Second trial of the examination

It seems to be a reoccurring theme of me waking up to some place all of a sudden.

Sitting up from my bed I find myself in my apartment. Suspicious.

After a long contemplation, I eventually thanked the cats for their generosity. It seemed I was in one piece, albeit the cat trinket taken.

Stretching I eagerly looked at my new status page and it's changes. The most prominent change was gaining the ability, Subconsciouses of 9 Hearts which to me, didn't sound all that impressive.

As for the other 'smaller' changes, both my agility and mana went up by three minor stages. The problem of this body was it's much lower attribute range, but now that I fixed that somewhat, I should be approaching the more average student range.

Jumping up and down a little, I wanted to go out and test my abilities. It was kinda exhilarating powering up and getting stronger, but I knew I couldn't let it get to my head.

*ding*

I looked to my phone confused. Who would this be?

Opening my phone with a swipe, the notification was a text message.

'The second trial of Kordell Academy's Examination will begin at 1 pm at the Jye City Centre court. Further information will be given upon arrival. Thank you.'

I looked at the time on my phone, it was already 12:20 pm!

Hurriedly washing myself and getting into a brand new set of clothes, I dashed out the door and onto the wild streets of downtown Caraine.

This was too cliche!

Darting past barking dogs, vaulting over mesh fences and climbing even rooftops. In the past few days I have been constantly familiarising myself with the environment of this world. I was proud to say I even had a thorough map memorised in my head.

As my feet slithered and pounced off fake footholds in the walls and ceilings, there was an indescribable feeling. Almost imperceivable.

It integrated so smoothly into every action, I was subconsciously ignoring the fluidity of my decision-making. Every decision that was presented to me I evaluated and reconsidered in lightning speeds.

They say your subconscious rule most of one's daily actions. Some good and some bad perhaps. But with this upgrade of mine, it seemed like I could automatically choose the best ones from, let's say nine judges.

I'm sure thats not the only thing it could do, but it was the only thing I could evaluate from it. It was such an obscure blessing.

Not only did it have a unique grade which is rarely ever found in the novel itself, but the concept of its power needed interpretation of itself. Usually abilities and skills kept themselves succinct and pretty straight-forward.

But this ability was weirdly strange to say the least.

Tossing the obscurity of it behind me, I rapidly hopped over incoming traffic as the rustic vibes of downtown Caraine transformed into the posh city of Jye.

Brick warehouses and factories made way to bustling streets and skyscrapers, a sense of cleanliness could be felt simply from its atmosphere. 

Although I was unfamiliar to this area, it wasn't hard to follow signs and the general sense of architecture leading to the city's centre courts. 

Soon enough I could see a great mass of people gathering before an expanse of open grass fields. One benefit to the richness of the south it seemed.

After confirming it was a duel between some teenagers, the vigour in my step to find an instructor grew larger. Scanning thoroughly the spectating crowds, I was finally able to spot an instructor.

"Instructor!" 

"Eeek!..."

I promptly sealed my lips as the blond witch shrank away from me timidly. Perhaps I was coming along too strong.

"...Uh, sorry Instructor about being late." I looked away from her red teary eyes and rubbed the back of my need in awkwardness. "Do you think you could point me to where I'm supposed to be?"

The busty Instructor meekly brushed her bangs to the side before opening up a tablet's screen which I presume all of them had. She opened up some window before clicking on a search bar.

"...Could I ask for your name, please?"

"Khael Sonja."

"Hmm..." Her lips pursed before she eventually found me. "Ah before you go, since you're late I guess nobody has told you the task yet."

I stared a little slack-jawed, was I in that much of a hurry to fight someone? Perhaps some reflection is necessary later.

"In this second trial of the examination you will be assigned an opponent to defeat. Using of course all means necessary, us instructors will supervise before anything can go awry. Weapons will be provided if one doesn't have one."

How brutal, but that's expected in a crazy world. You just have to train to be crazy back.

"I see... who am I facing?" My face unintentionally grew closer to the screen as I picked an unused greatsword from the rack beside the duelling teens. As I looked at the formats on screen I eventually noticed the finger touching it, frozen in fear. "Sorry..."

Distancing myself hastily I awaited for my opponent from the terrified teacher. Seemingly sensing my apology, a voice responded quickly.

"T-thats alright. As for who you'll be facing, it should be... Alicia Hanns in court B3."

"Thanks, Instructor!" Bowing I could hear a squeak of surprise. Sometimes I forget etiquette like mine isn't common in this world. Mostly it's out of habit though from my past life.

Sprinting to the courts using the signs around the city centre, I found myself before my opponent.

I was kinda excited. She was one of the main characters after all...

Perhaps harem number one member would be a more accurate term, or was it number two? Nevertheless, that doesn't diminish her importance and power in the first half of the novel.

Both her appearance and personality could be explained in the word, feisty. Pink hair with bundled hair tied into pigtails on the top sides of her head. Her eyes were a striking blue which contained a haughty sense of pride.

As for her outfit, she wore a plaid black and white skirt which revealed a lot of thigh. Wearing a black crop top and tall leather shoes, there was a vibe of rebellion about her.

"You're the fxxker that's been keeping me waiting? Shxt, I want someone else, not this bag of bones!" 

Alicia's first words about me weren't even directed to me, but the mountain of muscles watching on the side lines. I could see his mouth twitching dangerously.

"...I'm afraid that cannot happen since everyone but you two have started their bouts. It's not like it matters, the last two trials only influence one's ranking when the year starts. You will have plenty of ti..."

Instructor Donny's words faded from my mind or perhaps they didn't because of my multiple subconsciouses, I don't know. But all I know was that...

I passed already?

So nothing matters, right?

And the teachers will stop us if it gets too dangerous... Instructor Donny...

"But I want to fight somebody else! This guys seems to bor--!"

*DAhck*

The feisty pink haired chick quietened as my massive greatsword plunged into the grass beside her. Her face snapped to mine and I swore she mirrored the smile on my face to a T.

As for why I wanted to fight her... well, she pisses me off.

"...Nevermind Instructor, this is about to get interesting." Her voice suddenly went from a squeaky voice to a deep guttural growl.

The aura surrounding her shifted as a dark hand emerged from her crop top's long baggy sleeves. This thinning black arm continued to extend out a good 2 metres before a purple summoning circle appeared for the hand to grab something within. With a swift swipe of her arm, the summoning of her large weapon was complete.

"You done yet?" My amused tone did wonders as several tugs from the heart made me sidestep the cleave of a scythe. 

"...Now I am. You're dead meat today, kiddo." Evading another slash, the tugging of my heart went into overdrive as muscle memory utilised my movement art flawlessly.

"Dead... hehe"

Dodging another swing from the maniacal chick, I found myself next to where I had thrown my greatsword. 

Totally planned, yep.

"You know, I think I'm actually older than you. Shouldn't I be calling you kiddo?" A devilish grin couldn't help grow on my face as I met another wielder of huge weapons. Our blades clashed before I was pushed back easily.

"Say that when you can beat me!" Recklessly launching herself at me, I rolled to the side to avoid getting absolutely cleaved through. "HAHAHA, STOP RUNNING AWAY!"

Am I just destined to be forever belittled by my opponents?

Also, who is she kidding? I'm seriously pissed she actually thinks a scythe is a practical weapon...