Exam Rules and Schedule (Continued)

After chatting for a while, the movie theater became more and more crowded, but as the teacher appeared, the room gradually quieted down.

"Next, I will explain the rules for the Uninhabited Island Special Exam."

Unlike last year, when Mashima explained the Uninhabited Island, the person standing on the platform now is Chabashira Sae, the homeroom teacher of Class 2-A.

Chabashira-sensei walked to the screen, then raised the microphone and began to explain:

"Your stay on the Uninhabited Island will last for two weeks, starting tomorrow. The rules will be the same as last year's Uninhabited Island stay; you'll basically be on your own."

If an examinee suffers a serious injury that prevents them from continuing the exam, becomes unwell, or commits a major violation during the exam, they will be forced to withdraw without hesitation.

The school required everyone to form groups of up to three people, which I think everyone remembers well. However, after the Special Exam begin, the groups will be allowed to form larger groups of up to six people based on certain conditions.

If all members of your group withdraw, you will lose your eligibility and your ranking will be determined.

These rules were announced more than a month ago, and repeating them now is probably to prevent students from forgetting them.

So what follows is the important part.

"The school will have each group compete and collect 'scores' to determine the rankings."

Grades are an unavoidable topic in any exam, whether it's a written test or Special Exam. Grades are the standard for measuring success or failure, and this time is no exception.

However, since the exam results were announced, the school had not released any information about the scores until the day before the exam.

Upon hearing this keyword, almost all the second-year students perked up. More than 150 students stared intently at the huge screen in the movie theater, waiting for the next episode to begin.

Uninhabited Island Special Exam Summary: This Special Exam is a wilderness survival test in which all groups collect points to compete for a score over a two-week period.

If the entire group leaves the exam room during the exam, the group will immediately be disqualified (all collected scores will be invalidated, and the rankings will be determined immediately).

Upon seeing this condition, the students immediately frowned, because according to the previous deductions of each class, even if they were separated from their group, the points they had previously earned would be retained, just like in a written exam. Even if one subject was missed, the points for the other subjects would not be invalidated.

But this time it's different. No matter how many points you get in the early stages, if you fall behind, all your efforts will be wasted. So most of the second-year students who didn't know that the last five spots were taken by the team had solemn expressions on their faces.

Then, a map of the Uninhabited Island where they planned to land the next day was displayed along with these outlines. The map had vertical and horizontal lines, divided into squares in detail and evenly.

Based on the proportions, the islands are divided into 100 equal parts, labeled horizontally from A to J, and vertically from 1 to 10.

"There are two ways to obtain points."

"One method is [basic movement]. The entire island is divided into a total of one hundred squares. Every so often, you will be instructed to go to a certain area. If you arrive within the specified time, you will receive points."

"For example, if your starting point tomorrow will be area D9, which serves as the port, then let's assume area D8 is designated as the moving point. The groups that arrive at the designated area earlier will receive ten points as [arrival order rewards], the first-place group will receive ten points, the second-place group will receive five points, and the third-place group will receive three points. In addition, everyone who arrives within the designated time will also receive one point as [base arrival points]."

"However, please note that the arrival order is calculated on a group basis. Only when all members of a group have arrived at this area will the arrival order be counted. This 'all members' includes those in the group who dropped out of the exam."

"I see, "Shuichi Kanda nodded. "In that case, in a group of people, if even one person is dragging their feet, they're destined to be unable to compete for the reward based on arrival order."

On the contrary, students who act alone have a great advantage, as they only need to reach the area themselves to ensure that the whole group has arrived.

However, this also carries risks, namely that some people may get injured by overestimating their abilities and trying to seize the first place in the arrival order.

This is Uninhabited Island, and the roads here are different from the roads we usually travel on. There are very few flat roads, and there are many obstacles.

"Inform us of the basic movement locations. There will be three times on the first and last days, but four times a day for the remaining twelve days. Arrival times are from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM, and from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM. After a two-hour break, the travel times will be from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM and from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM."

Seeing this, Shuichi Kanda nodded, meaning that he needed to get up before 7 a. m. every morning and could rest after 5 p. m.

But what if there's not enough time to move to the designated area? Shuichi Kanda awaits Chabashira-sensei's answer.

"It should be noted that if you ignore the instruction to move to the designated area three times in a row, a penalty mechanism will be triggered, and one point will be deducted. Moreover, if it is four times in a row, two points will be deducted each time."

Five consecutive offenses result in a deduction of three points. As the number of offenses ignored accumulates, the penalty will increase point by point.

However, if you stop even once, the accumulated value will return to zero, and you will lose one point starting from the point where you ignore it three more times in a row.

Regarding the situation where movement is ignored, no penalty will be imposed as long as one person in the group reaches the designated area.

In other words, not everyone in the group needs to arrive. Of course, the arrival bonus will only be awarded to those who arrive at the designated area.

Shuichi Kanda nodded. No wonder he had said before that the more people there were, the more advantageous it was.

According to these rules, if no one intends to compete for the reward for arriving in a certain order, then only one person needs to complete the basic moves, and the rest of the people can focus entirely on competing for points.

"I'll handle the basic movement; Keisei, you guys just focus on getting points through the other event."

Miyake took the initiative to shoulder the responsibility of basic movement, and Yukimura nodded. Although he didn't know what the rules were for scoring points in the other event, since one event tested physical strength, the other should be unrelated to physical ability.

"There are also clearly areas on the map that cannot be designated. For example, B1, C1, F10, G10, etc., these areas are entirely at sea, so these locations cannot be selected as designated areas."

Moreover, this designated area follows certain rules. Three out of the four times a day, the area is centered on the last designated area of the previous day, and then the two squares in front, behind, to the left, and to the right, as well as the one square diagonally in front of it.

However, there is only one exception in a day where the previous rule does not apply, and it is unclear where the designated area would be set.

This means that even if D2 becomes the designated area, it is possible for the location to be assigned to D9, and if you are unlucky, it is even possible for it to be assigned from A1 to J10.

However, random assignment will not occur twice consecutively. If the fourth random assignment occurs at the end of the day, the first random assignment on the following day will not occur again. Furthermore, random assignment will not occur on the first or last day.

"The above is the first scoring method—basic movement. I'll show you the outline first."

Basic movement rules summary:

The summary displayed on the screen was clearly presented, just as Chabashira-sensei had explained. The rules were quite simple, and any student who had been paying attention in class could understand them.

"Before explaining another scoring method, I'd like you to take a look at this."

As she spoke, Chabashira-sensei took out something that looked like an electronic bracelet, which seemed very similar to the one from last year.

"Students must wear this watch from the start to the end of tomorrow's exam. They will also be provided with a tablet computer that is linked to the watch."

As Chabashira-sensei explained, images of a watch and a tablet appeared on the screen.

"This watch not only tells you the time, but it's also a tool for scoring. Because all the points for basic movements are recorded on this watch."

Furthermore, the school can continuously monitor the body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen, sleep time, stress levels, and other data of students wearing this watch. If any of these parameters exceed the prescribed limits, a warning sound will be emitted.

Upon hearing this, Shuichi Kanda eyebrow. This thing is so high-tech?

Body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and sleep duration are one thing, but to be able to detect stress levels is a bit outrageous, isn't it?

However, Chabashira-sensei quickly demonstrated how to use the watch to the students, and what was frustrating was that it was a model that couldn't be worn by the students themselves.

"Next is a demonstration of the warning alarm, such as when my body temperature is no longer within the normal range." As soon as she finished speaking, Chabashira-sensei began operating the watch, and soon after, a sharp alarm sounded.

"This is the warning sound. Since the sound is only for warning purposes, it is designed to stop ringing automatically after five seconds. However, if the abnormal state continues, the warning sound will ring again after ten minutes."

Five seconds later the ringing stopped, and then under the manual operation of Chabashira-sensei, the watch rang a second time, the sound was a little louder than before, but the duration was still five seconds.

"The next five minutes are your turn. If the abnormal situation continues for another five minutes, the third alarm will be triggered."

This time, the watch made a sharper and more penetrating sound than the previous two times.

"If this happens, you will have to undergo a health check at the departure point within 24 hours. If you ignore this or are unable to arrive, you may be subject to penalties such as being expelled, depending on the circumstances."

Additionally, this alarm is designed to keep ringing unless manually turned off, and if it doesn't stop within five minutes, faculty and medical personnel will arrive at the scene via GPS.

Shuichi Kanda nodded. Putting everything else aside, this is quite humane. This is Uninhabited Island, and if someone is injured and falls into a coma, the school can use this mechanism to immediately locate the injured person.

"Furthermore, this watch requires special tools to install and remove. If it is forcibly removed in any way, the scoring function will automatically stop."

If the watch malfunctions due to impact or other reasons, the scoring function will also be disabled. In that case, please go to the starting point for an exchange.

Upon hearing this, Shuichi Kanda smiled. Interesting. So, in other words, destroying the opponent's watch would prevent them from scoring, right?

"In addition, this watch contains something called a [scheduling schedule], with a total of twelve types. Students in a team will all have the same schedule. If they are formed into a large group during an exam, everyone's schedule will be rewritten to be the same, so there will be no inconvenience."

In other words, students will be assigned to a specific route from the beginning, and since there is an itinerary, it means that these twelve routes were determined at the outset. Even if the arrival area is randomly assigned each day, it is actually a route arranged by the school.

While this reduces uncertainty, it also makes it easier for the school to monitor students' routes, which is understandable.

Therefore, the school wouldn't do something as outrageous as having the previous location A1 and the next location J10, which directly spans the entire island.

However... if we could get the itinerary, we might have a significant advantage in terms of basic transportation.

But it's easy to imagine that this kind of thing is quite difficult.

"Next, I will explain the second scoring method. This is to earn points by completing [projects] set up in various locations on the Uninhabited Island. These projects will be held at various locations from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Although the area is divided into one hundred regions, multiple projects may occur within the same region."

As the explanation was given, an example of the topic appeared on the screen.

First, within area C3, a red dot is displayed.

"The location indicated by this red dot represents the emergence of a research topic. Once a research topic emerges, its content needs to be presented using a tablet."

The screen then displayed the types of topics that might appear in the future.

Topic: [Mathematics Exam]

Category: Academic Ability

Participation requirements: Register within sixty minutes of the topic being announced.

Number of participants: one person (only one person can register in a group).

The project will begin once ten participants have joined or the registration period has ended.

Victory condition: The students who gather within the specified time compete for the highest score.

Rewards: 5 points for first place, 3 points for second place, 1 point for third place, and the winner will receive a day's worth of ingredients.

Topic: [Shot Put]

Category: Physical Abilities

Participation requirements: Register within 30 minutes of the topic being announced.

Number of participants: Groups of three or more.

(For groups of four or more people, three of them may register to participate)

Registration closes when six groups have logged in or when the registration period ends.

Victory condition: Compete for the combined throwing distance of the three players.

Prizes: 1st place: 10 points; 2nd place: 5 points; 3rd place: 3 points. Each group can choose one gift as a participation prize.

Topic: [Fishing]

Category: Other

Participation requirements: Register within 120 minutes of the topic being announced.

Number of participants: Two or more people per group.

(For groups of three or more, only two people need to register to participate)

Registration closes when eight groups have logged in or when the registration period ends.

Victory condition: The student who catches the largest fish within one hour wins.

Reward: 15 points for first place.

The fish caught belong to the student.

"The abilities required for the project are composed of 40% academic ability, 30% physical ability, and the remaining 30%. The types of projects are very broad, ranging from those requiring precise skills to those that only require luck. Of course, the same project may be held multiple times."

Seeing these topics Shuichi Kanda was speechless and once again sighed, no wonder they say the more people there are, the more advantageous it is.

Because some projects are impossible for a single person to participate in; they require multiple participants.

However, Yukimura, standing to the side, perked up, because 40% of the topics were academic. Although third-year students might have an advantage in terms of academic topics, the school would certainly not assign things that only third-year students could do but second-year students couldn't.

Therefore, exam questions on academic ability are either set separately or the scope is limited to a level that first-year students have already learned.

How should I put it? It feels a lot like the Commander exam last year.

"The venues where these projects are held will definitely have faculty or staff on standby. Participants must communicate with the person in charge in person and register via a watch or tablet."

Furthermore, after the project began, the red dot representing the project could no longer be seen on the tablet.

"Starting from the fourth day of the exam, you can increase the group size limit by participating in special projects. If you get first place, your group can add three spots, second place will add two spots, and third place will add one spot."

Currently, for individual groups to form a large group of six, each member must achieve at least one first-place and one second-place finish. For groups of three, this would likely require at least one first-place finish. Furthermore, groups that have already reached their six-person limit cannot attempt these challenges.

This is what's called a large group. Although special topics can only increase the maximum number of people in a group, they will probably be highly sought after by students when they are first opened on the fourth day.

"Once the maximum number of new members is reached, the party wishing to add more members must use their watch to initiate the main connection. Then, the group the member wants to join must initiate a pairing connection by having their watch contact the watch that is initiating the main connection. Accepting the connection takes approximately ten seconds, during which time it can be canceled."

"However, the number of special topics is limited, meaning not all groups can form a large group. Also, if a merger occurs, the scores held by both groups will be divided equally, and scoring will start again."

Next, Chabashira-sensei displayed a summary of the topic on the screen before preparing to conclude her explanation.

"Next, please welcome Acting Chairman Tsukishiro to give a speech."

After saying this, Chabashira-sensei handed the microphone to Tsukishiro, who had appeared. Tsukishiro, as always, showed a faint smile and glanced around at the second-year students in the movie theater.