Inside the safe zone beyond the black iron gates, murmurs and talks of numerous students could be heard.
As time went on, more and more parties were formed until the zone was filled with the original number of people from the entrance.
And that included Jun's party.
He was farther away from our location but he could immediately spot me. Not surprising since I'm the only one with goggles atop my head.
Glancing slightly towards his directions, I was quite amused by the members of his party. Judging by how they were huddled up, I could reasonably assume that they were his party.
Shivan Teller was there, awkwardly joining in on their briefing while there was another guy with a star tattoo on his cheeks.
It was undoubtedly Jake Klein.
For a mob character, he had a flashy appearance having orange hair and that small red star tattoo.
And as his appearance suggested, he was the most energetic one in the group. He was smiling from ear to ear as he talked with them.
Jun was clearly troubled by his party members, unable to act like his usual and confortable self.
His eyes conveyed to me that he wanted help from me but I had matters of my own that I had to take care of.
He wasn't the only one with a difficult party to deal with.
"Hey are you listening? Stop fooling around and concentrate"
Sophia's stern words rang out inside my ear like a bug trying to crawl through it's crevices.
She has been trying to talk me down for the past few minutes now.
I don't know why she was being extra cranky with me right now. I thought she wouldn't act like this after being leader.
I specifically avoided the role in order to avoid this type of fit from her.
"..I did listen. You already explained it twice"
I said exasperated.
"No you weren't. You were in a daze the second time. The first time, you even requested me to reiterate it again you fool"
Glaring at me, Sophia let her six tail stand on end. It was supposed to be intimidating but it only showed how fluffy those things were.
"Of course I would! You're asking too much from me. You want me to bleed from my eyes!?"
I let out my frustration. Usually I wouldn't exlpode like this around people but with her, I can't contain myself.
She was annoying like Alice was but it was leaning more on the sadistic side of things.
"Oh my~ but I never said that you should. Maybe you don't have confidence in those eyes of yours?"
She said, her hands covering her mouth as if to hide her laughter. I was starting to think she was doing this on purpose.
"I could say the same, why don't you help in the front then. For someone really proud of their defensive spells, you're really acting like a scared fox~"
"What!?"
Her tails then swayed erratically.
"D-Don't be stupid! I'm not going to be viewed fron the back by someone like you. You fiend, you're just trying to take advantage of the situation!"
"You're the fool around here. I already promised you that I won't do that, besides my way is more safe"
"Like I could take your word for it. My way is more efficient"
Sparks flew between Sophia and me as we glared at each other. She wasn't one to back down on her own ideas.
And as we were uselessly arguing, Shin Yua came between us with calm steps. She looked alternately at our eyes without any sign of frustration or annoyance.
"Guys, calm down for a second"
She pushed her hand in between us as she continued.
"Heated minds can't properly convey what they want to say" she said profoundly.
"Like the head monk had always said.....ummm.."
Shin Yua then paused for a second as she got lost in her thoughts, seemingly trying to remember the words of her head monk.
Alas she failed to recollect the words of wisdom she was looking for.
"Sorry..I forgot.." she apologized sincerely.
Her depressed figure made Sophia and I regain some form of calm before being engulfed with a sense of shame.
Seeing her short figure apologize for no reason actually made me feel ridiculous for my unnecessary retaliation.
I should have expected Sophia to act like this if she became leader, it's partly my responsibility to adjust.
Although I won't let her abuse me so openly.
"Fuuuu"
Letting out a faint breath, I turned my head towards Sophia who was weirdly quiet.
"Listen, I'll go with your plan but don't expect me to overuse my eyes. We will take a break if I say so"
"And as for combat, I'll adjust accordingly so you should only mind giving the proper orders"
"..Hmmph"
Hearing my compromise, Sophia pursed her lips before turning away. Seeing as she didn't let out anymore objection, it seems we had found some sort of common ground.
I then looked at Shin Yua who had already recovered and was just still thinking about something.
"Head monk is going to scold me for this.." she mumbled.
'...This girl is a bit weird..' I thought, my impression of her being more in the neutral side of the spectrum.
As I was thinking that, Ulden and the other three instructors appeared before everyone.
Scanning the students one last time, Vivian spoke.
"In two minutes, the exam will start. I hoped that everyone has already made their preparations"
Pausing, Vivian slowly let her pleasent sounding voice resound more loudly from before
"The exam will have a duration of three hours and by the time it reaches that point, no other consideration will be entertained"
"And please check your vraces for we have installed two new programs in them. One is the core index and the second, is the core counter storage"
Everyone looked confused when they heard the second program. Noticing this, Vivian briefly explained.
"The second program, is a seperate space storage solely for cores. This is a precaution towards the mixing of othe cores in student's main storage"
"Keep in mind this program is an open storage"
Sophia and Shin Yua realized something from Vivian's words as it confirmed my finding from our first briefing.
I nodded my head as I remembered this part as well.
It managed to slip my mind because it was such a minor detail, still it was an important part of this exam.
The first part of her explanation was only a cover up for the true purpose of the program installed in our vraces.
Open Storage.
If the people here were sharp, they would eventually realize what the instructors were trying to imply.
Theft is allowed.
And this implication could be concluded by focusing on the specifics of an open storage system.
This basically meant that outsiders could easily transfer the contents of their storage just by facing their respective vraces with each other.
The one at the bottom would be the transferee while the upper one would be the transferrer.
This program was commonly used by small businesses due to it's fast processing and cheap price.
And this was usually safe to use becuase it had a lock code specifically for allowed parties for transactions.
However in this case, the owners of the program would be the academy and they would customize it as open to all.
Thus making theft possible.
Some students furrowed their brows as they slowly realized what was truly going on. All of the details and key points had already been covered.
It was only up to the students if they could see through the cover of deceits and form a strategy accordingly.
Although that would be difficult because they already had a breifing before this option was revealed to them.
Furthermore, they had little to no time to huddle up because it was time to start.
Letting the students soak in her words, she waited for a while and then concluded.
"That's about everything you need to know. Everyone make space about 25 meters apart from each party"
It was a big space so there wasn't any problem doing her orders.
Following her instruction, everyone made considerable distance away from each other.
The air was tense and the preassure was slowly piling up. Nervousness was visible on the eyes of the unprepared while a determined look was plastered on the teams confident to take the top spot.
Looking satisfied with hiw everyone was acting, Vivian raised her arm up.
"1..2...3....Go!"
A small flare sprang out from Vivians hand at the same time she announced the start of the test.
Like a beast finally freed from it's cage, everyone sprinted like mad into the dark forest.
Most of the parties wanted to take the lead but that was surely a mistake on their part. They must have taught that there won't be enemies at this point of the test but they were wrong.
Gravely wrong.
"[Howitzer]!"
A huge explosion appeared in short distance away and I didn't need to guess who that was.
Screams resounded out from the darks as sparks of multiple skills and spells were mixing together.
'Naive'
Thinking that, my innate skill activated as the path became clear to me. Looking at me were Shin Yua and Sophia who was ready to follow.
Ember balls were floating around Sophia's body while Shin Yua was maintaing a small light in her palms.
Nodding my head, our party sprinted as well like the others. The only difference was, I was sure we weren't going to be stopped by anyone.
And such the exams have truly started.