10 minutes before the exam starts.
Splash. Splash.
Simon is waiting on a floating platform in the sea.
The platforms were made from a kind of slime byproduct. They were flat and floated well on the water, and each held 20-30 students. The students themselves were equipped with protective vests on the diving suits provided by Kizen, as well as tongue pads on their arms.
Looking around, Simon could see countless floating platforms filling the ocean.
Seeing that, it was clear that all 847 first-year students took the test at once.
"Simooon! I'm here!"
Rick shouted, waving from a distant platform. Simon smiled and waved back.
'Okay, let's focus.'
Simon checked the tongue pad on his wrist.
'The design is different from the one we wore for the Island Survival assessment.'
As before, the tongue pad calculates the points earned from remote monster hunting and sends the data to headquarters for calculation. However, the tongue pad also shows the current points and overall ranking. Simon also checks out other different features before the match begins.
Maybe everyone was nervous. They were all quietly warming up or taking deep breaths to calm their minds.
(Kuhehe! Are you nervous, kid?)
Hearing Pier's voice, Simon smiled and shook his head.
'I'm fine. Besides, this isn't the time to be nervous yet.'
Turn!
At that moment, a magic circle opened in the sky, and a loud voice was heard from there.
(Thank you for your patience! We will now begin the third 'Wide-Range Black Magic Proficiency Test'.)
(The countdown will now begin!)
(10.)
(9.)
…
The students started counting with enthusiasm.
(6.)
(5.)
Likewise, the audience from Roke Island watched on the screen.
Everyone, regardless of status or nationality, shouted out the numbers.
(2.)
(1.)
(Start!)
Toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Accompanied by the sound of boat horns blaring across the ocean, the students simultaneously jumped into the water as if on cue.
Splash, splash, splash, splash!
Watching hundreds of students jump into the sea and splash around in the water is quite a spectacular sight.
"Mwahaha! I went in first!"
To everyone's surprise, it was Rick who took the lead. As he enchanted his fins and injected jet black into the machine he had created inside, the thick jet black burned like rocket fuel and propelled him deeper.
"All the coins, min— Huh?"
Grab!
Rick who was leading was suddenly forced to stop. When he turned around, he saw a male student with a strange fishing rod grinning at him.
Before he knew it, there was a hook that had gone into Rick's fin.
"Where do you think you're going?"
He pulled his wand, and Rick was pulled at incredible speed.
"Whoooooaaaaaa! What are you doing?! Do you know me??"
"No! I just won't let whoever is in first place get too big of an advantage!"
As the boy pulled his stick, Rick was thrown from first to last position as he flew to the surface of the water.
The man holding the fishing rod smiled with satisfaction.
Thud! Oh my!
"Ouch!"
Suddenly, a jet black arrow flew into his back and tore through his barrier, causing severe damage.
"Who's that?!!"
He turned to see a group of students preparing to cast spells on him.
"You little…!"
"You have to be careful, you know?"
The sea quickly turned into chaos.
The number of coins at the bottom of the sea is limited. Initially there were only 1,000 coins scattered.
Considering that each person needs to gather 10 people to pass the test and proceed to the next stage, only a maximum of 100 people can lead quickly.
Of course, the competition is getting very fierce.
Of course, Kizen announced that they would add more coins to the bottom of the ocean as time went on, but the students were even more eager to compete for the top rankings.
"Stop that bastard!"
"He's coming!"
We can't fight amongst ourselves! Tell them to go deeper!
Everything was in disarray. Torpedoes, curses, and all sorts of other dark spells were flying in all directions.
And Simon, who Jane mentioned as one of the students to keep an eye on…
"…"
He just sat on his floating platform, blankly observing the situation below as it happened.
Explosions shook the surface of the water, and screams of pain and despair soon followed. The space below was in complete chaos.
'I don't have to jump right in. If I were leading, I'd have to constantly stay focused, and I wouldn't have the stamina.'
In fact, not only Simon but most of the top students were still standing on the platform, just watching. They didn't waste their energy and waited for other students to get tired.
Simon decided to wait patiently while filling his breathing magic circle.
(But the exam is only 4 hours long. Aren't you too relaxed, kid?)
Pier said.
(I suggest we change the order.)
'The order?'
(That's right! We'll head out to the open sea, hunt monsters to collect points, and then come back when the fight for coins has calmed down a bit!)
'Oh, that's a great idea.'
In fact, there are some students who immediately jump into the open sea to avoid the fierce coin competition.
The place where Simon is, with the coin at the bottom, is shallow water that is only 20 meters deep at most. But once you get to the open sea, the water gets deeper, and monsters appear with a much higher frequency.
So the idea is to hunt monsters for points, then come back to collect some coins with an hour or so to spare. After all, everyone else should have gotten their coins and headed out to sea by then.
Of course, hunting other students in the open sea and taking the coins there would also work. That was what most of the students who went straight to the open sea planned to do.
"But I will wait a little longer."
Simon has a secret weapon, the deimos.
However, after practicing with it a few times, he realized that the frame did not have good fuel efficiency. He could only perform actively for about two hours.
So Simon will take his coin when he is ready and will not reappear until the test is over.
'I planned everything carefully as soon as I heard the rules. I'll make sure it works this time!'
His face was completely calm, but his soul was burning with fighting spirit.
It's no use if he doesn't get first place.
* * *
* * *
"This third BDMAT is unlike any other BDMAT! Who would have expected this?!"
the MC shouted enthusiastically.
"It's been more than half an hour now! But only two students have collected more than 8 coins! The competition is too fierce!"
The students were too aware of other competitors than their coins.
Some will stay on the surface of the water, fighting other students who need to breathe. Others will chase the big collectors, trying to steal as many coins as possible. And of course, some people will just focus on grabbing as many coins as possible at the bottom.
"Ahh! This is taking an unexpected turn! According to the exam rules, you will be eliminated—in other words, expelled—no matter how high your scores are! Vice Pre— I mean, Professor! Isn't this a great result?" "A large number of expulsions?"
Jane, who was sitting on the chair next to him with her chin resting on her hand, stared at MC with extremely cold eyes. MC swallowed his saliva in guilt.
"The students aren't stupid, Conrad."
"Yup! Yup! Of course! After all, you trust your students, Professor! And so do I! Ahh?! While I'm talking!"
The screen changes.
It shows a boy diving underwater with a refreshing level of skill and composure.
The boy—his white hair and white swim cap a stark contrast to his dark brown skin—flicked his wrists and ankles, simultaneously creating six magic circles. The water around each magic circle grew colder.
Fish! Oh my! Oh my!
In just a few moments, he activated all six of his spells and launched what appeared to be snow at the nearest competitor.
All the projectiles landed, flying too fast for the shocked students to dodge. When the 'snow' hit them, it dragged them down and refused to let go. It didn't even melt underwater!
Meanwhile, the boy who cast the spell finds two coins at the bottom of the sea.
"Ohh! It's the student Professor Jane was talking about! Special Admissions No.8 Laheim, Lord of Snowfield Castle! He's already collected 10 coins, taking the only clue!"
The audience cheered loudly, finally seeing the progress of the test.
MC turned to Jane with a satisfied smile.
"Professor, what kind of black magic did that student use?!"
Laheim drew a magic circle on the soles of his feet. He sped away at super speed like a fish, puffing out smoke like he had fired a projectile a while ago.
"That is 'Golden Snow', a unique dark spell created by the Snowfield Castle family. It looks like ordinary snow, but it has no melting point, and once the target is buried in the snow, it will double in size and become extremely heavy."
The students hit by Laheim's snow bomb struggled against the weight and began to sink to the bottom of the sea.
Their fate is to send out an SOS signal with the pads of their tongues and be counted out or still be teleported away by Kizen when their breathing spell ends and they run out of air.
"That's simply the greatest dark spell underwater! But Laheim doesn't seem to have gone to the outer sea even though he's finished collecting coins. From the way he keeps wandering around in the deep sea, maybe he's looking for someone? Ah, as I was speaking, students who had collected 10 coins started appearing one by one!"
Starting with Laheim, the big names finally got into play.
Elissa, SA7, has built a kind of 'submarine', defeating the Phantom Ship. She is subjected to countless attacks, but manages to reach the bottom of the ocean and sweeps up many coins.
SA10 Malcolm uses his doppelganger to quickly retrieve the coin from the ocean floor while keeping himself out of harm's way.
Camibarez placed himself in a drop of blood, reached the bottom of the sea, and rolled over to retrieve his own coin.
For Serene, all she did was sit quietly on the floating platform at the starting point, and the students started bringing their own coins.
"Suddenly, the battle turned from a stalemate to a fierce race! Many students floating on the surface also fell!"
"They are waiting for more coins to appear."
Jane explained.
"As time goes by, the coins at the bottom increase. We just added 1,000 coins, which means it's now more beneficial to collect them than to prevent others from getting them."
"Oh, I see!"
The audience seemed to be getting more excited as more and more students became interesting to watch.
At that moment, a teaching assistant walked over and handed a piece of paper to MC and Jane.
"Ahh, new statistics have just been released! It shows that the Black Magic Summoner and Poison Alchemy candidates are now in an advantageous position! And it's said that the Summoner candidates are at a huge disadvantage! I hope they'll all hang in there! Now, speaking of which, let's take a look at Special Admissions No.1, Simon Polentia! Many call him the hope of summoning!"
Bzzt!
The main screen shifted, showing Simon still waiting at the starting line.
* * *
Simon is still waiting.
It couldn't be helped considering he had planned to collect points in the last two hours, but he felt his body itching.
'Should I try to pass and collect points without going overboard?'
As he was pondering this, there was suddenly a commotion beside him.
He turned his head.
"!"
Simon quickly jumped back.
Through the nearly opaque slime, Simon could see snowflakes exploding beneath him as projectiles flew and slammed into the floating platforms.
'This ability… Don't tell me!'
Creeeaaaaaaak!
In an instant, the floating platform flipped over as the weight increased where the snow explosion was.
Another student who was on the same platform as Simon screamed and fell into the sea.
Simon immediately brought the jet black color to his feet and jumped onto the platform.
"I've finally found you!"
Drenched in water, the white-haired boy who pulled himself up to a nearby platform laughed as he took off his swimming cap.
"I challenge you to a duel for Meilyn right now!"