Ch.21Practical Evaluation (3)

Aaaaargh-!!

The speaker connected to Room 5 boomed so loudly it seemed about to tear apart.

An arm had fallen off.

With a thud, making a sound.

Spurting blood profusely.

The students were dumbfounded.

Rustila too.

Seti too.

And Zernya who must be somewhere around here.

Even the supervisors who were supposed to manage and ensure no one got hurt during this exam.

They all just stood still, as if frozen in time.

Crack.

The golem inserted its severed arms back into its shoulder sockets. The limp arms began to move again. As if they had regained vitality.

Aaaaargh!

The screams spread to the adjacent compartments.

The forearms of Numbers 4 and 6 were cut off.

Then the wrists of Numbers 3 and 7 flew off…

This snuff film broadcasting in real-time was far too shocking for young friends who were just about to turn seventeen.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing? Move quickly!”

The supervisor who recovered from the stunned state fastest smacked his colleagues’ heads.

They skillfully drew their Plasma Swords.

Ten room doors flung open. Blood dripped onto the thresholds.

“Ah, aah…”

“What are you doing? Run quickly!”

“Don’t push…!”

The students fled in a rush. The supervisors couldn’t control them. Tangled here, tangled there. Everyone pushed the person in front and shoved the person behind to escape faster.

Meanwhile, the golems, no, the monsters, began to point their blades at the supervisors with their Plasma Swords.

“Aaaagh!!”

The monster sliced a person.

“Urrrgh!!”

People crushed people.

“Mother, fuck-!!”

A muscular supervisor who looked like he could bench press 800 pounds got sliced. Once the leader died, the choice the remaining supervisors made was simple.

“Fuck, let’s bolt!”

RUN.

Perhaps scared by the thought that they might never be able to masturbate again if caught, the supervisors fled with their tails between their legs.

“Sigh.”

I let out a sigh.

I looked behind me.

Seti was trembling, seemingly in a state of panic.

Rustila was better than him, but there was no sign of her calming the ripples in her pupils.

In other words.

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ is maintaining your judgment with Mental Stabilization (G).]

I was the only calm person here.

Despite arms and wrists scattered all over the floor, I was analyzing the situation without any particular disturbance to my mind.

This is common in this world anyway.

I’ll see much worse things in the future, so this is nothing.

“Rustila!”

“Ah, uh, yes…?”

I picked up a fallen Plasma Sword and handed it to her.

“You protect Seti. And absolutely do not go outside.”

If we go out now, getting arms cut off would be the least of our problems. We’d be crushed to death.

A subtle gleam flickered in Rustila’s eyes. She must be using her constellation ability to read my intentions. No need for deep conversation with her. Rustila regained her composure and nodded.

“…Understood.”

“Hey! You idiot! What are you trying to do?!”

Seti shouted at me.

I looked ahead.

About thirty severed arms.

The monsters couldn’t seem to insert all the arms into their bodies, so they were just cutting without picking them up.

If until now they had been acting with the purpose of ‘collecting arms,’ now they were simply moving for the sake of slaughter.

Swords, saw blades, axes, spears, flails, dildos, and so on. With such dangerous weapons swinging around, there’s no guarantee they’d aim only for arms. They might target legs, heads, or even buttocks.

Terrible.

I must stop them.

“Little sister, don’t do anything.”

“Are you crazy? You want me to just sit still in this situation?”

Seti yelled. She approached someone who was groaning with a severed arm. He was on the verge of passing out from excessive bleeding.

“Stop the bleeding, I need to stop the bleeding…”

The Rheinland family is renowned for medicine.

Although Seti’s dream is to become filthy rich by creating a major corporation in the universe, she could perform basic first aid thanks to her parents’ education.

But what good does that do?

Even medical skills require tools to be effective.

Besides forcibly laying him down and guiding his breathing, there was nothing she could do.

But Seti wasn’t completely clueless.

“Phone! Does anyone have a phone?”

“In, in my jacket’s right pocket…”

“Ah, found it… But it’s password-protected? What’s the password? Sir? The password… Oh, fuck…!”

Seti’s sudden curse wasn’t just because a monster appeared at her side and swung a knife at her. The man had fainted, foaming at the mouth.

Rustila shouted while barely blocking the monster’s sword attack.

“Run quickly!”

“Wait, the password…!”

“Contact someone else!”

“There doesn’t seem to be anyone else’s phone! Why doesn’t the emergency call work! Shit… It’s a Montes! Who uses this company’s phones these days?!”

By this point, I was collecting the fallen arms and putting them in a safe place.

Dangerous… well, not really. The monsters strangely didn’t bother me.

[“6974.”]

“Hey, try six-nine-seven-four!”

“Password…? S-six nine… Oh, it unlocked! How did you know?”

“That’s the standard for men! Never mind, hurry and call an ambulance!”

“H-hello? Is this the hospital? Yes! There are monsters here slicing people…! Yes, Stellarium… Stellarium Academia North Wing Section 54! North! Wing! Section! Fifty-four! Yes yes, in Building E! Not Building 2, Building E! E Building, E Building! This damn-!!”

That’s my sister alright. She’s got quite a temper.

Meanwhile, Rustila was struggling to fight with her sword against ten monsters.

She was fast.

But the monsters were fast too.

I should help her.

But how?

If I enter their attack range, my arms will be cut off without mercy.

And I don’t even know how to handle a sword properly yet.

Honestly, I came planning to dominate the written test and barely pass the practical, never dreaming something like this would happen. This was a development I’d never seen even in novels.

…As I was thinking this and looking around.

I felt something heavy at my fingertips.

“Oh.”

A sensation cold as steel.

A familiar feel in my hand.

Something I used to enjoy during electron diffraction experiments, an item from my memories.

The ‘Calipers of Wisdom’ I received as a reward for my first quest.

It was in my left hand.

***

Crowbar.

Plasma cutter.

Vernier calipers.

What do these three tools have in common?

First, they are engineering tools.

Second, they can be used effectively in various situations.

And finally, third…

They can save the world.

“Come at me, you Samson bastards.”

As soon as the calipers were in my hand, I pulled the slider and struck the monster’s visual sensor with the external jaws. The outer shell that was difficult to even scratch with a Plasma Sword was completely shattered with one swing.

[— You have defeated a monster with the ‘Calipers of Wisdom’.]

[— You have gained 50 pron.]

Clean restructuring.

Yes, nothing else would work. This works.

“…Eidel?”

“I’ll help, so try not to get hurt!”

I frowned as I shook off the dark green blood from the calipers.

As expected, these creatures are living organisms. Someone must have switched them with real golems before the exam.

“…You can defeat monsters by hitting them with that?”

“Seems so.”

Rustila spoke as if she had made up her mind.

“I’ll protect you!”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Rustila lightly swung the sword she was using for the first time. The monster that couldn’t withstand the impact was pushed back. The wound was… a little, no, quite significant. It wasn’t a critical hit, but it was effective.

To show such skill without even using Aether.

As expected of Rustila.

She mustn’t die. This world would end without her.

So just as she protects me.

I will protect Rustila.

No matter what happens.

I smashed the monsters’ heads with the calipers whenever Rustila stunned them. Each time, 50 pron was credited.

It felt like earning mileage points from foreign news.

And suddenly I realized.

The second function of these ‘Calipers of Wisdom’.

“Ha.”

Monster subjugation.

Even without being able to handle Aether, if I wield this tool as a weapon, I can inflict effective damage.

So I have to walk Gordon Freeman’s path too?

It was unfair.

Well, at least that gentleman had a PhD from MIT, while I was dragged into this world right before receiving my doctorate.

Out of spite alone, I’m definitely going to get my PhD.

[— You have acquired a total of 500 pron as a reward for subduing monsters.]

We eliminated all the monsters with our fantastic combination. Just then, the paramedics arrived. The doctors surveyed the chaotic scene and retched, covering their mouths.

“What in the world…”

“Please save the people first!”

The doctors didn’t falter.

Even while vomiting profusely, they found the owners of the arms and performed immediate suturing operations. They planned to preserve the already necrotic parts for later cell regeneration.

The immediate crisis was averted.

But the situation could hardly be considered resolved.

Who was the culprit behind this disaster?

Who should compensate the injured?

How should the practical evaluation proceed now?

If there’s a retest, how will they accommodate students who need recovery after having their arms severed?

I can already see the administrative team running around like headless chickens.

***

And, as Eidel predicted, the administrative team was indeed running around frantically.

Complaints flooded in, and not only police but also prosecutors and military personnel gathered to blockade Stellarium. They fired a coordinated barrage of criticism at the academy leadership, as if by prior agreement.

The Stellarium board of directors sank under the crossfire from the military, prosecution, and police.

The stock price of the public foundation established by the chairman plummeted.

The chairman’s mental state also plummeted. Soon, admission rates would plummet too.

Of course…

“…so, we’ll need about this much for the students’ medical expenses.”

The slush fund he had been saving for golf would also be drained significantly.

Plop. The chairman’s wig fell off.

(Even in this era, baldness remains an incurable disease.)

“560 billion? Why does it cost so much just for suturing operations?”

“Well… as you know, the scene was a complete mess, wasn’t it? Some students are also claiming psychological trauma…”

The chairman grabbed the back of his neck. The president rolled his eyes.

“Still, it’s fortunate that no one died.”

“…That’s true.”

The federation’s medical technology is advanced enough to revive brain-dead patients. Essentially, as long as the head isn’t completely severed, they can keep someone alive somehow, either by attaching machines or injecting nanomachines.

The problem was finding the culprit.

Upon investigation, it was discovered that someone had switched the training golems with real monsters. The golems were safely stored in the warehouse.

The chairman groaned, holding his head.

“…Let’s think about this matter later.”

There was a more urgent issue than finding the culprit.

Namely, the admission procedure.

“Although not many students were injured, if we resume the practical evaluation as is, it will cause significant backlash.”

“Yes. That would be unfair…”

The injured examinees need time to recover. But to move their bodies properly, they would need to rest for at least half a year.

They needed an evaluation method that didn’t require much physical movement. However, having another written test after already completing one would be like mocking the applicants.

There weren’t many alternatives.

“…I think it’s best to cancel this year’s practical and increase the weight of the oral examination.”

The chairman nodded.

“That seems better. Let’s prepare quickly.”

“I will promptly inform each department. Oh, and by the way.”

“Go ahead.”

The president hesitated before speaking.

“There were students who showed unexpected coping abilities during this incident…”