"Jay? Gosh, what a coincidence." James replied, turning his head in genuine surprise, "I just ran into Sarah as well and she's on her way, although you know, I think we should save this talk for later."
After saying that, his gaze again settled on the black bear, which had already recovered from the initial shock and was focused on James.
The pressure emanating from the bear now was incomparable to before, making it obvious that he had only been toying with Jay and Kesar.
Of course, James was not far behind, his body immediately being enveloped by a layer of silver energy with some golden tones, his pupils also began to give off a golden colored glow.
Since he released a large portion of his energy all at once, his presence managed to not only match, but even surpass that of the black bear, though this was normal considering he was in his strongest state right now.
He could estimate from the danger he felt coming from the bear that the latter was in the upper (C+) rank, so he could not afford to be careless.
Having been raised as the descendant of an ancient and powerful sect of pugilists, his combat power was anything but ordinary, and this was especially true when mentioning his mentality when fighting.
For some other people it might be difficult to reach their optimal state, with a mindset ready to engage in combat without fear or any kind of hesitation, however, for James, this was routine.
*SWOOSH!*
The large bear again brandished his claws in the air, creating another wave of wind blades, just as with its pressure, this time the wind blades were much stronger.
While it had received an initial surprise due to the sudden attack and the latent danger he could sense coming from the silver-haired pugilist, he was not intimidated at all, taking James' actions as provocation.
Faced with this, James, instead of backing away or trying to dodge, simply lunged forward at breakneck speed, raising one of his fists so that it made contact with the bear.
*BAM!*
When they hit his body, the blades made a relatively loud sound, but beyond that, they could not achieve anything, only perhaps slightly delay the pugilist's march.
The next moment, the bear's body shot off in the direction of the lake, as a result of James hitting it hard. And not content with that, instead of stopping, James also broke into a run to chase the bear.
'...Geez...' Jay thought as he watched the brief exchange of attacks between James and the big bear.
It had only been a few seconds, but that had been enough for him to realize his friend's great fighting strength.
He had always been aware that James was quite strong, but he hadn't really expected it to be to this degree, making him even doubt who would win between a confrontation between James and Jared, the former head of Wolf's Fang and a ranked (C+) pugilist.
Even if there was the difference in grades and the fact that the latter possessed a Core, Jay still thought that James had a fairly high chance of winning.
At the same time, it also reminded him of the wide gap in power that existed between the two, while he would have to give it his all in order to escape from a monster like this bear, James could face it head to head and on top of that have the advantage, there was simply no point of comparison between the two.
'...I can't wait to look for more hosts...'
However, instead of discouraging Jay, this only further increased his desire to become stronger.
*Thud thud*
Suddenly, several bodies fell from the sky, landing near Jay and Kesar, who at the moment they saw them, quickly recognized that they were the unconscious people by the lake....
"He even has time to rescue these guys, your friend really is something else huh..." Kesar added as he saw this, taking advantage of the fact that they were now safe to sit Jay up, who had still been stuck to the trunk.
"BOOSSSS!!!"
At that moment, another person's voice reached both of their ears, accompanied by a silhouette speeding past them, heading directly towards where James and the bear were fighting.
"..."
"...Is he a friend of yours too?" Kesar asked.
"No, that one I don't know."
As with James, this person's speed had also been too fast for Jay to react in time with his radar, so it took him by surprise.
Fortunately, judging by what the stranger had shouted, although it was a bit odd, it didn't sound like he was an enemy.
A short time later, while James and the young pugilist were facing the big bear, Sarah and her temporary prisoner also arrived, causing Jay to let out a sigh of relief.
With James his safety was already guaranteed, but if Sarah was added to the mix, then passing this test would only be a matter of time.
'Ah, having trustworthy people around you certainly is a nice thing~!'
In that way, thinking in a manner corresponding to that of the Parasyte System's [Carrier], Jay was able to rest for the remainder of the exam.
***
On the morning of the next day, in the same grassy field where all the applicants had been the day before, one person was sitting in the middle, looking at a small map of the island.
Aside from being quite detailed, the main function of this map was that it allowed one to see the energy fluctuations as well as the life force of each person present in the territory that the map had recorded.
In this case, the territory recorded was the entire island, which was a feature that showed that it was a developing territory of the Eitsirc Academy.
This was a rather convenient advantage for when they had to take exams or similar activities, ensuring that the students had plenty of freedom but also making sure that they were not in too much danger.
"Let's see... we started with over 4,500 applicants and now there are less than 1,000.... this is worrying..." Said the same examiner who had teleported all the young people to the island.
Despite his normally tired and carefree attitude, even he couldn't help but be a little nervous seeing these results.
To tell the truth, although the applicants had never heard of such a thing as a pre-examination for admission by the Eitsirc Academy, that was because it was the first time it had been done.
The examiner himself also had certain thoughts against this type of test as it was quite dangerous, unlike normal tests where only the amount of energy and the rank each applicant should be in according to their age was measured, this type of test was much more risky.
However, since the orders came from none other than the vice-principal, even if he complained, he would not really accomplish anything, so he could only obey.
He had resigned himself to this, but now that he was seeing the results of this new test, a feeling of regret began to creep up inside him.
"...Maybe if I should have talked to the vice principal before this happened..."
"Haha, I don't think you would have changed his mind that easily either, you know~?"
"!"
Suddenly, a girl's vibrant voice sounded right next to him, causing him to be startled and stand up quickly.
"M-Miss Tome, what a surprise to see you around here!" The examiner quickly replied, standing up and bowing slightly to the girl who had appeared at a moment's notice, on his face a nervous expression.
To his right, a silver-haired, blue-eyed girl surrounded by a mystical air and appearing to be no older than fifteen had suddenly appeared.
His surprise was genuine in more ways than one, as the person in front of him was not only the head teacher of all the other magic teachers at the academy, but also because it was incredibly rare to see her under normal circumstances as she was usually on missions outside of the academy that required incredibly high combat power.
The position of head teacher was quite important, being only three of them in the entire academy, each belonging to one of the three supers classes, and of course, being personalities known worldwide for both their strength and how exceptional they were.
The examiner did not know the exact reasons why a head teacher, who was one of the most authoritative and influential people in the academy had to do these missions. However, he was sure that behind this tiresome job was a noble reason such as protecting the prestige of the academy or helping in monster invasions.
As for why he would think this... it was because the examiner, as a magician, also admired this head teacher.
"Well, I was about to leave the school to take care of other things, but something came up near here and I thought it wouldn't hurt to take a look at this year's applicants on the way... though it seems I'm a bit early." Said Tome looking at the huge empty grass field.
"Oh, yeah, you're a little early, it's still about ten minutes before the pre-test is over, though I don't know if you have that kind of time..." Added the examiner.
As she looked at the grassy field, nostalgia slowly appeared in her eyes at the same time that her expression became softer, remembering times long gone.
Although it was almost imperceptible, in the midst of that nostalgia, in the depths of her eyes, there was a small spot of sadness, however, just as fast as it came, it disappeared.
"You know... you may think that this new type of test is too hard, that it's too risky or that it's counterproductive since the number of applicants who make it in will be really low, and I understand that." Said Tome again, "However, if they can't even pass this, then the only thing they will achieve when they leave this academy will be a quick death. It doesn't matter if they face monsters or villains, none of them will show mercy when facing them. We don't want to form meat shields, but Supers who will actually manage to make a difference in this world."
While her words might seem somewhat harsh, they were filled with a great deal of conviction, something the examiner could not deny.
As more criminal organizations were appearing and monsters were multiplying out of control, the number of Supers who were willing to face these threats, which had been low since the start, was dwindling more and more.
There were several reasons for this, starting with the always high mortality rate of these jobs caused by the constant attacks and traps by criminal organizations, the poor support that governments provided to the organizations in charge of dealing with the monsters, and finally, the shortage of supers, something that put even more pressure on the supers who had this kind of jobs.
Faced with this, the Eitsirc Academy, although it was quite influential on a global level and had a huge amount of individual power in the form of teachers, it unfortunately couldn't do much.
"Thus, the only thing we can do in this case is... make them stronger, prepare them for whatever they are going to face in the future!" Added Tome as her final words while smiling at the examiner.
"...I'm really sorry for questioning the decision of the vice principal and the head teacher!" Suddenly shouted the examiner, again bowing towards Tome.
Seeing this, Tome just smiled before ruffling the examiner's hair and saying, "It's not like you have to obey us in everything, it's also good that you have your own opinion, you know~"
This action caused the examiner to blush a little, but fortunately for him, it didn't last long, as Tome withdrew her hand soon after.
"Well, I'd like to stay longer to see what this year's applicants are like, but I must go, duty calls, until next time, Stefan~"
After saying that, Tome made a 'Goodbye' sign with her hands, the next moment, her silhouette became fainter and fainter until she finally disappeared.
"...Ah, I wonder if it's really necessary for me to wash my hair from now on..." Said the examiner after making sure Tome was really gone.
*Pin*
At that moment, his smart watch beeped, releasing the alarm that indicated that exactly twenty-four hours had passed since the test began, meaning the time to finish the test and bring all the applicants back had arrived.
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