"Before you fret. Each student will receive a survival pack," Professor Seris continued. "This pack will include water, rations, a signal crystal, an incomplete map, an examination band that will be worn once the exam begins, which will allow for emergency extraction if necessary, and two Academy-issued potions."
Behind her, the projection shifted to display each item.
"You may also bring one approved small personal item. Private potions, noble artefacts, pre-stored spells, unapproved enhanced equipment, and specific external tools are forbidden."
At that, several noble students looked mildly offended.
Ryn looked delighted.
"Good," he whispered. "Take away their fancy toys."
"Doesn't look like it'll be all of them," I whispered back.
"... Just let me enjoy this."
Professor Seris' voice slashed across the hall again.
"Your score will be determined using a combination of different factors: your ability to survive, your engagement with beasts that vary in strength levels, student eliminations, certain achievement milestones, and completion performance."
The projection changed into numbers.
"Survival alone may grant up to three hundred points, with the largest bonus awarded to students who remain active until final extraction. Beast points will vary by classification. Minor beasts will generally be worth between five and fifteen points. Standard beasts will be worth between twenty-five and sixty. Elite beasts will be worth between one hundred and fifty and three hundred."
The hall's mood shifted again.
There was a glint of ambition in all of the students' eyes now.
Calculation and hunger.
Then Professor Seris raised her voice slightly.
"The faculty also wishes to note that one apex beast exists on the Island of Leyre."
The projection darkened.
It felt more sinister.
A single red marker appeared somewhere in the island's obscured interior, then vanished.
"It is worth seven hundred and fifty points."
The reaction throughout the whole hall was immediate.
Students couldn't contain themselves, as whispers turned into full-blown conversations. Nobles strategised with one another. A few commoners looked horrified. Few looked tempted.
Professor Seris' gaze sharpened.
"SILENCE! The faculty strongly advises that no student pursue the Apex beast. It has been deliberately made difficult to encounter. It is exceptionally dangerous. If you seek it out recklessly, the Academy will not be held responsible if any incidents were to occur."
"Sounds quite ominous, don't you think?" Taron said brashly.
"Indeed," I said
Ryn whispered, "I just know someone's absolutely going after it."
"Unfortunately, I agree," I said.
"Are we?"
"No."
"Good, good. Just checking."
A pause.
"Unless?"
"No."
"Tch. Fine."
Professor Seris continued her presentation before I could add further emphasis to Ryn.
"Achievement bonuses will also be made available for students. Some will be announced. Others will remain hidden. These may include, but are not limited to, defeating large numbers of minor beasts, defeating elite beasts, surviving without potion use, travelling alone for extended periods, discovering significant areas of the island, demonstrating efficient Aether usage, overcoming disadvantage, rescuing other students, showing restraint, or completing objectives not stated at the beginning of the exam. You will be informed if you have completed one of these achievements via the examination bands you will be wearing."
That last part was important.
The objectives will not be stated.
'Hm. Hidden achievements, sounds interesting.'
It was clear that the purpose of the exam was not merely to reward strength. It was rewarding a student's ability to interpret their surroundings.
Which could be very dangerous.
Or very useful.
Several more markers appeared across the projected island.
"Safe zones will be concealed across the island. Your examination band will alert you only when one is nearby. Within a safe zone, beast entry and student combat are prohibited. Water and limited treatment will be available. You may rest there for up to two consecutive hours."
The projection shifted again, showing several zones fading in and out.
"Additionally, capacity is limited, and the safe-zone network will alter midway through the examination. A safe zone available in the first half of the exam may not remain available in the second."
Ryn grimaced.
"That's just evil."
"Apparently, they described it as adaptive pressure," Taron whispered.
Ryn looked across at me, then faced Taron. "That's just noble tongue for evil."
Taron seemed to laugh as he considered what Ryn said.
"Hahaha, fair, fair. I don't necessarily disagree."
Professor Seris' tone grew colder than it was before.
"Student elimination is permitted, but under strict conditions. "Eliminating another student grants fifty points, plus twenty percent of that student's current score. Eliminated students retain previously earned points for faculty review, but lose remaining survival and completion bonuses."
My thoughts began to race.
The way the exam was laid out made student elimination valuable, but not majorly so; it was certainly enough to tempt a few, but not enough to make indiscriminate student hunting an optimal choice.
Unless that student was already high scoring.
Or personally hated.
"This might complicate our plan, Kael," Ryn said, as if he were reading my thoughts.
"... Yeah. It might." I said, slightly astounded.
"Huh? What's this about a plan?" Taron asked.
Before I could answer Taron, Professor Seris' next words had captured our attention.
"You may attack, ambush, deceive, restrain, steal unsecured supplies, or dissolve alliances," Professor Seris said.
Ryn whispered, "Wow, what a lovely school."
"But," Seris continued, her voice turning sharp enough to cut through every private reaction, "you may not use lethal force. You may not attack after surrender. You may not harm unconscious students. You may not fight in safe zones. You may not tamper with examination bands. You may not interfere with emergency extraction. You may not attack faculty, though I dare you to try, and you may not sabotage examination systems."
Each prohibition appeared in hard white text behind her.
"Violation of these rules may result in immediate failure, disciplinary punishment, expulsion, or potentially criminal sentencing depending on severity."
For the first time since she began speaking, Professor Seris' expression darkened.
"While the faculty acknowledges that this is a dangerous examination, I would like to stress that this is not a license for cruelty."
That sentence landed differently from the others.
It wasn't a rule.
It was a warning.
Perhaps even one that was personal.
"Remember. Emergency removal," she continued, "is always available. Activating it immediately removes you from the island and ends your examination. It will count as a failure for the survival aspect of the exam, though all previously earned points will remain recorded for faculty to review."
A new projection appeared.
Three gates.
"At Hour Twenty, three final gates will activate. You will have four hours to reach one. During this final phase, all safe zones will close. Minor and standard beast activity will slightly increase. Some elite beasts will begin to migrate to different regions of the island, but student combat will remain permitted."
A few students became visibly pale.
"To fully complete the examination, you must cross an extraction gate before the twenty-four-hour deadline."
There it was.
The true ending condition.
Survival did not mean hiding forever. It meant reaching the end and moving when the island became most dangerous.
"As I imagine some of you are wondering, yes. The Leyre Island Examination will heavily influence Circuit placement. However, it will also determine other important factors for your academic journey here at Aetherion, such as certain elective access for your second year, any potential mentorship opportunities, resource allocation, faculty attention, and future recommendations," Professor Seris said.
I felt Taron glance at me.
Ryn's posture tightened.
Professor Seris continued with her explanation.
"Exact scoring thresholds and ranking bands will not be revealed until a week after the exam. You are not meant to know precisely how much is enough. You are meant to decide what kind of student you are under uncertainty."
The hall fell into a deeper quiet.
Even the ignorant nobles stopped whispering.
"The Academy does not intend to reward raw power alone," Seris said. "Power matters and combat ability matters, but so does ambition, survival, intelligence, restraint, and adaptability. Particularly, the ability to act when a situation changes faster than your assumptions can handle."
Her eyes moved over the hall.
For one strange moment, I felt as though she looked directly at me.
Perhaps she did.
Perhaps I was becoming arrogant enough to assume that every significant sentence was aimed at me.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about that.
Professor Seris let the rules settle.
Then her voice softened.
"When I was your age, I stood where you are standing now."
The hall changed again.
Not because of Aether this time.
But because the students listened.
Most felt like they had to listen.
"I was not expected to become anything remarkable."
That sentence surprised more than a few nobles.
Ryn, in particular, went still beside me.
"I came from a branch family," Seris said. "One powerful enough to be compared to greatness, but distant enough to be reminded I was not at its centre. To some, I was a useful extension of another House. To others, I was a name that would never matter beyond the shadow it came from."
Her gaze sharpened.
"This examination became a stepping stone for me to change that."
The silence became absolute.
"I did not win by being the strongest student on that island; in fact, I was not the strongest. I did not win because I had the loudest surname. It meant nothing to the others. I won because when the island demanded fear, I gave it courage. When it demanded retreat, I chose to move forward. When it demanded obedience, I made a different decision. My own."
I felt Ryn's breathing slow beside me.
Even Taron had stopped smiling.
"This examination will not be fair," Professor Seris said. "Few meaningful things are. Some of you will enter with advantages that others do not have. Some of you will carry names that open doors. Some of you will carry nothing but hunger, stubbornness, or the refusal to remain unseen."
Her eyes swept across the commoner rows.
"But just like I did, when I was a student in your shoes, where you are. Use what you have, and use it to the fullest."
The words were simple.
But the weight of them was complex.
"Be brave, but do not be foolish. Be bold, but do not be careless. Be ambitious, but do not mistake cruelty for strength. Protect yourself. Read the flow of the island. Trust your instincts, and, most importantly, succeed not for your family or your house, but for yourself. The individual who has gotten in and is studying at Aetherion Academy."
Ryn muttered, barely audible, "Damn, that's one hell of a motivational speech."
"Yeah... she's good," Taron whispered.
Professor Seris lifted her chin, her gaze following soon after.
"Some of you will leave the island exactly as you entered it. Some of you will leave humbled. Some of you will leave different from how you were before."
A pause.
"And for the lucky few of you... will discover that the future you were assigned to was never the only one available."
My hands tightened slightly in my lap.
The Island of Leyre glowed behind her.
Numerous thoughts popped into my head.
The mist I could see surrounding the island.
The forest burgeoning from it.
Hints of unseen ruins.
The accumulation of points.
The inevitable beasts I'll have to face.
Other students.
My goal of being in the top ten.
And how a mere twenty-four hours will determine the outcome.
One piece of my future waits somewhere across the sea.
Professor Seris lowered her hand.
"Prepare well. Travel arrangements and approved equipment registration will be distributed by your instructors leading up to the exam."
Her voice carried one final time through the hall.
"I want to leave this message as a fellow alumnus of this school."
There was a brief pause in her voice.
"Best of luck in the exam."