All of the students were gathered inside the halls and the teachers had assembled them into rows. And by all students, here I mean all the students from the four sses in the first year, not all of the academy.


    Mr. Halls stood before the mic which functions via magic, and there was a small magic circle glowing at the top of it. He tapped the circle to check if it was working, and at the same time a buzzing noise was heard all across the hall.


    When he seemed satisfied, he held the mic stand with one hand and began.


    "As you students must know that your midterms exams will be starting from tomorrow, and I''m sure you all have prepared for it. However, there is one thing you all are not informed about, and today I am here just to do that."


    Standing among the crowd of students, I listened to his speech quietly even though I already knew what he was going to say.


    "Along with the written exam you all will be giving tomorrow, there will also be a practical exam for you first year students. I am about to exin how that exam will work and what will be the perks for the students who will score great.


    "First of all, afterpleting the written exam tomorrow you will have to report to this hall. The practical exam will be taking ce on an ind and not here at the academy, thus we will be teleporting you there. To clear this exam you will have to survive three days on that ind without any help.


    "Now, let me rify on what I mean by ''without any help''. Unlike the previous time in the entrance exam when you all were teleported into a private forest, the academy staff will not monitor your activities, neither will we provide you with food and water or any medical aid in case you got yourself injured.


    "For three days you will have to find your own food and water, and make sure to not get killed by the monsters lurking on the ind. You will be able to clear the exam if you are able to do all this, but there''s something else too. For students who think they are capable of doing more than this.


    "There will be some hidden tasks on the ind which you have to find andplete, and you will gain additional points forpleting each task; these points will be added to your overall grades hence they are important. In each task you will have to acquire an item but the way to do that will differ. Since we will not be monitoring you, the students are required to hold on to the item till the end of the exam and those you have the items will have to submit it to the teachers afterward.


    "Now, the number of hidden tasks will be much lower than the students there toplete them, so there will be a rush for them. Thus if you happen toplete a task and acquire the item, you should be very careful and keep it close to your heart. Since stealing of the items will bemon and inevitable as some students would want to snatch the items rather thanplete the tasks.


    "In the case where youpleted a task but the item you received was stolen by another student, and that student submitted it to the teachers at the end of the exam, the points will be awarded to the student who submitted the item, and not to you. So make sure you keep special care of your items if youe across one.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "These points you will get will bebined with your score in the written exam and then a grade will be assigned to you. Now, as you are new students I would like you to inform me of a system that works in the academy.


    "The student who scored the highest in the sses below ss A will be promoted to ss A, thus at the end of the exam a total of three students from each ss will be moved to ss A—one from ss D, one from ss C, and one from ss B.


    "Simrly, the bottom three students in ss A will be demoted to the lower sses ording to their grades. This is a measure we take in order to maintain the poption of each ss. You all have the opportunity to move to ss A, so I''d say do your best in the exams."


    There was a momentary pause, and a murmur of conversation bursted among the students. This system that was dropped onto them out of nowhere left them with mixed feelings. Now each student had the chance to move up to ss A by scoring the highest in their respective ss, thepetition was going to be higher now.


    However, what Mr. Halls said next pushed the students even further into the state of shock.


    "There is something very important I would like to inform you all of," he said, gathering the attention of every student upon himself; his tone was serious. "As I have said before, the academy will not be monitoring you during the time you are on the ind, hence we will not be able to provide you with aid in case you are about to die.


    "Simply said, if you die you die. There will be no oneing to save. Some of you might be thinking of this as a bluff but it''s not. Let me make this very clear, this is not like the entrance exam where we would teleport you back if you are about to die. You will die for real this time if you get careless."


    There was still silence that spread across the hall, after that was the uncontroble arguments of the students. However, the teachers forced them to go quiet again. Seeing that some of the students were not willing to let this pass, Mr. Halls spoke again.


    "There are some of you who would not like to give the practical exam, given the risks that are involved. And the academy respects your wishes. That is why this exam is an option, meaning if you want to you can choose not to give the exam. You will be losing on the extra points but you will not be marked a failure.


    "And those who do want to give the exam despite the risks, please follow our teachers and sign the form," he announced. "This form stated that if you died during this exam, it will not be the academy''s form but a result of your own actions."