"Stop gawking, students, it's time to move. You won't gain any points for the exam if you just stand still. Your exam is simple, head east for about five kilometers and then head back, and deal with any Mutants you come across. I'll follow behind and observe," Explained the instructor, snapping us out of our dazes.

Once we got off the platform and stepped onto the ground outside, it went back down, and the opening closed up. It was marked by a big red X, because otherwise, finding this spot again would be more than a little tricky. Apparently, an X-Warrior has to press the face of their I-Watch onto the center of the X, step back, and it would open again.

​​

Once it opened, they'd have to wait for the platform to rise up again, and then use it to get back down. The area was littered with Mutant skeletons, X-Warriors apparently dragged the corpses here because it seemed to repel Mutants from the area. Mutant flesh doesn't rot like animals do, it decays into dust within a couple of days after death, so there was no harm.

"R-right...let's go, everyone, just as we discussed," Commanded Zoya, more than a little nervously.

The three of them went on ahead, Zoya and Suri paired up to the left, and Taayin to the right, with about ten meters between them. I followed after them once they were about thirty meters ahead, the instructor looking at our formation curiously. With my X-Pistols, I was confidence in my accuracy upto eighty meters, but there's no need to put that much distance between myself and the others.

"Is this the best possible formation your team decided on?" She inquired, walking a couple of meters behind me.

I really didn't like showing my back to someone, I mean, I highly doubt she'd attack me or something, but I still felt uncomfortable.

"Oh, uh...yeah. It has some weaknesses, but given the skillsets of this team, this is the best formation...no point trying to form a formation for which you don't have the right tools," I replied, while slowly scanning the surrounding area for any movement.

Crap, maybe I shouldn't have said 'tools', that wasn't a very teamwork-y term.

"Interesting, would you mind explaining the formation? If that would make you lose focus on your task at hand, I'll rescind my query."

Hm, answering her question might net me more points in the exam...and multi-tasking was definitely a skill worth polishing.

"Nah, it's fine, I can keep watch and talk at the same time. So, basically..."

I explained each of our roles to her, making my explanations detailed while keeping them as brief as possible...hitting someone with a ton of info usually meant that they'd miss a lot of points, so the best thing to do was keep it informative yet concise.

"I see, not a bad deployment at all...but doesn't this formation rely on you too heavily, or rather, doesn't it put too much pressure on you?"

Hey, if that meant I get more opportunities to rack up points in the final score for the exam, then bring on the pressure.

"Maybe, but I'm not too worried about it...well, I'm sure you'll see soon enough whether our formation is effective or not."

For the first kilometer or so, we didn't run into anything, it was nothing but desolate wasteland. There were some plants growing here and there, and while they did provide oxygen, they weren't plants that had existed before WWIII. They hadn't been studied all that much, so we had no idea if they were dangerous or not, so we were told to stay away from any plants we came across outside of the Sanctuary.

And then, after we passed a kilometer, we finally ran into some Mutants, a group of about fifteen J-Ranked and four Q-Ranked Mutants.

"Huh, are they all working together? No, that doesn't make sense, they're all different speci-...oh, right, they aren't working together, they're all here because they caught whiff of us and want to eat us," I realized, before relaying that info to the others.

The others activated their Primary Manifestations, with Zoya activating her Secondary Manifestation as well. She shot forward and drove a barrage of rapid thrusts at some of the J-Ranked Mutants, killing them swiftly. Suri was a couple of meters to her right, shredding the J-Ranks with her chainsaw. I drew out my X-Pistols, which were on the maximum output setting and fired a shot as one of the creatures, a Mutant Snake, slipped behind them and began to leap at Zoya. I struck it straight on the head, killing it instantly.

Meanwhile, Taayin was wildly tearing the Mutants apart, rushing around like a feral beast, his eyes bulging and a wide smirk on his face. That guy should probably go to therapy, he has issues. He then turned his attention to one of the Q-Ranked Mutants, a mutated duck-like creature with razor sharp teeth and taller than a human, called a Quack.

There were still four J-Ranks left, and two of them were about to spring at him from behind. I swiftly fired a couple of shots, hitting one of them right in the head and the other at the back of the neck, killing them instantly. Tch, I missed my mark a bit with that second one, I had been aiming for two head shots.

"Right, I'll need to put in some extra training for my left hand aiming with a pistol," I muttered to myself, before firing three more shots to finish off the remaining J-Ranked Mutants.

Taayin was slashing the Quack brutally, slipping into its blind spots and ripping it to shreds bit by bit using his finger-blades, before eventually slashing its throat and killing it. He then turned his attention to one of the other three remaining Q-Ranks.

Zoya was fighting a horse-like Mutant, which was called a Horsie...yeah, I know how fucking stupid the Mutant species names are, but it is what it is, and it's not like I'm the one naming them. Anyway, it was about three meters tall, with sharp teeth and pointy hooves.

She evaded it as it tried to chomp her head off, before getting in close under its neck and piercing its neck full of holes with her rapiers, killing it. As it began to collapse onto the ground, a Monke sprang up from behind it, it's fangs and claws bared. I swiftly fired a couple shots at it, one striking near it's left eye and the other blowing off its right eye, but it didn't die.

Suri then leapt up to the Mutant's right and slashed its head off with her chainsaw, which left one more Mutant to go, a Q-Rank, it was an insect type. A grasshopper...no, it looked more like a mantis, and on top of that, it was nearly four meters tall. If I remember right, it was simply called a Mantis, no dumb name for this one. It was seriously big though, Taayin, who was fighting it, was less than half as tall as it was.

And it was fighting a lot better than the other Mutants we just killed. Not only was it reacting to and deflecting his slashes, but it's exterior was super tough, he couldn't break through it at all.

"Hey, should we go help him?" Inquired Zoya, talking through the communicator.

Why was she asking me, she's the leader...guess this isn't the time to complain about that though...

"No, you two hang back. I'll get a bit closer and provide more cover," I replied, walking forward about eight meters and switching from my pistols to my wrist-blasters, "Taayin, it's exoskeleton is like armor, so attack the joints and eyes, those should be weak spots."

He didn't reply, but shot towards one of its legs, slashing it off halfway by cutting through the joint. There was no such thing as impenetrable armor, because without gaps at certain spots, moving would be impossible. I took aim and fired my X-Blasters at full power, blasting its eyes and blinding it. It let out a screech, but it was still reacting to Taayin's attacks, though not as swiftly as before.

Oh, I get it...I took aim again and fired, my sights locked onto the base of its antennae...and blasted them off, completely nullifying its sensory capabilities. Taayin finished slicing off all of its legs, before plunging his finger-blades into its busted eyes, killing it. And that took care of that. Looks like everyone was unscathed.

"Okay, good work, everyone. Is anyone hurt? If not, let's keep going," Remarked Zoya, talking into the communicator.

"Actually, uh...if it's not a problem, I'd like to discuss a couple of things I noticed...," I said awkwardly.

I really don't want to do this, but this is an exam, I can't half-ass it and hope to pass just like that, so I don't have a choice but to step out of my comfort zone.

"Sure, that's fine, let's take a five minute break then," Replied Zoya, walking over to the instructor and I, Suri and Taayin behind her.

After we all gathered, I let them know what was on my mind.

"First off, I think that went pretty well. But it could have gone a bit better. Suri, you were kinda just standing around after the J-Ranks were defeated, I wouldn't say you did anything wrong, but uh, maybe you could be a bit more...proactive, I guess? And Taayin, I was wondering why you didn't use your Secondary Manifestation against the Mantis? You did say it can immobilize a target just by touching them, right?"

"I hate to admit it...but you have a point, I wasn't sure if I should go after the Monke or help Blue-Braid Blondie with the Horsie...and I sort of ended up rooted while thinking about it," Suri admitted grumblingly, averting her gaze with a frown.

Man, those Mutant names are seriously cringy...

"Hey, what did you call me?" Inquired Zoya with an indignant expression.

"Hm...in that situation, help Zoya, since that is the formation we agreed on," I quickly responded to Suri, before they could start arguing.

"I didn't use my SM because using it on a large target takes a lot more XFE...though I was thinking of using it before you told me to attack the joints. Thanks for that, by the way, I was getting super frustrated with my finger-blades bouncing off each time I struck it, it felt super good when I finally sliced through it!" Exclaimed Taayin with a grin, his face slightly flushed as he licked his lips.

"Right, uh, good to know...well, uh...thats all I wanted to say, so...yeah," I concluded awkwardly with a sigh.

This was working out better than I expected, and this teamwork thing isn't as bad as I'd prepared myself for...but I was doing way too much talking for my own liking. I felt like I was just pointing out basic observations, so why wasn't anyone else taking the initiative? Especially Zoya, since she's supposed to be the leader here...

I couldn't just keep quiet since if I did, they may make mistakes that could have been avoided, which could result in me failing the exam.

"I have a suggestion...if you notice something we can do better during a fight, let us know through the communicators...I said this before, but you seem really good at analyzing situations calmly, it's really impressive," Remarked Zoya.

Was that a...compliment? How do I respond...I'm really not used to receiving compliments.

"I, uh...okay, I guess I can do that, but you're overestimating me, so don't expect much," I replied awkwardly, averting my gaze before I could stop myself.

Huh, what do you know, people are actually relying on me...not sure how to feel about that, I don't think I've ever experienced it before. Anyway, after a few minutes break, we continued heading east, getting back into formation.

"Earlier, when you said 'I'm sure you'll see soon enough', I was ready to dock some points on the basis of overconfidence...but I suppose you backed up your words," Stated Instructor Reed, as we walked on.

"H-huh? I wasn't trying to sound overconfident, it was just a bad choice of words, I guess..."

"I have to say, that was very impressive...you told your team not to overestimate you, but you seem to underestimate yourself. Your accuracy with your guns is incredible on its own and you covered your teammates perfectly, but more than that, you're extremely sharp, analytical and you've got good decision-making skills...I'm only here to observe, not to help or advise you, but I will say this much...keep doing what you're doing, you can afford to have more confidence in yourself."

I wasn't sure why, but the last part of what she said hit me hard...no one had ever said anything like that to me before, and while I'd developed confidence in my shooting skills, I didn't really have much confidence in anything else about me. If I'm analytical, it's only because I figured I need to work and think a lot harder than the Prodigies since I'd be starting at a disadvantage...if they're stronger than me, I'll have to fight faster and smarter, that's what I decided.

And her words just now, they made me feel like my efforts in those regards had been worth it...and that meant a lot to me, more than I ever expected. Okay, I can get emotional over this later, the exam is still going on, so I need to focus.

About eight hundred meters later, we ran into another group of Mutants, nine of them, and this time, they were of the same type...and this particular species was called Hellspawn, and they were Q-Ranked. They were effectively giant cockroaches, about two meters in length and one meter in height.

"U-um...I don't know if I can do this," Zoya stuttered shakily through the communicator, stumbling back.

"I'm not feeling too confident either," Mumbled Suri, a hint of panic in her voice.

Seriously...?

"Alright, then, we don't have a choice...change formation, I'm moving up front, Zoya stand back, Suri provide mid-range backup, make sure to only fire when you have a clear shot," I instructed, sprinting forward as the Hellspawn ran towards them, "Taayin, I'm pretty sure these things can move even after losing their heads, so be thorough in killing them."

Zoya retreated to the back near the instructor, and Suri backed away about fifteen meters, while Taayin was unfazed, tearing the Mutants apart and focusing on cutting off their legs. I took out my X-Blade handles and sprang over one of the Hellspawn as it chomped at me.

I then plunged one of my blades into the back of its head and ran straight down it's back, splitting it open. I then put my right blade handle between my teeth and drove my right arm into the opening, firing two shots from my X-Blasters and destroying its insides, it's body collapsing onto the ground. Okay, I killed it, but ughhhh, that felt so fucking gross...!

Even if it's not dead, firing that much Dark Attribute directly into its body should keep it from getting back up. One of the other Hellspawn sprang at me, with a flicker of its wings, before a purple XFE shuriken struck its face. Nice timing.

I pointed my left arm at it and fired, blasting off its head. Just as I thought, that's not enough to kill it. It was still moving, but it didn't seem to know where it was going. I shot forward and sliced off its left legs, right as another one crawled at me from the right.

It swiped one of its legs at me, I ducked and slipped under it, slamming my taser-knuckles onto its underside to paralyze it for a bit, before blasting it four times with my X-Blasters. I then rolled away as it collapsed onto the ground. Six down, three to go...

I ended up killing one more, while Taayin killed the remaining two. They weren't all that strong, and were probably among the weaker Q-Ranked Mutant species, but killing them felt super disgusting, their insides were so gross.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help at all," Apologized Zoya through the communicator, with a crestfallen expression.

"Tch, I was basically useless too," Growled Suri, looking annoyed at herself.

They both weren't any help this time, but I don't think there's anything for me to discuss that they don't already know, so we should get back into formation and carry on. I started walking back towards them, Taayin following suit.

"Don't worry about it, just make up for it against the next set of Mutants we run into, let's get back into formatio-...," I began, before trailing off as I heard, and felt, a slight rumbling.

The others were hearing it too, looking around with nervous expressions...where was it coming from? I closed my eyes and focused on the sound and the vibrations...

"It's coming from behind!" I yelled out at the instructor and Zoya, the rumbling coming from behind them and rapidly nearing them.

But my warning came a bit too late, as the ground beneath them began cracking rapidly. The instructor quickly pushed Zoya out of the way, right as the ground burst open and a large Mutant popped out...uh-oh, this is really bad...

That's a K-Ranked Mutant, and one of the strongest species in that category, a Two-Headed Serpent. Both heads locked their gazes onto Instructor Reed...

"," She began, but was too slow, as the Mutant attacked her.

The right one bit down onto her head, while the left chomped down onto her legs. The two heads fought over their prey, pulling violently...until her head and legs got torn off, her torso plummeting onto the ground and blood pooling around it...

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