rather heavy right now. As he said this, the 4 looked at him before the one who laughed at him spoke.
"Fine. My name's Michael, I'm a swordsman so I'm pretty sure I'll be the vanguard for this group right?" Michael spoke soon after Liam and waited for the next person to go.
"Alright, my name's Dean. I'm a tank and support. I can buff you guys will tanking most of the damage." It was the guy who said what boss monster they were fighting that spoke. In response to Michael, the girl who smiled at Liam spoke.
"My name is Lisa, I use blunt weapons like hammers and sometimes axes so I guess I can't be called a swordsman." Liam and Michael were shocked as they listened to Lisa's words. From her appearance, she had a small frame that would make anyone think she was a support. She was blonde and had extremely long eyelashes, she also had a nice pai- well formed body that could make any man fall for her.
'To think such a kind-looking woman uses hammers and axes...' Liam and Michael thought as they stared at her. The last person to go was the other girl. She had black hair and bags under her eyes, as well as her hair being incredibly messy. It looked like she pulled multiple all-nighters in succession. She didn't have as much of an amazing body as Lisa but some people would still look at her every now and then.
"I'm...Tempy, and I'm a mage. I...can use fire and...water magic." Tempy said in a deadpan tone. While speaking she was visibly dozing off.
'Is she about to fall asleep?' Lisa, Liam, and Michael thought that as they watched her literally fall asleep after talking. After sitting there for a while, Liam realized that he never told them about his capabilities.
"O-Oh! I forgot to sa-say that I'm a curseman. I can inflict curses a-and also use swords, namely k-katanas and sabers. A-Although I rarely use sabers..."
'As I expected, although I didn't think he'd be able to use weapons as well.' Michael thought as he looked at Liam and listened to what he was saying. Liam looked had a small frame, although a bit bigger than Tempy's but he looked frail so it wouldn't be strange if he was some type of support. The only thing that Michael didn't expect was that he could use weapons as well.
"Now that the introductions are over, we should get ready for the test. Since we know each other's abilities, Lisa should be able to create a formation suitable for us." Dean said as he looked at Lisa. Apparently they had some type of history together.
Liam looked awkwardly at both of them as Lisa didn't respond but only smirked. It was also very odd that someone who uses blunt weapons would be able to make formations for teams as well but that's probably on Lisa.
"I can do that. TemTem, get up, we're in class right now."
"I'm...I'm tiredddd..."
"You can go to sleep after the class, oh wait, I guess not considering we have a test today."
'What?!' Liam and Michael looked in shock as Lisa talked to the sleeping Tempy.
'Don't tell me...are we the only ones who don't know them?' Liam and Michael simultaneously thought in shock. They suddenly felt left out. Liam and Michael looked at each other for a split second with the exact same expression on their faces.
'Well at least I managed to make some friends...I think?' They both thought as they looked at the other 3.