Shit. That was hard.
My first fight in this world had been a real eye-opener.
Mutated beasts were the weakest monsters on the hierarchy, just above regular animals, and I had nearly died to one.
I looked down at the daggers in my hands. When the grappling hooks had fired, I hadn't planned it.
My hands had just done it, the way you reach for a light switch in a dark room.
Well, that's some good news at least. I kept some of this body's muscle memory.
Unfortunately, I doubted it was enough. With my current combat ability, I was lucky to have won at all.
If the thing had possessed anything close to human intelligence, I'd be dead right now.
Basically, I'm in no position to even think about fighting a Fantasian soldier.
I shook my head.
Enough of that. I'll just have to kill a few beasts and hope that's enough.
By the way, how many points is a mutated beast worth? I tapped the cuff on my right wrist to find out, and discovered something far more useful than I'd expected.
I could view the rankings straight from the artifact.
That's better, actually. At least I'll know how many I need to kill.
________________________________________
Name: Nathaniel Hunt
Points: 100
Rank: 490/600
________________________________________
I stared at the screen.
So I'm cooked. One hundred points, and I'm not even in the top two hundred? How cooked is that?
Haaa. Damn it.
In any other situation, I would have said screw the academy. It would almost be better not to go at all.
But I knew better.
It would only be worse. An interplanetary war was raging between Terra and Fantasia, and both sides were doing everything in their power to win, including conscripting children.
At sixteen, every super-powered teenager in the Federation was required to attend a military academy and serve in the army for a minimum of three years before they could do anything else.
So even if I failed the entrance exam for Nublar, I'd be shipped to some other academy, a worse one, probably close to the front lines.
With fewer resources and worse instructors, they'd never train me well enough to survive a war. I'd just be another name on Terra's long list of cannon fodder die.
My point is, if I'm going to end up in the military either way, I'd rather get the best training and resources I can.
It's the only way I have a decent chance at surviving.
So I have no choice. I need to make the top hundred. Or… My eyes drifted to the list. I could just kill one of the Fantasian prisoners.
…..
Hell no. I'd be dead in minutes at my current level.
Huuu. With that settled, I broke into a run, heading deeper into the exam grounds.
Inside one of the academy's buildings, a vast viewing hall stretched beneath a high ceiling, every seat filled with youths in academy uniforms.
They were the current students.
Above them, along the upper wall, a row of booths with tinted glass overlooked the room.
These belonged to the great families, members of high society who had come to watch today.
At the front of the hall, a bank of enormous screens displayed the progress of the exam in real time.
It was the largest building on campus, where most of the academy's activities took place.
Nublar Academy only took in the best of the best in the Federation and discarded the rest, so not just anyone was allowed in to watch.
Only the most prominent families, ruling houses, generals, colonels, officers of Class 6 and 7, and the academy's own students had that privilege.
The generals and ruling families usually stayed in the tinted booths.
In one of them, a woman in her late thirties, with blue hair and piercing black eyes just like Natasha's, crossed her legs and settled into her seat.
Her gaze was fixed on the screen in front of her.
Katherine Denoir. The lady of House Denoir.
On the screen, a young girl with matching blue hair and black eyes was cutting through the forest, mowing down mutated beasts left and right.
They never stood a chance against her.
Katherine smiled, satisfied. "She's doing well."
"Are you pleased, my lady?" the butler beside her asked.
"Yes. Although…" Her gaze drifted to the ranking board.
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Rankings
1. Elizabeth Bathory
2. Lenny Patterson
3. Emilia Watson
4. Lydia Hennesy
5. Natasha Denoir...
________________________________________
"Her ranking is quite good. Better than good, in fact. But it would be better still if she could kill one of the Fantasian prisoners."
The butler nodded. "I suppose Master Arthur would prefer that as well, wouldn't he?"
"All in the name of family." Katherine's voice was venomous.
"Haa." The butler let out a heavy sigh and turned back to the screen.
'May luck be with you, young lady, he thought. Because the master will not be, if you fail to place in the top two, or kill one of those prisoners.'