22 The Practical Exam
"You already got 2 letters of invitation from Ravenville University and Verdante College??" Both Judy and Edward was beaming with smiles at the news their son had brought them early in the morning.
The morning of Sunday the 29th was a little hectic in the Lang residence.
Because of his built-up fatigue from yesterday's exam, Irvine hadn't had the time to tell anyone else aside from Althea about the good news before directly going to bed after reaching home.
His sister's face had been full of smiles their whole walk home when Irvine had thanked her for her efforts in promoting him.
He had been told of Althea's activities during the exam when he'd had his little talks with John and Rory previously.
Irvine truly had no idea that his sister had had such a plan from the start when she'd asked to come to the exam with him.
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"Hey, which school are you going to choose?" Althea was trying her hardest to sound casual and emotionless, but her tone of voice betrayed her hidden excitement within.
That was especially so when she knew she had played a large part in making this happened for her brother.
"I don't know yet, but I'm planning to have a tour around several campuses after I properly got my license and Gene Mod..." Irvine turned towards his father at the mention of Gene Modification.
It was still the thing with the largest expense in his whole endeavour this time around.
However, Edward quickly caught on to the look his son was giving and assured him once again,
"Don't worry about the money. As I've said before, you already helped us a lot by getting a full-ride scholarship."
"And by the way, if you want my opinion, Verdante College had better academic achievements between the two. I think they also had more majors to choose from." He spoke nonchalantly while reading the news as usual.
"But everything's still up to you dear." His mom added her own thoughts at the end.
'Right, I haven't told them my plan on going pro yet. Well... I doubt they had no clue what's going on when I'm here getting an athletic scholarship. They probably just want me to have an out if, for some reason, I'm not able to make it.'
Irvine smiled gently at both his parents.
As usual, he hadn't been noticing it enough before his return, but both of them had always tried to support him at whatever his choices are for the future.
'I'm a damn lucky guy...' Irvine nodded while expressing his gratitude to his parents in his heart.
"Well, I should be going before the last exam start. Mom, dad."
"Go get it!" Judy pumped her fist in the air.
"You coming? This time you can watch leisurely as your brother climb his way to fame." Irvine grinned jokingly at his sister.
"You're just jinxing yourself..." Althea coldly retorted, but still following closely behind him.
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Z Stadium.
Just like the Written Exam on Saturday, The Practical Exam would start precisely at 9:00 AM sharp on the main Arena field of the stadium.
Today, Irvine could actually afford to arrive a little later than yesterday because he no longer had the need to line-up early for a number.
The participants' exam numbers were the same as yesterday's. Albeit with holes in their sequencing because of how many people had been eliminated after the Physicals on Day 1.
At 8:45 AM, he and his sister met up with Medea on the site to confirm their schedule for the day with each other.
"The Guards category are up first." She commented.
"Guard is a position with the largest amount of people. This exam is no different, I'd imagine they'll take up the most amount of time."
"After that are the Fielders, Rangers, and finally Solvers. So we're pretty much in the middle this time."
*nod*
"I wonder how many people will pass at the end of the day?" Althea asked.
"If it's like the usual mid-year exams, it'll probably be around 120-150 people." Irvine answered her truthfully.
"Less than 50%..."
"Yep. Medea, what's the Rangers category tests consist of?"
After the closing reports yesterday, all of them had been briefed that the official website would update the information on the specific details of each category's tests.
Since every half-year, the Olympus Pro League would update the contents of the Practicals ever so slightly, the information posted on the website would only serve as a one-time event at the most.
"This time the Rangers would be tried on 5 categories of tests:" Medea briefly introduced her schedule for today,
"1. Long-range static targets;
2. Mid-range moving targets;
3. Short-range assault & Distancing;
4. Rapid sniping;
And lastly,
5. Dynamic visions test"
'Hmm... The Rangers tests are pretty straight-forward as usual.' Irvine thought to himself.
All the tests required the athletes to have a good grasp on how to use their long-range weapons in multiple situations.
"And the Fielders?" Medea asked the same question back to him.
"Well, it's..." Irvine smiled at the question before proceeding to tell her his schedule.
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9:00 AM arrived not long after.
Both Irvine and Medea arrived on time at the main field area while Althea went to the same sitting spot that had been previously introduced to her by Irvine.
Unlike what happened with the Written Exam yesterday, the scouts had to arrive earlier this Sunday because the Practical Exam was a full-day process.
When Althea reached her spot, several familiar faces whom she'd seen and talked to yesterday were already standing or sitting around on their same exact spot.
This was the same for both John and Rory as well,
"Should be an exciting day. There're the two high school students of course, but I'm also interested to see what other high scores the young Windrider from Verdante will achieve today."
"Top 10 in total scores shouldn't be a problem." Rory replied with confidence.
In yesterday's Physicals, the top score in bench press had been achieved by the freshman player from Verdante College while the 100 meter dash record was taken by the Ravenville's.
This seemingly balanced results had ignited the rivalry between the two relatively young representatives as they sat together side-by-side this time as well.
And then,
*DING* *DING* *DING*
Eventually, the bells of the Z Stadium echoed loudly for all to hear, indicating the beginning of the Practical Exam.
.
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For the rest of the morning after that. The Guards category's participants did their tests faithfully and to the best of their abilities.
From tests like repelling enemies who're approaching a dummy tower, to a survival test in getting surrounded within their zones, the Guard players of the exam were showing their proficiencies as the protectors of their team in their own way.
Because of the sheer number of them, their Practical Exam was only finished when the clock was about to hit 12.
Through his observation and the displayed results of the test, Irvine had concluded that the familiar-looking Greg Clayton would most likely be the one achieving the highest score for the Guards category this year.
'His skills are no joke, I wonder which Tier-1 school he and that Derrick Wallace go to?'
.
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It was only after lunch time when the time was showing 1 o'clock in the afternoon did Irvine started to prepare himself for the Fielders category's exam.
*Huff*
He let out a heavy breath of air as he readied his mental state for the first test.
(The first one is the Blocking test)
Irvine remembered what he had explained to Medea this morning.
It was a test similar to the Guards test where they had to protect their dummy tower from waves of enemies attacks.
But instead of repelling many attackers away from the tower zone, the Fielders' Blocking test required the participants to prevent 1 enemy from passing them and reaching the dummy tower.
Irvine would be required to either hold down or occupy this 1 enemy from passing for as long as he could until the time limit ran out.
The objective of it was to simulate a condition where a Fielder was occupying the tower's Guard while letting their Solver have an uninterrupted time on the enemy's tower.
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*FWEEET*
At the sound of a whistle, the first test immediately started for Irvine.
The examiner who acted as the Guard for the test rushed forth towards the dummy tower while Irvine tried to engage him midway through to prevent the guy from closing in.
The moment the guard was within his attacking range, Irvine didn't hesitate to execute his chain of [Joint Break] moves to disrupt the opponent's mobility.
*BAM* *BAM* His hits smoothly connected, causing the oncoming Guard to stagger in his place!
At the end of his combo, Irvine caught one of the Guard's arms and attempted a successful shoulder throw on him!
*SWISH*
.
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"That's... A rather unique style?" John commented from his seat.
"He did a throw instead of locking or grappling the Guard... Is it because of his habit as a Guard himself in high school?" Rory was also trying his best to analyze the playing style of this high schooler with the highest score in yesterday's Physicals.
"Look, the second attempt is coming."
.
As John said that, on the field, the Guard examiner had already gotten up from his prone position and was about to go for his second attempt in going pass Irvine.
Unlike his last attempt, this time the Guard suddenly performed a charging tackle at Irvine the moment the two of them was close enough with each other!
His plan was to knock Irvine down and pass through to the tower unhindered.
But this time, instead of waiting for the guy to arrive, Irvine himself was also throwing himself forward.
He was charging in the opposite direction, as if planning to crash together with the Guard!
*WHOOSH*
However,
*flash* *THUD*
Instead of the sound of an expected crash, what's coming at the end of the charge was the figure of the Guard examiner already downed on the ground with Irvine kneeling on top of him.
Irvine was pulling one of his arms with his right hand while his other hand was placed on the neck of the Guard.
"!!"
"What was that!?"
Inside the stadium, both the scouts and examiners alike was surprised once again at the performance Irvine had just displayed.
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On the audience seats, even John and Rory were dumbfounded looking at the result of a move that had been too fast for them to catch.
"What happened? That Guard was suddenly grappled on the ground!" John leaned forward from his seat to get a clearer view of the field.
"That move, doesn't it look familiar...?" Rory put one of his hand on his chin as he tried to recall.
At this time, suddenly a familiar voice resounded from behind the two of them,
"At the moment of supposed impact, that guy extended both his hands and one of his feet on the Guard's shoulders and front leg."
Rex, the assistant head coach of Eastern Zeta University arrived behind them, wearing the same kind of monocle he'd worn yesterday.
He was trying to explain and break down the sequence of events that led to the Guard's fall for John and Rory.
Unlike the two of them, as a coach, Rex's eyes were more keen towards any technical aspect of Arena combat.
"He stopped the charge with just that?" John asked to clarify.
"No, the purpose was not simply to stop the charge but to prevent the charger from gaining control at the moment of impact." He explained.
"By the time the charger realized that he was slowing down, there was nothing he could do because his upper arms and thigh, along with the shoulders and knee joint were locked in place by Mister Lang's hands and foot."
Rex visualized the hold with his own body as he spoke.
"...Ah, it was like his Joint Breaks during the first encounter." Rory remembered Irvine's chain of moves that was aiming at the Guard's joints.
"Exactly."
"After the force had been slowed down enough, Mister Lang didn't continue his holds but instead redirected the momentum he received from it to perform a low spin under the Guard's arm and arrive at his back."
"...So it's like a charging spin move against another charge?"
"Pretty much." Rex shrugged,
"But I think it was slightly more technical than that. He aimed at the limbs' joints to prevent control while absorbing the momentum to fuel his own spin move. At the end, he released the rest of the force towards the charger's back to put him down."
"Wrong timing at the joint hold would break his arms and leg instead of redirecting the force, a bad spin would also break his pivoting ankle..." Rex continued to list off all the possible wrong moves that might end up causing self-harm to the user of such technique.
"If you feel that the move was familiar, it was because this move has been done several times by Adrian Crowe in the past. It used to be his way of countering a charging attack."
"Ah! Right. So that's why..." Rory finally understood why he'd felt the move was familiar.
"The Sigma Conquerors Ace Fielder? So you're saying that Irvine Lang had copied a pro's technique?" John was astounded.
"Hm, more like an adaptation of it I guess? Crowe's technique didn't implement the [Joint Hold] to nullify the momentum first, instead he uses pure raw power to arrive at the opponent's back with a tackling spin move."
"..."
Rex himself was also amazed when he saw the spectacle in front of him,
'Irvine Lang's move utilized a softer approach that compensated his lack of strength in confronting that charge with precision and control...'
'...Did he invent it himself?'
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*BEEEEEP*
Before he could think too much on the subject, the bell had rung for the blocking test time limit, with Irvine locking down the Guard examiner until the time ran out.
#038, Practical Exam first test, full score!
