“Serah Goodman… Serah Goodman… Ah, you're on defender team 6. I think they've gathered in that direction, if you wanted to talk over plans and strategies with them.” The black-robed man says.

Serah lets out a frustrated sigh. “Is the line really necessary? The college must have more staff than you, right?” She asks, not happy with the wait.

The black-robed man smiles. “Unfortunately, my dear student, for things like this, I'm simply the right man for the job. Now hurry along.” He says before waving his hand.

Serah shakes her head and begins to leave, giving up on trying to convince the oddly eccentric man.

Serah goes in the direction the black-robed man pointed and eventually she found defender group 6.

A woman waves her hand as Serah draws near, and Serah walks towards her.

“Are you part of the team?” She asks.

“Yes.” Serah responds.

“Awesome. Here, take this.” She says as she passes out a piece of paper. “I’ve taken the liberty of making a form for all the team members. Fill it out with your skills, strengths and weaknesses, and the team can review it. After that, we should be able to have a better idea of any viable strategies we can try.” She explains.

Serah smiles. “Awesome. You’re making this easy. I’ll fill it out right away.” She says before finding a table to fill out the form.

…

…

“So looking through the forms, we only have 3 people who can fight hand-to-hand, and since Serah is the only one who knows how to use Magic Augmentation, she’ll be holding on to the apple. She’ll be able to react to any unexpected situations better than anyone else here. Luckily we also have a bunch of summoners, so we’ll be relying on you to come up with the meat shields for this one. A decent amount of the group would also make pretty good support, so they’ll focus on assisting the hand-to-hand fighters and the summons. As for the single-minded destruction magic users, you guys can do what you want. Just try to take out as much of the other guys as possible. And one last thing, a few people in the group are pretty skilled at potion-making, and they’ve agreed to sell potions at a discounted price for this exam, so speak to them while you can.” The outgoing lady who made the forms explains, essentially taking leadership of the group. “Any questions, concerns?” She asks as she looks around.

One of the men in the group raises a hand.

“Yes, go on.” The leader lady says, gesturing to the man.

“How will we handle the arrangement of our people on the battlefield?” He asks.

“Ah, yes.” The leader lady says, remembering what she forgot. “We’ll be split up into somewhat balanced squads. The two other hand-to-hand combat users will join Serah in the biggest squad, while the other squads are to orbit the main squad, acting when necessary, and a few small scouting squads we'll travel a little farther from the main group. I’ve been told that the test will take place outside of the city near the mountains and there are a few monsters living on the forest hills outside there. I’ll expect we’ll be on the move throughout the test, either escaping the attackers or avoiding monsters, so if you guys need to stock up on Endurance potions, I would do that beforehand. As for the squad leaders, anyone who wants to apply or nominate someone, let me know, and we’ll filter out the candidates before taking a vote, if necessary.” The leader lady explains clearly. Various people nodded their heads in agreement, satisfied at the organization of the group.

The leader lady smiles. “Okay, if that’s all. Let’s start the squad leader process.” She says as she takes out a pen and paper.

Serah smiles at the lady’s enthusiasm. I’d work for her. And she’s pretty too. She thinks, curious about the identity of their leader lady.

"Ah, last thing. In case anyone's not up to speed, there are no safety measures in this exam, and it's very possible several of us will die. So be prepared." The lady says, her pleasant voice sort of taking away from the seriousness of the matter.

Serah smiles. I think I'm a little attracted. She thinks with a slight blush.