"I wonder... who the Mysterious Merchant for this exam will be."
Tachibana Akane quietly calculated in her heart.
If they were lucky and the merchant was not too far away, perhaps they could use the Item Points they had accumulated during the previous exam to buy some practical defensive equipment.
After all, they had faced Chimera Ants in the last exam. Even though the only way to earn Item Points had been by destroying ant eggs, and the points had to be split among everyone, they still had quite a few Item Points on their accounts.
The only reason they had not spent lavishly back then was that the shop had not offered any affordable items worth buying.
Like most of her classmates, she had exchanged for an [Explosive Tag] and a [Stone Mask].
Unfortunately, with the layout of this mall—floor-to-ceiling windows and lights everywhere—it would be easy to get exposed to sunlight or ultraviolet rays. The Stone Mask was clearly unsuitable now.
That meant the only thing she had on her that could serve as protection was the Explosive Tag...
Just as Tachibana Akane was thinking this over, an extremely faint set of footsteps suddenly reached her ears.
Tachibana Akane's heart tightened, and she instinctively slipped a hand into her pocket, gripping the edge of the Explosive Tag.
"Classmate? Can you hear me?"
A girl's deliberately hushed voice came from not far away. "We've come looking for you. There aren't any monsters on your side for now... We're the test participants this time, so don't worry. I'm from Class A..."
Hearing that familiar voice, Tachibana Akane's taut nerves instantly relaxed.
It was clearly Kushida Kikyo's voice.
Although Kushida now had a Reinforcement Suit as well, the Stone Mask was useless in this environment, leaving her with only Explosive Tags