Aswan High School, Auditorium, Morning a.s.sembly," Good Morning Everybody, two day"s till Graduation Exam and I bet the pressure is getting to many of you. I can only ask you to stay strong and believe in yourself, believe in the hard work and preparation you have done in past 10 years. I hope All of you have formed your own 5 member team already if not contact your teacher In charge they will arrange you to a suitable Team or arrange a suitable member for your Team. Many of you have expressed your opinion of joining a team or getting a member for other high schools, yes you can do so but complete the related procedures. As for this Year"s Graduation Exam venue it will be held in Ranmin Stadium, total of 27 High schools of City Z31 will be taking part in Graduation Exam this time. This time 7 Top Tier Universities recruiter will be attending the graduation Exam, 3 more than the previous year. Many high level Dream walker Guilds and organizations will be also be attending the graduation exam to choose good candidates to offer scholarship, even sign contracts.
I have no encouraging or heroic words for you all, being born in terror period is both your luck and misfortune. I cannot guarantee that all of you will survive the graduation exam but I can tell you guys is that if you return successfully all the glory, riches, power you can dream of will be yours for taking.
Even though school is closed for today and up coming two days, schools training facilitate, library and all the teaching staff will still be available for you 24/7.
May the odds be with you. you may disperse now" A Middle aged man finished his speech and got down from the podium in a auditorium with nearly 270 audience consisting mainly of students.
James was one of the students in the crowd, since he arrived late he was standing at the end, then searched for Trisha and Ava in the crowd. but then a slander hand grasped his shoulder from behind which spooked him, when he turned to see who it was, he heard a voice,
" This is James, the one about whom Trisha can"t stop bragging about. he did not even realize us coming behind him what kind of Information officer is he. " James saw that the slander hand belonged to Ava and the voice belong to a bulky male standing next to her.
" James, these are my cousins Justin and Janet Mellon. they are Nonidentical Twins and our new teammates. " said Ava pointing towards the male and a female with similar facial features.
" h.e.l.lo, I am Janet Mellon, Final year Ayelo High and this is my brother Justin Mellon, do not mind is words he was not being provocative, he just speaks his mind like idiot. " explained Janet Mellon.
Janet Mellon is an extremely attractive and beautiful young teenager with waist-length dark black hair and blue eyes. she was wearing clean white hoodie over a blue jeans shorts. Janet Mellon is the eldest of the twins, born 3 mins earlier than her twin brother.
Justin Mellon is a tall, muscular male with short, spiked, black hair in a crew cut, a body full of scars and wielding a monstrous shield on his back. he is wearing a black tank top on top of a grey sweat pant. students in the auditorium were vary of him because no one carried their weapon like Justin did, along with his scary figure. Justin carried around the heavy shield as a part of his training, so that using a heavy shield doesn"t effect his stamina in a battle.
" whatever, Ava where"s Trisha ? " James did not care about what Justin said, because he was a scholar from the era when smart people were right not a brute like Justin who is of this era where strong are considered right.
" Captain, is in the stimulation ring. she said that she will not rest until she defeats 21 level. " replied Ava. Justin who had been Ignored by James was really annoyed but choose to pipe down feeling the pain on his foot, which stomped by Janet.
" You two, are you guys really okay with partic.i.p.ating in graduation exam with just 4 member team. " asked James looking at Janet.
" yes, since we are using recorded scenario coordinates we guess, pa.s.sing graduation exam with 4 member team will be give us a fair shot to apply for Top Tier college. with strong members like Trisha and Ava we not much to worry about." replied Janet as Justin sneered at James.
James felt like talking to these guy"s was wasting his own saliva, even though what Janet said makes sense but their is a reason why the college recommends 5 person team for Graduation Exam. shaking his head James turned to leave.
Seeing James leave ignoring her, Ava just choose to follow James and the twins had no choice but follow Ava.
Justin hated this feeling of following others, but he blamed himself for not being born cute enough to gain his grandfathers love, they were asked by the older generation of the family to follow Ava and protect her. he whispered to Janet, " where are we heading? "
" he is walking towards the direction of training grounds, so the stimulation ring I guess. " Janet replied. " yes we are heading to the stimulation ring " confirmed Ava hearing the Twins.
Walking in to the Training grounds, James asked " which stimulation ring is she in ? "
"no.16" replied Ava. James walked into the corridor left to him and stopped in front of a door with No.16 on it. there was screen on the door which read,
Student : Trisha O"Hara
Level : 21(engaging)
opponent : Humanoid Terror Minions
Stimulation Ring is just what its name suggests, it is a ring where you get to fight with various desired opponents projected by high tech stimulation. It consists of total 25 level, in each level you get to fight the opponent of your choosing but its strength is preset by stimulation ring, with each level the strenght of the opponent keeps increasing. it is said that a Rookie Retruner can easily defeat level 25 in matter of seconds and the highest level a student was able to clear still now is level 21.
James pressed the Intercom next to the door and said " Trisha Come out we need to talk. "
Yesterday at dinner after being warned by Marie, they left the argument unsettled. so James came to school to resolve things. Even though James did not spend much time with Trisha for some reason he seemed to really care about Trisha, maybe because she reminded him of his friends before reincranation or it may just be the protagonist aura arounder. what ever it may be he did not want to see Trisha die because of her stubbronness. Even though Trisha is very strong she tends to charge in without any plan or stargey, she is a easy target for opponents well veresed in trickary.
" if its about the graduation exam then do not distrub me . " a voice sounded from the Intercome which clearly belong to Trisha
" do not worry I have come to make you a offer, come out lets discuss. " spoke James into the Intercom.
" wait few minutes, I just started another round I will be over there in few minutes. " said Trisha.
James shook his head and leaned against the wall to wait for Trisha. then he hear a voice from the end of the corridor, " it"s rear to see in training grounds James, I was just heading out to library to find you and our fifth memder. " It was Leon and behind him were Mira and Luca.
As Leon came walked towards James, his guess shifted to Justin and Janet, " If my guess is not right you guys should be The Strongest Tank and The Strongest Support of Ayelo High. "
" That is just a silly t.i.tle, my name is Janet Mellon and this is my brother Justin Mellon " replied Janet politly.
" where are my manners, I am Leon Barnard and these two are Mira Meyer and Luca Splot my teammates. " introduced Leon.
Just then the Stimulation ring room door opened and a pet.i.te figure came out, " do not waste my time James tell me your offer fast and scram, I have said I will not rest till I clear level 21 and I want to keep my word. " said Trisha wearing a dark blue tank top and shorts covered in sweat.
" Offer is actually a wager, are you up for it." sneered James, feeling James Looking down on her Trisha said " It seems I will have to teach you who the captain is again James, Whats the wager. "
Hearing James Propose a wager to Trisha, the rest six looked at James with interest.
" the wager is simple If I clear level 21 you listen to my arrangements, if I fail to do so I will call you captain and follow your arrangements. what do you think Trisha. " explained James.
" ha ha ha, James if you want to call me captain so badly just say so, I do not mind. it is nothing to be shameful of, I know my charisma as a Captian is too strong for anyone to resist. " Trisha brust out in laugh. Leon panicked this wager indreactly impacted him, if James well and good but if he lost, knowing how stubborn Trisha was, she will definitly ask to come back to her team.
James mouth Twitched, " what charisma, you look like a middle schooler, who in their right mind will call you captain, no offence Ava."
" James, you being serious Level 21 is something even I have not cleared, please reconisder this. " said Leon, Mira and Luca shook their head, they really felt sorry for there captain.
" do not worry Mister Leon, I have got this all under control. " said James confiedently. Leon sighed and shook his head with disappointmet, he thought James has never been to Stimulation ring and did not know how strong the opponets in the each floor are, otherwise he would not wager such a foolish bet.
Feeling that James was really being serious, Trisha Replied , " Okay I am down with it "
" okay then, just watch me. " hearing Trisha Agree, James walked into the No.16 stimulation ring. as the door closed behind him, finally the rest belived that james was really being serious.
Student : James Alpucci
Level : 1 (commencing)
Opponent : Humanoid Terror Minions
The room was completely white and there was a ring in the middle of it, as James entered the ring a voice sounded asking him to choose a opponent. James choose Humanoid Terror Minions same as Trisha. soon opposite to him a humanoid pitch black Terror Minion appearedin the ring, which rushed at him without hesitation, full of visiousness as it neared James caught it by its neck with single hand and crushed it.
James"s Level rapidly rose from 1 to 9, the people out side thought it was normal as these were beginner level with in the scope of James physical Strength. given their knowledge about James"s strength, 11 level should be the maximum he could reach.
But their specullations were wrong, James Ascend did not stop, he continued to clear level with same speed,
Level 11, cleared
Level 12, cleared
.
.
Level 15, cleared
.
.
.
Level 19, cleared
It was not until after Level 19 did James speed slow down, but still the ascend continued but clearly slower.
Level 20, cleared
Seeing that James was able to clear level 20 so easily, everybody"s jaw bropped espasically Leon, Trisha and Justin.
" looks like we have underestimated James overall strength Captain " said Mira. as she looked at the display above the door.
" ha ha ha , James has really hidden deep, but still I do not know if he can clear level 21. " said Leon.
Trisha at the side felt really happy and unhappy at the same time.
Justin was really stunned, not because of the strenght shown by James but because of his vainity, because of it he looked down on James.
They were all wrong and right at the same time, cause James was indeed powerful enought to clear 20 levels by himself but not with brute strength like they thought, Instead he used his keen observation, Moneta"s fork and recently learned combat skills.
No matter how real the stimulation be, its still a program. The artifical opponents inside the ring till level 19 did not use any kind of combat intelligence or tactics, they just attacked James with complete brute strength, which favored James to use his newly learned skills which manly focused on using opponents strength to defeat the them.
But as soon as he reached level 20, the Opponents started to exhibit combat intelligence or tactics in its attacks.