Chapter 168 The Third test.
Hotel Devalya, Meeting Room.
Usually, this meeting room is used by the shareholders and the owner of the hotel, but today the whole meeting room was occupied by the students of the academy and Raji was sitting at the hotel owner's seat too.
Meanwhile, all the staff members were guarding the door outside as if they were thrown out by Raji from the room in the middle of a meeting.
Although this scene was quite strange, but no one had the courage to question the decisions of an SS-ranker. Thus, they just went with the flow and didn't even raise any objections.
...
Inside the meeting room.
Link glanced at Riya sitting beside him and secretly handed her some candies as she was looking quite bored.
But obviously, Raji could easily see through these little movements.
"Ahem, Link don't feed her all the time, you have spoiled her too much... If you keep spoiling her like that, she will get as fat as a pig..." (Raji)
Hearing Raji's words, Link smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck as he was embarrassed at being caught red-handed.
Riya puffed up her cheeks as she was angry at being compared to a fat pig.
"I am not smelly like a pig!" (Riya)
At Riya's tantrum, Raji squinted her eyebrows and replied:
"That's your main concern?...sigh~..." (Raji)
Looking at Riya's pouting face caused Link's heart to jump up and down like a deer.
*Clank*
The metallic door opened automatically, and Rio and Lia both walked in together while holding hands like a lovey-dovey couple.
Their 'handholding' made everyone in the room feel awkward.
Riya was sitting on Link's left side, and Rio sat on the right with Lia on his right too.
Rio and Lia were the last group to arrive, everyone else had already arrived a few seconds ago.
Once everyone had finally gathered, Raji glanced at them all and nodded her head.
"Good, Now that everyone is here, let me start then..." (Raji)
Raji brought out a 'small hologram-generating device' from her space ring and put it on the table. She clicked the buttons on it and the hologram appeared in the air.
It showcased a 3d map of the human empire.
Without delay, Raji zoomed at the southern area, and the port city 'Oaklum' came into everyone's view.
After adjusting the map, Raji pointed at the city and started explaining.
"As you guys must have learned in the 'geography' classes, this is the port city 'Oaklum', nearly 80 percent of the trade routes that lead to major ports all over the world, go through this place..." (Raji)
"Rich in marine life, the ocean nearby is filled with natural resources like oil, gases, and various rare materials...." (Raji)
"This place is like a trading hub, thousands of industries are located here and nearly all the trade that our human empire does with other races goes through this city too..." (Raji)
Explaining further, Raji glanced at the students and said:
"As I had explained before, there are supposed to be three tests that will be conducted to choose the students who will represent humanity on the grand stage called 'the meeting of gods'..." (Raji)
"There are three tests in the selection process, and two have already been conducted successfully..." (Raji)
In the first test, only four students passed they were Link, Lia, Liam, and Rio. (Riya had exited the test at the end of round 2 of the group test...)
In the second test, six students passed. (Except Fade all of them passed in this dungeon test...)
"Now the third test will be conducted in the city of 'Oaklum'... it is a 'mission' assigned by the alliance, it will start in three days from now..." (Raji)
Just when Raji was about to continue, Liam raised his hand as a sign that he wanted to ask a question.
Raji nodded her head and allowed Liam to ask. Seeing the Raji permitted him, Liam said in a calm tone:
"The last two tests had a gap of a week or more days in between, I would like to know why we are in such a rush to complete the third test?..." (Liam)
Hearing Liam's question Raji nodded her head and replied in a calm tone:
"As expected of your sharp mind student Liam, you have already noticed this strange thing..." (Raji)
Raji was actually impressed by the fact that Liam, who was afraid of her on usual days was able to overcome his fear and come forward to ask a question from her directly.
This was a great improvement in terms of mental strength, in her opinion.
"The thing is, due to some unforeseen circumstances, the 'Meeting of Gods' will be held earlier this time, its scheduled time was two months away but now it has been re-scheduled..." (Raji)
"Now there's only one month left before the meeting happens, and due to this we have to hurry and complete these tests as early as possible... we don't have the time to dilly-dally all day long..." (Raji)
Hearing Raji's answer, Liam asked again:
"Uh, what are these 'Unforeseen circumstances' by the way?" (Liam)
Raji shook her head and said:
"I don't know about that yet either, we will only find out about it at the meeting itself…" (Raji)
Liam nodded his head and stopped asking questions.
Seeing that Liam was not questioning anymore, Raji continued her explanations.
"As I was saying, your third test will be to complete this mission within a week's worth of time…." (Raji)
"By then, we will only have about one more week left, in the last week we will depart for the Elf Kingdom where the meeting will take place…" (Raji)
"During this valuable time that you have left, give yourself a final push and try to train as much as possible, it's a rare opportunity so don't miss it…" (Raji)
…
Raji then explained the mission details.
The mission was a simple task, there had been sightings of a new underwater cave recently. The task given to the students was to investigate the cave and find out as many details as they could about that cave.
This mission will be a test of the student's intellectual and endurance capabilities.
"It's a simple and straightforward task, you just have to investigate the cave, just remain careful and I believe you guys can do it…" (Raji)
Seeing that Raji was confident about their success, all of the students felt quite proud at the moment. (Being complimented by an SS-ranker is no small feat…)
"Aside from that, I have one more thing to say… two third-
year students will also take part in this mission…" (Raji)
Hearing Raji's sudden declaration, everyone was quite surprised. They all thought that there would be no more candidates appearing now that two tests were already done and dusted.
Raji glanced at Fade for a second before continuing.
"Due to the very underwhelming performance of student Fade, I have decided that we need more candidates to enter this test…" (Raji)
"There will be a total of nine candidates now, after adding the two third-year students… also don't worry about their strength, they are one year older than you guys and are one of the few most talented students too…" (Raji)
"Both are rank A individuals… Except for student Fade, all the other six of you have already passed at least one test by now, so your position is safe…" (Raji)
Hearing Raji's harsh words, Fade felt like he was being humiliated in public. He lowered his head and didn't dare to look Raji in the eyes.
Seeing Fade's deflated confidence, Raji stared at him with narrowed eyes and said in a cold tone:
"Student Fade, if any one of those two students performs better than you in this final test, you will be disqualified and your position will be given to the other party…" (Raji)
"So make sure you don't end up having regrets later, I have already warned you… it's up to you now if you want to improve or not…" (Raji)
Although Raji really wanted to eliminate Fade from this test on the spot, but she was an SS-ranker and she had to follow the rules otherwise she would set up a bad example for others.
The rules said that only those who failed in all three tests would be disqualified, and no one is allowed to stop a candidate from taking the test. Due to this reason, Fade still had one more chance left now.
If Fade performs better than the two third-year students, he can maintain his position and go to the meeting as previously planned but if can't even pass one test out of the three, then there is really no need to send him to the meeting of gods.
'In my opinion, even if he passes the test, it is quite unfit for a person like Fade to go, the reason being he has a weak mentality and he can't think straight in life-threatening situation…' (Raji)
Although no individual is so perfect that they can stay calm at their own death, with great strength you can always keep your emotions in check.
Fade was at rank B and he still couldn't keep his head calm, even with all this strength coursing through his body, which was already a very bad situation.
(Obviously, Raji is being quite strict with the standards, everyone is not emotionless like Rio, and it is obvious that a normal person will panic in a despair-filled situation…)
(But this strictness was important too, she didn't want to see the human race being looked down upon by others… thus she wasn't lenient at all…)
With a cold look in her eyes, Raji glared at Fade.
"This is your last chance to prove yourself worthy, student Fade…" (Raji)
…
…
Author's Note.
Yo! It's your beloved author here! Hoho, Fade is being scolded by Raji now, she seems to have taken him under her radar, let's see how it goes now…
Question of the day.
Do you guys think Fade will be disqualified?
1.Yes
2.No
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.
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