Assessment Results

"Damn, I'm exhausted!" Sheng Jiu collapsed into a chair at the restaurant. "I feel like I could fall asleep the second I close my eyes."

"Pfft, as if I'm any better!" Across from him, Kiana was slumped against Yae Sakura, looking half-dead.

"Bronya thinks dumb-dumb Sheng Jiu and dumb-dumb Kiana have only themselves to blame," Bronya said coolly from the side.

"What?!" Kiana and Sheng Jiu exclaimed in unison. "How is this my fault?! He/she's the one who's being so unreasonable! Stop copying me!"

Faced with the two of them synchronizing yet again, Yae Sakura smiled helplessly. "You two are a pair of comedians. Even the way you talk is in sync."

"Pfft, I'm not partners with him. I'm not nearly as shameless as he is," Kiana said, turning her head away with a look of disgust.

"Miss Hōm's got a point. My skin definitely isn't as thick as yours."

"You!"

"Okay, okay, quit it, you two." Seeing them about to start bickering again, Yae Sakura hurried to intervene. Then she turned to Sheng Jiu. "By the way, Sheng Jiu, when you fought Kiana, you moved so fast that we couldn't follow you. How did you do that? Did someone teach you?"

At that, Sheng Jiu's expression turned serious. He gave a bitter smile. "If I told you I didn't know either, would you believe me?"

"Huh? Seriously? Do you know how shocked I was when we sparred just now? That's the first time anyone's ever dodged my bullets in a monthly exam!" Kiana eyed Sheng Jiu suspiciously.

"It's true. Back when I was growing up in the orphanage, I realized my reflexes seemed much sharper than those of other kids my age. Take our fight just now, for example. The bullets you fired looked incredibly slow to me. All I had to do was reach out and catch one in my palm."

Kiana and the other two exchanged glances. Bronya spoke first. "Bronya thinks dumb-dumb Sheng Jiu isn't an ordinary person."

"Huh? What makes you say that?"

"Although Bronya has Heavy Trooper Bunny, even Heavy Trooper Bunny couldn't pull off the series of moves dumb-dumb Sheng Jiu performed on the training ground earlier. So Bronya concludes that dumb-dumb Sheng Jiu must have some extraordinary talent."

"Exactly! Come clean! Were you secretly sent here to spy on us, you Herrscher?" Kiana widened her eyes, trying to spot a crack in Sheng Jiu's expression that would prove her theory.

"What are you, a rice weevil? Use your brain. Have you ever met a Herrscher this pathetic? I'm human! A bona fide human!" Sheng Jiu shot back.

"Bronya agrees. No Herrscher would be as stupid as dumb-dumb Sheng Jiu."

"You! Forget it, a gentleman doesn't fight with girls. By the way, I just heard the Class Monitor say we have another monthly exam in two months. Is that true?"

"It is. And it's not just another monthly exam. Anyone who fails will have to take a makeup exam, and anyone who fails that will be demoted. Since we're all Valkyrie candidates, being demoted would mean getting sent to the logistics department to do things like clean the battleships."

Yae Sakura patted Kiana's head as she devoured her food, then gave a bitter smile. Kiana, however, was brimming with confidence. "Don't worry, Yae Sakura. I'm going to become an S-rank Valkyrie someday. There's no way I'll fail!"

"Let's hope so." Sheng Jiu sighed heavily, his face clouded with worry.

The two months of training flew by, and before they knew it, the young men and women were facing Schicksal's first examination at St. Freya Academy.

"Hey, you sleazebag, are you nervous about the first exam?" Kiana asked Sheng Jiu smugly.

"Nervous? The word 'nervous' isn't in my dictionary!" Sheng Jiu, standing nearby, looked just as sure of himself. His nose was practically pointed up as high as Pinocchio's.

Over the past two months, Sheng Jiu, Yae Sakura, Bronya, and Kiana had formed a team and taken part in one team battle after another, demonstrating incredible coordination. When faced with Honkai Beast projections used for training, Sheng Jiu engaged them head-on and drew their attention. Bronya provided fire support from the rear, while Yae Sakura kept the Honkai Beasts in check from the flank, hindering their movement. Kiana seized the opportunity to forcefully strike the projections' weak points, disabling them and ending the fight.

After all, the Valkyrie candidates at the academy had no real experience fighting Honkai Beasts, let alone Kiana and the others, who had fought their way out of Changkong City. Sheng Jiu, who had joined them later, seemed to have no experience fighting Honkai Beasts, but after taking part in so many team battles, he had learned to fight alongside the other three.

On the day the results were announced, everyone gathered in the classroom to wait.

"Yae Sakura, Yae Sakura, do you think I'll come in first in the class? No, in the whole school?" Kiana asked, clinging to Yae Sakura's arm with an eager grin.

Yae Sakura tapped Kiana on the nose and teased her. "You'll be lucky if you pass this exam."

"Bronya would like to remind dumb-dumb Kiana that the exam has both a theory section and a practical section. Given Kiana's intelligence, not getting a score of minus one hundred would be a miracle."

"Pfft, Bronya's just jealous of how brilliant I am. Just wait until the results come out and you'll see what I'm really capable of!" Kiana was utterly confident she'd ace the exam.

"Keep dreaming. After the exam two days ago, you were wailing with a long face, 'How can a chemistry test be this hard?' If you pass the theory section this time, it'll be a miracle!" Sheng Jiu said lazily, crossing one leg over the other.

"Pfft, I might not come first in the whole school, but I'm definitely way better than you, you muggle!" Kiana glared at him, unconvinced.

"The results are out!" someone shouted. Everyone immediately surged toward the notice board by the door.

"Come on, let's take a look." Sheng Jiu headed out first. The moment he saw the results, his expression changed dramatically.

"What's wrong?" The three of them looked at Sheng Jiu, who was standing there dumbstruck, then followed the direction of his finger. At the top of the results list was the name "Fu Hua."

"Holy crap, the Class Monitor really did come first!" Sheng Jiu stammered. Then he pointed at the names in second and third place. "You two are monsters too! How'd you get such high scores?" The names in second and third place were "Raiden Yae Sakura" and "Bronya Zaychik."

"Bronya thinks these are the scores she and Big Sister Yae Sakura deserve."

"No, no, it was just luck this time. We don't usually score this high." Yae Sakura patted Sheng Jiu and gestured with her eyes for him to look at the results list.

Sheng Jiu followed her gaze and saw that he'd placed sixty-eighth. Any Valkyrie ranked below seventy-second place would be at risk of having to take a makeup exam. Sheng Jiu couldn't help but feel anxious about his ranking.

"Yae Sakura, Yae Sakura, why isn't my name on this list?" Kiana scanned the results, but couldn't find her name—even among the students who'd failed listed beneath Sheng Jiu's. She hurriedly shook Yae Sakura by the arm.

"Kiana, yours... is actually on that other list." Yae Sakura gave an embarrassed, bitter smile and pointed to a separate sheet beside them.

"They must've put me on a separate list because my scores were so good... What?! I failed?! How could this happen?" Kiana wilted before their eyes and crouched in the corner, looking utterly hopeless.

Sheng Jiu patted her shoulder sympathetically. "It's okay. You only failed the theory exam. You got a B+ in the practical, and you only have to retake the section you failed."

"Drop dead! I was supposed to come in first! Waaaaah..."

"How about I buy you some ice cream?"

"Get lost! I want two! Waaaaah..."

Sheng Jiu stared speechlessly at Kiana, huddled in the corner and slowly turning to stone, then shook his head at Yae Sakura.

"If dumb-dumb Kiana can't pass the makeup exam, she really will have to go clean the battleships."

"I won't! I want to fight! I'm not cleaning the decks!"

Yae Sakura furrowed his brows. "This makeup exam is Kiana's only chance. Otherwise, there really won't be anything we can do..."