Episode 109. Survival Exam (2)

Following Professor Kim Jin-hyuk’s instruction to bring absolutely anything, no matter how small, the cadets hesitantly stood up and began submitting the snacks or drinks they had bought for breakfast for inspection.

Alice had about ten magic stones.

They were probably spares for when her mana ran out. Alice could somehow survive for a week with those.

But why is she acting like this all of a sudden? I don’t get it.

Even looking at the status screen, I can’t figure it out because all I can think is ‘trash’ or ‘filth’.

Wait a second.

Could it be that Alice saw me having sex with Lumi in the club room?

Considering Alice is the daughter of the Iris Guild, an information guild, she might have ordered a guild member to dig up dirt on me.

Then, I got caught due to my carelessness, and it reached Alice’s ears.

‘But is having sex with my girlfriend in the club room something that warrants being called trash…?’

Since only Lumi was caught, the investigator would probably just think she’s my girlfriend.

Ha, I don’t know. Besides, this guess isn’t even certain.

‘Enter one by one, in order.’

We were entering the transport portal one by one.

If I ride this, I’ll arrive at the deserted island, right?

I entrusted my body to the portal as well. When I opened my eyes, I saw the vast ocean, and behind me, dense trees like the Amazon.

This place, where cadets were chattering around, was the coast of an island.

‘Class A, gather here.’

Professor Kim Jin-hyuk, our homeroom professor, emerged from the portal last and gathered us.

‘This is an uninhabited island purchased by Victoria Academy. There are no traces of humans here, and the ecosystem has been maintained as naturally as possible. You must survive here until Sunday.’

Professor Kim Jin-hyuk began the briefing for the special exam.

The densely grown trees certainly looked like a rainforest, untouched by human hands.

‘The island is home to many poisonous animals and monsters. Of course, even without poison, there are many monsters capable of threatening your lives. When you want to give up, contact me via your smartwatch anytime. If an emergency situation arises and it seems like your life is in danger, use this.’

Kim Jin-hyuk distributed stickers that could be attached to the smartwatches to the cadets.

‘If you tear that sticker, you will be immediately transported to a safe place. However, the moment you tear the sticker, your exam score will be the lowest possible.’

Unlike previous training, there’s no safety net at all. However, a huge number of drones and surveillance cameras are monitoring the island to prevent accidents, so it probably won’t be that dangerous.

‘Isn’t this dangerous?’

‘I can’t even contact my girlfriend….’

Professor Kim Jin-hyuk continued the explanation, looking indifferently at the murmuring students.

‘I will explain the exam rules. You will each be given 10 points initially. Means to increase your points exist throughout the island. First, if you catch a monster and recognize it with your smartwatch, your points will increase. And combat between cadets is, of course, also possible….’

Kim Jin-hyuk’s explanation was damn long.

Simply put, catching monsters earns points, and catching cadets earns points too.

Weak monsters are given a moderate score, and the stronger the monster, the higher the score awarded.

If you defeat one cadet and recognize each other’s smartwatches, you can obtain half of the points that cadet had.

Besides monsters, supply boxes falling from the sky or treasures hidden in various places also grant points.

‘To steal another cadet’s points, you just need to steal their smartwatch. If you read another smartwatch with yours, you take half the points stored there, and the opponent is eliminated.’

Kim Jin-hyuk explained while tapping his own smartwatch.

‘I don’t think there are any great individuals who would risk their lives for this exam… but I’m telling you just in case. This is purely part of the training. It’s a process to experience beforehand how to cope in crises you haven’t encountered. Don’t endanger your lives just because of pride.’

‘Professor… but if we fight, won’t emotions become too intense?’

A cadet raised their hand and asked.

It was a somewhat reasonable question… but if this were a place where that would work, they wouldn’t have dragged us here in the first place.

‘You are students of Victoria Academy. Whether you have talent, a good family background, or lots of money, none of that matters now. Since you entered the Academy, exposure to difficult and dangerous training is expected.’

Victoria Academy is a globally recognized educational institution.

Behind the scenes of Victoria Academy, which has produced many renowned hunters, lay this Spartan training, but it’s certainly true that the tougher the ordeal, the more it makes people grow.

‘If you lack confidence, you can just contact me and give up. Even if you’re facing a life-threatening situation, just tear the sticker. As long as you’re breathing, the waiting medical team will somehow save you, so don’t worry. However, we won’t take care of idiots who die foolishly by stubbornly persisting without even realizing they’re in mortal danger.’

Hearing him say that is scary. Of course, since I won’t die, it doesn’t matter to me.

‘The matters that needed to be broadcast are finished. Lastly, I will give you individual maps and emergency rations.’

Each person received one map and one pouch.

The pouch labeled ‘Emergency Rations’ contained two chocolate bars and two eggs.

‘Who is this supposed to be for…?’

‘Each of you will have a mark on your map. The exam begins once everyone arrives at their respective marks. From now until the exam starts, conversation or contact with each other is forbidden. If caught, you are immediately disqualified, and failure to reach your mark within 30 minutes also results in disqualification. Now move!’

Whether he was done speaking, Kim Jin-hyuk disappeared via the portal.

He’ll probably go to a control room or something to watch the exam.

The cadets looked around, flustered, but no one opened their mouths.

‘….’

The situation was the same for other classes.

It’s understandable, considering the entire first-year student body of over 200 people was abandoned on the coast.

Of course, after pondering for a few seconds, the cadets quietly went into the forest.

After exchanging glances with Lucy and Lumi, I looked at the map and found my way.

*

While waiting at the designated location, a notification arrived on my smartwatch.

[The exam begins now! If you wish to give up, run this app and press the give up button!]

This is an app I had installed for exam preparation.

Later, I’ll be able to track other cadets with this app, and it will be useful in many ways, although I can’t use it now.

---

『Sub-quest transmitted.』

[An All-Rounder with a Touch of Specialness!]

You, who are skilled in both military and literary arts!

Please show outstanding results in the Special Exam!

• Reward: Agility Stat +2

---

‘Oh?’

A sub-quest popped up too.

But I’m not first in practical skills. Why call me an all-rounder?

And why is the reward trying to raise my Agility stat? It should raise my mana instead.

Anyway, I have to do my best in the special exam.

The item I need drops from the boss monster that appears on Day 7.

I’ll just think of this as a bonus for killing two birds with one stone.

First… let’s find a place to sleep.

I plan to decide on a base and operate centered around it.

I don’t want to wander around pointlessly, and word has already spread among all the first-years that I had a huge amount of supplies earlier on the coast.

‘Is there a decent spot somewhere…? Should I head to the mountains?’

Mountains often have places with good terrain. There might even be caves.

‘It would be nice if it’s near water. Good for washing up too.’

Since I brought my toiletries, running water is all I need.

I looked at the map, found a nearby river, and charted a course.

*

Alice started the special exam with an unpleasant feeling.

Even without this, I was already annoyed after learning the truth about Lee Hoyeon, and being dragged to a dump like this for a ‘special exam’ was annoying too.

‘Perverted bastard.’

Thinking about it again gives me goosebumps all over. I never thought he would be such a promiscuous man.

‘He was a man I had thought I wanted to get closer to…’

A strange sense of regret still remained, but I felt a physiological repulsion.

Nope, nope.

Alice erased the thoughts about Lee Hoyeon. The exam was important right now.

‘Ten magic stones….’

For Alice, who needed two or three magic stones just to keep up with one practical class, ten stones were ridiculously insufficient.

Just because of that, I couldn’t give up the exam, so I had to do my best.

Alice decided to look for treasure first. There might be something related to mana.

While searching for places where treasure might be using the map, Alice decided to head towards the center of the island, but then remembered Lee Hoyeon was heading there.

‘…Let’s go this way.’

Although heading to the center appealed to me, thinking of Lee Hoyeon made me feel bad.

Alice looked at the map and started walking east.

However, her innate poor sense of direction hindered her navigation, and she eventually ended up in a completely different place than originally intended.

‘Where is this…?’

A wide river appeared before Alice. It was the source of a river cutting through the uninhabited island.

Alice climbed onto the rickety wooden bridge to cross the river, concentrating all her attention on the map, and didn’t notice the cadets hidden on the other side.

However, the cadets on the other side didn’t want her crossing either.

‘Hey… Fuck, what do you mean ‘holding out is the answer’? Alice is coming. You crazy bastard.’

The two male cadets hiding in the bushes started panicking when they saw Alice crossing the bridge.

‘Shit. I messed up. If we run into her, it’s hopeless. We have to run.’

‘Hey, wait a sec. She doesn’t seem to have noticed us yet, should we give it a try?’

The cadet holding the bow said nervously.

‘Even if we ambush her, we wouldn’t win, so why bother?’

The cadet with the spear on his back made an accurate point, but the cadet holding the bow shook his head.

‘We’re not aiming for Alice, we’re aiming for that bridge. We just need to break the part connected to our side.’

‘Oh…? Is that so?’

It was an absurd plan to destroy the bridge Alice was crossing. If Alice were in perfect condition, she would never have fallen for such a shoddy plan, but right now, besides feeling awful, she was focusing all her attention on finding her way.

‘Yeah. Anyway, even if we deal with her now, we won’t get many points. It’s just about eliminating one competitor.’

‘Okay. Let’s do it. If it doesn’t work, we can just run away immediately.’

Alice was still frowning, looking at the map.

‘No… This is trees, and this is trees too. That’s a mountain, and that’s a mountain too. Where am I supposed to go?’

Rustle-

An artificial sound of rustling leaves, accompanied by the presence of someone.

At the same time, I felt something flying towards me.

‘Too late!’

Alice quickly drew up her mana to prepare for the attack flying towards her.

Clang-!

However, there wasn’t a single attack targeting her.

The javelins and arrows, which flew targeting the creaking wooden bridge, completely severed the ropes holding it together.

‘Huh…?’

Alice made eye contact with the two people high-fiving each other, celebrating their successful ambush, and then fell into the river.

Gurgle-gurgle-

‘I need to take out the magic stones….’

Because I forcefully drew out mana to block the ambush, the mana sickness started to flare up again.

To escape the water immediately, I need to perform emergency treatment with magic stones.

Alice, fumbling with the inner pocket of her clothes trying to take out the magic stones, let go of the hand holding them due to the unexpectedly strong current.

‘…!’

At the same time, the magic stones slipped out from the inner pocket, which had been opened because of Alice’s hand.

The spare magic stones, only ten available, were swept away by the river. Alice struggled somehow to get out of the water, but her body wouldn’t move properly due to the aftereffects of forcefully drawing mana.

‘This is really dangerous… Aagh-‘

Alice decided to tear off her smartwatch’s emergency sticker, thinking she was truly in danger, but at that moment, her head, tossed around by the current, collided with a protruding rock.

With the lack of breath, internal mana sickness, and the pain in the back of her head all hitting at once, Alice eventually lost consciousness and floated downstream.