There was no need for Ace to exin the situation as the yers already made their own guesses. After all, it wasn''t that hard to realize once several yerspleted their simtion tests.


    ''Very well... I''m looking forward to your decisionster on.''


    Ace thought after seeing the ten magicians who had justpleted their simtion as they gather around and talk about their experiences inside.


    The Pilot Selection exam was actually quite easy on itself as it just mostly tests the decision making as a pilot.


    Ace then busied himself with the current updates about the asteroid that Avalon has found. He wanted to make sure that it was truly an asteroid before he creates a n to deal with it.


    ***


    The third batch of the magicians taking the simtion exam includes Hilda Calem. She was already excited about it ever since the first batchpleted their own exams and heard a little about the simtion.


    It seems that there were different simtions so it was useless to ask about their experiences inside. It may just hamper their judgment and be unable to perform well.


    After all, even if they were not selected to be a pilot, they were still promised to get an in-game item as a reward afterpleting the exam. This was more than enough to get serious about this. There was nothing to lose at all.


    ''Haaa~''


    Hilda took a deep breath as she prepared herself. She wasn''t pressured at all as she approached one of the majestic Steel Knights and even gave it a touch to have a feel about the real deal.


    The one in front of her was a full ck humanoid war machine equipped with a rifle gun on its right hand and a small shield on the other. It was still a bit bulky but not the same way with the one at the center.


    There was also something simr to a jetpack, or probably a booster of some sort, attached at the back of the war machine.


    ''Does it have a name? I hope that Wace can share it with us...''


    She suddenly had a feeling that she would be able to connect more to a Steel Knight if she knows its name.


    She had suddenly realized that the mysterious ''sync rate'' that needs to operate a Steel Knight or Iron Knight may actually prove to be helpful during the examination.


    Anyway, now that she had gotten closer to it, she could feel that the pressuring energy hiding deep inside this machine was also getting clearer to her.


    It was a sensation that she couldn''t properly describe as it felt very powerful and suffocating at first but after getting closer to the machine, it feels gentler and very safe under its shelter.


    This all happened quickly as she entered Mech Frame''s cockpit to experience being inside the real Steel Knight even for half an hour.


    It smelled refreshing and noticed that she was immediately covered by gushing mana!


    ''I''m synchronizing already?''


    This made her reallyfortable as it wasn''tpletely new to her.


    It was very simr to the Steel Knights she piloted inside the Virtual World!


    [ Hello, Miss Hilda. I''m Avalon and I''m here to help you start the simtion. ]


    A genderless voice was suddenly heard which didn''t surprise her.


    "Hi, Avalon. Are you simr to Freya inside the virtual game?"


    [ You can say so... But I can''t give you any quests. ]


    "Haha! Of course..."


    [ Very well. You can start the examination by cing your hand at the spherical ss that you can see at the center. ]


    Hilda also knows that touching this spherical ss is part of the standard activation sequence needed to run the Steel Knight inside the game. It was different from an Iron Knight in the real world that normally requires a key to operate.


    Anyway, it seems that touching the ss won''t be activating the machine but the simtion test at this time.


    "Alright... I''ll take the exam now..."


    Hilda said and as soon as she touched the ss... nothing happened.


    "Avalon? Is there something wrong?"


    ''Maybe I should insert some of my mana?''


    Hilda thought after Avalon remained silent. She was expecting that she will be transported in a virtual world after touching the sphere but it seems to have encountered a problem...


    She was still inside the cockpit... Same sensation... No changes whatsoever...


    ''Mhmm...''


    She poured some of her mana to make sure that it will work but still, nothing happened.


    As soon as she had a thought of getting out of the cockpit. The Steel Knight activated and she suddenly had a clear vision of what was happening outside.


    She noticed that several yers were still busying around the za but arge part of them was looking somewhere else.


    Of course, she was curious about the thing they were looking at so she controlled the Steel Knight''s system adeptly and noticed that the sky was being covered by a huge shadow...


    At first, she thought that it was just the previous spacecraft hovering above Wace''s territory. It was the one that gave them a real surprise when they first got here considering its size and the mysterious float system that it uses to fly.


    However, she immediately realizes that the size of the shadow was probably 20 times bigger than the spacecraft simr to Excellence.


    "W-what was that? Is it one of Wace''s project?"


    It can''t be helped that she was stunned seeing such a huge shadow covering the sky.


    Everyone had learned from Wace''s announcement a while ago that he has ns for the Excellence to visit the moon...


    ''Was it sessful and the spacecraft was now trying to bring a part of the moon here?''


    She suddenly had an absurd thought considering the fact that they have little knowledge about the moon.


    Anyway, she noticed that the magicians on the ground were all nervous and waiting for what was toe.


    As she nced at Wace''s previous seat, she realized that he already disappeared for some unknown reason.


    ''Hey... Isn''t this part of your ns? Where are you, senior? Don''t leave us here unattended...''


    Boom!


    Not too far from Mt. Raven, there was a sudden loud explosion that made the earth tremble. As a matter of fact, Knight''s control system detected several of these explosions in different ces.


    They didn''t know what started it but the sheer force that followed after the explosion terrified them.


    The almost unbearable heatwave and the shockwaves that came after were something they hadn''t been prepared for. Luckily, due to this territory''s defense system, it has been lessened by a lot and the addition of their Mana Shell proved to be quite useful in the situation.


    Hilda, on the other hand, wasn''t exactly sure how powerful it was since she was inside the bulky Steel Knight. She was protected from any external damages.


    But as she can see the messy za and some trees that were bent due to the powerful shock, she realized that she had to take this seriously.


    She was honestly worried if there were people that were hurt outside this mountain.


    As for the Tanza City, she didn''t have to worry about it as after the terrorist attack months ago, the government strengthened its City''s Barrier a lot to calm the citizens and keep them from migrating to other cities.


    Soon, she heard the yers on the za eximed while looking at the sky.


    Of course, she also had to take a look and as soon as she saw it, her mouths were left hanging open.


    It was a scary-looking floating city. No, it was a spacecraft with a circr base but has many tall buildings on its top. The fact that it was also purely ck just added to its menacing feature.


    After seeing it, she just had a thought that it was definitely not a friendly spacecraft.


    "Oh, no... Is this still part of Wace''s program for today''s event? No... definitely not... That huge explosion shouldn''t be a part of the event... What''s happening here?!"


    Soon, the Steel Knight''s control system detected some movement from the spacecraft above.


    Although it was high up in the sky, the Knight''s system manages to capture its opening of hatch and detect its release of hundreds of humanoid war machines simr to a Steel Knight.


    She also noticed that a huge part of them was aiming at this mountain.