1.22. Modern Exam

"Wow, that's interesting."

[OptAR will enter secure mode. All functions will be locked from 8:00 am to 10:00 am. Please allow the invigilator to confirm the function lock before starting the exams. Best wishes.]

Exam protocols. I had a few suspicions on how the exam would be conducted when you could cheat your way through using the AR glasses. It was a little naive of me to think that they didn't have their own way of managing things.

Some people decided to take off their glasses.

As I have eye problems, I don't have that luxury. It's odd seeing some familiar faces become unfamiliar. Brunette especially, looks cute with hirs small squinty eyes.

I wanted to check out if Pu'er also took off hirs glasses because I don't remember hir having myopia. After some thought, I went against the idea because it was part of Avner's impulse. I'm not going to accept hir, unfortunately.

Besides the system lock on the OptAR functions, the teachers also set up silent drones that go flying around class. The way exams are conducted have just gone up a notch.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone had found a way to elude these extreme anti-cheat measures.

"Here."

"Thanks."

I turned around and passed the tag to the person seated behind me.

"Here.

"Thanks."

Activating the tag, it split into two with a glass display in the center. The exam questions are projected inside the glass.

I typed down Avner's full name as instructed by the teacher and went through the instructions. Everything from our completion speed to the number of times we changed our answers will be noted down. That becomes data which the teacher will use to identify the students weakness.

At the same time, it'll also give away the fact that Avner is no longer Avner.

I don't particularly remember how Avner goes through his exam papers, and I don't intend to follow it since it's probably inefficient. The way Shin does it, he'll first give each question a rough answer in point before polishing the points into sentences and then finalizing.

"Whatever."

And the tag also records voices and sounds so cheating becomes even more of a nightmare.

Now then.

"You may begin."

I wonder what kind of essay will come out today?

===

[BEEP. BEEP.]

"Please everyone check your names and then pass up the tags."

"Darn it! I don't know how to answer that last question!"

"What answer did you get for question 16?"

"What was question 16 again?"

Your typical after exam discussion.

The process of getting the tags back to the teachers hands was tedious and slow because of it. Even after the teacher left, everyone was still finding things to regret about.

"The one with the indexes.. 12 minus 34 over 6. That question."

"I don't remember."

"I wrote 11 over 17."

"I got 13 over 20 though."

"Oh no! I got it wrong."

"Keep it up everyone, still have 4 more days to go!"

"You mean, we still have 4 more days of hell to suffer."

"Man, tomorrow is ICT and arts. I'm not going to sleep tonight."

"How did it go?"

"It was good."

Surprisingly, Julien approached me for my opinion.

"You sound confident?" hirs ears perked up in interest.

"It's different this time around."

"Any hard questions you find? What answer did you write for the alien question?"

"I don't remember."

It didn't matter that there were a few hard ones mixed in. A college student like myself won't have any problems comprehending the trick to solve it.

"Okay? Then good luck with tomorrow's paper."

"Thanks. You too. Julien."

I suddenly realized how I become quite cold in the way I reply to others. Perhaps it's to do with the whole exam mood. I'm just focused, if anything. Besides, acting cold helps deter people away so I can do just that.

I had finished packing. Ares, who'd normally come over, was busy discussing the questions with his other friends. I took the chance to make a run for it.

With the exams over, I'm headed over to Lynda's class.

[Take the stairs here.]

If I were to be honest, I'm worried that Lynda is somehow already infected with NtBM. It's odd how she would just stay silent throughout the entire weekend period just to tell me today that she wishes to meet me.

The hallway was quiet. They were still in the middle of the exam.

4I.

This one.

I peered inside from a distance, everyone was concentrating hard on their papers (even though no papers are involved any longer).

About 5 minutes to go. So I just waited outside, patiently.

I wonder why xe came.

I pretended not to notice hir and looked up at the ceiling.

After this I'll go through the ICT basics once more before continuing with History and Geography. General knowledge and IQ tests are things I can't really study for, so I'll leave that aside.

Beeps echoed into the hall. For a moment I thought I was subjected to ear rape.

The exam was over.

["Lia, I'll be a little late. Just wait at our usual spot alright."]

I watched as the students proceeded out of their class. And as you would expect, they were also trying to compare their answers.

Then she came out with her two friends.

"You're here."

"How were the exams?"

"It was alright I guess."

"Who is this guy?"

"Hey, it's it you who came to the baking club last time?"

"Shut up if not I'll kill you."

"Hahaha."

"Trust me, you don't want to try this girl."

Am I getting anything wrong? I thought she called me here to talk about her condition. Maybe I'm misunderstanding things.

"This is the guy?"

"Um.. yeah."

A boy came out from the same class and approached us. The guy looked down on me.

"You're picking on her?"

Hold on. This is messed up.

"No. I'm just concerned."

"Concerned about? Telling her that she'll contract the disease and saying that it can be cured?"

From the corner of my eye, I watched as Lynda and her girl group walked away. They sent glances over, no one willing to clarify the issue.

I've been too rash.

I sighed.

This wasn't part of the story. I had no idea Lynda had a boyfriend. It wasn't mentioned. Perhaps they broke up. There were many members of the club that weren't in the original when I checked it out last time.

"My bad."

The moment I finished that sentence, I stepped backwards and avoided his grapple.

"Woah, he's got some good moves."

"Bro, you just got owned."

"Who are you supporting here?!"

His friends were enjoying our conflict.

"So, you're the one who called me over, not Lynda?"

"Who else? You insulted her, what gives you the right? I'm here to tell you to stop."

"Got it. I'll apologize."

"Riel, calm down. He probably didn't mean it, maybe he's just weird."

"Don't try to mess with girls randomly alright? I get that you're at that phase of wanting to find love but be careful with people that already have a lover."

Riel's friends gave me some 'realistic' advice.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"I don't want to hear her complain that you're sending her weird messages alright?"

"Got it. I'm sorry about that," I lowered my head.

And then they left.

The spectators that saw that all gave me a weird look. I acted indifferent. I'm used to this, it isn't the first time it has happened.

I decided to take the other stairs, that way, I won't bump into the stalkers from my class. I'm sure it wouldn't be pleasant to answer their questions.

===

dotturndot: Sci-fi okay! Drones and stuff to take exams.. makes no sense.. whatever.. And some misunderstanding to spice up the situation yea? What will happen to Lynda? Yes vampire or no vampire? The butterfly effect perhaps?

Spoilers are an issue which I actually don't quite understand. Though I say I'm a web novel addict, I almost never read the comments, so the 'spoiler' problem hasn't really affect me much. Though said, I can't really judge a comment as a spoiler or not cus some people quite literally have the ability to guess what will happen next, which is damn scary. And it's not like they're deliberately trying to spoil the story either.