Groans of despair spread amongst the students after finishing their exams. 

Most of them were hanging their heads low as they stared at the hard ground with lifeless eyes.

And some were desperately clinging to a faint gilmmer of hope.

"I'm done..It's over"

"Why was it that difficult. It doesn't make sense!"

"I miss the labyrinth.."

"...I'm going home"

"Pull yourself together! we still have practicals"

"Y-yeah, practicals!. We just have to ace that and we're saved"

"Yeah!"

They were a rowdy bunch of fools that probably discarded their time for studies in exchange for training.

Their reasoning also wasn't wrong because they could make up their failure in academics if they ace the practical exam tommorrow.

However that's a big "if" considering the people they're competing against with. Not to mention the challenging format of that exam.

It would take more than luck to pass with flying colors.

Unlike them, I was pretty comfortable with the test. I only had some minor problems with subjects that my skill doesn't work on.

Other than that, I could reasonably estimate my ranking would be high although I'm not exactly sure if I consider the other geniuses in my year level.

I shook off my thoughts and ignored the ruckus they were making as I left the exam room quietly.

'..Jun and the rest are probably heading to the lobby after the time runs out so it's the right time to slip out'

I didn't have much more to do except that one last thing.

And so after taking the elevator to level D, I quickly walked towards the lab.

*Knock Knock

The door opened as Vivian looked surprised to see me.

It was quite an understandable reaction since it hasn't been long after the exam had ended and most students would probably try to rest afterwards.

"Hi professor"

I greeted her lightly after going inside.

Looking inside, I noticed that Ulden wasn't present this time.

However it did surprise me a little to see Sophia here. She too was looking at me with a knitted brow.

'...She's fast..judging by the time I got here, she must have finished the exam really early..' I mused.

"Irisville, have you finished the exam already?"

"Yes, I did and by the way, I came here to give this"

I then took out my report from my vrace and handed it out to Vivian.

"Oh...you're finally done with the report. Well done"

It took a few seconds for Vivian to process my actions before taking my report out of my hands.

Seeing that I was finally done with the request, my whole body felt light from the stress that I've accumulated for the past few days.

"Thanks"

I responded as I turned my back, leaving the room with light steps.

I didn't want to linger longer in that room because I have to ready myself tonight for the practicals tommorrow.

Although I would have preffered not to burden myself with another problem after solving one.

Alas I didn't have much choice but in this moment I could pat myself in the back just a little.

*Ting

My vrace suddenly notified me of a message. Looking at my wrist, I quickly read the notification.

'Well seems like there's no changes in this, that's good'

I let a relieved sigh, thinking there's only one thing to worry about tommorrow.

----

*Beep Beep

The sound of large iron gates masked out the anynomous noises in the surroundings. It grazed the ground until it opened fully.

In addition, the chirping of birds and the sound of insects came from the large dark forest in front of us.

Looking at the profile of the students, our instructors, Garret, Ulden and Vivian scanned each group for attendance.

"Attention everyone"

Garret said with his amplified voice using mana.

He looked at each and everyone with a fierce and straight look.

"Alright, it seems that everyone has received our message and acted accordingly"

The message he was referring to was the message sent to every first year student after the written exams had officially ended.

And the ones gathered here were also students from all other classes in the academy. The scale was much more bigger than our rush dive test.

The message consisted of instructions about the meeting place and time for the practical exam.

The time being of seven in the morning while the venue pointed towards the remote area of the academy where a vast forest could be seen.

Westwood Forest

A forest singlehandidly made by one of founder Ulden's party members. 

This place was originally only a vast plain but was transformed by the powers of William Westwood, a reknowned [Druid].

The tree's bark were deep dark and it's height reached about 130 meters. The ground was also filled with all kinds of plants and bushes.

The leaves atop almost completely covers any light from coming through.

Basically, it was a dark forest.

"Listen carefully, this forest behind me will be the grounds for your practical examination. This place holds valuable history for our academy and was originally built for cases like this"

He paused as he looked at everyone understand the implication of his words.

Everybody instantly understood.

With the labyrinth off limits, the only place that could resemble such environment would be the Westwood forest.

Nodding his head, Garret continued.

"It's simple. Your task would be to reach the other end of this forest which also acts as the exit to pass this exam, however-"

Garret then put up three fingers in the air.

"There are three conditions that will be specifically observed and evaluated by the instructors here"

"We will evaluate you based on the enemies you take out and that would be on the basis of cores you accumulated at the end"

Hearing the words "core" from Garret, most of the students were confused how it connected with the first condition.

Noticing this, Garret's voice became stern.

"The enemies you will face are [Golems]. Each having different levels of tiers but for this exam we limited the ones only to upper tier 4 at most"

"There will be a core index for the amount of credit received based on the type of main cores collected. The index will be sent in your vraces after the exam starts"

The students looked tense once they heard what they were facing but Garret just continued.

"Keep in mind. Once the golem is defeated, the main core should be retrieved. If it is damaged, it won't count so beware"

His words further riled up the rest. The first condition set up the difficulty to a high level from the start.

Not only would we have to deal with Golems, we would have to retrieve their main core intact.

"Calm down and listen. I'm still talking here" 

Letting out some pressure, Garret made everyone shut their mouths.

"The second criteria would be your time in crossing the end zone but there's catch. This is where the third condition comes in"

He then grinned as if this was an amusing thing.

"All of you are required to take this test in teams of three. One Fighter, One Pathfinder, and one Support"

"Your overall results will be shared by team basis, this includes the number of cores that your team has im hand and a team cannot be deemed passed if even one of you doesn't reach the end"

He paused and looked at the shocked and nervous faces of the students. 

Some even wanted to complain but refrained from doing so after remembering the previous pressure that Garret let out.

"Of course if a member is taken out due to damage limit then the team would only suffer a penalty but other than that, the third condition will stay the same"

"Speaking of which, once the defensive barrier from your uniforms is broken, it would signal Professor Ulden to transport you out"

This detail made some heave a sigh of relief thinking it was the worst case scenario for them.

Most of the people here were aware of that mechanism so it wasn't that much of a surprise.

The only thing that was bothering them was the third condition.

Students from different classes were here together and there was one last thing that wasn't very clear to them yet.

Each of them eyed one another with cautious eyes and the instructors looks impressed by those that have noticed that one crucial lacking detail.

Although some were relaxing after processing only the surface details of Garret's instructions, failing to account for missing pieces of information.

"That's all for now. All of you, form a line" 

They then made us wait in line, seperated by our respective professions.

Some were just casually doing what they were told but the smart ones were tense and wary at this point. 

Because it certified that they're suspiscions were right on the mark.

After a while, a commotion was forming at the front. Complaints that made everybody widen their eyes.

"Are you serious!?"

"B-But Maam! I don't even know this guy!"

"Yeah! He's from a different class altogether!"

Their complaints was heard by everybody and the chuckle of a certain [Witch] made everyone shiver.

"Whoever said that you're going to choose your teammates?"

Looking at the students with eyes that could mesmerize and frighten them at the same time, Vivian spoke.

"This is Random Shuffling. You guys honestly didn't think it would be that easy right?"

Hearing that, I rubbed my temple hoping I didn't affect this part of the exam.

'At this point, I'm betting against myself' I retorted, feeling pessimistic about my chances.