There were two things that came to his mind when Jace first heard the man's words. The first was that he was a Synergist. Compared to other classes, especially combat-oriented ones, it was a fact that he wouldn't be able to hold up a fight even if he had the energy to. After all, his skill sets were all support-based.
The second thing was that, with the exam's sole purpose being to test out whether or not an Awakener was suited to receive their hunter's license or not, the tournament-style format felt restrictive. The License Exam wasn't a competition, nor was it to see who was the best.
As such, to hear a drastic change to something that needed no changes was a huge shock to Jace.
"Rest assured, we have taken the classes of those who are taking part in the exam into account as well," the man nodded his head. "The tournament matches will not be an individual battle. You will instead be paired up, evenly split between utility and damage. This would allow a showcase of teamwork, which will be added to the criteria of grading."
In the world of hunters, there was a term known as "Classes". From the very get-go of their awakening, the system would classify a hunter into one of five classes: Striker, Magician, Marksman, Sentinel and Synergist. The classification of a hunter allowed others to determine their specific role in battle or how their skills would play out.
Typically for Strikers, they were known to specialize in melee combat. Whereas Magicians heavily focused on magic. As for Marksmans, they played by distance, having the longest attack range out of the three damage classes. Meanwhile, for the two support-type classes, Sentinel and Synergist, one was built to be a tank and the other specialized in utility.
"T-That's..." Although the explanation from the man was reasonable, Jace was still left speechless, unaccepting of the format change. "Just what's the reason behind this change?"
"...uh, well... There was a case last month where a hunter's debut nearly destroyed the entire headquarters of the association..." The man coughed. "But no matter. Whether it is this or the previous format of the exam, there are no differences. In the end, your combat sense and abilities will be put to the test, to see whether or not you deserve the hunter's license."
"...right." He sighed, slowly coming to terms with the current circumstances.
"Great! Now that I have your understanding, you may go prepare for the exam!" The man smiled. "For clarification, although this is a tournament-style battle, this is by no means a competition," he stated. "The ultimate goal is to see how well you perform in battle. From difficult situations to unpredictable circumstances, we want to see how well you fare against them. So, the format is simple. You will go through three instances of battle together with your partner. Win or defeat, once you've finished the quota, you will be sent to the waiting room until further notice."
"H-Huh...?" Jace's eyes twitched. "How many times...?"
"Three times!" he nodded his head. "Further details are explained in the waiting room if you wish for a refresher. The matchups will be revealed once everyone finishes up with the written exam and physical test, so relax. You have 20 more minutes to go."
...
Within a room in the association, a small group of people could be seen preparing for the upcoming practical combat exam. Some of them could be seen sparring against each other, while others were loitering around, relaxing before the pairings were released.
"The exam was hard, man!" A high schooler cried out. "I thought I could finish it in 10 minutes, but it took 20!"
"Ugh... There were a few questions that were stupid," a girl frowned. "But it doesn't matter if you don't get a perfect score, right?"
"As long as you pass," a man beside her shrugged. "It wasn't that hard. You guys are just overexaggerating."
"Hmm... I hope so," the girl said, pointing her finger over towards a man sitting in the corner. "There's that guy over there who seems to have lost it. Was the exam so hard on him that he became like that?"
"Eh, who knows! Must have lost hope in life or something," the high schooler replied. "Been there, done that."
The man sitting by the corner of the waiting room was Jace, who was quietly sitting on a stool after the whole explanation by the man. His expression was dazed, whilst his mind was in turmoil.
"...how did it come to this?" Staring at the ceiling in helplessness, Jace was left completely out of it as worries began piling up in his head. "...a format change? When the hell was this even announced? How could a single person force the association to change the entire format when it hasn't been touched for years??"
The entire news regarding the format change had caught him off guard. After suddenly learning of the changes, Jace was in disbelief. He almost wanted to scorn the hunter who nearly destroyed the association's building. However, not knowing their identity, he was helpless.
"I thought I could take it easy with the battle simulation, but I have to go through three battles instead?? And paired with some stranger at that??" The more he thought about the matter, the bigger his headache grew. "God... This feels like a nightmare..."
From wanting to get the exam over with, it quickly turned into terror, dreading the exam that was soon to come. There was no way for Jace to know of the changes to the format until now. After all, years had gone by without a single change to the exam. What reason did Jace have to look up how the exam would go when he already knew how it worked?
"Hello??? Earth to Lazy Eyes?" As Jace was in turmoil, Landon, who came from who knows where, approached Jace, waving his hand in front of him the next second. "Aren't you going to prepare for the upcoming matches or something? Did the written exam drain you of your energy? Hah! Weren't you one of the first to finish the paper? You should've been like me, taking my sweet time to answer the questions!"
"..." Hearing Landon's voice, Jace only stared at the blonde-haired man, eyes lifeless. "...when did the association announce that there would be a change to the format?"
"Hmm?? It was announced just last week!" Landon replied instantly. "What, surely you knew of it, right? No one in their right mind would come here absolutely clueless about the exam! Today's the first batch as well, so it's special too!"
"...huh?" Jace blinked.
"What, you didn't know that the guild leaders themselves would be coming to watch the matches?" Landon tilted his head. "It's the biggest opportunity ever to be scouted if you do well! Of course, not that I care about being scouted or anything. I would prefer to start my own guild after becoming an S-ranker!"
"...huh???" Jace's lifeless eyes turned into a glare. "Say that again?"
"Hmm? That I would prefer to start my own guild after becoming an S-ranker?" he repeated his sentence.
"...no, I mean—" As Jace was about to continue his sentence, a loud bell sound rang out into the room. "...ugh, what now?" Turning his head over towards the direction of the sound, he noted, that at the centre of the room, a television screen turned on, finally revealing the upcoming matches and the pairings.
[ 1st Bout, Match 1 ]
[ Landon Von Davies (Marksman) / Jace Young (Synergist) ]
VS
[ Jordan Woods (Striker) / Tammy Fowler (Sentinel) ]