Volume 4 - CH 14

Act 4-14: Extremely Suspicious Practical Test

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The gathering point for the practical test was the plaza before 【Death Metropolis of Flower】, located north of Babel.

【Death Metropolis of Flower】 was a paradise for undead, separated into area 1~5 in accordance to its degree of difficulty, this metropolis had a severe restriction to enter each area of 【Death Metropolis of Flower】.

To be exact, the furthest E-Rank<Novice> hunter or a Babel student above 2nd grade could go was the 1st area.

Students who enrolled into main academy in the Babel tower, student above 4th grade, or hunters above D-Rank<Common> were allowed to enter the 2nd area.

Final grade student of main academy in the 『Tower of Babel』, C-Rank<Veteran> or above could enter the 3rd area.

Anyone who wanted to enter the 4th area was required to have the permit from both hunter guild and Babel.

Area 5 was uncharted. In these tens of thousands of years (from my perspective), I realized that adventure was supposed to be dangerous to the point that we’re brushing with death. And now I realized that raising my hunter rank might be worth the effort if I’m allowed to enter such area.

「It’s about to begin, eh.」

I gazed around the plaza was filled with examinees. I also confirmed Lyla and co’s figures amongst them. Well, since this test was jointly managed by Babel and hunter guild, the examinees’ safety was to be guaranteed. Thus, I shouldn’t have to worry about Lyla and co. But just to be safe, I would appoint someone from subjugation picture book to tail them and protect them, if needed, from the shadows.

With that thought, the staff made their appearance. Naturally, someone like me wasn’t supposed to be acquainted with them. Or so it was supposed to be until I saw two familiar faces.

The first one was the swordsman-like man wearing red bandana. He was one of the participants of that sacred martial arts tournament. If I’m not wrong, his name was Bri Stamp. And just like Zack, the reason why I remembered him was simply because his skill as martial artist was the real deal. He turned out to be a Babel staff, huh. Well, my skill evaluation of swordsman was that of a novice though.

""

The second one couldn’t be referred to as acquaintance. I mean, the second one was none other than the brown skinned woman with extremely risqué attire, who was peeping on the little incident in the alley back when I registered as a hunter. Her base should be in Barse, what is she was doing in Babel right now? Well, turns out it wasn’t just the woman. Arnold had also been visiting this city for business. I heard that the hero is also living in this city right now. For some reason, the gathering of all of those gave birth to some sort of anxiety for me. According to my experience, my intuition was never wrong. Something big is going to happen during this test.

A heroic-looking beauty with long blonde hair and wearing pure white robe then came up on the stage.

「Be quiet.」

Then called for everyone attention. Though her voice was neither stern nor loud, the hustle-bustle in the plaza died down at once.

This spectacle was enough to convince me that this woman was truly skilled at grasping heart of the masses. From the fact that all staff of Babel also bowed their respectfully to her, I guessed that she might be a big shot in Babel.

Well, the identity of this woman was trivial matter for me though.

The woman then looking around.

「Nice to meet you all. I’m Inea, the headmaster of Babel.」

The woman, Inea bowed lightly as she introduced herself.

Being the headmaster means that she was the one with highest authority in Babel. Her long ears were evidence of her elven lineage. I couldn’t let her youthful appearance fool me, she might be as old as me(after leaving the labyrinth).

「Congratulations for finishing the morning aptitude test. But please don’t let your guard down, this practical test is the real test. It would decide whether you’re qualified to enter the academic city of Babel as a student or not.」

The sight of so many people gasping in this eerie silence was a sight to behold.

I mean, their reaction was only natural knowing that most of them-safe for few exception like me- were literally gambling their life to be accepted as Babel’s student.

「Well, let me explain the rules of this test. First, You’ll form a team composed of three people.」

Waves of murmurs arose like waves as Inea paused,

「BE QUIET! HEADMASTER HAS YET TO FINISH HER SPEECH!?」

The murmurs quieted down the moment a muscular old man wearing a pointy hat, green robe and standing besides Inea warned the examinees.

I guessed that this old man was another big shot in Babel seeing his haughty attitude.

「Moreover, you’ll receive commissions to subjugate the undead released by us. You’ll receive points in four mannars, divided into 100 point, 50 point, 10 points, or nil in accordance to the strength of the undead you subjugate, and the points will be totaled at the end of the test.」

That’s quite an interesting idea for a test. Meaning that defeating undead with high score wasn’t the only way to gain the total highest score. The real evaluation was how much the undead you could subjugate with the strength of your team within the given time limit. In addition, there was another troublesome problem lying behind those rules.

「May I ask a question?」

Though it was really subtle, I saw the right eyebrow of the headmaster twitch the moment I raised my right-hand. And then――

「Oi, I’ve told you just a while ago that the headmaster has yet to finish her speech, right!?」

The muscular old man with green robe said so with threatening look on his face.

I could hear the sound of students gulping their saliva upon hearing his threatening voice.

「It doesn’t matter. What’s your question?」

Inea stopped the old man with a signal from her eyes and then addressed me.

「Are we allowed to attack other teams in this test?」

An uproar incomparable to before exploded at once the moment I voiced my question.

The uproar quieted down at once the moment Inea raised her right-hand. Seeing that, Inea nodded lightly and then,

「In regard to attacking another team, each member of a team will carry a badge, if all three badges are snatched away, the team will be disqualified.」

It turned out my guess was spot on.

「So there’s no problem even if two of three badges are snatched?」

「Yes. The team only disqualified when they lose all three badges. In addition, the badges will be collected at the end of the exam, and become additional points.」

So we got additional point by snatching badges. Maybe that batch had been enchanted with some sort of magic that record our subjugation count. Surely, an undead was living being transformed into an immortal being via a curse. Though I felt that the academy’s side was a bit too reckless this time for commencing this kind of practical test, they might’ve prepared counter-measure to disperse the curse.

「Does that mean the minimum passing requirement for the test is for each team to have one or more badges after the end of the test?」

「Yes. Naturally, we forbid killing. The same goes for intentionally heavily injuring your opponent, an appropriate penalty will be given to the one who does that.」

Honestly, the content of the test was too stimulating. According to Rose, the practical test usually used tournament format like what they did in sacred martial arts tournament. And the normal test has been changed now. To be honest, it was way too fishy. Yeah, this test is way too suspicious.

「Understood.」

I lowered my hand since I had no more questions. I guess I had to let nature take its place.

「The division of the team and the details of the rulers will be announced by the person in charge.

Well then, I pray for your success. 」

The headmaster descended from the stage after she said so, following that, a few huge notices were erected by the Babel staff, Swordsman Bri ascended to the stage and started to explain the details of the test.

That was the opening signal for the practical test.
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