At the sa ti.
irin struggled onto a platform after a dive to the seabed. As soon as she was out, she refilled her air magic circle and checked her Tonguepad.
’Six now. I’m picking up two every ti I go down.’
The chaotic free-for-all from the beginning of the exam had subsided, and everyone was now focused on finding coins. By now, so students would have already collected their ten and moved on to the open sea to hunt for points.
’I need to get out there quickly before all the monsters in the open sea are gone.’
Having refilled her air magic circle, irin dove back into the water.
’Splash!’
A school of colorful fish swam by, their scales scattering the sunlight into a beautiful, shimring display. If it weren’t for the exam, she would have savored the view, but she had no ti for that. Using the flippers Dick had developed, she descended quickly.
Though it was the seabed, the water was thankfully shallow, so she reached it in no ti. The real problems were the attacks from other competitors and marine monsters.
’Is anyone there?’
After a quick scan of her surroundings, irin swam forward, carefully examining the bottom. Kizen must have treated the water sohow, as visibility was no issue. Still, the coins buried in the sand were ridiculously hard to find. She cursed Kizen under her breath as she dug through the sand.
’Ah.’
irin paused. A patch of sand ahead was intermittently stirring.
’That’s a monster.’
She placed her right hand on the magic circle drawn on her thigh and, as if drawing a pistol, transferred it to her hand and activated it.
‘Ice Bolt!’
An ice shard shot from the magic circle and struck the center of the stirring sand. The reaction was imdiate. A stingray-shaped monster erged from the sand, writhing in pain.
’Good.’
One of the symbols on her deployed magic circle vanished, indicating a charge had been used. Nine shots left.
’‘Ice Bolt! Ice Bolt! Ice Bolt!’’
With a series of thuds, the monster, pierced by the ice shards, went limp. Four shots to kill one monster. The efficiency was low, but in the sea, it couldn’t be helped. Everyone was under the sa conditions. After confirming her points had increased on her Tonguepad, irin thoroughly searched the area where the monster had been.
’Just as I thought!’
She exclaid in triumph. A coin lay on the bottom where the creature had been hiding. She carefully picked it up and brought it to the Tonguepad on her wrist. A tongue shot out from the device and gobbled it up. Storing coins in a Subspace was grounds for disqualification; they had to be held by the Tonguepad or on her person.
’I got points for the monster, too. On to the next!’
irin was making good progress, keeping pace with the top students. When the exam started and the students were in a frenzy, she had conserved her strength on the platform. She set off only when the initial chaos waned and their energy was spent, quickly moving between the platform and the seabed to collect coins. The mory of Jane’s scathing feedback from the last BMAT still made her face flush. ’Pacing. Pacing is important.’ She would not repeat the sa mistake.
’Found another one!’
A coin was tangled in so grass-like seaweed. irin quickly headed towards it, but another monster was hiding there. A mollusk-type creature suddenly popped out and spewed poisonous smoke at her.
’Ugh! Again?’
A level-three-danger monster, ’Pulpa’. It was the most common monster in this sea, a fearso creature that spewed poisonous smoke from an anus-like orifice to poison and eat fish or people.
But even with the poison clouding her face, irin calmly raised her right arm.
’‘Ice Bolt!’’
’Thwack!’
The ’Pulpa’ was hit squarely by the ice shard and lost its strength. irin climbed on top of it, held Ice Bolts in both hands, and plunged them into its body. Green blood spurted out, and the monster went limp. Descending back to the seabed, she let out an internal sigh of relief.
’I’m not affected by the poison. This must be thanks to Professor Byulya’s class.’
There were tis when she hadn’t understood the point of eating poison in class, but now, not just irin but many students were feeling its benefits. The students who took Byulya’s Venomology class were fine after the ’Pulpa’’s attack, but those from other classes who had a different professor were struggling. So couldn’t stand it and had to climb onto a platform to make an antidote. irin felt a pang of guilt for having resented Byulya.
’If I get a high rank, I should go and thank her.’
The search continued. After a little while, she found one more coin, bringing her total to nine. Just one more and she could advance to the open sea, but a glance at the remaining air in her wetsuit’s magic circle told her it was ti to surface.
’Ah, it’s a waste to go up now. Is there one nearby?’
Just as she was making a final push, diligently searching the bottom, a school of colorful fish suddenly darted past her. irin turned to see what had startled them.
"Huh!"
Behind the fleeing fish, a monster larger than a person appeared. A level-four-danger shark monster, ’Gamban’. In its mouth, what looked like a Kizen student’s leg was struggling.
"Ahh...!"
irin was so shocked she froze on the spot. A mont later, the student’s barrier must have failed, as their body vanished in a flash of teleportation magic from inside the shark’s mouth. The monster, angered that its prey had vanished, rolled its eyes and spotted the petrified irin. It charged.
’Ugh!’
She quickly swam to escape, but there was no way a human could outspeed a ’Gamban’ in the sea.
’I have to fight!’
Having made her decision, she checked her remaining Ice Bolts. Only two shots left. She spun around and aid her right arm. The ’Gamban’ was coming straight for her, its mouth wide open.
‘Ice Bolt!’
Two ice shards shot forward and hit the ’Gamban’’s body with a ’thwack, thwack!’ sound, but they only drew a little blood and enraged the creature even more.
’Agh!’
The ’Gamban’’s sharp teeth bit down on her right arm. Her barrier gauge decreased at an unbelievable rate, changing from green to yellow.
’I-I’m going to be done for!’
She pounded the ’Gamban’’s face with her fists, but it didn’t budge. Her lifeline, the barrier gauge, had now dropped below half. She couldn’t lose all her coins and points like this.
’So... soone!’
’Slither!’
’Slither!’
In her mont of crisis, a strange green whip descended from above and wrapped around the ’Gamban’’s body like a snake. A surprised irin looked up to see a female student with her hands outstretched, activating black magic. It was none other than...
’Claudia!’
The ’Gamban’, caught by the whip, writhed in pain as if poisoned, and the force of its bite on irin weakened. Claudia caught her eye and gave a sharp nod.
’I don’t know what’s going on, but...!’
irin gathered her courage. It was a chance to pull her arm out, but instead, she pushed her arm deeper into the ’Gamban’’s mouth and activated her black magic.
The shark’s insides began to freeze. A species that lives in such warm seas is sensitive to sudden changes in temperature, let alone having its insides flash-frozen.
’Let alone if its insides freeze!’
Poisoned and flash-frozen from the inside out, the ’Gamban’ finally lost its strength and went limp.
’We got it!’
At the sa ti, her points on the Tonguepad went up. The 1,000 points were split between them, giving each 500. They had safely defeated the ’Gamban’, but it wasn’t ti to let their guard down. irin looked up and stared at Claudia with a wary gaze.
’What’s her plan? If she’s after my coins...’
But Claudia didn’t make any aggressive moves. Instead, she gave a slight smile and pointed her finger upwards.
’Gurgle!’
She was out of air. With no other choice, irin swam upwards, and Claudia followed.
"Puhaaaaaa!" irin broke the surface, taking a huge, desperate breath. She had almost died. Claudia surfaced next to her, also gasping for air.
An awkward silence hung between the two girls. irin kept her mouth shut, looking away, before finally breaking the awkward silence.
"Hey, thanks for sav—"
"I’m sorry about before, irin," Claudia cut in.
irin’s eyes widened.
"...Th-that thing I said about your grades. I don’t know if you’ll accept it, but I’m sorry. I apologize." Claudia’s expression was one of relief. irin, realizing the tense girl from before had changed, gave a small, quiet laugh.
"Forget it! Why are you being so cringey? Acting out of character will get you killed."
"You’re still making a fuss even when I apologize!" Claudia retorted, blushing, then tilted her head back with a serious expression. "I’ve decided to stop the boycott."
"After running around so hard for student rights and all that."
"Ah, I don’t know. I think I was crazy for a mont. I’m so embarrassed. And..." Claudia opened her palm, the Venom Whip magic circle she had just used still shimring. "I think I was misunderstanding Professor Byulya."
"Hmm."
As irin was smirking, a male student snuck up behind them, preparing a curse. Just as he was about to cast it, the two girls spun around in perfect sync and extended their right arms.
A barrage of poison and ice hamred the male student’s barrier. In an instant, his gauge hit zero, and he was teleported away without ever getting to cast his curse.
"Don’t get cocky," irin laughed.
Claudia laughed along with her. Then, after a mont’s hesitation, she gathered her courage and made the first move. "irin, want to form an alliance? Just for this exam?"
After a mont of thought, irin swept her hair back and gave a small nod. She had received an apology and they had reconciled. There was no reason to refuse. The two girls shook hands.
---
’Over there, over there!’
’There’s another coin!’
A group of three Kizen students in wetsuits were searching the seabed together.
’Finally, I get a coin too...!’
’Swissssh!’
With a sudden rush of bubbles, sothing shot past, and the coin on the bottom vanished. The students’ gazes snapped in that direction.
’Wh-what is that?’
’He’s riding a skeleton? In the sea?’
While other students were painstakingly swimming to find coins and then returning to their platforms, Simon alone was traversing the sea at an insane speed, scooping up coins.
’Are we even taking the sa test?’
’He’s in a different genre entirely.’
Simon, who had paused to search the seabed, soon picked up his tenth coin. He had t the minimum requirent.
’Deimos. To the surface.’
Deimos’s head turned upwards, and it shot toward the surface like an arrow. The students swimming on foot watched with envy.
’Swoooosh!’
In an instant, he reached the surface. Simon pointed to a nearby platform, and Deimos imdiately guided him there.
"Good boy," Simon said, stroking Deimos’s head after landing on the platform. The creature seed pleased, gently rubbing its head against his palm. When Simon turned around, he saw two male students standing there, stiff as boards.
He smiled. "Are you going to fight?"
The students looked back and forth between Deimos and Simon, then shook their heads in fright and dove into the water as if fleeing.
"Huh? I wasn’t trying to chase them away. I feel kind of bad."
Simon sat down with a thud, charging his air magic circle for a mont while he checked his points.
1st - Elisa: 2,500 Points
(10 coins)
2nd - Aun: 1,540 Points
(0 coins)
3rd - Hector: 1,100 Points
(10 coins)
4th - Chatel: 980 Points
(10 coins)
While he had been taking it easy, the point gap had already widened considerably. They were all students who had gone to the open sea. The second-place student, Aun, had probably given up on the coins and gone straight to the open sea to rack up points.
[Kuhaha! Are you going to be okay? First place already has 2,500 points.]
’It’s fine.’ Simon folded a few fingers as if calculating. ’I can catch up in ten minutes.’
[What?] Pier’s disbelieving voice echoed in his mind. [Kuhaha! You crazy bastard. What kind of insane stunt are you planning now?]
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