Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 197
Chapter Title: Reshuffled Teams
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‘Sigh...’
This damn school. Good on it for never letting me down.
All the team members I’d been syncing up with over the past two weeks scattered to who-knows-where, and now it’s telling us to take the exam with people we’ve never even trained with for a single day.
But they’d planned this from the start. No doubt about it.
‘...It’s a situation where they couldn’t control the difficulty.’
I’d figured the school had something up its sleeve since the setup made it questionable whether they could even select passers this way... but actually facing this situation was still surprising.
[Lucas Ascanien / Oswald Schmidt / Elias Hohenzoellern / ….]
A sigh of relief escaped me at the next name listed.
‘Good.’
If I’d had to face Narke and Leo alone, it would’ve been insane difficulty, but with a powerhouse like Elias by my side, things were different.
This was a winnable game.
Golden letters continued to appear in the air with the names of the other students.
‘The other two are average.’
I was just turning away with that thought when an unbelievable name appeared.
[…/ Yulia Cherlingen]
“Huh?”
Cherlingen was on the same team too?
My eyes met Cherlingen’s from across the way where she stood.
But with two strong teammates, my initial joy quickly faded.
I quickly turned my head to check Team 1’s list again.
‘...As expected.’
Ulrike Kleist. Class 1-A’s undisputed number one was on Team 1.
Aside from the magic potion experiment contest, we’d had no real connection, and since I’d been focused only on Leo and Narke, I hadn’t paid her much attention.
‘Now the school’s intentions are coming into view.’
The announcement ended quickly. Even with just 24 students in this vast space, a growing clamor mixed with shock filled the air.
“They’re really reshuffling the teams?!”
“They’re going ahead like this? Why?”
[This third selection exam will proceed based on the teams just announced. We understand there may be confusion due to differences from the previously announced teams, but the academy completed the exam design a month ago, structured so there would be no issues if students trained diligently as notified. This exam reflects突发 situations that occur in real field operations, designed to assess the ability to effectively demonstrate one’s skills amid unexpected team changes and to balance individual and team performance.]
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Even so, announcing this on the day of...!”
Voices refusing to accept reality echoed from all around.
I felt the same.
After two weeks of grueling team training, reshuffling now?
It was absurd.
But then again, dropping us into the Alps was even more absurd.
‘They never do just one crazy thing.’
More importantly, there was something else to focus on.
Unlike the second exam, they’d announced the intent upfront.
This meant they anticipated that even knowing the intent, most students wouldn’t be able to implement it effectively.
‘Is the difficulty higher than I thought? Or...’
Something more.
I rubbed my chin, lost in thought.
[This concludes the team assignments. Next, we will announce the exam procedures. Please move to your designated team areas.]
“Hey, hey! Team 4! Gather up!”
“Shouldn’t we protest? Announcing this on the day?!”
“This feels intentional... Protesting won’t change anything...”
“No way, this is insane...”
The 24 students, who had been standing in arrival order, began moving in unison.
Heike Ainsidel, rarely showing any panic, glanced at me before heading to her newly assigned team spot.
Narke, standing beside me, placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Lucas. We...”
“......”
“Enemies overnight~ Haha.”
“You didn’t know about this?”
“Nope.”
Come to think of it, she hadn’t known about the magic potion contest either.
She seemed to avoid using her ability for things she had to handle with her own skills.
“It was fun being on the same team as you for the past two weeks, but oh well. Since it’s like this...”
A pale hand callused from training extended toward me. Narke grinned playfully for some reason.
“Let’s do our best with fresh spirits.”
“Even a handshake? There’s score comparison, but it’s still individual performance.”
“Haha, let’s give it our all~ And you can tell your teammates about my ability. It’s unavoidable, so I won’t complain.”
“Huh, suddenly?”
Narke just smiled without answering.
I lightly shook her hand and moved to Team 3’s spot.
I got why Narke was acting like that.
Score competition meant we’d be on the same field, and her insight ability worked on me regardless of location... Now as rival teams, she could read my strategies.
‘Of course... Even if she reads my thoughts, from outside the exam, it’d look like her side was just copying me late. Better to move with her own brain in that time.’
Maybe I was overthinking. She might’ve just wanted a friendly handshake to say let’s do well.
As our team lined up, I saw Cherlingen waving at me with a smile.
“Same team, huh, Lucas. I was hoping we’d team up again, and look, it happened~”
“Yeah. Our synergy’s good, so it worked out.”
“Luca, what about me~?”
Elias, who’d been eyeing me before Cherlingen and jumping up to assert his presence, suddenly cut in.
“You too. But we’ve never trained together.”
“Awww... Too bad. Still, I always wanted to team with you~?”
Either way, we’d never synced up even once.
As if reading my mind, Elias slung an arm around my shoulder and laughed.
“I’ll sync up perfectly. Look forward to it.”
“Yeah.”
Expecting my skepticism, Elias widened his eyes then grinned. He turned to the students in Team 3’s line and shouted.
“Alright, who’s Team 3’s ace~? Time to plan our strategy!”
“With three of us, can you even call it that? It’s you, Lucas, and Yulia. What’re you asking?”
Oswald replied with a face like he couldn’t believe the question.
He’d been on my team until the third training, and on the first day of training, he’d shared his ability: exceptional sense of smell.
And his ability was genuinely useful.
Every training, he located hidden enemies, found our scattered teammates, and let us exploit the terrain more richly thanks to his nose.
I said to Oswald,
“At least you’re with me. Lucky.”
“That’s my line! Man, when I saw my name behind yours, I nearly screamed. Dude, I survived, fuck...”
“Yeah, lucky.”
I cut him off as soon as the curse slipped out and scanned the students.
First, from old Team 1: Yulia; old Team 2: me and Oswald; old Team 3: Elias. From Team 4: Florian Osterhagen and Auguste Rosenheim.
The only unknown was Auguste Rosenheim, but he was top-tier in practicals too.
Team luck wasn’t bad.
Cherlingen, looking around, spoke up as she eyed us.
“Lucas, Elias. You know Team 1 over there has the same partners from the second exam, right?”
I knew.
Narke and Leo. They’d moved together on the same team back then.
Just like me and Cherlingen.
“In my opinion, the school...”
“...wants to pit the top Team 1s against each other.”
Auguste Rosenheim, who’d been standing stiffly alone, suddenly spoke up.
The other students nodded.
No one was unclear on which “Team 1” he meant across the rounds.
The school had pitted students likely for the official Team 1 spots—final ranks 1 through 6—against each other in today’s exam.
Clearly setting up an easy comparison of abilities for scoring.
‘...We’re under the school’s close scrutiny now.’
Tension rose oddly. Not just me—Yulia wore a vague smile, feeling the same.
I addressed our gathered team.
“Teams were different before, but we all trained our best in our groups, so no need to panic. Focus on adjusting your pace to others’ movements like in practice, and we’ll do fine. Let’s do this.”
“Got it. It’s just teammates swapped, and this lineup isn’t bad at all!”
“Yeah. Let’s do it.”
The team members nodded one by one.
At least this team had quick thinkers. Instead of panicking, they were uniting—satisfactory.
[Now, we will introduce the exam procedures.]
The announcement resumed, and the students’ voices quieted.
[The exam will proceed in order: Teams 1-3, then 2-4. Teams 1 and 3, and Teams 2 and 4, will each take the exam on the same field...]
Obviously same field like the second exam. Easier to judge scores that way.
[This time, both teams will be deployed together into one field.]
“...?!”
“Huh?”
“What did the professor just say?”
The area grew noisy again.
My eyes met Cherlingen’s and Elias’s.
One field?
Meaning, throwing us into the same space so the teams clash directly?
That was the only possibility the professor’s words pointed to.
[The exam format is as follows. The two teams will regard each other as enemies and must locate and rescue one victim caught in a rampage site. The team that rescues the victim first will receive +1 bonus point for all members.]
“What? Rampagers?”
“This wasn’t the format.”
Unrelated cries rose from everywhere.
No, it wasn’t unrelated.
More like, ‘They’re making us do this too?’
“......”
This wasn’t victim rescue or secondary damage control—it was closer to Pleroma subjugation. Rescue was just packaging; essentially, treat the other team as Pleroma, eliminate them to block their rescue.
Narke’s earlier words flashed in my mind.
‘...Enemies overnight, she said.’
True. Not just score rivals—we were now enemies to eliminate in one field.
‘She used her ability here...’
I let out a hollow laugh and looked at Team 1’s spot. Narke beamed as our eyes met.
Anyway, now we had a problem.
Narke knew my attack, defense, and strategy patterns inside out from two weeks of daily training with me.
Leo went without saying. All my magic had been shaped around him.
‘Hmm...’
Two of the enemy team’s three heavy hitters knew everything about me. A real issue.
Then, Leo—sandwiched among students with a troubled face—raised his hand, looked toward the booth, and cast an amplification spell.
“Professor. Many feel it’s unfair to announce changes on exam day.”
‘Got pressured by the kids, huh.’
Not like him to rebel like that.
Elias smirked artificially, thinking the same.
[The academy did not pre-notify exam procedures. However, deeming students’ assumption of the second exam format reasonable, we will provide one hour for strategy planning. We’ve also prepared footage of the 1st Training Academy’s student battalion training under identical conditions, so teams, please head to the second-floor situation room immediately.]
“......”
“You had this ready all along?”
Yeah. Totally prepared.
Smooth transition to the next phase.
As it ended, panicked cries erupted.
“No, Professor...!”
“You said we just follow the Mimesis recording...!”
The school would counter:
The field you’re entering is also Mimesis-run, so no deception.
I’d learned in the Alps not to expect common sense from them.
I said to our stunned Team 3.
“Pretty shocking, right?”
“Yeah...”
“Should I go ask if they can at least swap teammates back?”
“Think that’ll work?”
The students muttered among themselves.
Half in a daze. Not a normal demand: train with unpracticed teammates in an unpracticed format.
I said to the spaced-out group,
“This is when you need to pull it together most. We made it this far—no way we flop without showing our skills. Right?”
“......”
“Right. And...”
The usually quiet Auguste Rosenheim spoke seriously.
“I desperately need that +1 bonus. You guys aiming for Team 1 might not get it, but the score gap between Team 2 and 3 ranks was brutal last time. If other teams snag six +1s each and I miss out, I could drop to Team 3.”
“...Me too. Can’t afford to fail here.”
Florian, standing darkly, agreed.
He’d advanced largely on team luck in round two, so his worry was valid.
“Yeah. Crystal clear now.”
I looked around at them.
“Team 1’s no pushover. Shocking, sure, but shelve other emotions and focus on our goal.”
“Got it.”
They replied with clearer heads than before.
I smiled at each to lighten the mood and nodded toward the stairs to the situation room.
“Let’s go.”
* * *
[Found them. Blocking B Team’s entry.]
In the footage, one 1st Training Academy mage touched a building and said that.
Our team, glued to the screen breathlessly, finally paused it and shook their heads.
“Man, we have to find the victim ourselves too?”
“Probably. Most real situations are unknowns anyway.”
The exam was straightforward.
Two teams start from opposite ends, find multiple victims in the zone, warp them to rescue point.
Victims were basically game pieces. Ultimately, block the enemy when they neared a find. From their view, we were Pleroma, and vice versa.
I leaned back in my chair with that thought.
Then, I saw Yulia beside me unwrap bandages from the kit, binding her wand to her hand. I asked,
“That from the medical kit?”
Medical kits distributed before each round.
Mimesis implementations usable inside.
For injuries hindering activity...
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“Works wrapped on the wand?”
“Yeah, seems purpose doesn’t matter~ I trained connected from third round; felt good. Want me to wrap yours, Lucas?”
“Nah, I’m good holding it normally.”
Our team rewatched the footage, shut it off with 30 minutes left for planning.
“Now we get the format. Find victim locations first, but enemy’ll attack, so enemy strategy first.”
“Yeah.”
I addressed them.
“First, Team 1 has Leonard Wittelsbach and Narke Farnese. They’ll handle strategy to action, like round two.”
“Figures. Leonard Wittelsbach especially excels at strategy. He’s our top mark.”
I nodded at Cherlingen’s words.
Elias, unusually stone-faced, said,
“Yeah. Take out the strategist first.”
Exactly.
No commander, and they scatter like headless chickens—best way.
Problem: he’s the strongest in multiple ways, hard to pull off.
I looked up at their faces.
Of five, Elias’s expression was worst.
I knew why. I shared the worry.
“Guys. Something you need to know.”
My serious tone drew all eyes.
I said, scanning them,
“The real crux of this exam is separate. Focus on Narke Farnese.”
* * *
“Mark Lucas Ascanien right from the start.”
Leo slammed the circulating board on the table.
“You get it. Emphasizing again: Lucas Ascanien is Team 3’s brain and central hub.”
Team 1 nodded seriously.
They’d planned once; 10 minutes to start.
Leo extended a hand to Narke.
“Once in, Narke uses her ability immediately. She’ll relay Lucas Ascanien’s current thoughts to you all...”
Leo eyed the students sharply.
“Block them exactly.”