It was currently the 25th of June, 2116, four months later. As I'd mentioned, things had been pretty uneventful, which worked perfectly for me...I don't like having too many unforseen variables come into play, I prefer it when things are going smoothly and predictably, makes it easier to stay in control. Which is why the reports of humanoid creatures outside the Sanctuary were rather concerning.

And the information contained in the reports weren't all that informative, though it is possible that certain details are being withheld from the public. They couldn't keep it a secret entirely since the rate of X-Warrior deaths had almost tripled in the last month, but I'm willing to bet that they aren't sharing all the information they have. ​​

What mainly tipped me off was the fact that neither my sister nor Kumar said a word about it to me no matter how much I pressed them for details, they had clearly been ordered to keep quiet about it...and the fact that Kilella was following the rules meant that it had to be pretty serious, something that could potentially cause panic and unrest throughout the Sanctuary.

Well, regardless, it wasn't my immediate concern...I was currently in the final week of my Level J classes, and it was time for the final exams of this level before I'd move up to Level Q. I already said that I had accumulated enough points to pass through to Level Q, so I was letting myself take it a bit easy this month. Don't get me wrong, I'm not slacking off, I'm still training regularly and stuff, but I've cut down on the number of hours by about a quarter of what I used to.

I just felt like it was a good opportunity to ensure I don't overwork myself, since that'd only set me back. Though as a result, I immediately ended up with a lot more free time and no real way to spend it. And so, I ended up getting back into gaming, and also watched more old anime and movies.

I managed the time carefully to prevent myself from getting addicted, but even if I do get addicted, I can just make more time for myself with Save and Load, I can spend a day gaming and watching stuff, and once I've had my fill, start the day over and spend it more productively. I mean, if I could do it, then I might as well, right?

Anyway, it was currently the end of the day, but instead of heading home, I was in the classroom along with the rest of my classmates, since we'd all been asked to stay back after classes were done for the day for some announcement or something.

"What's taking so long? I wanna go home already," I muttered, tapping my foot impatiently.

"Agreed, couldn't this wait till tomorrow morning?" Sighed Kiran, pulling down his face-mask and fanning himself with a piece of paper.

The AC had broken down, and we had just finished our two-hour teamwork training classes, so this was horrible...it's like a sauna in here, it doesn't help that this classroom is somewhere in the middle of the building and therefore doesn't have any windows.

"You two sure complain a lot, huh...though in this case, I can hardly blame you," Chimed in Suri from in front of me, her expression irritable as a bead of sweat ran down her face.

"Tch, would you losers all please shut up? This heat is giving me a headache," Groaned Misaki, who sat in front of Kiran.

Well, now I had an incentive not to stop talking.

"You guys all need to chill, it's not the end of the world...speaking of which, did you guys hear the news? Another X-Warrior survived an attack from those humanoid creatures that have been all over the news, look, check it out," Jian, who sat between Suri and Misaki, cheerfully joined in on the conversation.

He made his I-Watch screen visible to us and showed us his newsfeed...yeah, he's right, looks like this had happened earlier today.

"Mind if I scroll through it?" I inquired, before tapping on the screen as he nodded in reply, "Huh, this one was from the east of the Sanctuary too...all the reported incidents, the ones made public anyway, have been from X-Warriors who went either east, south or southeast of the Sanctuary."

"Really? You've been paying attention to these reports, huh?" Remarked Suri in surprise.

What, had I given off the impression that I don't care about news? That most certainly was not the case...

"Well, yeah, they're pretty interesting...this might be the biggest bit of news since Ace Mutants were first sighted. Not to mention concerning and worrying...Mutants are dangerous, sure, but they're basically just souped-up mindless wild animals...on the other hand, creatures with real intelligence are a lot more of a concern in that regard."

The conversation was then cut short as Instructor Satou walked in with a dramatic sigh, a tired look in his eyes. He walked to the front of the class and tapped on the whiteboard a couple of times to get everyone's attention, before clearing his throat and addressing us...

"I'm not getting paid for this, so I won't repeat myself no matter what. Feel free to record what I say if that's gonna be a problem," He remarked, before muttering to himself, loudly enough for us to hear him, "Why me, damn it? I have better things to do."

I decided to take his suggestion, and tapped on my I-Watch, scrolling through the screen and opening the voice recorder. He then continued...

"Okay, so usually, the final month's exams for Level J consist of the three exams just like the previous months, and then a sort of bonus exam, which failing students can take to try and make up the points they need to pass. But with you guys, there's kinda no point...nearly all sixteen of you have already accumulated enough points that you could all skip this month's exams and still pass, and even the few exceptions would only need to score a handful of points to pass. And so, we're doing things differently this time."

Hm...I don't like that, I'd have preferred if they just stuck to the status quo. Hopefully, it's no big deal, but I was starting to get a bad feeling about this.

"First off, instead of having the usual three exams, we'll have one big exam, which will be held on the day after tomorrow at 12 PM. First, you'll all be divided into three teams, two teams of five, and one team of six, the teams will be finalized tonight, and you will all receive those details tomorrow morning. The team of six will consist of the six of you who are at the bottom of the class in terms of overall score. Each team will be led by an Ace X-Warrior. And each team will venture outside the Sanctuary for two hours."

...because that went so well last time, right? Yeah, no...even with Ace X-Warriors as bodyguards, this seems like a stupid idea, especially with those reports. Could it be possible that we're being used as bait to lure out the creatures in the reports...?

"To alleviate any concerns regarding the attacks we've been receiving reports about, rest easy...the exam will take place between the north and west of the Sanctuary, and so far, the attacks have only been reported to the south and east. Hm, I think that about covers everything I was supposed to say. Well, it doesn't really matter, it's not like I'm getting paid to do this, so who cares? You guys can go home now."

And with that, he left eagerly, before any of us could even ask him a question...no doubt that was deliberate. I really don't like this...

"I think I'd have rather had the three regular exams," Grumbled Kiran, as everyone began talking at once.

Yeah, I second that, I really don't want to go outside the Sanctuary right now...if these incidents hadn't been reported, I might have been fine with it thanks to my new weapons, but the creatures in these reports, they were completely unknown variables...I really hate uncertainties like that...

"Well, he did say it's just for a couple of hours, so what's the worst that could happen? And each team will be guided by an Ace, so...it should be okay," Remarked Suri, though she looked pretty skeptical and uncertain.

"I think it's gonna be fun!" Chimed in Jian with a look of intrigue.

"You know, one of the Aces is probably gonna be Ku-...Instructor Silva, wonder who the other two will be," I added curiously.

There are currently twelve active Ace X-Warriors, it was pretty likely that I'd be meeting one I hadn't met before...I mean, it's a statistical probability, considering that I've only met two so far. Oh, and two of the other ten Aces were Anomalies. There was another Anomaly who was currently a K-Ranked X-Warrior, and one more who was a Level K student at the Academy.

And I was the fifth, though as far as the rest of the Sanctuary was concerned, there were only four. Hm, in reality, there might even be more than five, I might not be the only one hiding my powers, after all. The X-Abilities of the other Anomalies were unknown, and though there were speculations and rumors, all four of the others hadn't publicly revealed what they could do.

Guess they must have learnt to inaudibly recite the activation chants just like I had, which meant that, like me, their powers were also more potent if the specifics were unknown. And depending on what their X-Abilities were, they could easily lie and say it was actually something else, just like how I'd lied that my time-stopping ability is a teleportation ability.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in meeting another Anomaly, but I had a feeling that I might be better off avoiding that. Well, it's out of my control anyway, there were twelve Aces, so there were that many possibilities. Regardless of who it is, it doesn't really make a difference to me, I'll just do what I need to do in order to pass and further drive forward my own position, getting closer and closer to my goal one step at a time.

I have two days till the exam, I'll use tomorrow to ensure that I'm both fully prepared and well rested. However, I had absolutely no idea that, in two days time, things weren't exactly going to go according to plan, and it would be the start of a major turning point...

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