Chapter 1.5
Imperial Knights Academy is one of the top high schools worldwide and the only high school on Central Imperial Island. It implemented a unique, first-in-the-world educational system and is outfitted with the newest and most exuberant facilities.
It also boasts a 100% guaranteed employment rate worldwide, which is the most important factor.
However, good grades are necessary to enjoy the use of facilities and have a decent learning environment.
This— is the fate of the students who attend this academy.
But before being accepted into this academy, there were several things that they had to agree on.
1. Accepted students must stay at the hostels provided by Central Imperial Island for three years and are not allowed to return to their hometown, even on holidays.
2. Accepted international students must strictly follow and obey the laws of Central Imperial Island and will be judged by the laws of Central Imperial Island if there are any conflicts. They do not have any right to be returned and judged by the laws of their own country.
3. After registration is accepted, students must pass all three enrolment qualifications: paper exams, physical exams, and interviews.
For the paper exams, tests focus more on your application to practical uses instead of memorisation, which I don’t have a problem with. Principal knew that extremely well, so I passed with full marks.
The physical exams are not about health and fitness— having a fit body alone is far from the minimum requirement to pass this exam. Not only do they have to be healthy, but they also need to have a certain amount of combat prowess. From what I know, those who passed had the skills to take down at least one armed opponent barehanded.
As for the method to measure one’s combat prowess, I will know soon, as the facility is up ahead.
Lastly are the interviews.
Regardless of your results in the paper and physical exams, if one does not have a decent personality, then one is not worthy to be taught, even if you are a genius.
That said, after passing all three enrolment qualifications— registered students were then divided into four classes, which are Class C, B, A, and S, based on their performance in the enrolment exams.
The learning environment in Class C was already better than most of the high schools you could find, but the facilities in Class S were specifically made for the elites. The better you are, the more the academy is willing to spend its funds on you to hone your talent.
However, it is possible to ascend or drop into different classes in your three-year duration. All of these will be determined by the ranking system.
To ascend classes, the first requirement is the total score in your academic ability must be within a margin difference of fifty marks.
Every month, Imperial Knight Academy will be having an exam to reassess the students’ academic ability based on their unique scoring system, which is, having no upper limit in scoring for a certain subject within a time limit, and their ability to carry out its practical uses in experiments.
The advantage of this is even if you are poor at the other subjects, but excelled in one particular subject to the point of a genius, by adding the scores together, you would still be on par with the others.
The second requirement is to beat one of the students in the upper classes through a duel, which is to defeat your opponent through a one-on-one fight. As they say, duels were fought not to kill the opponent but to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it.
However, it doesn’t necessarily mean one would drop immediately after a defeat.
For example, if a student from Class A1 challenged Persia to a duel and defeated her— although Persia’s rank would drop, but that doesn’t mean she’s at the point where she would drop to Class A1. It would still depend on the overall score of the student as it could be due to the person’s improvement, and not because his opponent got weaker.
That said, dropping to the lower classes, still, depends on the performance score. If the difference between the class average scores is too large, then the student will drop to the lower class through the teachers’ decision.
By the way, we are currently heading towards the examination room in the basement for my physical exam, well, to be exact, we were sent there by a conveyour belt beneath our feet.
I wondered why I felt a little dizzy. Is it motion sickness?
“Come to think of it, Persia, you said the fourth floor is your personal floor for the First Year Student Council— then what about the other floors?”
“Ah, that. As you know, the ground floor is the lobby. The second and third floor are for the club presidents and their members. The fifth and sixth floors were for the second and third year Student Council. The seventh are the meeting rooms everyone.”
“Oh, this explains why there are so many tables at the lobby.” I murmured to myself, the layout of the building suddenly making a lot more sense.
“Since the
“…Even Kuroyuki?” I asked, the thought of someone challenging her almost laughable, yet somehow plausible.
“There are idiots out there, after all.” Persia said with a shrug, as if the idea wasn’t all that far-fetched.
“…Let’s hope this doesn’t happen to me.” I muttered, a sense of unease creeping in. The last thing I needed was unnecessary attention.
“Do you have any idea how many wants to take the seat next to her?” Persia’s voice took on a more serious tone, hinting at the competition and jealousy that simmered beneath the surface.
“……………….” I remained silent, my thoughts clouded with a pained look.
“Don’t worry~ If you can prove your worth in this upcoming exam, I’m sure you would reduce at least half of them~”
“…Only half?” I murmured, still looking drained. The thought of only diminishing half of the trouble wasn’t exactly reassuring.
As our conversation drew to a close, we arrived at the exam room. The door slid open with a soft hiss, revealing the stark interior.
Persia paused, turning to me with a reassuring nod.
“Head in. I’ll be watching from the control room upstairs.” She told me.
I nodded in return and stepped inside, the door sliding shut behind me with a muted click.
Following the instructions from the system, I moved to the center of the room where a platform awaited. I stepped onto it, feeling a low hum beneath my feet as it powered up. The platform began to scan me, a faint blue light sweeping over my body from head to toe. After a moment, a fine mist sprayed over me, and I felt a thin, almost imperceptible membrane form on the surface of my skin and clothes.
I stood still, allowing the process to complete, when the door on the opposite side of the room slid open. I took a deep breath and stepped forward, entering what seemed like a completely different world.
The room was stark, sterile— a vast, empty expanse of white. The ceiling was high, vaulted like a cathedral, and the room itself was massive, easily the size of two football fields put together. The walls and floor were covered in an intricate pattern of hexagons, each tile fitting seamlessly with the next.
The exam room was overwhelmingly white, the brightness almost blinding. The only break in the monotony was the hexagonal patterns on the walls and floor, which seemed to pulse with a faint, rhythmic energy. High above, I caught sight of Persia’s blurry figure behind a glass wall, her presence both comforting and nerve-wracking at the same time. A group of operators in lab coats bustled around her, monitoring the various systems and preparing for the upcoming test.
“H-Hello? Can you hear me~?”
Coming from behind the blurry glass wall, Persia’s voice crackled through the intercom, her tone is light but professional.
“Yes.” I answered.
“Ah, good. I heard you loud and clear.” She said. “Now then, before we proceed, allow me to explain the rules about this physical exam. Did you see a soldier in front of you?”
As soon as she mentioned it, I instinctively broke eye contact with the blurry glass and focused on the space ahead. A hologram of a fully armed soldier materialized ten steps in front of me, carrying an AR57G-60— the fifty-seventh generation Assault Rifle with a sixty-round standard magazine of 6mm diameter and 25mm length.
This rifle has a muzzle speed up to 600m/s, and had an effective shooting range of 600 to 1000m.
The soldier wasn’t just armed with a rifle. Two ballistic knives were secured on his person— one in the pouch on his belt and another in a Kydex sheath on his boot— probably around six inches long each. It’s launching speed could reach up to 20m/s with an effective range of 8m.
Before Persia could continue her explanation, the soldier moved, raising the rifle and pointing it directly at me.
My heart skipped a beat. What the heck is going on…?
BANG!
“Mrk…!?”
Out of reflex, I sidestepped just in time, the bullet whizzing past my ear, the sharp crack of the gunfire ringing in my head.
…Wait, isn’t that thing a hologram? How could I hear the bullet? Why did it feel so real?
There was no time to process. Instinct kicked in. Without thinking, I lunged toward the soldier’s foot, my body moving faster than my thoughts. My left elbow swung with force, aiming to shatter his right shin.
CRACK!
“…!”
The impact was real. The soldier wasn’t just a hologram. He was real.
The realization hit me like a freight train, but I didn’t let it stop me. My right hand reached out, fingers curling around the ballistic knife sheathed in his left boot. I rolled away as the soldier staggered, his posture collapsing from the pain shooting up his leg.
As he kneeled, vulnerable, I didn’t hesitate. I drove the knife into the side of his head. The resistance I felt confirmed the reality of the situation— this was no simulation. The soldier fell lifelessly to his right, his body crumpling like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Hah— Hah—” I panted, my chest heaving as I stared up at the ceiling, my mind reeling with fear and confusion.
“…As expected— you passed the surprise test,” Persia’s voice echoed through the room, calm and matter-of-fact.
“What’s the meaning of this!?” I yelled, my voice cracking with anger and disbelief.