CHAPTER 7 - WELCOME TO THE ACADEMY 4

Aegis's HUD screamed at her:

[EVENT: ASSESSMENT EXAMS - BEGINS IN 5 MINUTES]

[WARNING: FAILURE MEANS EXPULSION]

[CURRENT STATS: POWER 1 | INTELLIGENCE 1 | GRACE 1 | INSIGHT 1 | CHARISMA 100]

"Fuck me sideways." Aegis sighed. "My stats are pathetic."

She stood outside the examination hall with fifty other first-years. Some looked confident. Others looked ready to puke. Aegis just wondered how she'd pass combat exams with the physical prowess of a toothpick.

[Well, time to bullshit like my life depends on it.]

"Alright, maggots!"

A proctor appeared. Tall, scarred, looked like he gargled gravel for fun. His biceps had biceps.

"Assessment Exams determine your class placement. Three tests: combat, magical showcase, and artistic display. Top tier is 75% or above. Anything less lands you with the remedial losers."

Someone whimpered. The proctor's grin widened.

"First up, duo combat! Random pairs versus enchanted dummies. Work together or fail spectacularly. Your choice."

Names flashed on the magical board. Aegis found hers and—

"HELL YEAH!" Scarlett's voice rattled windows. "We're partners, Country Mouse!"

Aegis damn near shed a tear, she was so happy.

[At least one of us can throw a punch.]

Aegis scanned the other teams. Across the line, Princess Talia paired with some beefy heir to a border duchy. Duskbane stood alone, which meant his partner had probably been intimidated into "accidentally" breaking a limb in the prep room. Liora was paired with a mousy girl who looked like she might faint if anyone yelled at her.

Scarlett cracked her knuckles.

"So, my fellow commoner, you used to getting your hands dirty too?"

[No.]

"Yeah," Aegis flipped her hair confidently. "Don't worry about me, big girl. I'll do my job."

[How? I don't know.]

The first pair, two noble boys with matching haircuts, stepped onto the sparring floor. Their dummy was eight feet of ironwood and steel, painted to look vaguely like a orc. It flexed, then immediately knocked the smaller boy onto his ass.

Aegis tuned out the violence.

She really did need to figure this out.

[There is one loophole to this test, but... With all these changes, does this test still work the way it did in the game?]

Aegis decided to try checking. She activated her Maid's Earring, activating its eavesdropping ability.

The proctor's voice drifted from the observation booth:

"—swear these brats get dumber every year."

"Of course. Though, I do find myself interested in—hang on, is that the commoner everyone's talking about?"

"The scholarship girl? Paired with Lionheart? Indeed it is."

"Interesting combo."

"Remember, everyone, we're looking for teamwork, not just individual strength. The academy needs students who can work together, find creative solutions, and..."

Aegis stopped listening in. She got what she wanted.

[It does still work that way! Yes! What they're looking for is teamwork. That's the whole point of putting us in pairs. Individual power is more relevant to the magical exam, not this one!]

She turned to look at Scarlett.

[Just one more thing to check...]

Aegis focused on Scarlett, willing her HUD to work. A flicker of pink-glow, and a new window slid in over Scarlett's head:

Name: Scarlett Lionheart

Race: Human/Fertility-Blessed

Titles: Lion of the Commons, "Dick-for-Brains" (informal)

STATS:

POWER: 14

INTELLIGENCE: 2

GRACE: 3

INSIGHT: 5

CHARISMA: 10

[Yes!] Aegis grinned internally. [This might just work.]

"Scarlett... I have an idea."

"Hm?" The redhead raised a brow. "What's up?"

"Can you take your tie off?"

Scarlett looked at Aegis like she grew a second head.

"What?"

"Just roll with it!"

The proctor called their names. Aegis strode out onto the platform. Scarlett was given a sword.

Soon, Scarlett, under Aegis's instruction, was wrapping her own tie around her eyes like it was a sleep mask.

"Just trust me." Aegis took her by the shoulders, spun her until she faced the sparring floor, and whispered, "Just follow my lead."

Scarlett snorted.

"You got it, boss."

Their dummy was taller than Scarlett, armored in leather and covered in spikes. It hefted a blunted axe that looked like it could cleave a horse in half.

The audience tittered. The proctor barked:

"Begin!"

Aegis inhaled slowly.

"Scarlett, walk forward."

Scarlett moved, doing just that. She started closing the distance with the dummy, moving with the casual confidence of someone who'd probably been in a hundred bar brawls and probably won ninety-nine of them. The dummy raised its axe.

Every noble and commoner in the room whispered, snickered, and muttered to themselves and to their friends.

"What is she doing?"

"She's going to get her partner hurt!"

"Someone stop her!"

"Don't stop her, this will be hilarious!"

Aegis, however, had no intention of letting Scarlett get hurt. Especially not since she actually remembered the dummies' attack patterns from the game.

Thus, she yelled:

"Duck left!"

With just a second of hesitation, after a quick snap of her head toward Aegis, Scarlett did, the axe whistling an inch over her head.

"The dummy's right in front of you, hit it!"

Scarlett drove her shoulder into the dummy's midsection, nearly knocking it off its feet.

"Slash its legs!" Aegis barked.

The crowd's laughter shifted to confusion as Scarlett, still blindfolded, slashed horizontally, catching the dummy right above its knee.

The dummy slammed to the ground with a hollow clatter.

Aegis smirked, arms crossed under her chest.

[One down. Two to go.]

"Dummy number two will come in from your left, axe overhead!" Aegis called, already tracking the automaton's boot-heel shuffle. "You'll hear the gears winding up, three tics, then swing low!"

Scarlett, blindfolded and now grinning like a maniac, listened. The dummy's boots scraped. One, two, three, Scarlett ducked, then pivoted. The axe whooshed over her head, missing by a hair. The crowd gasped. Aegis nearly wanted to take a bow.

"Now, kick it backwards, hard!"

Scarlett mule-kicked, her foot connecting with a bang that sounded like a gun went off. She struck its knee. The dummy's knee joint snapped with an ugly crunch. It toppled, arms windmilling.

"Turn to your right and thrust!"

Scarlett did just that, following up with a half-turn, burying her blunt sword in the thing's chest.

"Two down!" Aegis shouted, the taste of victory already in her mouth. "The third one's fast. He's gonna go for a sweep first!"

The last dummy lunged, low and mean, going for her shins.

"Jump!"

Scarlett leapt, clearing the sweep by a full foot, and, perhaps assuming the dummy was beneath her, came down with a downwards impale that split the thing's helmet. The dummy's head spun clean off, bounced once, and rolled to a stop at the proctor's feet.

The hall went dead silent.

It was done.

Scarlett pulled off her makeshift blindfold and whooped.

"YEAH! That's how we do it, baby!"

Aegis met the proctor's eyes, dared him to say anything. He just shook his head, muttered something about "overachievers," and ticked a box on his clipboard.

[Hehehe, they should never have- UWAH!?]

Scarlett jogged over, picked up Aegis, and spun her around like they'd just won the World Cup. Aegis barely resisted the urge to squeal. The whispering all around them hit a fever pitch.

"Did you see that? She knew every move—"

"Is that even possible?"

"Did she memorize the dummies after just a few fights?"

"How did she do it?"

Aegis drank it in.

[... Solid chance they'll still fail me for not having hit anything, but this is the best I can do.]

They left the combat floor to scattered applause and some open-mouthed stares. Scarlett threw an arm around Aegis's shoulders, sweaty and triumphant.

"You're a genius, Mouse," she said, beaming. "No wonder you're so tiny, with a brain like that, who needs muscles? Haha!"

Aegis snorted.

"With muscles like yours, who needs brains?" She flexed a bicep in mock challenge, and Scarlett laughed so hard she nearly dropped her.

As they rejoined Lune, who looked like she'd fallen asleep halfway through the exam, Aegis took a deep breath.

[One down, two more exams to go.]