Everyone was dumbfounded for a while as they let the instructor's words sink in their heads.

The first batch in line couldn't utter their complains under the strict and terrfying gaze of the professors in charge.

"Meet your teammates now. You should be making an effort to know them in this short amount of time"

"Don't waste the opportunity because the test will be starting as soon as we're finished with the shuffling"

Vivian stated as she tinkered with the roster in her vrace which showed the names of the team created randomly.

The first teams that were created weren't sure of what to do at first but decided to brief themselves after entering a safe zone inside the gate.

Now that the news of changing teams was announced, clear nervousness spreaded among the students.

They couldn't help feeling that the test had become more difficult now because of this abrupt arrangement.

It was a deliberate surprise that was obviously designed to rattle us before the test had even began.

With most party being formed between their repective circle of friends, there was a major detriment in something like random shuffling.

Having party members you don't know and don't get along with is very much a weakness in of itself.

"Hellen Sky"

"Troy Volt~"

"Finn Rinsterston"

"You'll be party no. 11"

Garret, Ulden, and Vivian respectively called out from the three different lines that presented the three professions.

Garret was in charge of the Fighter's line.Ulden for the Pathfinder students while Vivian for the Supports.

Each time they called out names, they would be gathered in front and be ordered to go inside shortly after meeting each other.

Everyone was wary by this way of forming teams because the ones that were called were not in front of their respective lines.

Each of them were picked out from any point in the line. It seemed it was truly random as Vivian has stated earlier.

And that was very concerning for me.

This matching format was truly random. There were no underlying basis on it other than the use of a randomizer program in their vraces.

But this also meant that classmates could also be partied together if they were lucky enough.

This also shows that everything was going according to what I know from the novel.

'If that's the case, then there should be no issue if I end up teaming up with Jun again this time around' I thought.

In this particular part of Destiny's Play, Jun and I got coincidently put in a team together with another random mob character called Jake Klein.

Jake wasn't anything special as he had a normal class of a warrior and didn't pose any sort of problem nor benefit for the team.

'My only worry would be that it won't let me team up with Jun like in the original storyline. Everytime I hoped it would stay the same, it didn't'

I was beginning to think that some force is trying to screw me over for my sole existence in this world but that would be taking a huge leap of logic.

In a more logical sense, my prior actions would have likely influenced the randomizer program in question but-

"This is stressing me out" I mumbled in frustration and as I did, Ulden turned his attention to me.

He looked back and forth from his vrace and me and then slightly raised his brow before ignoring me.

'Hmmm? did I do something?' I asked myself, not quite sure why Ulden had reacted as such.

A few second after I thought about that, my name was called out.

"Ray Irisville~"

'So it's time'

I then braced myself as I walked towards the front with a few sweats flowing down my face.

I perked up my ears as I listened closely to the other two instructors.

"Shin Yua"

Vivian called a short girl with slight green coloring from her medium short hair. She had slightly droopy eyes and it had deep green glow in them.

Just from hearing that, I knew that I wasn't going to have my original team in the story.

Although I expected this to some extent, it still irked and gave me more things to worry about. At least with Jun, it could work with him since he's a simple guy.

'At least it can't get any worse than this'

I then waited for Garret to speak and when he did-

"Sophia Foxx"

"...Shit" I couldn't help but curse out loud. I had facepalm myself in regret.

'Am I cursed or something?' a ridiculous thought ran through my head.

"...I should be saying that, you bastard"

Her weirdly attractive voice along with her hostile display of her tails made me think that this was going to be troublesome.

Surely.

----

After some time, we went inside the safe zone where mutiple parties were already trying to strategize and get acquianted with each other.

This was a standard practice that new or even   seasoned parties would do, this practice was also taught by our combat professor, Garret.

Strategizing was a great thing to do before any expidition, specially in a place with little to no information at hand.

But forming a stable connection with your party members is more important as strategizing without a surface level of understanding with each other would result to discord.

Something like what I'm dealing with right now.

"Why did I have to be lump in with you of all people? This is unacceptable"

Sophia haughtily said to me while making sure to stay away from me as much as possible.

"...Now that it had come to this, I guess there's no other choice but for me to lead this team"

She paused for a while and then continued after collecting her thoughts.

"Our opponents for this test are golems. These are beings run by a mana core. Essentially they are mana driven machines"

"Luckily, I know all about golems. It's a school of magic that I also study and it would do you good to listen to me on this"

"That's why I'll be leader"

Her authorative tone made it seem like that what she had stated was set in stone already.

I didn't really have any problem if she became leader for any other time but for this occassion, I couldn't let her lead the team like this.

Even if her reasoning was sound, what I knew was much more substantial.

I knew what was awaiting for us in this forest and the most efficient strategy to take to take the top spots.

It was handy knowledge from the novel and it would be a waste not to use it here.

"Wait a minute. I understand your point here but you should also listen to our sides first"

"And I don't really care if you're the leader but before we listen to you we should discuss a proper plan at least"

"We haven't even introduced ourselves"

I said, making Sophia make an opening for me to say what I knew.

"...."

Folding her arms in front of her chest, Sophia replied.

"...What nonsense"

Pursing her lips, she spoke.

"Sophia Foxx, that's my name. A [Sorcerer] and a Fighter. I already said my piece so-"

Sophia gestured towards the girl who was quietly observing us this whole time.

"You. Say something"

Even though she was being glared at by someone like Sophia, she didn't really show any sign of being scared or intimidated.

As a matter of fact, she looked really tired to show any reaction.

"...Shin Yua...Support. Class is Monk"

"You're a monk?"

'She's a monk?' I retorted.

Both Sophia and I couldn't believe that she was a monk just by looking at how she presented herself.

Students with a Monk class usually have a calm and peaceful demeanor and air around them.

But this girl looks more like she's about to sleep any minute now.

Yua just nodded her head in response to our doubts.

"So...do you have any suggestions?" Sophia asked.

"...I don't"

"What?"

"I don't have any idea to share, sorry. I'll just follow what the leader says"

"Are you sure?" I asked.

And in response, she nodded her head as if she wouldn't change her mind.

We both looked at her with confused face before focusing on our introduction once again.

"Ray Irisville. My class is [Gunslinger] and my profession is obviously Pathfinder"

Taking the attention of the two girls, I continued.

"I'll say it now but this test is packed full of tricks and lies"

"..What?" Sophia exlaimed while Shin Yua just remained quiet between the three of us.

Pausing and staring right back at Sophia, I let the words inside my head flow out.

"Like you said, this test requires us to take out golems as much as possible and it makes sense that you would know more about them than the two of us"

"However, you missed two certain points that our instructors gave out"

Holding two finger out, I clearly explained the loopholes of this test.

"First of all, we're not supposed to take Golem Cores but the Main Core"

"...Huh? What are you talking about?. That's obvious, didn't you hear what our instructor said. Retrieve the main core from the golem intact"

"Precisely, the main core. If you're truly knowledgable about golems, you would know that there's another unusual type of it"

"...What, another type?.."

Sophia pondered over my words in silence and after a few seconds, she widened her eyes in realization.

"You don't mean it's a [Marionnette]!?"

"Exactly. One golem controlling sub units of other golems. The main core they're talking about would be those things"

"....But how did you even reach that conclusion. There were no indication of them implying the presence of a [Marionnette]"

Sophia asked with a curious and serious gaze, recollecting the words of the instructors from before with great focus.

"There was but it wasn't obvious because it would be given after the exam had started"

Thinking for a while, Sophia quickly realized what I was implying.

"...The core index...I see..indeed it was a trick all along. Main cores only have two types. It wouldn't make sense to make a whole index out of it. They could have just shown or explained it right there and then if that was the case"

Sophia looked surprised and frustrated that she had not realized their tricks from the start.

It seems my deductions have shocked her at the least since she was giving me a complicated look.

"Don't look at me like that. You would have noticed that trick after you saw the index anyway"

"They taught it in class after all"

Even after I said those words which actually happened in the novel, Sophia just got lost in her thoughts.

There was a brief silence between us before Shin Yua suddenly spoke.

"What about the second point?"

"Oh about that. It's not quite a trick, it's more of a warning"

Yua looked confused and I obliged to explain the most annoying part of this test.

"They never said about stealing other people's core nor taking out other teams. They basically allow it"

""Ah..""

Both exclaimed,  surprised about that revelation.