[Welcome cadet. I'm Athena. Please relax until I finish the checking procedure!]
[Fingerprint scan… completed!]
[Retina scan… complete!]
[DNA scan… completed!]
[Nanotech combat suit detected!]
[Full body scan… completed!]
[1 relic on body detected…]
[Relic: Phoenix's Embrace. Armor-type weapon relic. Rank estimated– Semi Divine.]
[Smart Bracelet scan… completed]
[15 low-grade relics detected…]
[Relics: 1 Illusion mask, 3 Mana pills, 3 Stamina recovery pills, 5 Stun marbles, 2 null attribute Light arrows, 1 Healing potion. Rank estimated— All Iron to Bronze.]
[Full checkup complete. Cadet ID recognized.]
[Rank 116969, first-year cadet Lucas Morningstar, do you wish to start Link?
Speak Yes or No.]
I do not remember for how long the scanning process went on, but at the end of it, when I was asked to answer yes or no, I quickly answered.
"Yes!"
Of course, I was too excited to wait any longer. Arghh, I was acting like a country bumpkin.
[Starting Link…]
As soon as I consented to start the link, a blinding bright light flashed in my vision, causing me to close my eyes.
Finally, after a few long minutes, when the light subsided and I opened my eyes, I found myself standing on the terrace of a tall building.
With curiosity, I looked around and found other members of my class standing there, probably waiting for the remaining ones to spawn.
In the background, my fellow cadets were framed by a city in ruins— partially destroyed buildings, some with smoke still rising, broken roads, and vandalized vehicles.
–"Lucas is here! That makes 99!"
Struck in awe, I walked up to the edge of the railing to get a better view of the destroyed city, completely ignoring the voice in the background that took my attendance.
"Beautiful," I couldn't help but mutter.
"Is it?"
I heard a crisp, feminine voice from behind me. Turning around, I discovered it was Anastasia.
Wearing a tight-fitting black combat suit that accentuated her slim and mature figure, and with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she exuded a mix of allure and athleticism.
Still, this level of beauty was not enough to faze me. Hah!
"Of course," I replied. "Just look, how beautiful it is!"
"I don't know," Anastasia answered, shrugging lightly. "Everything is either broken or demolished. I find it quite disturbing."
"Huh."
Well, I personally found the landscape to be pretty amazing.
Maybe it was just me.
I remember when I was a kid I used to hope that the apocalypse would arrive. I always liked those kinds of things.
Fall of humanity, brewing chaos, destruction of cities and stuff like that. There's a weird sense of joy and thrill in that, you know? To see the house of cards fall.
Anyway, let me tell you all this virtual reality really was fully immersive! I felt as if I was actually there!
The thick scent of smoke that came from some smoldering rubble of buildings, the warmth of the sunlight falling on me, the rough texture of the concrete railing I had my hands on— I could feel everything to its fullest like it was reality!
I had to say, that wasn't normal reality stimulation, no! That was reality creation!
–"Nero Dekrauf is here! That makes 100! All cadets are here!"
Right when I was in the middle of admiring the destroyed beauty in front of me, I heard a voice confirming Nero's arrival.
"Woah," Nero blinked his eyes a few times. "That was spooky."
"I know right?" Anastasia, who was right beside me a moment ago appeared in front of Nero god knows when and asked with her hands behind her back. "This was my first time too."
Woah, she moves like a cat.
After exchanging a few words with Anastasia, Nero cleared his throat and yelled in a clear loud tone, making sure his voice reached every ear present.
"Okay, now that we are here, it's time to discuss the tactical roles we all will have during this mock war.
"First off, we'll be needing two strategists. For that, I'll take two cadets with the highest intelligence stat. So those who have an intelligence stat above 145, raise your hands."
Almost immediately, around twelve people raised their hands at Nero's words.
Woah, there were a lot of smart people here, huh? Oh! And Kent was one of them!
"Okay, we'll go start high now. Who's above 150?"
At that question, suddenly, around five hands dropped. The rejected cadets had bitter expressions on their faces.
Maybe they didn't want to fight on the front lines. Heh, too bad.
"Okay, who's above 155?"
Again, three hands dropped. Only four people were left— Quinn, Grace, and Amelia were three of them.
Oh yes, Grace, despite her questionable decisions in the novel, was pretty smart actually.
"Above 160?"
"Heh," Quinn had to drop his hand this time. Instead of acting bitter, he was relieved that he was going to fight.
What a battle maniac.
"Above 165?"
Both Grace and Amelia didn't drop their hands yet and locked their gazes, almost as if this was yet another competition for them— a way to belittle each other.
So they were on this bad term already, huh?
Women.
"Above 170?"
Still, none of the girls dropped their hands. Even Nero had beads of cold sweat all over his forehead by now.
"Above 175?"
"Tsk!" finally, Grace had to back out from the competition. She had lost to Amelia.
Her intelligence stat was exactly 175 while Amelia's was 176.
"Hmph," as if to kick while she was already down, Amelia gave Grace a haughty smirk that screamed 'I am better, bitch!' in her face.
"Y-You!" the poor blonde girl could only grit her teeth in agony.
"I said, above 175…."
But before both the ladies could get into a catfight, Nero repeated his words and left everyone perplexed.
This was it, right? Amelia and Grace had the highest intelligence stat, so why was Nero repeating his question?
Yeah, no.
It turns out, there was just one person left. He still had his hand raised. And as soon as the class noticed him, murmuring of disbelief broke out.
–"What?"
–"Wait, him?"
–"No way, are you serious? He must be lying!"
Yes, of course that person was me.
"Lucas, I asked who's above 175," Nero gave me a skeptical look.
"I know what you asked, Nero."
"....."
I know what you asked, you fucker!
Just keep raising the bar and let me have my 'main character shocks everyone' moment!
"Okay, Lucas, tell us what your intelligence stat is?" he inquired.
Huh? Is he asking me now? Tch.
That's so anticlimactic! For supposedly being the main character of a fantasy novel, this guy had no sense of plot drama.
But oh well, since a question was asked, I will answer.
So I casually shrugged before giving a completely odd answer that made no sense at all:
"It is not. To prove it, I've already sent you a private text before we even entered the VR world."
"...What?" utterly confused by my illogical response, Nero furrowed his eyebrows in a puzzled frown. "What are you saying?"
"Fine! Let's take the long way," I let out an exasperated sigh before answering Nero's question correctly this time. "182. My intelligence stat is 182."
–"Oh, hell no! You mean to say I'm stupider than him? Him?!"
–"Well, remember Instructor Liz did say that his mana control was good. You'll have to have a high intelligence stat for that."
–"Still! An intelligence stat of 182 means he's profoundly gifted! But he doesn't look smart!"
Yeah, yeah! That's it! Give me the main character vibes that I deserve!
Muahahahaha!
"Lies! I refuse to believe a word out of his mouth!"
And just like I had predicted, there was at least one person who went into denial and accused me of lying.
But of course, it was Grace Goodwill.
"Lucas, are you sure you're not lying?" trying not to let a possible conflict escalate, Nero confronted me earnestly.
"Of course he's lying!" Grace cried out in a fit of rage and denial. "Do you really think this guy is smart enough to have an intelligence stat of 182?!"
"Grace, calm down!" seeing that the blonde girl was showing no signs to cool down, Nero yelled before turning his attention to me. "Lucas, if this is any kind of joke–"
But before Nero could complete his whole sentence I cut him off.
"It is not. To prove it, I've already sent you a private text before we even entered the VR world."
"..."
And then it suddenly hit him.
I had given him this exact same answer before the conversation even got to this point.
In realization, the frown on Nero's face loosened and his eyes widened a little. His mouth opened in surprise as he looked at me in confusion.
The other cadets had no idea what just happened, of course. What I did either completely went over their heads or they were too stupefied, shocked or in denial to get a sense of it.
Amelia and Grace, despite being the smart ones, were both in the second category.
"Nero, check your private message."
But of course, the side characters didn't matter. I needed to get Nero's approval to be in charge of the strategies. So shaking him out of his daze, I called out to him.
"Huh… Uh, yeah."
He absentmindedly nodded his head and began tapping on his smart bracelet. Yes, of course our smart bracelets came with us.
Anyway, the stats in our status window can be tested and anyone can get a physical or virtual copy of it to show to others.
For example, Attack is simply one's physical strength and the force of their, well, attacks.
Defense is one's physical endurance and ability to sustain damage from an attack.
Both of them can be tested fairly easily. I don't need to explain how, right? You all are not that dumb, I suppose.
Anyway, taking such tests is not mandatory by any means, but if someone wishes to confirm their stats and get a physical copy of it then the academy has the means to do it.
I wanted to get my intelligence stat tested. So two days ago, I went to the faculty and asked them for an intelligence stat exam.
To get it checked, all I had to do was answer a range of questions from a variety of different fields of study and solve some really elaborate hypothetical situations.
When I was done giving all the answers, my intelligence stat was recorded to be 180+ and I saved that report.
Then prior to coming here, I sent its pdf to Nero.
"Uh, it's there. The physical copy of his intelligence stat with the academy's stamp on it."
And silence.
Utter silence.
Ahh~ yes! This was a great show. Although I don't like being the center of attention, I quite enjoyed this.
To hit the final nail, I put on a very innocent smile and politely said, "So I'll be one of the two strategists."