Chapter 45 The Special Exam [1]
After a bit of walking, I—who is known as Zero Blanks in this world, entered the hall I was told about by a certain young man.
The same hall where all the students were gathered at the start and Mr. Halls explained to us about the entrance exam.
As I made my way in, I saw that except for a few students—around five or ten—no one else was there.
Did I really finish all three exams this quick? 'Well, then I guess he was not being sarcastic when he said that I'm rather early.'
I walked at a normal pace, the hall was mostly empty and quiet so the sound that the planked floor made when I walked could be heard clearly.
The gazes of the students who were already present here, shifted towards me as I approached them.
I'd no plan of interacting with them anyway so they were just wasting their time here.
And so, I stood at a distance from the others and simply waited for...I don't know what I was waiting for, after all, that examiner said that I will be given the details here.
'Maybe they are waiting for all the students to arrive first?' a thought crossed my mind.
If that was the case then this next exam will probably be the type where you can't play solo. Or it could be that the exam can't start until all the students were here.
The possibilities were few and I am sure everyone else has also figured this out and they are wondering just like me, about what will we be facing next.
The academy has done its best to keep the details a secret; not that we had any way of uncovering it thought.
Right now, the students who are giving the exams are probably divided into two factions. One who is taking it easy and are focusing on the exam they are giving at present; to them, the future exams are a thing to worry about when they are actually giving it.
And then the second faction, this faction contains students who are taking things seriously. While giving their best in the present they are also thinking about the future; like what the fourth exam could be.
There's also a third possibility that I'm just overthinking this because I have nothing to do right now, but...let's not talk about it for the moment.
Like that, around ten minutes passed, then fifteen minutes, then twenty, then thirty; half an hour passed.
When I was almost on the verge of dying with boredom, someone entered the hall.
Ah, it's just my sister Anya.
'Hmm, why did I expect that the whole student body will come running through the door? I do have some wild fantasies I guess.'
She directed her gaze at me, and I did the same—gazed back at her. Seems like she also finished all three exams; she was the first one to finish after me.
"She looks pretty worn out~" I muttered to myself.
It was understandable, knowing her I am sure that she'd given her all in the third—sword arts—exam. Though at the same time I was also wondering how she cleared the second exam—the one that tested our magic skills.
With her arms folded, she came and stood beside me.
? "How did it go?" I asked.
"I did all I could," she said; a rather short reply from her side.
***
Half an hour more passed, now it was a complete hour since I came here. And guess what? I and all of the other students were standing till them.
Can't they even provide us with some chairs at least?
This half an hour after Anya's arrival, the other students slowly started coming one after another and the hall was now pretty much filled.
I was looking here and there and then I noticed something, the number of students present here was high, I admit that much. But the numbers differed from when the first time we came into this hall—before the entrance exam.
Also, I wasn't the only one who noticed this change. Some of the other students, including Anya, had also noticed it but were keeping their cool.
Though, the gust of confusion was surely spread across the entire hall.
But right at that moment, when the world wanted him the most, he made his appearance.
It was Mr. Halls; he came onto the stage and stood before what looked like a mic stand with a small magic circle on its tip.
Yes, finally, Mr. Halls had arrived in the hall!
He clapped a few times in front of the mic to gather the attention of all the students, and then when it was done, he started speaking.
"First, let me congratulate all of the students present here for clearing the first part of the entrance exam; Congratulations for making it this far!"
The first part he says?
But he didn't stop speaking, after a pause, he spoke again.
"Now then, as most of you have already noticed but just in case, let me inform you of the fact that the numbers of students who are missing from here are those who failed in the first part of the exam. Hence, they were sent back home."
What he said dropped like a bomb that was oblivious to this. And my guess turned out to be right.
I had thought that there might be some students who failed and were sent back but I also had some doubts.
Like when he decided who failed and who passed?
'…..'
Oh, I see!
All of the examiners had something like a paper and they wrote something on it after I finished the exam. At that time I didn't notice but that must be when they decided who failed and who passed.
After all, except the academic exam, the results of the other exams could be determined on the spot.
So…if my theory is right, then the system of failing or passing a student should be something like this.
The First Exam—that tested our academic skills: The students who finished first submitted their answer sheet to the examiner and then left for the second exam.
The result of this exam was not taken out immediately as checking the answer sheets took time. So when the examiner gets the answer sheet from a student, they started checking through it while that student went off to give the other exams.
The Second Exam—that tested our magic skills: When a student arrives there and gives this exam, the result is on the examiner's hand instantly.
The old man who was there looked like a person who knew magic, so it wouldn't be hard for him to determine how much skill or potential this particular student has. He was also testing everyone on how well they can perform that one fireball spell, so taking out the result on that basics must be easy.
Then, if the student passed then they were sent to take the third exam but if they failed then it was a trip back home; there was no third exam for them to give.
The Third Exam—that tested our sword art skills: Just like the second exam, the examiner here was a well-experienced person in sword arts; so he was also able to tell how good or bad a student is.
And if they passed then they were told to come here to this hall but if they failed, they were sent back home.
Now, there was another thing that came into play after the third exam. Suppose a student passed both the second and third exams but did poorly in the first exam.
By this time, the examiner of the first exam should be done checking their answer sheet and if they passed and all good, but just like before, if they failed then the only way they had led back home. This means even if you pass two out of three exams but failed in any one of them, you will be kicked out.
This is how I think they passed or failed the students. But then again, this is just a theory from my side and the system can be slightly or even entirely different from this.
Though I'd now satisfied myself and there was no doubt left in my mind. All that was left was the fourth exam.
Waking me up from my thoughts was Mr. Halls's voice.
"I think this is what most of you have been waiting for, so let me now explain the fourth exam."
Finally!
"Whenever this academy conducted an entrance exam, the fourth exam was always different from before while the other three remained the same. Hence, it was named the 'Special Exam'. And just like before, the same is the case now.
The exam you are all about to give will be testing your skills to survive in a harsh, unknown environment. There will be many times when you will on your own, in a place filled with danger.
Keeping in mind that this world has monsters and things like labyrinths, that is not impossible. And this exam will be testing how you can survive in these types of situations with the use of the skills you have in your arsenal.
This time, you will have to survive in a place filled with all sorts of monsters and creatures. Worry not, this is not a test to death; you will just have to survive for a day in there."
Ah, okay, okay, okay…just stop for a second!
This is too much information! At least give me some time to process it!
We will be sent to a place filled with monsters? Okay, I get it; even though I just came to know that monsters also existed here.
The thing is...where the fuck are they? I mean, I don't see anything around here.
"So without further ado, let the special exam begin!" said Mr. Halls in a loud voice.
"W-Wait! What?"
Before I could say anything, or even before anyone could utter a single word. The floor below us shone in a brilliant white.
A big magic circle, that covered all the students in it, appeared on the wooden floor.
Then, all of a sudden my vision was bleached. All I could see was white, just white.
I felt like flying as the weight of my body suddenly decreased, though after a while it came back to normal.
My vision was also repaired and what I saw next was not an academy hall, but a bunch of trees, bushes, and green grass below my feet; it was a jungle.