CHAPTER 82 – Final exam (Part 1)

It was finally Monday. Today, it would be the day the final exam would start, and it would last most part of the week, so it was quite an interesting exam.

As I already knew what would the exam be, I did as Kim Hajin, and just prepared a lot of stuff inside my magically expanded backpack, including camping gear, food, and water. I also asked Hajin to save a few beers in his stigma.

I know that there will be drones on the island, and unlike Kim Hajin, I can't monitor them all the time. Still, it isn't a problem if I just take out a tent, and drink them inside. It's not like they're 24/7 filming every cadet, nor even getting inside their tent, so I was clear there.

I asked if I could take Shina with me, being almost impossible for her to be left alone in the house. They begrudgingly accepted after I told them she was just a leopard cat and didn't have any kind of power, so she would be basically useless in a fight.

Well, it wasn't that easy, really, but after showing them how defenseless she would be by herself, they finally let me bring her with me, with the only condition that the instructors would bring her and take care of her in the main building where they would monitor the final exam.

So, all in all, we all were ready to part. For the record, one of the instructors that allowed me to take her with me was Kim Soohyuk, which was kind of weird, after all, it wasn't as if we had any more contact than in classes, and he even tried to help me convince them that I could bring her with me, as that way would be much safer.

With that said, right now I was sitting on a ship, with Shina at my side, talking with Hajin, waiting for the ship to actually arrive towards the island where the exam would take place.

"So… You really could bring her here." He asked at me.

"Yeah, after all, it's not like I can just let her stay in the room with food and that… It's a wild animal." I shrugged.

"Oh, really? I didn't know! I just thought she was a SLIGHTLY bigger cat." Hajin turned his eyes.

"Come on, you're just jealous you don't have a cat as cute as Shina." I shrugged.

"*sigh…* Forget it…" Hajin facepalmed. "Mm? It seems Olivia's already out of there." Hajin nodded towards the place the instructors were checking the stuff we were bringing with us. Three instructors were calling each cadet's name so they could go and check their equipment, each one in an individual room.

In the case of me and Hajin, it was quite the spectacle, as we were totally prepared for the whole week, which was basically the duration of the exam. Fortunately, having the best grades for theory in our year, it seemed like they could accept the possibility of us noticing part of the exam, which was surviving for a week by ourselves.

"By the way…" Hajin suddenly whispered to me, while Olivia went to chat with her friends. "We have to be careful with other cadets."

"Mm? What do you mean?"

"There will surely be some Djinns among them. Even more inside the group of repeating students…"

"Oh well, I don't really care." I shrugged.

"*sigh…* I'm just telling you to be careful and to act in case someone needs help. You never know what those guys are going to do." He shook his head.

"Let them try anything. I would be pleased to send them to their Devil." I grinned.

"Right…"

"Now, I will explain how this exam will work." An instructor came to the deck once the inspection was over and we were reaching the island. "In 30 minutes, you will split into groups of ten and land in different areas of that island." He said while pointing towards the island that could already be seen from here. "You will stay there for five days, and you will have to survive on your own. We will, however, provide half a day's worth of food."

At the instructor's words, a lot of cadets started to make noises of complaints. After all, they would be left practically alone for five days, without a sure source of food, and that wasn't even the worst thing.

"The exam is rather simple." He started to speak once again. "The number of points you get will be your grade." He grinned.

The cadets that were previously getting noisy, gulped.

"Obtaining points is equally simple." He spoke, after taking a glance around the worried cadets. "There are wild animals and monsters living on that island. Wild animals are obviously there for you to eat, and monsters will be what you hunt to gain points. Depending on their rank and grade, you will get 1 to 10 points. You should all have received special smartwatches for this exam, you just have to scan their corpses with those to receive your points."

A few sighs here and there could be heard, making the instructor grin even more.

"But." He suddenly turned serious. "That's not the only way to gain points. You can also trade points between yourselves, and even steal from other cadets, you just have to defeat them and take their watch away, if you do, you'll get five more points in addition to all the points that the cadet you defeated had. Though, you'll have to wait for the first twelve hours of the exam to pass before starting to fight each other." He then smirked. "In addition, exam overseers will have huge name tags on their chest. Although I doubt anyone can succeed, you can steal these nametags for 200 points each."

With those last words, everyone turned quiet, with worried gulps here and there. Combat between cadets was something they were all considering, whether it was because they were afraid, or anxious to take others' points.

"Finally, for those that are eliminated, with their watch taken, you can head towards that tower in the middle, where you will have to wait for the exam to end. Also, cadet Cristopher. You must leave your leopard cat with us here, once you disembark. It will be taken with us towards that tower."

"…" I nodded while furrowing my brows. "Just to make sure, are you sure you can take care of her? I don't want anything to happen to Shina, you see."

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen to your leopard cat." The instructor frowned while answering.

"I hope so." I nodded once again, "For your own good…" While whispering the last part. Probably only Hajin listened to me, as he flinched.

"Okay, everyone. Prepare to disembark."

Soon after, ten boats were taken out. And the instructors started to call the cadets in groups of ten, each one for one boat. Hajin went first with Rachel, while Olivia went with another group.

I was finally called, but it was quite a surprise who I was grouped with. I stood up and walked towards my assigned boat, Shina beside me. Once I was close to the boat, I led Shina towards the instructor.

"Hey, Shina." I crouched down, looking at her. "We'll have to be away for a few moments. You take care of yourself while I'm away, I'll see you soon, in five days at most. So, can you be a good girl and go with this guy here?" I smiled at her while pointing towards the instructor.

She purred, rubbed her head against me, and then went towards the instructor, sitting beside him. She was really smart. I then stood up and looked at the instructor.

"Well, hope you take care of her." I smiled at him, and somehow, he flinched. "I'll leave her in your hands."

After that, I just walked towards the boat and sat there with my backpack. For the record, the other nine cadets were looking at me with worried eyes.

They were Kim Horak, Shin Jonghak, Yoo Yeonha, another cadet that was Jonghak's lackey, Hazuki, and that cadet that had healing abilities, Yi Jiyoon. There were three more who I didn't know at all.

"Oh, Cristopher-ssi, how have you been?" Hazuki was the first one to speak, she did so in Japanese.

"I've been fine. Just a little worried I guess." I shrugged while answering her, also in Japanese. "What about you?"

This made the rest of the cadets in the boat widen their eyes, while Jonghak frowned.

"About your pet? There's nothing to worry about, she should be fine with the instructors, I think…" She smiled awkwardly while scratching the back of her head. "And I'm also fine… Guess a little bit worried about all this thing of the exam."

"Mm… It's okay, you'll probably do well, just try to stay away from the wackos, and everything's going to be ok." I shrugged.

"Oh, thanks!" She smiled, not awkwardly this time.

"*kuhum.*" A sudden fake cough sounded. "I didn't know you knew how to speak Japanese, Cristopher-ssi." Yoo Yeonha suddenly smiled at me.

"Of course, you didn't." I lifted my eyebrow. "It's not like I've told you or anything." This time, in Korean.

Don't take me wrong, I haven't learned Korean. I'm just talking normally, but willing it to be Korean. It's quite a tricky thing to do, but for someone who practices magic isn't impossible at all.

This was something I tried with Rachel while training, so I could decipher how to control the authority that I acquired once I entered this world. It was really easy, and after a few moments of practicing, I finally took control of it, now I didn't have to worry at all about some people listening to me in Korean, while others were listening in some other language. It was quite an amazing ability.

"…" She looked a little bit embarrassed. "Well… It's quite amazing, to be able to speak another language at your age…" She said with a slightly awkward smile.

"Mm? Not really. I mean, Hazuki here can do so too, and Rachel's quite good with Korean too." I shrugged. "A lot of international students know Korean too, apart from their own mother language."

"Oh, Right…" She said, slightly more embarrassed.

"Hey." Shin Jonghak called me.

"What?" I furrowed at him.

"Jonghal-" Yoo Yeonha tried to speak to him, but she was interrupted.

"Fight me again. On the last day of the exam. The winner takes all the points from the loser."

"Huh…?" I was really surprised. "Why giving me such an offer? It's not my birthday or anything." I smirked.

"…" He clenched his fist and teeth. "Because I'll win. I've been training all this time."

"Mm… I don't know." I rubbed my chin. "Should I?"

"*snort* Are you afraid?" He smirked while lifting an eyebrow.

"Pfft, what are you? A kid? Do you think I would fall for such petty tricks?" I, too, smirked while lifting an eyebrow. "Because you're damn right I will. We'll meet the last day, five hours before the end of the exam."

"Great." He smirked. "We'll meet at the tower in the middle."

"Fine for me." I smirked back. "Let's see what the hell have you learned to make you so sure of winning against me."

"*snort* You better prepare to lose."

"Pfft…" I held a laugh. "Sure. Whatever you say."

The rest of the travel towards the island was in complete silence, with Yoo Yeonha looking between us quite worriedly, while the rest were doing their best to not mutter even one word.

After a few moments, we finally arrived at one of the sides of the island, disembarking our boat. Yoo Yeonha said her goodbyes to Shin Jonghak, while also looking worriedly at us, before leaving into the forest with two of the cadets that came with us.

Hazuki went with Yi Jiyoon and another cadet, while Jonghak left with Kim Horak and his other lackey whose name I didn't know.

"Well…" I looked at the sky. The sun wasn't still at its highest point, so it wasn't midday yet. "I guess I'll go around seeing what I can found." With those words, I went into the forest, through a path that none of the others took.

***

On the other side of the island, where another boat left another group of cadets from Veritas Class. Kim Hajin walked through the forest. He got here with Rachel and other cadets, and he even tried to make a team with her, but she rejected him politely, saying that she was better by herself.

He accepted and didn't insist. But he still made her agree to share their position through their smartwatch, just in case something happened.

After separating with her, Kim Hajin looked for a tree to lean on, where he opened his laptop and paid SP to hack the drones that were patrolling the island, looking at every important character of his novel he could find.

At one side of the island, Chae Nayun already got lost, while Kim Suho was currently fighting against the first monster he managed to find. His sword art being quite effective at hunting monsters.

Yoo Yeonha already made her own team and was currently preparing to start hunting monsters in a systematic way, while also finding more members for her team, that way it would be safer.

Finally, he found what he was truly looking for. A group of five cadets from the repeater class were walking somewhere.

"Found you…" In that particular group of five, two of them were originally Djinns, while the rest were unknowingly working with them. "I have to be careful right now."

While it was so in the original story, he was sure that right now, there weren't only two Djinns in that group, nor in all the repeater's class. For all he knew, all five may be Djinns this time.

"…" He observed them for a few moments before standing up. "I guess I should go look for a camping spot first."

While he was worried about what they would do, they wouldn't move right now. Cadets had to wait at least 12 hours before they could start attacking other cadets, so it was safe to assume that nothing would happen for the moment.

"By the way… I didn't see that guy. Where the hell he went? I have to give him his beer…" Hajin said while moving somewhere into the forest.

***

Meanwhile, in another part of the island, Rachel was already fighting with her first monster, it was a feline of a big size, it looked a lot like a puma, but with a spiky tail and two horns.

The feline tried to ambush her, but thanks to her two elementals, it couldn't catch her unprepared. Rachel quickly evaded while kicking it away, standing now face to face with the feline.

She readied her rapier.

"Heli, Laky, ready?" Rachel called her two elementals.

"Ready!" The crimson fire elemental answered, she was made of blood-crimson flames that had the form of a really small lady with wings, resembling some kind of fire fairy.

"Ready!" Her other elemental, a small icy-blue horned serpent that looked made of water and that constantly radiated cold, answered too. She was Laki, a water elemental, and just like Heli, she wasn't an elemental formed from normal water, but with a special one that was extremely cold, forming a total contrast to Heli.

"…" Rachel nodded and went towards the cat, her rapier being covered with a slight film of water energy that exuded a cold wind whenever Rachel moved it around.

She still wasn't adept enough to fuse both elements in her sword. And Cristopher even taught her that if the sword wasn't resistant enough, it would break after a few uses while mixing both energies, something that would probably happen to her Cube's cadet sword.

She rushed towards the monster, thrusting forwards, the feline evaded to the side with great speed and tried to attack her quickly after with claw full of cutting winds, but Rachel reacted and closed her fist, which quickly covered in crimson flames, punching at the cat's claw.

She remembered her master's words.

(You don't only have a sword, you have hands, legs, and even your head. Use them all in a fight, why would you wait for your sword to be at the perfect position when either your fist or kick can reach faster?)

With that memory passing through her mind, Rachel's flame-covered fist hit the claw of the feline, making the wind covering it explode, effectively sending the monster flying back, meanwhile, Laky timely protected her with a barrier of cold water that stopped the fire that resulted from the explosion.

"Nice job! Laky!" With an encouraging shout. Rachel launched forwards, to finish her fight.

And just like her. Cadets everywhere around the island started their own fights. Some of them looking for food, others fighting monsters, others teaming up, and others even preparing to ambush the rest of the cadets once the 12 hours passed.

Not even an hour had passed since the start of the exam, and everyone was already working hard. Except for one lazy cadet who just walked through the forest looking for his friend, who was keeping his beers in a sub-dimensional inventory for him.

"*sigh…* I hope he didn't start too far away from here…" The cadet's worries resounded in the forest surrounding him.