...

Back in the Academy's gymnasium, Shin and the others were gathered after being teleported back from the Prison Island.

"Are we still not going home? I've been dying to have a proper shower right now and have a good night of rest," complained Arthur while leaning powerlessly on the wall. And when the girls heard those words, they couldn't help but nod their heads in agreement.

In the meantime, Shin and Leonard were observing their rivals who were also looking at them. The latter was even putting a lot of attention to Simone and Ezio who were glaring at their group quite fiercely.

"Looks like those guys hate us a lot," said Leonard while returning the glares that they were receiving from those two.

Hearing that, Shin chuckled a little before replying. "Well, that is to be expected. If you take a closer look at the details of our scores, it is clear that we barely get our standing."

"If not for the extra points that we got from the teachers in the end, then our ranking should be in the last place instead of being first," he added while focusing his attention on the leaders of the other teams.

Sensing his gaze, the other three leaders also turned their heads at him. And after observing each other for a few moments, they nodded their heads to one another as a sign of acknowledgment for being real rivals.

"Shin Kinghad, huh? I'm looking forward to facing each other again in the future," muttered Diel Hendrickson with a huge grin.

"I wonder if his combat abilities are on par with his strategic skills," said Dylan White as an intense urge for battle came out from his body.

"I will not go easy on you the next time we meet," sneered Jean Camus while looking at Shin.

Meanwhile, Shin stared at them for a few more moments before grinning from ear to ear. "Then let's see each other in the next round."

After that, he turned his head towards his group before saying to them. "Are you guys done calming yourselves?"

Hearing that, the others quickly turned their heads at him before knitting their brows and looking at them with confused expressions on their faces. From what they could hear from his tone, they were pretty sure that this guy was not going to say anything good.

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't say anything for now. I'm still not ready to do anything right now," said Arthur, desperately trying to stop Shin from what he was going to say.

The others were also nodding their heads repeatedly since they could already guess what Shin was trying to say. And just like what they were expecting, the latter didn't give them any mercy. "Since you guys still have some energy left, I guess you will be fine for the next part of the exam."

"Ugh!"

Right after he said those words, they felt that their stomachs were being flipped over since they could already guess what the part of the exam would be. And from what Shin had deducted earlier, they became even more sure about their suspicions.

"If what Shin said is true, then we are really going to have a written exam later," muttered Cloe as she fell into deep thought.

Hearing that, Arthur suddenly clicked his tongue and started complaining once again. "Tsk! Tsk! Why do we need to answer those stupid paper questions while we are still too tired of that unreasonable practical exam!"

On the contrary, Shin seemed to agree with the methods that the academy was using. "From what I can see, this system is quite interesting."

"Having all of the candidates undergo a practical exam while they are expecting to have a written one. Then giving them a written exam while all of the 'surviving' students are still too exhausted from that previous test."

"By taking advantage of those cases, the academy can catch us off-guard and test our real abilities. Especially when it comes to unexpected situations," he added while shrugging his shoulders.

Nodding her head, Lorraine immediately commented from the side. "If that is the case, then don't we need to study a little more since we still have some time left before the next exam?"

She then paused for a moment to give Arthur a sidelong glance before continuing. "Especially this certain someone. Are you sure that he is going to be alright?"

Hearing that, Arthur suddenly stood up and looked at her sneeringly before saying. "Isn't it just a written exam? It is nothing special! All I need is to do how I usually deal with this kind of situation all this time."

He took a brief pause and turned his head to Shin before asking. "Right, Shin?"

Seeing his actions, Shin couldn't help but shake his head helplessly before muttering to himself. "This guy is really hopeless."

Not long after, all of the participants who passed the previous part of the exam were summoned to a huge lecture hall to take a written exam just like what Shin had expected. With that size of the lecture hall, it was more than enough to occupy Shin and the others even if they were seated a few seats apart.

At the same time, a beautiful lady walked up on the stage in the front of the hall before standing in the center. She looked at everyone before introducing herself. "I'm Jennifer Potter, one of the professors here in the academy. That is all you need to know from me for now since we are going to meet each other again in the future."

"Potter? Is she a member of your clan?" asked Arthur instinctively the moment he heard her name.

A few seats away from him sat Molton who replied with a slight nod. "She is my auntie, my mother's second older sister."

"Huh!?" Arthur was taken aback by the reply as couldn't help but have a double-take at Professor Jennifer. From what he could see on her current appearance, she was not even thirty yet; twenty-eight at most. 'But if what Molton had said was true, then her real age should be around-…'

"Wow~!" blurted out Arthur as he looked at her full of amazement.

Fortunately, he managed to suppress his voice so that it could not be heard on the front. But Jillian, who was sitting a few seats in front of him, managed to overheard their short conversation and picked up Arthur's reaction.

She slightly turned her head and looked over her shoulders before giving Arthur a sharp glare full of disgust.

Since Arthur was sitting at the back, he managed to see her actions and immediately cleared his throat before redirecting his gaze to something else. "Now that I think about it, the facilities of this school are somewhat amazing."

Naturally, Professor Jennifer was able to notice their actions but decided to ignore them and continue with her job. "I'm pretty sure that all of you are already aware of what you are going to do next."

She raised her hand, holding a pile of papers, and continued. "Since we all know that all of you are quite eager to go home right now, let's proceed immediately and stop wasting time."

"As you can see, we are going to test our knowledge this time. But instead of going with an online exam, we will go back to the usual way of taking the written exams – which is obviously writing on papers."

After that, she threw papers in the air and distributed them to everyone while using her Mental Energy. And after confirming that she didn't miss anyone she immediately added. "There are 5 major subjects in there; Language, Mathematics, Science and Technology, History, and Bestiary and Plants Encyclopedia."

"Each subject had 100 questions each and you need to finish answering all of them in the span of 5 hours, so it is basically 1 hour per subject. That should be plenty enough, right?"

She then paused for a moment to sweep her gaze at everyone before sneering at them. "And I dare you to cheat with each other. After all, those sets of questionnaires are unique to each of you. So, you will never find the same questions from others."

After that, she locked her gazes at the twins of the Sun-Moon Continent before continuing. "And another thing, any gadgets, and devices are prohibited during the exam, so I will be confiscating your earpieces and other communication tools for now."

She waved her hand and spread her Mental Energy inside the lecture hall before taking all of the communication devices from everyone. No one managed to hide anything from her.

Then she smiled at everyone before saying. "So, starting from now, all of you need to defend your own abilities to pass this test."

She was about to take her seat when she suddenly remembered something and quickly added. "Oh! Before I forget, the passing score is 90% per subject, and any lower than that is a fail! That's all, I wish all of you good luck!"

After that, she sat on a chair that was made from her Mental Energy before sharply sweeping her gaze in the entire hall. And that was the signal for everyone to start answering the questions on their test papers.

"Our own abilities, huh?" muttered Shin to himself before exchanging glances with his friends scattered in different parts of the hall before muttering to himself. "This is going to be a little interesting."

...