Survival Exam

The day of the survival exam.

The first-year Combat Department gathered in the basement of the Academy’s main building.

The Combat Department boasted twice as many students as any of the other four departments in the Academy.

Out of the 600 Combat Department students gathered here, only the top four could participate in the ‘Duel’ that determined the top student of the year. Just participating in it would earn them a lot of recognition, allowing them to get into good guilds or jobs after graduation.

Being in the top tier in a place where the continent’s talents gather is practically a guarantee of some level of success.

Just like Raikan-nim said, they received a survival bag one by one from the entrance of the underground multipurpose auditorium, and underwent a magical physical examination.

Some who had hidden food were caught in the examination and showed signs of frustration after receiving penalty points. Of course, my space warehouse is an independent space between dimensions, so it couldn’t be detected by magic.

After the examination, following the instructions of an unknown professor, I put on a shock-absorbing artifact and a ruby-studded bracelet. Only then was I allowed to enter the underground auditorium.

Now that it was actually the day of the exam, I felt a little nervous seeing the countless students in front of me.

Considering that Roel-ssi was now a second-year, and there were no first-year juniors with significant roles in the novel other than Ellie-yang, I thought my chances of getting first place were pretty good.

Given the condition of a survival exam, I should be able to score about the same as Roel-ssi with my current skills. Plus, I promised to cooperate with Lakar-gun last night and already planned a way for the two of us to safely monopolize the points.

Whether the distribution of survival bags was over or not, Raikan-nim, the professor in charge of survival skills, appeared on the podium in the auditorium.

“Nice to meet you all! I’m Raikan-nim, the professor in charge of survival skills!”

Whether he used magic or not, Raikan-nim’s voice could be heard clearly through the surrounding murmurs.

“This exam is about experiencing firsthand how to survive in a real situation using what you’ve learned in theory at the Academy. As you may already know, the survival bag contains your individual missions and the rules of the exam.”

Some students with impatient personalities tried to open their survival bags at Raikan-nim’s words, but they wouldn’t budge, as they were designed to open only after the exam started.

“Although it’s a training uninhabited island, the monsters and beasts inside are all real. The shock-absorbing artifact will protect your safety, but try not to do anything too dangerous. Professors and knights are hiding all over the island, watching you so they can help you at any time. So, don’t do anything stupid that breaks the rules.”

I made eye contact with Raikan-nim as he said that, and subtly hid behind the person in front of me.

“You will enter the uninhabited island through this large snow globe here. Just run to the place in front of you without stopping.”

Raikan-nim paused as if he was hesitating, then suddenly gave an unpleasant smirk.

“By the way, the starting points are all random!”

“What…?”

“What!?”

Raikan-nim’s sudden remark instantly stirred up the underground auditorium. Probably because everyone had promised to form groups with people they were close to in order to get high scores, based on Raikan-nim’s explanation yesterday.

But if the starting points are random, the probability of encountering an enemy is higher than meeting the person you promised to meet on the island.

In other words, the plans they had made in advance were shaken from the very beginning.

“What’s important in survival is responding to sudden variables. Now, start!”

No sooner had Raikan-nim finished speaking than the knights standing in front of the students pushed them in the back and shouted loudly.

“Run! Run forward! Don’t stop! Keep running!”

Seeing the students carrying survival bags that looked like double backs and the knights pushing the students into the large snow globe with terrifying momentum, I was briefly reminded of old memories.

Without time to wallow in sentimentality, the people in front of me started running, so I also ran forward without thinking.

Along with the feeling of something brushing against my body, as if I had thrown myself towards a curtain, my vision changed in an instant.

A dense forest and a mountain standing tall alone.

Judging by the smell of the sea in the distance, my starting point seemed to be on the outskirts of the island.

Following Raikan-nim’s advice, I immediately opened the survival bag and checked its contents.

Inside, there was only an instruction manual with the rules of the exam, a mission list, and one day’s worth of food.

Since I had no intention of doing missions with low scores anyway, I immediately checked the survival exam rules written in the manual.

—–

1. Deception, intimidation, violence, theft, etc. It is permissible to obtain points from the other party in any way.

2. You can exchange points with the other party by touching bracelets.

3. The restricted areas of the island will be conducted randomly from the outskirts after 24 hours. You can check the restricted area through the bracelet.

4. After 24 hours, shops run by professors will open in various parts of the island. You can exchange points for various items such as food, materials, and weapons here.

5. A special event will be triggered in the last 24 hours, so be wary.

—–

After checking all the rules, I finally let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was the same as the progression in the novel as expected.

The survival exam is conducted simultaneously in different spaces with the same environment for all grades of the Combat Department.

This is to clearly distinguish the differences between each grade, and to allow the juniors to see and learn how the seniors conducted the exam.

As planned, Roel-ssi and the second-year Combat Department’s vice-chief, Ilia-ssi, will dominate the island with their combined force.

They’ll just cut down everyone they meet, and in the end, Roel-ssi will once again become the top of the Combat Department after a one-on-one duel with Ilia-ssi.

Unlike Roel-ssi, I was planning to get first place comfortably in my own way. With my current stamina, running around aimlessly like Roel-ssi, looking for people, would only increase the risk of being attacked due to lack of stamina.

I’ve even been possessed, so why bother fighting with my own body?

Heh heh, I smiled and moved towards the mountain to carry out the plan I had prepared.

***

An hour after being dropped on the island, Lakar-gun was still walking towards the mountain.

Last night, Ross-ssi came to him and promised that if he followed him, he would guarantee him second place, even if he got some flak for it.

Lakar-gun, who had originally intended to cooperate with Ross-ssi even without the promise of second place, readily agreed to Ross-ssi’s offer.

Ross-ssi must have planned it in advance, because as soon as he accepted the offer, he immediately told him to go to the top of the mountain as soon as he arrived on the island.

He didn’t explain the plan in detail other than that, but Lakar-gun, with strong faith in Ross-ssi, diligently moved towards the mountain.

While walking towards the mountain, he encountered a few students, but they all didn’t seem to have any intention of fighting from the start, as they were focused on survival points and the shops opening on the second day.

They only guarded each other until they passed by, and it seemed that most of them were focusing on individual missions rather than fighting.

Because combining survival points and mission points would be enough to get an average score on the survival exam.

Completing a personal mission gives you 200 points, but Ross-ssi said that it’s a waste of time to spend time on missions for such a small amount of points, and told him to give up on the missions.

Lakar-gun, on Ross-ssi’s words, didn’t even bother checking the missions from the start and stuffed them in a corner of his survival bag.

Checking the map on his bracelet and continuing to move, he finally arrived at the foot of the mountain.

Lakar-gun looked around, but he didn’t see anyone climbing the mountain like him.

There was no need to climb a mountain with monsters, and most people seemed to be planning to settle down along the large river that could be used as drinking water from the mountain.

It didn’t seem like there was a better place to camp than there.

Judging by the smoke rising in the distance, other people seemed to have already settled down and started a fire.

Lakar-gun turned his back on that and climbed the mountain diligently, trusting in Ross-ssi.

Whether it was a landslide or not, trees had collapsed along the way, making it necessary to go around the mountain for a long time to reach the top.

It was only after climbing the mountain for about 2 hours that Lakar-gun was able to reach the top.

The mountain wasn’t high, but the path to the top was too bad.

The top of the mountain was a rocky terrain with nothing but rocks, with no trees growing.

Thinking that Ross-ssi had arrived first because of the small smoke he saw, Lakar-gun moved towards it, and Ross-ssi, who was setting up a tent as if he was on a trip, sitting in a chair, and grilling skewers over a brazier, came into view.

“Department Head.”

“You came? Come and sit down. Let’s eat first.”

Seeing Ross-ssi’s relaxed appearance, Lakar-gun sat down in an empty chair and cautiously asked.

“I think it’s time you told me what the plan is, little by little?”

At Lakar-gun’s question, Ross-ssi smiled, handing him a well-grilled skewer with meat.

As Lakar-gun took the skewer and brought the well-grilled meat to his mouth, Ross-ssi suddenly asked.

“Lakar-gun, do you remember what I said was the most important thing in survival skills?”

Lakar-gun nodded at Ross-ssi’s question. It was something that Raikan-nim emphasized in class every time.

In order to increase the probability of survival even a little, you must establish your own safe zone in any environment.

“It’s creating a safe zone.”

After swallowing the meat in his mouth, Lakar-gun answered. Ross-ssi stretched his lips out long.

“That’s right. And the place where we are now will be the only safe zone on the island.”

At Ross-ssi’s confident voice, Lakar-gun looked around with a puzzled expression.

The top of a mountain with nothing but rocks is a safe zone…?

Reading Lakar-gun’s expression, Ross-ssi said as if declaring with a confident smile.

“Because I’m going to turn the bottom of this mountain into hell.”

At that moment, Lakar-gun secretly let out a sigh of relief, thinking that he had done well to cooperate with Ross-ssi.

Because Ross-ssi now looked like… a giant mastermind planning to rule the world….