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The location where the exam was held was, like last time, inside a specially created barrier.
The participants were all of the second-year classes.
Excluding the other grades, all of the students had gathered to take the exam.
“Everyone’s here. Then, I will now disclose the details of the exam. First, check the message that has been sent to your personal terminals.”
Ding.
Baek Ji-eun’s words that the exam would be conducted in a special manner were indeed not a lie.
I quickly read the message that I received on my terminal.
【2-A Class Han Kang-yoon: Field Player】
▶Affiliation: Undecided
The meaning of the message was explained by the supervising teacher’s following statement.
“After a meeting with the faculty, twenty commanding students have been selected from among the entire grade. From now on, the commanding students will use the points they have been given to recruit field players.”
Just from those words, it was possible to roughly deduce the format of the exam.
The students listened attentively, and the supervising teacher continued speaking.
“The recruitment will be conducted in an auction format. Of course, students with better grades will likely have a higher cost. Through this process, the commanding students will form their own teams to participate in the exam.”
And then,
“You can select and obtain any of the dozens of missions that have been sent to your terminals. The competition is free. Each team that achieves a mission will be given points according to the content of the mission, and of course, this will be heavily reflected in the evaluation.”
To put it simply, it was an exam where twenty commanding students would use points to bid for team members, and lead them to clear missions.
「𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮.」
In addition to individual abilities, it could be seen as an exam that required various qualities, such as cooperation and judgment.
Since I was also a field player, teamwork with my teammates and the commanding student would be important.
“Like the last exam, identification tags will be distributed, and students who have their tags taken away will no longer be able to contribute to their team. Then, team formation will begin immediately.”
Ding!
『Bidding for Field Player Guilford of Class 2-A has begun.』
『150 Points』
『210 Points』
『270 Points』
.
.
.
『Finalized at 510 Points.』
『Field Player Guilford of Class 2-A will join the team of Student Joseph of Class 2-C.』
The commanding students were evenly distributed across the classes, and after dozens of bidding rounds, the teams were finally formed.
『Finalized at 310 Points.』
『Student Han Kang-yoon of Class 2-A will join the team of Student Yoon I-hwa of Class 2-B.』
The commanding students were given a total of 1,000 points. In other words, at 310 points, I was recruited for a fairly low price compared to the other Class A students.
「𝙎𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙖, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙚, 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡-𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙨.」
Following the message on my terminal, I also hurried to join my newly formed team.
The commanding officer was Yoon I-hwa of Class 2-B, and aside from me, the team members consisted of 2 students from Class B, 2 students from Class C, and 2 students from Class D.
Rather than investing too many points in a single high-ranking student, it seemed like they had increased the number of members to achieve a suitable balance.
Yoon I-hwa, the commanding officer, muttered as she looked at me, who had joined the team last.
“. . .To be honest, I wanted to bring Adrian, but I didn’t have enough points, so it can’t be helped.”
It seemed like Yoon I-hwa didn’t really trust me.
Well, in terms of ranking alone, I was still at the bottom of Class A. It would be hard to see me as an attractive asset compared to the other high-ranking students.
From Yoon I-hwa’s perspective, wasn’t it just the bare minimum to fill the slot?
Once all the members had gathered, Yoon I-hwa quickly relayed the strategy with a serious expression.
“I’ll explain the plan. We’re going to avoid battles as much as possible and steadily accumulate points. To do that, we’ve increased the number of members equally, so if you do encounter an enemy, avoid fighting if possible.”
“It doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but what if we’re forced into a fight?”
“If they’re an opponent we can handle, we’ll respond, but if not, we’ll have the person with the lowest ranking sacrifice themselves to escape. The common score is heavily weighted anyway, so there shouldn’t be any complaints, right?”
“Ugh. Whatever, I got it. Since our skills are no match for Class A, anyway.”
This was another considerably passive strategy. Since it was a graded exam, it seemed like she intended to minimize risks and gather points as much as possible.
After thinking it over, I quietly called Yoon I-hwa over and gave her my opinion.
“I don’t think it’s a very good strategy. Things won’t go as smoothly as you think.”
“. . .Oh, yeah? I guess it might seem that way to you, who barely managed to get promoted to Class A. But this is the best we can do. You know, right? Those at the top are on a whole different level.”
“. . . . . .”
“To be blunt, can you win against Sophia or Hwang Ji-hak?”
“I can’t guarantee it.”
“See. In the end, engaging in combat is too risky. You didn’t forget the rule that you have to cooperate with the commanding officer, did you?”
Since it wasn’t something that I could outright deny, I decided to follow Yoon I-hwa’s instructions for the time being and see how things went.
「. . .𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙄 𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙜𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝.」
Since the commanding students were in a separate space controlling their team members, the rest of the teams headed to their designated locations.
And finally, the exam began.
Ding!
First, we needed to clarify our objectives, so as soon as the exam started, we checked the contents of the disclosed missions.
【Light a signal fire at the western tower and maintain it for 3 hours】
▶200P
【Retrieve the treasure hidden in the northern cave area】
▶350P
【Reach a total travel distance of 10Km for all team members】
▶100P
【Ensure the survival of all team members until the end of the exam】
▶300P
【Be the first to cause the complete elimination of an enemy team】
▶400P
As the examiner had explained, there were dozens of missions, and it seemed like they consisted of common missions where any team could earn points simply by fulfilling the conditions, and competitive missions where only the winning team could earn points.
『. . .We should aim for the common missions first. Everyone, move according to my instructions.』
Through the communication device that had been distributed in advance, we heard the voice of the commanding officer, Yoon I-hwa.
Our first objective was the mission to reach a total travel distance of 10Km for all team members.
『We need to avoid paths that are too conspicuous. There are definitely teams that are aiming for the complete elimination mission right from the start. We’ll head west, avoiding the cave area.』
Hearing Yoon I-hwa’s instructions, I shook my head slightly without her noticing.
The idea of staying away from the cave where the high-scoring mission was located wasn’t bad in itself, but on the other hand, it was too obvious.
And unfortunately, my prediction turned out to be exactly right.
“Oh, they really came?”
“See, Jackson’s intel was accurate.”
A battle-oriented team consisting of two Class A students and two Class B students.
Their hands, without any hesitation, started reaching out towards us.