[Eon's POV: ]
While the vice president was explaining the fundamentals of student council to us, I was using my third eye to scan the skies and noticed a big land mass out in the distance.
This seemed odd because there shouldn't be any sky islands nearby, and certainly not in such a wide-open area.
It was peculiar, so I showed it to Rein with our vision sharing. And as we got closer, and it became more visible, the vice president arrived at the crucial part of our task in this examination.
[ "Alright. Listen up, newbies. In nearly three minutes from now, every single examinee, including all of you, will be thrown onto the illusionary sky island.
It is a special space headmaster created and will maintain for the three-hour time period of examination, which will be three days on that island.
That space is an illusion, but they are illusions created by our crazy headmaster, so they will be nothing less than the real thing.
On that island, there is every single thing one might encounter on a remote island, from monsters to treasures.
The examinees will have to either survive there for the given time or jump off the island if they want to forfeit the exams.
Now your work, little chicks, will be to save the others if they encounter anything they can't handle on the part of the island assigned to you.
The fucking realistic illusions can actually hurt them physically and mentally, just that they won't die. Not even by jumping off the island.
But if someone actually gets hurt in your assigned area, not only will you have to pay the full cost of their recovery, but you will also lose your position and memories of ever being a part of the student council.
These positions are no joke even if the headmaster has picked all of you from the countless children for this year, but if you can't even handle some thousand people, you would be better off being a regular student than doing this horrible work.
At the end of the day, the whole student council, including this dumbass and me, are dogs of that crazy headmaster, anyway.
Having one or two less would not only be better for the academy's finances, but it would also be pleasing for many of us to see him lose something he wanted.
Alright.
You will be thrown out in 30 seconds, so quickly check the envelope on your beds and see your assigned areas.
You all already know about the 'being hidden' rule, so I won't say much.
Do well and try not to screw anything up.
I will have you pay with your life if I'm annoyed.
Now… piss off." ]
And with that, the blue magic screen that had appeared in the hall room turned into the map of the sky island that I was seeing with my third eye with different numbers marked on it.
The map was divided into thirty sections, each being unique from the other, and thirty was the set number of student council members the council can have, so it was easy to guess what the numbers on the map meant.
"Be back in a sec!" Rein shouted, used her shadow travel skill, vanished from the room, and reappeared with a red envelope in her hand.
I also went in and collected my own red envelope as we checked our assigned locations when only ten seconds were left for the ejection.
"We are close!" She shouted when we found out we were around the same central area.
And though the whole central area was some of the largest ones, it wasn't impossible for us to meet up if things were going smoothly in our areas.
We both knew we can observe a larger area assigned to us with our eyes and our familiars, anyway.
She had her crow Branwen, and I had my third eye, but Celes was far better when it came to stuff like this. She can even monitor the whole of the island with her clones, so we had a pretty good advantage here.
It might even be possible to find out who the other council members are with this event, so it was exciting for both of us.
And Rein was smiling with a unique smile only I knew right now.
"Bet." She said with a smirk and without a second of wait, I asked, "Who gets more points?". She nodded quickly and stated once again, "Three coins."
Her face as she said that was full of confidence, but the amount was absurd.
"Two, no negotiations. Additional condition, people saved."
I was confident in myself, too. But she clearly shook her head.
"Declined. No information on the island."
It was a reasonable excuse, so I had to concede this time. She also knew this one wasn't favorable to her in any way.
Things would be far different if they had given us some information about the island and what kind of dangers there would be.
But we had no information so all we could do was go there, see what this island was, take things in our hands, save the others from getting in danger, kill some monsters and find treasures if we can, and get more points from the exclusive panel that would grade our performance.
We knew things would be difficult at the start, but both of us were confident, so we looked into each other's eyes, nodded, kissed for the last three seconds we had, and as soon as that was done…
-Ooooooooooong-Swiiiiish!
We felt a sudden jolt and the next thing we knew, we all were hurtling through the air, tumbling head over heels out of the airships with all the other passengers.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…!"
Panic set in the air as the others who had no idea what was going to happen to them, unlike the few of us, struggled to catch even their breath and adjust themselves in the chaos of the moment.
As we all fell towards the ground, we saw below a sky island, a lush oasis floating in the clouds, surrounded by a dense green forest and sandy borders.
The dense foliage of the forest looked like a soft, cushiony bed, but the examinees knew that hitting the ground at that speed would be suicidal. And the chaos of falling towards the ground intensified their emotions.
But as we all were falling towards this illusory ground, amidst this chaos and scream-filled surroundings, all of us thousands of people suddenly stopped.
-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish…
A strange wind had enveloped us and prevented our fall, but that wasn't all. This strange wind also calmed their minds, helping them think rationally and make decisions.
As we continued falling down slowly, the examinees felt like a metal ball sliding down into a viscous liquid.
Many people had grasped what was going on, so they used their magic or other skills to quickly go down towards different areas of the forest that seemed fit to them.
It was a pretty classic thing where you are abandoned on a strange island, so the young people who were familiar with this scenario took the lead and those who didn't have the appropriate skills just changed their directions with swimming hand movements or something similar.
Many people chose to be in the outer area and edge with sand, while many chose to be in different parts of the forest.
With the help of this unique wind and some wind magic, I also slowly flew down towards my assigned location in the middle part of the area.
The forest was thick, as well as surreal.
I knew this island was made with illusion magic. I knew there was a magic core or circle somewhere, but to think this place felt as real as an actual forest…
"Fascinating."
I was in awe of this grand show of magic.
Even after understanding how this whole thing could have been created, I was still doubtful if I will ever be able to create something so magical.
The leaves had a real texture, the winds carried the same scent of nature that I was familiar with, there were small natural noises around me and it all seemed too real to categorize as a mere illusion.
"Archmage… and a wizard's wizardry, no less."
An excited smile overtook my face as I thought about my deal with the headmaster.
We were going to teach each other our unique magic spells, so after witnessing this grand spectacle, there was no way I was going to hold back on that offer.
It was going to be fun but, for now…
"Celes."
[[ Yes~! ]]
She understood what I was asking for, so some of her clones, already in an invisible state, came out of my hand and spread all across the surrounding area and the island.
We could easily cover the area assigned to us even though it was the largest one, but aside from that, we could practically have this entire island under our personal surveillance.
'Not that there's any lack of surveillance here. They are definitely watching everything right now…'
The island was made with the headmaster's magic, so it was evident that the surveillance they had was far better than our little tricks.
I wasn't playing on the same level as back then anymore. The stage was higher, the rewards were greater, the risks were grander, and the variables to my plans would be a lot more than I might be able to foresee.
But one thing was sure, even with the higher stakes…
"Let's get started."
I will get what I want. The observers can have their chicken and drinks.
The entrance exam was starting for them, and for the 'hand-picked elites' like us, this was the start of our first assignment.
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