Ujian Instructor Melissa sudah selesai, dan para siswa menuju ujian berikutnya, milik Instructor Hale. Dia adalah pria yang mengajar latihan Stealth dan Infiltrasi. Sepanjang tahun, banyak siswa yang benci pada kelas ini. Bagi mereka, itu sia-sia belajar cara berjalan tanpa suara dan sebagainya. Merasa seperti disiksa, tapi tak seorang pun berani bicara. Lagipula, mereka sendiri yang mendaftar... nah, tidak persis, ini kelas wajib.
Instructor Hale terlihat duduk tenang di atas dahan pohon dengan wajah datar sementara siswa berkumpul. Matanya yang hitam memindai kerumunan sambil menghitung kedua ratus siswa itu.
"Sepertinya tak ada dari kalian yang di-PHK dari dua ujian," ucapnya sambil senyum tipis muncul di bibirnya. "Aku penasaran berapa banyak yang akan selamat, karena ini ujian ketiga. Peluang mereka yang sudah dua *strike* gagal sudah naik jadi tujuh puluh persen." Saat suaranya bergema, tubuhnya jatuh ke belakang dari dahan, berputar di udara, dan mendarat di atas kedua kakinya seperti kucing yang lincah.
Mendengar itu, siswa-siswa langsung mengerutkan dahi. Mereka yang gagal salah satu dari dua ujian sebelumnya sudah panik. Kalau gagal ujian kedua, mereka tak mampu gagal yang ketiga.
Instructor Hale langsung ke inti tanpa buang waktu, seolah punya urusan lain.
"Tersebar di hutan ada Monster aneh yang sangat sensitif terhadap suara. Bahkan aliran udara alami tanpa gangguan pun terdengar oleh mereka, artinya begitu kalian bergerak melawan salah satunya, kalian langsung terdeteksi," kata Instructor Hale sambil menyilangkan tangan di depan dada. "Tapi, kalau ada di antara kalian yang benar-benar belajar apa pun yang kualajarkan sepanjang setahun, kalian akan baik-baik saja." Senyum tipis terlihat di bibirnya.
Yang tidak dia ceritakan: Monster itu adalah yang paling sensitif suara di seluruh planet, mampu menangkap suara yang dikatakan sangat rendah sehingga tak ada spesies hidup lain yang bisa mendeteksinya.
Mereka disebut Echovore.
"Dan tentu saja, kalian tidak akan melawan mereka dengan kemampuan khusus apa pun, selain senjata," lanjut Hale. "Kalian dilarang mengalahkan mereka dengan kekuatan. Kalau mereka mendeteksi kalian lebih dari satu detik sebelum kalian membunuhnya, kalian gagal. Jadi, celah kalian hanya satu detik." Dia memberi instruksi terakhir, lalu berbalik pergi tanpa menunggu keluhan atau pertanyaan.
Siswa-siswa termangu. Instructor Hale baru saja bilang Monster itu gila sensitif suara. Tak bisa menahan rasa penasaran: bagaimana mereka bisa mendekati benda seperti itu? Satu detik untuk membunuhnya tidak cukup; memang tidak cukup.
Instructor Hale hanya berdiri di samping, tapi tak ada yang mendeteksinya. Meski ujiannya sulit, dia tidak mengharap siapa pun dari mereka membunuh Monster itu, bahkan Tenth Sun pun tidak. Lagipula, deteksi suara Monster itu bukan berlebihan. Kalau kemampuan dan lain-lain diizinkan, banyak yang punya peluang.
Tapi, seperti yang dikatakan Instructor Melissa, bakat tidak sama rata. Orang seperti Darissa punya bakat di bidang ini lebih dari hampir semua orang, jadi bakat di berbagai bidang memang berbeda.
Siswa-siswa mulai masuk hutan. Mereka tahu waktu tak banyak. Harus ke ujian berikutnya dalam dua jam, jadi harus lulus dalam dua jam.
"Mungkin aku gagal ujian ini," pikir Asher, yang akan jadi pertama kalinya sepanjang hidupnya.
Meski sudah duga isi pikiran Instructor Hale, dugaan tetap dugaan. Crownstar Life Ranker tidak begitu mudah ditebak. Sosok Asher kabur saat ia melesat ke hutan, Omni Perception menangkap Monster hampir satu kilometer jauhnya.
Saat Asher berjarak seratus meter, ia berhenti karena Monster sudah mendeteksinya. Kepalanya miring ke arahnya, menatap ke matanya. Itu binatang empat kaki raksasa dengan bulu hitam tebal, empat organ pendengaran ber membran, mata kecil yang tenggelam, gigi seperti jarum, kaki sensitif getaran, dan ekor sensor panjang yang terus-menerus mengambil sampel suara. Bahkan tulangnya bisa mendeteksi getaran, kulitnya bisa mendeteksi fluktuasi tekanan udara.
"Sepertinya seratus meter batas deteksinya, dan meski aku bergerak dengan Silent Steps, dia tetap mendeteksi aku," pikir Asher sambil menatap balik Monster.
Asher duga Monster pasti mendengar detak jantungnya atau mendeteksi perubahan aliran udara, dan sulit menyembunyikan perubahan aliran udara tanpa energi Astra. Soal detak jantung, dia bisa menurunkannya hampir nol, sebab Instructor Hale mengajarkan keterampilan itu beberapa bulan lalu.
Saat Asher berdiri menatap Monster, ide tiba-tiba muncul. Dia tidak lagi menatap Monster dan langsung menghilang dari tempatnya sambil menutup jarak ke Echovore lain. Saat mendekati radius seratus meter, dia berhenti tepat di luar jangkauan itu.
Saat berhenti, Virelass langsung muncul di sampingnya. Dia berdendang pelan seolah menerima arahan dari Asher. Berdendang sekali lagi, lalu menghilang. Saat berikutnya, dia muncul di atas Echovore, dan sebelum Monster sempat mendeteksi apa yang terjadi, yang terlihat hanya kilatan perak sebelum kepala terlepas dari lehernya.
Virelass teleport kembali ke sisi Asher, lalu menghilang ke dalam jiwanya.
Itu ide Asher. Karena senjata diizinkan, dia suruh Virelass, senjata terikat jiwanya, yang mengerjakan. Dan dia tidak pakai kemampuan apa pun. Virelass bisa teleport kapan saja di dekat Asher. Itu caranya selalu kembali ke sisi Asher, jadi Asher bisa memanfaatkannya.
Tapi... Asher tidak yakin ini dihitung lulus. Dia agak memutar aturan. Jadi harus menunggu keputusan Instructor Hale. Kalau gagal, dia coba ide lain, sebab sudah punya ide cadangan.
Instructor Hale bilang tidak boleh pakai kemampuan khusus, dan dia teknis tidak pakai kemampuan khusus karena teleport Virelass butuh Mark sebagai medium. Jadi... aturannya ambigu, dan Asher mengandalkan ambiguitas itu.
"Sepertinya anak-anak zaman sekarang suka cari jalan pintas." Suara Instructor Hale datang dari samping sambil menatap Asher dengan senyum tipis.
Kepala Asher tiba-tiba bergerak ke arah itu. "Aku tidak mendeteksinya..." pikirnya, tapi tidak terlalu memikirkannya.
"Kalau ujian ini benar-benar penting, aku akan gagalkanmu di sini, tapi sepertinya tidak masalah karena kamu sudah mengajukan kelulusan dini," kata Instructor Hale tanpa perubahan ekspresi. "Nah, aturannya ambigu memang sengaja." Dengan kata-kata terakhir itu, pria itu langsung menghilang, seolah yang Asher bicarakan tadi hanyalah bayangan semu.
Dia buat aturan ambigu karena tahu beberapa siswa punya kemampuan pasif yang tidak bisa dimatikan, dan diserahkan kepada mereka untuk memanfaatkannya.
"Berarti aku lulus," pikir Asher, tubuhnya kabur lewat hutan saat kembali ke tempat berdiri saat Instructor Hale memberi instruksi tadi.
Waktu berlalu cepat saat ujian Stealth dan Infiltrasi berakhir. Karena ini salah satu kelas tersulit, puluh tujuh orang gagal dari dua ratus siswa, dan dari tujuh puluh itu, lebih dari setengahnya sudah gagal ujian General Knowledge atau ujian Astra Control. Artinya, mereka sudah habis *strike*.
Kalau gagal ujian berikutnya... selesai bagi mereka. Bahkan Finch sendiri gagal kelas ini, karena anak itu sepertinya bakat nol di bidang ini.
With Instructor Melissa’s exam done, the students went for the next exam, which was Instructor Hale’s. He was the man who taught Stealth and Infiltration training. Throughout the year, many students hated this class. To them, it was a waste of time, learning how to walk silently and the like. They felt like it was torture, but none of them dared say anything. After all, they had all signed up for this class themselves... well, not exactly, it was a compulsory class.
Instructor Hale could be seen sitting calmly upon a branch of a tree with an expressionless face while the students gathered. His black eyes scanned through the crowd as he counted all two hundred students.
"It seems none of you have been expelled yet from the two exams," he stated as a small smile appeared on his lips. "I wonder how many of you will survive, as this is the third exam. The probability of those with two strikes failing has already shot up to seventy percent." As his voice echoed, his body fell backwards from the branch, his body rotating as he landed on his feet like an agile cat.
At these words, the students immediately frowned. Those who had failed one of the two exams in the past were already panicking. Even if they failed a second exam, they couldn’t afford to fail a third.
Instructor Hale got to the point without wasting much time, as though he had things to do.
"Scattered across the forest is a peculiar Monster that is extremely sensitive to sound. They can even hear the flow of air moving naturally without disturbance, meaning that once you make a move against one, you will immediately be detected," Instructor Hale spoke as he crossed his hands in front of his chest. "But, if any of you learned anything I taught across an entire year, then you should be fine." A small smile seemed to appear on his lips.
What he didn’t tell them was that the Monster was the most sound-sensitive Monster across the entire planet, capable of picking up sounds that were said to be so low that no other living species could pick them up.
They were called Echovore.
"And of course, you won’t be fighting them with any special ability or anything of the sort, aside from your weapon," Hale continued with his instructions. "You aren’t allowed to overpower any of them. If they detect you more than a second before you kill them, you fail. So, your opening is only a second." He gave the final instructions, then turned and walked away without waiting for their complaints or questions.
The students were speechless. Instructor Hale had just told them the Monster was insanely sensitive to sound. They couldn’t help but wonder how they were even supposed to approach such a thing. A single second to kill it wasn’t enough; it simply wasn’t.
Instructor Hale simply stood at the side, yet nobody detected him. Although the test was hard, he wasn’t expecting any of them to kill the Monster, not even the Tenth Sun. After all, the sound detection of the Monster wasn’t an exaggeration. If abilities and the rest were allowed, then many could stand a chance.
But, just like Instructor Melissa had said, everyone didn’t possess equal talent. People like Darissa possessed more talent in this than almost literally everybody, so talent in various fields differed.
The students began to walk into the forest. They knew they didn’t have much time. They had to get to the next exam in two hours, so they needed to pass within two hours.
’I might fail this exam,’ Asher mused to himself, as that would be a first for him throughout his life.
Although he had already guessed Instructor Hale’s thoughts, a guess was a guess. Crownstar Life Rankers weren’t so easily predictable. Asher’s figure blurred as he shot into the forest, Omni Perception picking up on a Monster almost a kilometer away.
As Asher was a hundred meters away, he stopped as the Monster had detected him. It had tilted its head in his direction, staring right into his eyes. It was a massive quadrupedal beast with dense black fur, four membranous auditory organs, tiny recessed eyes, needle-like teeth, vibration-sensitive feet, and a long sensory tail constantly sampling sound. Even its bones could detect vibrations, while its skin could detect pressure fluctuations in the air.
’It seems a hundred meters is its detection limit, and even though I moved with Silent Steps, it still detected me,’ Asher thought as he stared back at the Monster.
Asher assumed the Monster must have heard his heart beating or detected the changes in airflow, and it was hard to conceal airflow changes without Astra energy. As for his heartbeat, he could reduce it to almost nothing, as Instructor Hale had taught such a skill a couple of months ago.
As Asher stood staring at the Monster, an idea suddenly popped into his mind. He no longer stared at the Monster and simply vanished from where he stood as he closed the distance between himself and another Echovore. As he approached a hundred-meter radius, he immediately stopped beyond that range.
As he stopped, Virelass immediately appeared beside him. She hummed softly as though receiving directions from Asher. She hummed one final time, then vanished from where she stood. The next moment, she appeared above the Echovore, and before the Monster could even detect what was happening, all it saw was a silver flash before its head detached from its neck.
Virelass simply teleported back to Asher’s side, then vanished into his soul.
This was Asher’s idea. Since they were allowed to use weapons, he simply sent Virelass, his soul-bound weapon, to do the job. And he hadn’t used any ability to do it. After all, Virelass could simply teleport whenever she was around Asher. It was how she always returned to Asher’sside, so Asher could simply do that.
But... Asher wasn’t sure if this would count as a pass. He was sort of bending the rules here. So, he had to wait for Instructor Hale’s verdict. If he failed, then he would try something else, as he already had another idea.
Instructor Hale had said no use of any special ability, and he technically hadn’t used any special ability since Virelass’ teleportation ability had to use a Mark as a medium. So... the rules were ambiguous in a way, and Asher was counting on that ambiguity.
"It seems kids these days love looking for shortcuts." Instructor Hale’s voice came from the side as he stared at Asher with a light smile.
Asher’s head snapped in that direction. ’I didn’t detect him...’ he thought to himself, but he didn’t think much about it.
"If this exam really mattered, I would have failed you here, but I guess it doesn’t matter when you already applied for an early graduation," Instructor Hale stated without a change in expression. "Well, the rules are ambiguous for a reason." With those final words, the man simply stopped existing, as though what Asher had been talking with had been an afterimage.
He had made the rules ambiguous because he knew some students possessed passive abilities that they couldn’t just turn off or deactivate, and it was left to them to use them to their advantage.
’I guess I passed then,’ Asher thought to himself, his body blurring through the forest as he returned to the place where he had been standing when Instructor Hale gave the earlier instructions.
Time swiftly passed as the Stealth and Infiltration exam came to an end. As this was one of the hardest classes, a whopping seventy people failed out of two hundred students, and out of those seventy people, over half of them had either failed the General Knowledge exam or the Astra Control exam. Meaning, they had hit the end of their strikes.
Once they failed the next exam... it was over for them. Even Finch himself failed this class, as the boy seemed to have zero talent for this.
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