Hearing Long San's instruction, not only the candidates, the audiences in the StarNet was also shocked. Giving a hellish practical exam was one thing but sending them to a wild planet without communicator was another!
[Has General Yi finally decided to kill them off?]
[Though he is a merciless General, he is still one of the heroes who protect our country. He wouldn't just send them to a wild planet without any sort of communication device]
The candidates anxiously discussed with each other. Never once in their life they weren't using their communicator. This will be the first time in First Military Academy history that the practical examination would be held with the candidates deprived of them.
In the past, their communicator was only restricted to several functions such as viewing maps, recording scores, objective lists, contacting team members, etc. But they had never told them to completely take it off.
Even from when they were planning, Long San already expected this kind of reaction. He also tried to persuade his General, you know?? He is the one who will get his ass kicked if anything goes wrong!
Long San pulled back their attention with a cough, "I know that all of you are surprised. But rest assure that the candidates' safety is our topmost priority. The drones that are usually used only for broadcasting the activity on the planet will now also function as our monitor. We will monitor the whole examination area and act according to our safety protocols. The candidates will also be equipped with an emergency call button that will send military personnel to their rescue."
Although they were still anxious, the candidates have somewhat calmed down. Even if they didn't trust their own survival skill, they still trusted the military who were watching their back.
But after a long while, nobody came forward to hand in their communicator first. Lixue grew impatient so he signaled Thirteen to just go up and do it. He also took off his communicator and gave it to Thirteen.
With Thirteen as the trigger, the rest of the candidates followed him and hand in their communicator. Long San nodded at Thirteen with appreciation.
"The candidates can now board the ship. The rest of the instructions and rules will be explained along the way. The broadcast will be stopped here for now and reconnected when the ship arrived at the venue. For the audiences, the full explanation of the instructions and rules will be posted shortly in First Military Academy's official website."
The candidates walked into the huge military ship while rubbing their wrists. The feeling of emptiness there felt rather uncomfortable because their communicator has been with them their entire life. They didn't even have to take it off when taking a bath or sleeping because it was water-resistant and designed specifically to accompany anyone anytime anywhere. Even babies have one connected to their parents' communicator.
In addition, they were now going to be thrown into some wild unknown planet full of beasts without the help of their technology. Anyone who wasn't worried about their life, or at least about passing the exam, were the ones who weren't normal here.
Coincidentally, there were 2 such abnormal people there in the ship.
"How do you think the exam will be?" Thirteen asked.
"For sure it will be easier than General Yi's famous exam from his last term. Besides, it will never be as hard as Red's 'entrance exam'." Lixue replied lazily.
"You really do know a lot of things about Red. Is your mentor also from there?"
"If you want to fish from me, don't forget to prepare the bait. I'm not one of your targets who you can fish with spear however sharp it is or skilled you are."
"You two aren't worried at all?"
Thirteen turned to see a brown-haired youth with light almond eyes standing next to them.
"How can you chat so casually under these circumstances? You guys are amazing…" he continued.
Before Thirteen could reply, they heard someone scoffed, "He's just a show-off."
It was actually the red-haired man from earlier. The youth backed away and whispered to Thirteen, "I saw the ruckus earlier. You don't need to mind him too much. That is Jing Hao. His short temper is infamous among us, and he often picks fights with basically anyone who pricks his eyes. We should just focus on Advisor Long San's instructions."
The candidates were gathered at a spacious hall inside the ship. Long San stood at the high platform on the front, explaining the practical exam they were about to go through.
The location for this year's exam would be Planet #823. A numbered planet was an indicator that labeled the planet as a wild unmanned planet. It was full of beasts with no civilization and maybe some mutated plants if they were unlucky enough.
Every year, the entrance practical exam would always require the candidates to spend some days on a numbered planet to complete several objectives related to hunting down specific beasts. This year was no different.
Each candidate was required to collect any part of 3 water beasts, 3 land beasts, and 3 sky beasts. All 3 types must be different or else it wouldn't count. They were allowed to make a team maximum of 5 people, but the task would still be individual. The group points would be added according to the variety of beasts they collected. They were given 5 days to accomplish it.
Unexpectedly, it was several times easier than they had expected. Of course, that was if they still have their communicator. Now that they didn't, they couldn't understand how they were supposed to find those beasts on a wild planet without any map.
Long San didn't waste any time and displayed the planet's geographical map through the huge holoscreen behind him, "This is the terrain map of Planet #823. We also marked several areas where specific beasts are located. Either it's their nest, their turf, or where their herd is. Also, the red zones are danger zones where you wouldn't want to slip into. Memorize this before we arrive at Planet #823. We won't provide you with any maps and it will depend on your memory how you'll fare."
"?!?!"
WTF?!
Can this get any more unreasonable?!
All the candidates thought and cried internally. They quickly gathered their friends or make groups with the people around them before dividing each area to be memorized by a specific person. That way, it would be easier for them to remember the whole map under a short amount of time.
Lixue and Thirteen was a team by default. They didn't try to recruit anyone else because it was more convenient with just the two of them. They also studied the map in silence, not bothered by all the sounds around them at all.
"Hey, if it's just still the 2 of you, can I enter your team?" The youth who spoke up to the 2 of them earlier asked, "You're the only people I have spoken to here…"
Lixue didn't say anything, and his silence was enough of approval. Thirteen smiled, "Sure. My name is Lin Shisan, and this is my friend Huang Lixue. He is not that talkative so don't mind him too much."
"Lin…Shisan? You have a unique name," the youth commented, "I'm Bai Shui. I hope we can get along in these 5 days. With you too Huang Lixue."
A/N: Bai Shui thought Shisan as in Thirteen. But it is actually Shi as in 'Season' (Shisan: The third season).
Lixue nodded in reply, not bothering to correct him. He was right in a way.
The military distributed the emergency button to the candidates with one for each team. They also provided them with combat gear which included a combat suit, plasma gun, and tactical knife. Rations were supplemented for each team just enough for 3 days. The rest would be up to them whether or not they could find food and water on the planet.
Arriving at Planet #823, the ship descended into enough altitude that the candidates could jump out from. It would continue to move for the candidates to choose where they would want to land for their first day. The drones were also activated to follow each group dedicatedly.
Thirteen glanced at Lixue. Lixue motioned him to lead with a slight raise of his chin.
They, along with Bai Shui walked to the door as they watched the hatch opened up. The wind instantly spilled inside, blowing fiercely from the pressure of the altitude and the speed of the ship.
Their hair was swept back and Lixue held his glasses to make sure it wasn't blown away.
Some of the candidates have jumped off first with their team, wanting to start as soon as possible. Thirteen wasn't in a hurry and only when he saw the ideal location he was looking for he signaled the other two.
"Go!"
The practical exam has officially started.