Exam Rules; A Terrifying Test of Stamina / The School's Safety Measures: Multifunctional Monitoring Watches
The only use is probably for transferring Private Points to students when they need to pay punishments after Special Exam. The teacher has emphasized this many times beforehand: Private Points are prohibited from being circulated on the day the punishment is paid.
However, this had virtually no impact on the members of Class A. They had already taken care of their Private Points in advance, and each person had at least one million Private Points on hand. Some had their own savings, while others had borrowed them from Ichinose Honami's class treasury.
After a while, Chie Hoshinomiya walked into the classroom, still with a faint smile on her face. Seeing the tense atmosphere among the students of Class A, the female teacher chose to start with a witty remark.
"Summer vacation is almost here! Why are you all looking so gloomy? Aren't you looking forward to the week-long Luxury Cruise Ship trip? Your teacher is really looking forward to it!"
"I can't really look forward to it, after all, I still have to take Special Exam."
"Yes, teacher, please stop joking around and convey any information quickly."
"Alright, it seems everyone is under a lot of pressure. Well then, I won't let that spoil your mood."
She stood on the podium, clapped her hands vigorously, and said softly.
"First, we need to do a final check on everyone's physical condition. We're leaving today, so if anyone in our class feels unwell, please report to me immediately. Everyone, please make sure you check carefully."
They exchanged glances; nothing unexpected had happened in this aspect.
"Alright, let's continue to check our inventory and other necessary items. Please check your backpacks."
Chie Hoshinomiya tapped the screen, and a more detailed list of essential items was displayed. Everyone followed the instructions and rummaged through their backpacks, completing this task smoothly as well.
"Very good. This isn't the first time you've taken Special Exam, and I hope you're all mentally prepared."
The young female teacher's tone became serious, and her gaze slowly swept over everyone in the classroom.
"This exam was rigorous, but the effort and the reward were directly proportional. I hope everyone will work hard and maintain their number one ranking into the next semester. Can you all do it?!"
"Can!"
After the encouragement, the students in Class 2-A seemed to be inspired, and everyone's expression became more cheerful.
"Set off!"
The students gathered on the deck of the Cruise Ship. The Uninhabited Island was almost there. Gazing at the boundless sea before her, Hashiba Hikaru felt calm.
Ichinose Honami stood next to her boyfriend, and the last member of the trio Ibuki Mio, also stood on this side.
Although she didn't get along well with Hashiba Hikaru, she did get along alright with the pink-haired girl; at least they could chat.
"Although I was mentally prepared, looking from here, this island is at least several times larger than it was last year, isn't it?"
Gazing at the lush green forest in the distance, Hashiba Hikaru could tell just by looking that this Uninhabited Island was much larger than the one from last year; no wonder students from all three grades were competing against it.
"Yes, this island does look very large, and we don't yet know how much it has been developed. If, like last year, there are some man-made roads, it will make moving around much easier."
Ichinose Honami recalled the situation last year, when Hashiba Hikaru led Class A to formulate all the strategies, and she didn't feel that it was too difficult.
"Even if it's just two weeks of ordinary life, spending more than ten days on Uninhabited Island is an extraordinary Trial."
Ibuki Mio crossed her arms coolly, her small face expressionless. "I bet some weaklings will surrender in two or three days."
"More than that, I'm curious about how we'll get food and water. Are we going to have to carry them with us all the time?"
Hashiba Hikaru stroked his chin. Putting aside how to conduct the exam on Uninhabited Island, the essential supplies needed by the human body must be guaranteed as a priority, otherwise, there will be serious problems.
"Let's wait for the teacher's explanation; they should be announcing the rules soon."
Ichinose Honami held her boyfriend's hand tightly. Although the upcoming Uninhabited Island Exam was unsettling, with Hashiba Hikaru by her side, she remained calm.
After a while, an announcement came over the loudspeaker, informing everyone that the rules would be explained soon.
"Huh, it's actually divided by grade level?"
After listening to the broadcast, Ichinose Honami was visibly taken aback.
According to the broadcast, the rules will be explained at staggered times according to different grades. Second Year still need to wait until all the first-grade students have heard the rules before they can enter the movie theater, which can hold more than 100 people, to receive the explanation of the rules.
"What a boring exam, what boring rules!"
A familiar male voice reached his ears. Hashiba Hikaru turned his head and saw the Koenji Rokusuke. The other man seemed to be walking towards him, and their eyes met in mid-air.
"Hashiba Boy, will you go all out for this Uninhabited Island Exam?"
Of course.
"That's good. I look forward to a duel with you. How about the loser agrees to do something for the winner?"
The blond man smiled slightly, his tone brimming with confidence.
"Sure, I'm open to your challenge."
"Haha, that's good!"
Koenji Rokusuke brushed the hair from his forehead and said with considerable pride, "I will definitely win!"
"Then let's wait and see."
Chapter 885 Examination Rules, A Terrifying Physical Trial.
After the first-year students finished listening to the rules, Hashiba Hikaru and the two girls on her team went into the movie theater.
The movie theater didn't have any special requirements for seating; students from all four classes could sit anywhere. However, once the basic requirement of forming groups was met, everyone would subconsciously choose to sit next to people they were close to—it's human nature.
Moreover, sitting with the team members allows them to discuss the rules beforehand, since they'll be living on Uninhabited Island for two weeks starting tomorrow, and everything is still uncertain.
Hashiba Hikaru held Ichinose Honami's small hand and sat in a seat near the aisle. The boy sat on the outermost side, while Ibuki Mio sat on the innermost side.
After more than ten minutes, the movie theater seats were gradually filled with Second Year students. Hashiba Hikaru glanced at her row and saw that it was mostly filled with students from Class A, with a few students from other classes mixed in, who were probably the team members chosen by everyone.
"Now, I will read out the rules for the Special Exam."
Chie Hoshinomiya was wearing an elegant, all-black office lady uniform. Just like last year's Uninhabited Island Exam, the school's arrangement was probably for the homeroom teacher of Class A to explain all the rules.
The young female teacher stood beside the movie screen, holding a microphone, and began to give her explanation.
"Starting tomorrow, you will all be spending this Special Exam on Uninhabited Island for two weeks. Just like last year's Uninhabited Island, you will basically have to rely on yourselves to survive."
"If a student suffers a serious injury during the exam that prevents them from continuing, loses consciousness due to physical discomfort, or commits a serious violation, the school will take compulsory measures to force their withdrawal."
Chie Hoshinomiya's sharp gaze swept over everyone present, her tone solemn.
"According to the school's rules, Second Year students can form teams of three in advance. Once they officially enter the island, a rule will be opened that allows teams to form larger groups of up to six people, based on certain conditions."
"However, please note that if everyone in your group withdraws, you will automatically lose the opportunity to accumulate points and your ranking will be directly calculated. Please don't forget this."
The teacher mentioned this point when they first revealed some of the rules: the five groups ranked at the bottom of the entire school would all be expelled.
However, penalties can be eliminated by paying points. People with enough points don't need to worry about this, such as all the students in Class 2-A.
In addition to the most severe penalties, groups that rank lower will also see their class evaluation points decrease. If they want to achieve a higher ranking, this Special Exam might be a good opportunity to turn things around.
"Besides these basic points, I will now explain the most important part of this exam..."
Chie Hoshinomiya paused for a moment, then continued, "This is the method for participating in this exam. I hope everyone will listen carefully."
Upon hearing this, the students present were all invigorated, since they already knew what had just been said; the most important things were how to take the exam and how to calculate scores.
"The school will have each group compete, and collect [scores] to calculate rankings; that's the rule for the exam."
Chie Hoshinomiya manipulated her phone, and a large image immediately appeared on the movie theater screen, accompanied by a series of text descriptions.
[Summary of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam]
[All groups must complete an exam by collecting points over two weeks; this is the rule for wilderness survival.]
[During the exam, if everyone in the team leaves, the group will automatically be disqualified from the exam, all collected scores Nullify, and the ranking will be determined directly.]
This is probably the double-edged sword of team formation. The more people in the team, the more advantageous it is when collecting [scores]. However, if everyone quits, it almost certainly means they will end up in the bottom of the rankings.
Hashiba Hikaru stared silently at the large screen. Then, an aerial view of the Uninhabited Island appeared, with rows of vertical and horizontal lines dividing the Uninhabited Island into small squares in great detail, like cutting a cake.
"There are two ways to collect [points]. The first is [basic movement]. Students will be divided into a total of one hundred squares, and every once in a while they will be given instructions to go to a certain area."
Chie Hoshinomiya began explaining the method for collecting [points] while looking at the map, since this was probably the most important rule in the exam, the key to determining victory or defeat.
"For example, if the port for landing on the island is D9, and we assume that C8 is selected as the relocation point, then the students who receive the prompt should head to C8 as soon as possible. The earlier they arrive at the designated area, the more [arrival order bonus points] they will receive. The first-place group gets ten points, the second-place group gets five points, and the third-place group gets three points. In addition, each person will also receive one personal bonus point. For example, if a group of three arrives at the designated area with the first-place ranking, and all three members successfully arrive, then they will receive three personal bonus points in total, and the group will receive thirteen points in one go. Does everyone understand?"
"I see. In that case, group actions become especially important, and we also need to ensure everyone's health, otherwise there could be serious consequences."
Hashiba Hikaru nodded. The first way to get [points] is to move around on the Uninhabited Island according to the school's instructions and go to the designated area to get [arrival points]. It doesn't sound too difficult, but there should be many obstacles on the Uninhabited Island, which is the key point to overcome.
"Next, we will inform everyone about the frequency of the location changes. There will be only three times on the first and last days of the exam, and four times a day for the twelve days in between. The specific times are shown in the figure."
Chie Hoshinomiya pointed to the large screen, which displayed a specific time range.
[7 a. m. ~ 9 a. m.]
[9 a. m. ~ 11 a. m.]
[Two-hour break in the middle]
[1pm ~ 3pm]
[3 pm ~ 5 pm]
During these four time periods, everyone must follow instructions to move between areas. However, the latest time is 5 PM. It is estimated that the school is doing this for safety reasons, since the later it gets, the greater the probability of injury while moving on the Uninhabited Island.
"It's important to note that in addition to bonus points, there are also deductions in these basic rules, so please remember them carefully."
"What???"
These words immediately caused an uproar in the movie theater.
Chapter 886 School's Protective Measures, Multifunctional Monitoring Watch.
Inside the movie theater, Chie Hoshinomiya remained unmoved by everyone's reactions and continued reciting.
"Once the exam begins, instructions for moving within the designated area will be issued at the scheduled time. If you ignore the instructions three times in a row, you will be deducted one point; if you ignore them four times in a row, you will be deducted two points; and if you ignore them five times in a row, you will be deducted three points. As the number of times you ignore the instructions accumulates, the penalty points will continue to increase."
"If you don't want to be at the bottom of the rankings, even if you incur penalty points earlier, you can clear the accumulated deductions by making one move according to the instructions. However, if you ignore the instructions again, the deductions will be recalculated after three times. Do you all understand?"
"Goodness, this is forcing everyone to follow the rules."
"Yes, and there's a very harsh aspect to this rule. If you're unlucky and the area that issues the order is far away, you might not be able to make it within two hours. The three chances are probably the fallback clause."
"Moreover, this rule eliminates any possibility of slacking off. Once points are deducted, it creates a terrifying negative cycle that can easily cause the group to finish at the bottom."
"However, there's no need to panic too much, because there's an additional [rescue rule] in this rule. Once the command is issued, as long as one person in the group successfully reaches the designated area, there will be no penalty for ignoring the command. In other words, not everyone in the group needs to reach the designated area. Of course, this will affect the final score calculation, since if only one person arrives, it will only increase the individual score by one point."
After hearing this explanation, the students sitting in their seats immediately became restless.
After all, everyone thinks carefully when choosing team members, and this [rescue rule] is the key to reducing penalties. As long as there is one person with excellent athletic ability in the group, point deductions can be avoided.
"Of course, in the rules for collecting [points] that I mentioned above, the first and third place teams can get the most rewards based on their arrival time, but this is subject to conditions. The requirement is that all members of the team arrive and no one drops out. The school will use the last student to arrive as the record."
"I see. This must be for the sake of fairness. After all, the binding force of movement restrictions is completely different when one person takes the exam versus multiple people."
Hashiba Hikaru stroked her chin, carefully memorizing this rule.
"However, regardless of the circumstances, the advantage of having more people remains, which is probably the key reason why the school recommended forming teams."
After explaining this part, Chie Hoshinomiya went on to explain the rules of movement.
"There's a certain pattern to assigning areas to students; it's impossible to deliberately make things difficult for them."
"Of the four moves a day, three are centered on the area last designated the previous day, and the next move will be within two squares to the left, right, or right, as well as one square diagonally."
"That's a very thoughtful consideration."
After all, if you need to complete a move within two hours, the area in front, behind, left, right, and one diagonal square won't be too large, giving you some leeway in moving.
"And what about the other time?"
Someone raised their hand and asked a question.
"There will be one exception, where the pattern I just mentioned doesn't apply. In that case, everyone will be assigned to their movement areas randomly. However, this random assignment won't happen twice in a row, giving everyone ample time to travel."
Chie Hoshinomiya said with a smile, "Can everyone understand this?"
"..."
Although she explained it with a smile, everyone present understood the sinister intention behind the rule.
If the movement is within one or two squares, students should be able to manage it. However, there is one instance that is completely random. For example, if you are currently in zone D2 but are instructed to move to zone D8 next, it will become a race against time, and you are very likely to fail.
"By the way, although the same areas will not necessarily be assigned consecutively, if the next location has already been assigned to another group, then there will still be a duplicate. Please be aware of this."