Much is Hidden Under the Surface

Standing at the starting line, Kay waited for the examiner's gesture.

"Go."

Putting in quite a lot of effort, he pushed himself, sprinting all the way to the end. There was a slight bend in the course, making it slightly more difficult than usual, but it still wasn't too much of a disruption. Taking a quick breather, the examiner wrote some words into her notepad before taking him over to the next test.

There were a few more general physical ability exams, from grip strength to jump height. However, near the end of the exam, another examiner, wearing protective equipment, made their way over. It was a relatively large man with what looked to be carbon-fibre armour covering his body.

"Your final exam will be a combat assessment. You are not permitted to use weapons, but you can use any ability you have. Make sure you do not go overboard, and if you feel that you have an ability that would severely harm the instructor, please tell me now."

"Um... I don't think I've got anything like that."

"Alright, follow me to the arena."

There was only a single arena in the centre, so each of the different exams which were occurring had to organise themselves to all have time in there. After waiting a few seconds for the previous student to exit, Kay and the instructor entered, with the examiner watching from the outside.

There were lots of obstacles, from walls to pedestals which looked like they had been placed in for the exams. From a little distance away, the examiner initiated the assessment.

Instantly, the instructor immediately began fleeing, dashing between the obstacles.

"Come to me, Blood Demon."

A small, disgusting creature peered his head from the ground. His body was completely permeable, seemingly hovering on the ground with his mouth open.

Biting down on his thumb, Kay drew some blood. Raising his hand over the mouth of the monster, small droplets of blood began dripping into its mouth. A few moments later, the demon sunk back into the ground, returning to wherever it came from.

I do feel a little lighter.

Kay began making his way through the arena, looking around for the instructor, who appeared to be hiding. He leaned up against one of the obstacles and concentrated whilst biting his tongue.

[EM Sonar]

Suddenly, the nearby area lit up. Like an x-ray, he was able to see through the obstacles, finding the instructor hiding behind one of them. As Kay got closer, the instructor noticed and began fleeing once again. However, Kay easily caught up to him.

The instructor turned around and prepared to fight.

Before he had a chance to react, Kay dashed him, kicking him in the side. A thump echoed through the arena. The impact caused the instructor to fall off balance, holding his side in pain. As he tried to recover, Kay stamped on his ankle, causing him to fall to the ground. Crashing to the floor, the instructor pulled out a taser.

Why does this exam involve so many little tricks?

Kay was easily able to evade the jab, which was aimed at his legs. As the buzzing sound of the taser filled his ears, he quickly moved in, kicking it out of the instructor's hand. The instructor held his fingers in pain, rolling around on the ground.

"The examination is over. Please exit the arena."

Why did the exam seem so... easy?

The instructor slowly picked himself up off of the ground and followed behind Kay, making his way out of the arena.

They arrived back in the previous room.

"Alright, well that's all I needed from you. Feel free to leave."

"Just one question."

"Mhm, What is it?"

"How come the combat exam seemed easy? Was that intentional?"

"Oh, you were given the 'easy' opponent. Seeing that, I probably should've given you a harder one. Although I've got all the information I need, so it should be fine."

"Alright then."

"Anyways, you will receive your results in a minute or so."

Kay made his way back out, seeing that Shiina was still waiting at the door. Getting up from the couch, she walked over to him. The centre was filled with some noise as quite a few students had just finished their exams. There were small pockets of people gathering, excitedly chatting with each other.

"How'd you go?"

"Fine, I guess."

"Ah, well, it's my turn now. See you soon!"

She entered the room with the examiner.

Suddenly, Kay felt a vibration on his leg.

-

Elaine Academy Examination Office

The results of your recent physical exam have been released. The ranks of every student will be distributed once all the exams have concluded. The percentiles are based on previous data and will give you a general idea of where you will be.

Examination Results - Kay Rudiless (First-Year Student)

General Physical Ability: B (87th percentile)

Offensive Combat Strength: E+ (39th percentile)

Technique and Spatial Awareness: A (92nd percentile)

Defensive Combat Ability: E (34th percentile)

***

Unique Skill Bonus: Minimal (+1)

Overall Score: 61 (Scaled)

-

I guess it was to be expected. I haven't unlocked most of the potential of my system yet. Not only that, my abilities are extremely basic since I've only started gaining them from my system recently. There were probably students at this school who had much stronger abilities than me at the moment.

After observing his results for a little bit, he began making his way out of the centre. However, before he could leave, he bumped into the group of people he had seen in the hallway of the dormitory before. It seemed that they had migrated over to the training centre.

Seeing Kay, Leon quickly approached him.

"Hey again! Did you just finish your exam?"

"Yeah."

"Ooh, what results did you get?"

"Um..." it seemed that Kay was slightly hesitant to say.

"Don't worry. All the results get released publicly anyways. We're just comparing now."

"I guess it's fine then."

Leon flipped his phone around and showed Kay.

-

Elaine Academy Examination Office

The results of your recent physical exam have been released. The ranks of every student will be distributed once all the exams have concluded. The percentiles are based on previous data and will give you a general idea of where you will be.

Examination Results - Leon Farrier (First-Year Student)

General Physical Ability: C (75th percentile)

Offensive Combat Strength: A (90th percentile)

Technique and Spatial Awareness: D+ (49th percentile)

Defensive Combat Ability: B+ (88th percentile)

***

Unique Skill Bonus: None (+0)

Overall Score: 80 (Scaled)

-

In return, Kay showed Leon his results.