Lillian hopped into her pod. After bidding Millis farewell, she watched her wander with the Prince towards a pod.
'She actually convinced him? Well... he is quite laid-back, not gonna lie...' The Second Prince wasn't really that obsessed with the throne, unlike some characters in other stories. He left it up to his older brother, The First, who he knows is doing a fine job.
'What was with that handshake though?' She then shrugged before glancing to the side and seeing that Marionette had taken the one beside hers. Marionette shot her a look before pulling herself into it and letting the workers close the door.
Lillian did the same and nestled herself in the soft and comfortable insides. The inside of this pod was more comfortable than her bed on Earth! A tool used for practice is far superior in terms of comfort for something... well... used for comfort!
"Tsk... rich..."
"Hm? Did you say anything?" The staff members asked.
"O-oh no."
"Alright then. Are you prepared?"
Lillian nodded, causing the staff member to smile and press a button. The glass door lowered on her, shutting her inside. Fortunately, she didn't have claustrophobia, or else this would've been pretty bad.
She then moved her hand to her neck and felt the familiar chain of her necklace still there. Before she had entered her pod, the staff had begun to check if anyone had any sort of magic items on them.
They came out with quite the pile.
Luckily, when they came around for her turn while holding a device that detected anything that had either been enchanted or carried traces of mana, it didn't go off even after hovering over her necklace.
'Heh! I bet they didn't expect an item higher than a rank 5 on anyone. Such items give off an entirely different reading!'
Moments after thinking, she suddenly gave a yawn, her eyes glancing around curiously, "So, how does this work? At this moment, it would usually skip to a cutscene of me suddenly waking up in a—"
SQUAWK!
"... Forest..." Lillian stared into the sky; the foggy glass door she was looking at had suddenly turned into a bright, beautiful blue sky. How did she even get here? Obviously, through the use of the pod, but what was even the process?
"This isn't the forest..." Her ears picked up the sound of what seemed to be water crashing into something. She currently felt like she was lying on a soft bed of sand...
"Am I on a beach?"
She moved her hand and scraped up what was under her. Yellow sand cascaded out of her hand like flowing water.
She sat up and looked around. She was indeed on a beach.
Lillian scratched her head and stared off into the sea. The raging tides crashed into the tall, grey, wet stones beside her that looked like spikes. (3)
"... Okay... so I am on this part of the island..." She tapped her chin as she thought about what to do next.
"I wonder when that clumsy headmaster is going to—"
["Hello? Is thing on?"]
Lillian looked up towards the sky, and the scene of a giant eye on a massive holographic screen appeared. The eye then moved back to reveal the Headmaster, who scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
He seemed to be in some kind of control room, perhaps used to monitor whatever happens in the simulation.
["Well, if this is! I have to inform you that I had indeed left some things out. Oops!"]
The Headmaster laughed.
["The thing I missed out on is that the elimination of other students is allowed, but there is no torturing. You would be automatically kicked out from here if you did. Second, the place you all have appeared in is called the Great Island of Critters. An island slightly off the coast from the north. Third, could you please mention out loud the type of weapon you would like to use for this exam?"]
Lillian thought for a bit, lingering, before saying out loud:
"I want a sword." Seconds later, after saying that, a steel sword appeared on her lap, her face reflected in its polished blade. "The good old sword."
She pushed herself off the ground and began to swing the sword around. The muscle memory in her body activated a bit the more she swung it around, but it was still clumsy.
It seemed that in the past, Lillian was also a bad learner when it came to the sword.
"... I now have doubt whether I am going to get a first place now..." Lillian sighed, dreading what was to come. (3)
["And lastly...!"]
Lillian gazed up at the screen.
["Small little trinkets would soon appear around the island. You could even think of them as power-ups. We had plenty of feedback from last year about making it slightly more fun."]
The headmaster's smile then turned into a crazed grin.
["But don't think that this exam would be any easier than the last. In fact, due to this change, it is much harder, but only by a bit."]
Lillian's ears twitched at the sound of something tapping against the ground. Turning her head around, she found a greyish crab with stones attached to it. It was about half her size.
["All we did was just increase their size by... let's say 3 times their original size. Nothing for you future warriors to worry about. This is, after all... a common thing to see in a war with these monsters."]