Several figures suddenly appeared, standing on a green, and dimly lit forest. They were the students of Class 1 - A, accompanied by Professor Aisea.
Opening his eyes, Bruce was surprised. He raised his hands and looked at them, checking if there were any differences.
'It almost feels like this is real.'
He sighed in amazement.
As expected of the Virtual Reality Space, one of humanity's greatest technological advancements. Its imitation of reality was perfect.
He took a step, observing his surroundings. Trees could be seen all over the place, standing tall and mightily.
The wind was moist and heavy, as though gloom had invaded the entire place. Bathed by the murky light that came from the dusky sky, it looked especially ominous.
The deeper the forest went, the darker the place became. It was obviously morning in reality, but the Virtual Reality Space was anything but.
"Gather around." Professor Aisea elegantly spoke, pushing up her glasses. "This is the Murky Forest, one of the academy's virtual terrains. It's known for its gloomy atmosphere and ever-changing terrain. Don't step away too far, or else you'll get lost. I don't want any trouble before the test can even begin."
"But before I explain to all of you the rules of the test, I'll assign your teams first. Since there are a total of 48 students in this class, I'll group you all into teams of four. That way, there will be a total of 12 groups."
Hearing that, everyone couldn't help but focus intently. Their teammates could decide their grades for this exam.
'I hope I won't get teamed up with some useless loser.'
All of them thought, praying in their hearts.
"For team 1: Alison Snyder, Dimitri Sun, Poland Dawn, and Jubilee Smule..."
"Team 2: George Klawn, Sergey III Endfield, Yinlin Su, Rose Blue..."
"Team 3: Blake Shelton, Elisee Lan..."
Bruce's ears automatically filtered the names. He didn't know a single person from those mentioned, and he preferred it staying that way until the end of the year.
Though, while he was waiting for his name to be called, he heard some of his classmates gasping in surprise when some specific students' names were mentioned.
But that was none of his business anyway.
When the seventh team was finally called, he was lying on the grass by himself with his eyes closed. It seemed as if he was taking a nap.
"Team 7: Bruce Ryker, Noah Cyr, Penguin Oswald..."
Bruce's eyes opened, looking at the dusky sky. He was finally mentioned. He was about to stand up and look for his teammates, but...
"... Natasha Raven."
At this moment, both of them were rooted in their places, dumbfounded. Natasha especially looked like she couldn't believe that the world was doing this to her right now.
She was just praying in her mind for them not to be grouped together, but then it actually happened. It was as if someone had heard her prayers and told her "No" with a cheeky face.
Her eyes swept the field, immediately finding Bruce from the crowd: it wasn't that hard. The man was casually lying on the grass, standing out like a sore thumb.
Her eyes met with his gaze. She felt hotness rise to her face, immediately breaking away eye contact with him.
'Oh, darn it! I'm so unlucky!'
Bruce saw the girl look at him from afar, and then suddenly turned her eyes away. He rubbed his nose, feeling troubled.
Was this fate making a fool of both of them?
"Fate is such a romantic idiot." He shook his head while a small smile erupted on his face. "That's why nobody likes you."
Although he didn't know what she was currently thinking, he could roughly guess her feelings. He figured that Natasha probably didn't want to be with him, much less talk to him.
He understood. After that failure of a confession, a normal person would be so embarrassed to meet the person they confessed to, that was normal.
'Anyway, this is good. She should be very strong. I'll just make her the leader and slack off... I'm not interested in this test.'
Bruce thought. Coming from a very tiresome night, he just wanted to rest. If Professor Aisea had not been their first class for today, he would've likely fallen asleep during class.
"..."
Soon, everyone was mentioned and a total of 12 groups were formed. Some were happy, while others weren't so pleased.
Aisea swept her gaze to the field and gave a short nod.
"Listen up, I'll only be explaining this once. The rules and contents of this test are quite simple. The test is called [Hide and Seek]. I suppose it's a very familiar game for everyone. There are two sides; one side hides, and the other side tries to find them."
Everyone, including Bruce, listened with all of their attention. He had his hands crossed on his chest and looked at Professor Aisea in the middle.
"Since there's a total of (12) groups, then I'll split all of you into two sides; Team 1 - 6 are [Seekers], and Team 7 - 12 are [Hiders]. I hope you're following along because I'll be explaining the rules of each side now."
"Before the game begins, the [Hiders] will receive a Blue Card from me. The job of the [Seekers] is to find the [Hiders] and take away their Blue Card. Then, whichever group holds a Blue Card until the end of the class passes the test. Otherwise, those who don't have it, fail the test with no exception."
Natasha snapped her fingers, spawning six floating Blue Cards in the air. She knocked each of them flying to their respective teams, Team 1 - 6.
"There will be a total of (9) Blue Cards. Each team from the Hiders will receive (1) from me, and the extra (3) are scattered in the forest. Whoever finds them gets a bonus. The amount of Blue Cards your group is holding by the end of the test will be one of the basis for your grades."
The Hiders group caught the Blue Cards, keeping it safe.
Natasha paid no heed to it and continued.
"Now, just like in a normal [Hide and Seek] game, the [Hiders] are given 5 minutes to get a headstart to hide themselves before the [Seekers] can start finding them. After the 5 minutes, the test will then officially begin."
The Seekers group frowned after hearing that. The Hiders already had the advantage of being able to possess a Blue Card at the start, and with another advantage...
It feels like the Hiders were being given too much advantage.
Seeing their frowns, Natasha patiently explained.
"I was going to mention this later, but I'll do it now. The Blue Cards have a pre-installed mechanism. Every 15 minutes, it will alert everyone's radar and appear on the map."
Hearing that, the Seekers group's expressions softened. While the Hiders group pursed their lips, feeling troubled.
They originally thought they could just find a good hiding spot and hide there until the end of the test, but obviously, they were thinking too much.
Professor Aisea had accounted for that scenario.
"Now, what are the [Seekers] advantages, you may ask? It's my duty as your professor to offer a fair and imbalanced system. Before the test begins, I'll allow each team from both sides to choose 4 artifacts among the 3 artifact types."
"The 3 artifact types are: Attack-type, support-type, and utility-type."
"There are a total of (18) unique artifacts among the selection, and (36) common artifacts," Aisea paused. "The [Seekers] are first in the selection and they can choose (2) unique and (2) common artifacts. While the [Hiders] can choose only (4) common artifacts."
"Understood?"
Everyone nodded and answered "Yes" feeling a bit overwhelmed, but otherwise, they understood most of the rules.
The Seekers had an expression of relief and curiosity. If their advantage was the special artifacts, how useful were they exactly?
"Now, that is all."
Then, Aisea clapped her hands. Suddenly, a barrage of items fell from the sky as the wind gently cushioned their fall.
"These are the artifacts you're going to choose from. Team 7 - 12 come up and choose your artifacts."
Bruce looked at Natasha, who was already surrounded by two guys, before walking to her...