Chapter 65 64. You’re Unauthorized!

The students stopped talking and stood there obediently as Echo opened her mouth and said in an indifferent tone that spread all around the place, "There are some changes to the exam this year. There will be three exams that will happen in the span of three days. No more, no less."

Students started talking as the girl raised her hand to stop them and said, "The first exam is taken in groups, and those groups will go up against one another. There's no winner in this exam, and the points will be allotted according to how many experience points you get after finishing your task. Remember, killing monsters isn't the only way to gain them. You have to finish your missions and side tasks too."

"Secondly, you can kill the hosts if you like because they won't be real. The first two exams happening today and tomorrow will not occur using real time hosts and worlds. Everything will be virtual. So, you can do whatever you like here. Lastly, the difficulty level of these tasks has been set to severe."

"What? That's not fair!"

"No! Shouldn't the exams be easy? Why are you doing this to us?"

"Give us Ed back! He's a better teacher than you!"

Echo's face darkened as she raised her hand again, "The ones who commented, please come with me. Others, I have given you compensation. In a life-threatening situation, if you want, you can choose to get out of the world using a special eject button. The virtual hosts will be killed without delay, forcing your consciousness back to the system world. Any questions?"

After watching several students going against Echo walking toward her with pale faces, no one said another word. The students acted all obedient and calm at this time as they shook their heads.

"Good," Echo stretched her lips to form a cold smile as she deliberately glanced at Shane, "I hope to find good students this year. Many surprises are waiting for you guys."

For some reason, Shane shuddered at those words as he retracted his gaze from the girl. He was mentally ready at this time to give it his best. After listening to the rules, he felt that the girl was deliberately targeting him at all times indirectly, but Shane's expressions didn't change. He was confident in his skills that he would come out on top easily. Wasn't it just finishing tasks and subtasks to gain exp points?

Heh, easy.

He continued to think like that until they were all divided into groups, and he found himself to be in a group with Jake. His expressions weren't good when he realized this. Everyone was given a bowl filled with different system names, and he unfortunately got Jake's name at the end. He crumpled the paper in his hand and glanced in Jake's direction as he said, "We are in a team."

Jake smiled as he waved, "We are going to have a good time, mate!"

For some reason, Shane didn't think so. He turned and looked for his sister only to find that she had been forced to form a team with a middle-aged man who constantly stared at her chest while they were standing together. His oblivious sister didn't even try to hide her figure as she played with a strand of her hair.

Shane's anger spiked at that sight as he made his way through the crowd and stood in front of Tess and the strange middle-aged person. Then he pointed his finger at the man, "You better keep your eyes off my sister, or else, I might kill you."

"Oh? You'll kill me?" the middle-aged person was amused at those words, "I'm so scared. Little kid, look, don't joke around."

Tess also frowned as she scooted away from the middle-aged man and told her brother, "Don't worry, Shane. I'm fine."

"Like hell you're fine!" Shane stared at the man coldly with his eyes glaring at the old man, "If I see a single scratch on her body…. I'll definitely kill you."

"Yo kid, looks like you don't know the rules of the system world," the middle-aged man chuckled as he looked at the red-haired girl beside him with a lecherous glance, "The charges for murder are death. ****, life imprisonment, and killing the host indiscriminately, hoho, you will be retracted from the position of being a system and sent off to become hosts for a thousand lifetimes! So, I won't be doing anything unless she offers herself voluntarily."

Tess's facial muscles twisted as she raised her hand. A fireball gathered in her palms as she uttered a spell under her breath and said, "You don't want to be killed, do you?"

The middle-aged man finally looked at the girl with a fearful glance, "You-You…. You….. You're a fire user!"

Tess crushed the fire ball in her palms and waved her hand against her hair in a proud manner, "Of course, I am! So, you better be careful."

The middle-aged man trembled and retracted his gaze as he stayed obedient at this time. Tess huffed and raised her head toward her brother as if asking for praise.

Shane's eyes twitched as he sighed, "Good job, Tess."

At this time, everyone's teams were formed. Even Frank got another middle-aged person unfamiliar to them. Tess and Frank exchanged a glance as they both felt regretful. Veins popped up on Shane's forehead after seeing this scene. He opened his mouth and said in a warning tone, "Tess…."

The girl raised her hand and said, "Bro, chill. I'm just glancing at my FRIEND!" She specifically focused on the word "friend" in her sentence.

Shane didn't argue any longer. At this time, the first few teams were called as they all entered the virtual portal one after another. Then Shane's team was also called as they all entered through the same virtual portal that was blazing under the sunlight in the middle of the open ground. Soon, the entire ground emptied and only Echo remained there as she glanced at the virtual portal. She walked closer to it and crossed her arms on her chest.

"This year's exams will be fun. It has been a long, long time since I have seen so many interesting students."

****

When everyone entered, they were directly sent to their respective system spaces in groups. Since Shane and Jake were in one team, they entered their blank space together as windows popped out one after another in front of their eyes.

[Initialising….]

[Calculating karma….]

[Calculating stats….]

[Analyzing protocol….]

[Analyzing the system's job….]

[Selecting a host through the random protocol….]

[System 12254801, choose the type of host you want:

1. Virtual

2. Real]

Shane and Jake exchanged a glance. They only received one window that was shared between them. It could be because they were in a group this time, and the setting was probably done beforehand. Shane put up his finger and decisively chose the first option.

[This choice won't give you Crana and Exp points more than ten. You get only three virtual tries after which the learning system will disappear. Are you sure?]

He clicked yes, and another option appeared.

[Congratulations, systems 12254801 and 12254767. We have allocated you a world based on the input for your exam. Best of luck!]

Shane tilted his head. He didn't get to choose the kind of world this time. He shrugged. It was logical because it was an exam in groups, and he didn't know what to expect in this kind of situation. He glanced at Jake and said, "Get ready. We might get two hosts who are supposed to work together for a mission, and our mission is probably to destroy the world."

As soon as his words flew out, they saw another series of pop-ups that appeared in the form of a shared window.

[Initializing….]

[Please wait….]

[Ready to enter….]

[Please, click enter.]

Shane clicked yes as they entered the next moment. This time, the two of them got to be there in two comatose bodies. When Shane opened his eyes inside the mind of his host, he could only see darkness. He frowned.

His host's thoughts were also silent, which shouldn't be the case because whether in a sleeping or unconscious situation, everyone would think even in their dreams. He could at least hear the dreamy thoughts going on.

But here, everything was dark. Just then, he received Jake's message: "Is it dark on your side?"

"Yes," Shane replied, "I can't hear the thoughts of my host."

"Same here. It seems something is keeping them in a comatose state."

Just then, the two of them received a message in their menu section.

[Welcome to the first installment of the yearly exams. The virtual world provided to the systems is in accordance with the input given by the invigilator. All the systems entering the virtual portal are sent to this world for the test. Some of them are enemies while others are friends. Be careful of others, and don't even trust your best friends in another team]

Another message arrived in the same notification.

[The exam starts now. Since this is a severe difficulty exam, you are given a special treatment as a compensation: an eject point. You can click it once in your first installment whenever you're in a difficult situation. Remember, your host will die soon after you click it. Best of luck!]

"Sweet!" Jake exclaimed as he clicked on the attachment that came along with the notification, "This is so good!"

Shane frowned because his attachment showed an error message:

[System 12254801, you are unauthorized to use this feature. Please contact the superiors]

After a while of trying, Shane closed the window and let out a chuckle. It turned out to be like this. Echo definitely did this on purpose. She gave everyone else the eject option, but it was an error when it came to Shane. Great! He might really die in here then.