There was no need for Ace to explain the situation as the players already made their own guesses. After all, it wasn't that hard to realize once several players completed their simulation tests.

'Very well... I'm looking forward to your decisions later on.'

Ace thought after seeing the ten magicians who had just completed their simulation as they gather around and talk about their experiences inside.

The Pilot Selection exam was actually quite easy on itself as it just mostly tests the decision making as a pilot.

Ace then busied himself with the current updates about the asteroid that Avalon has found. He wanted to make sure that it was truly an asteroid before he creates a plan to deal with it.

***

The third batch of the magicians taking the simulation exam includes Hilda Calem. She was already excited about it ever since the first batch completed their own exams and heard a little about the simulation.

It seems that there were different simulations so it was useless to ask about their experiences inside. It may just hamper their judgment and be unable to perform well.

After all, even if they were not selected to be a pilot, they were still promised to get an in-game item as a reward after completing the exam. This was more than enough to get serious about this. There was nothing to lose at all.

'Haaa~'

Hilda took a deep breath as she prepared herself. She wasn't pressured at all as she approached one of the majestic Steel Knights and even gave it a touch to have a feel about the real deal.

The one in front of her was a full black humanoid war machine equipped with a rifle gun on its right hand and a small shield on the other. It was still a bit bulky but not the same way with the one at the center.

There was also something similar to a jetpack, or probably a booster of some sort, attached at the back of the war machine.

'Does it have a name? I hope that Wallace can share it with us...'

She suddenly had a feeling that she would be able to connect more to a Steel Knight if she knows its name.

She had suddenly realized that the mysterious 'sync rate' that needs to operate a Steel Knight or Iron Knight may actually prove to be helpful during the examination.

Anyway, now that she had gotten closer to it, she could feel that the pressuring energy hiding deep inside this machine was also getting clearer to her.

It was a sensation that she couldn't properly describe as it felt very powerful and suffocating at first but after getting closer to the machine, it feels gentler and very safe under its shelter.

This all happened quickly as she entered Mech Frame's cockpit to experience being inside the real Steel Knight even for half an hour.

It smelled refreshing and noticed that she was immediately covered by gushing mana!

'I'm synchronizing already?'

This made her really comfortable as it wasn't completely new to her.

It was very similar to the Steel Knights she piloted inside the Virtual World!

[ Hello, Miss Hilda. I'm Avalon and I'm here to help you start the simulation. ]

A genderless voice was suddenly heard which didn't surprise her.

"Hi, Avalon. Are you similar to Freya inside the virtual game?"

[ You can say so... But I can't give you any quests. ]

"Haha! Of course..."

[ Very well. You can start the examination by placing your hand at the spherical glass that you can see at the center. ]

Hilda also knows that touching this spherical glass is part of the standard activation sequence needed to run the Steel Knight inside the game. It was different from an Iron Knight in the real world that normally requires a key to operate.

Anyway, it seems that touching the glass won't be activating the machine but the simulation test at this time.

"Alright... I'll take the exam now..."

Hilda said and as soon as she touched the glass... nothing happened.

"Avalon? Is there something wrong?"

'Maybe I should insert some of my mana?'

Hilda thought after Avalon remained silent. She was expecting that she will be transported in a virtual world after touching the sphere but it seems to have encountered a problem...

She was still inside the cockpit... Same sensation... No changes whatsoever...

'Mhmm...'

She poured some of her mana to make sure that it will work but still, nothing happened.

As soon as she had a thought of getting out of the cockpit. The Steel Knight activated and she suddenly had a clear vision of what was happening outside.

She noticed that several players were still busying around the plaza but a large part of them was looking somewhere else.

Of course, she was curious about the thing they were looking at so she controlled the Steel Knight's system adeptly and noticed that the sky was being covered by a huge shadow...

At first, she thought that it was just the previous spacecraft hovering above Wallace's territory. It was the one that gave them a real surprise when they first got here considering its size and the mysterious float system that it uses to fly.

However, she immediately realizes that the size of the shadow was probably 20 times bigger than the spacecraft similar to Excellence.

"W-what was that? Is it one of Wallace's project?"

It can't be helped that she was stunned seeing such a huge shadow covering the sky.

Everyone had learned from Wallace's announcement a while ago that he has plans for the Excellence to visit the moon...

'Was it successful and the spacecraft was now trying to bring a part of the moon here?'

She suddenly had an absurd thought considering the fact that they have little knowledge about the moon.

Anyway, she noticed that the magicians on the ground were all nervous and waiting for what was to come.

As she glanced at Wallace's previous seat, she realized that he already disappeared for some unknown reason.

'Hey... Isn't this part of your plans? Where are you, senior? Don't leave us here unattended...'

Boom!

Not too far from Mt. Raven, there was a sudden loud explosion that made the earth tremble. As a matter of fact, Knight's control system detected several of these explosions in different places.

They didn't know what started it but the sheer force that followed after the explosion terrified them.

The almost unbearable heatwave and the shockwaves that came after were something they hadn't been prepared for. Luckily, due to this territory's defense system, it has been lessened by a lot and the addition of their Mana Shell proved to be quite useful in the situation.

Hilda, on the other hand, wasn't exactly sure how powerful it was since she was inside the bulky Steel Knight. She was protected from any external damages.

But as she can see the messy plaza and some trees that were bent due to the powerful shock, she realized that she had to take this seriously.

She was honestly worried if there were people that were hurt outside this mountain.

As for the Tanza City, she didn't have to worry about it as after the terrorist attack months ago, the government strengthened its City's Barrier a lot to calm the citizens and keep them from migrating to other cities.

Soon, she heard the players on the plaza exclaimed while looking at the sky.

Of course, she also had to take a look and as soon as she saw it, her mouths were left hanging open.

It was a scary-looking floating city. No, it was a spacecraft with a circular base but has many tall buildings on its top. The fact that it was also purely black just added to its menacing feature.

After seeing it, she just had a thought that it was definitely not a friendly spacecraft.

"Oh, no... Is this still part of Wallace's program for today's event? No... definitely not... That huge explosion shouldn't be a part of the event... What's happening here?!"

Soon, the Steel Knight's control system detected some movement from the spacecraft above.

Although it was high up in the sky, the Knight's system manages to capture its opening of hatch and detect its release of hundreds of humanoid war machines similar to a Steel Knight.

She also noticed that a huge part of them was aiming at this mountain.