The written test process was not complicated. With the scope clearly outlined in the review materials, things like geometric shading and the like all had standard answers in Xin Mu's eyes.
Even though some questions seemed to Xin Mu to have nothing to do with Pokémon appraisal.
Such as the location where a certain type of Pokémon was first discovered by humans, for instance.
But such matters were not for Xin Mu to decide. Not long after the test papers were handed out, he had already finished answering.
However, the earliest submission time had not arrived yet, so Xin Mu could only remain in his seat in a daze while observing the changing environment of the examination room.
As long as one did not commit the acts of turning around or blatantly craning one's neck to look at someone else's paper, nobody would care.
On the wall decorations, school mottos like "Seek Truth" could still be seen, but the celebrity photos featured quite a few more group pictures of outstanding trainers. Judging by the information on them, this school had produced quite a few tournament champions in the past.
Apart from the scratching of pens,the exam hall was very quiet,most of the examinees had not noticed,Haunter was floating above their heads,observing the exam hall from a God's-eye view.
As a working Pokémon, although Haunter always failed to control its little hands during the inspection phase, Haunter still knew the rules. During the exam, it was not allowed to interfere with the examinees unless someone blatantly cheated.
At this moment, Haunter was spinning its body in midair with nothing to do. Seeing that Xin Mu had already stopped writing, Haunter drifted a bit closer in this direction, seeming to want to check out Xin Mu's progress in answering questions.
Yet just as Haunter closed the distance, it felt a chilling gaze. As a Ghost-type Pokémon, it even felt a chill inside its body, shuddering for the first time in a long while, and followed its intuition to find the source of that gaze.
"Giga..."
The window on the side wall of the classroom was rather high, and Haunter happened to see a Meowscarada hanging from the windowsill with both hands, staring right at it.
Your master not only won't let anyone touch her, but you aren't even allowed to look at her, is that it!
This was Haunter's inner voice at the moment, but physically, Haunter honestly chose to back off. Anyway, Xin Mu had finished writing his paper, so looking at it was meaningless.
There are diverse species of Pokémon, but in many aspects, they are connected. Unless they are naturally hostile races or have certain proud inner individuals, most Pokémon follow the logic that whoever has the bigger fists is the boss.
Haunter judged that it could not beat Meownei, so it directly chose to admit defeat.
"Your Haunter seems frightened. Its guts shouldn't have been this small when it was a Gastly."
"It didn't run into that Meowscarada when it was still a Gastly. That Meowscarada is far more outstanding than the ones I saw when I was studying abroad at Naranja Academy."
Proctoring exams was also a boring affair; proctors always had to find something to pass the time, and occasionally they would chat in low voices.
The written test process was not complicated. When the time came that papers could be handed in, the students in the examination room successively turned in their papers and headed to the stadium inside the activity center, preparing for the second test event-battles.
The more specialized Pokémon appraisal test required using random Pokémon in this round to battle the proctor's Pokémon, with the final evaluation made by the proctor.
Xin Mu's exam was merely an in-school appraisal theory test; although it contained a practical assessment portion, he was allowed to prepare his own Pokémon.
"In this exam, each person may use two registered Pokémon, and substitutions can be made midway. After the battle ends, you must answer questions based on the on-site situation. Understood?"
"Understood. Meownei, leave it to you."
"Meow~"
It was just an exam, so there were no spectators inside the stadium, only students who also needed to take the exam, whose turn was further down the line. When Meownei walked onto the stadium, Haunter was also released from its Poké Ball by the proctor.
Yes, the proctor and the previous invigilator were the exact same person, and the Pokémon had not been changed because it had already been registered with the school administration. Otherwise, given the premise that Xin Mu's Pokémon was known to be a Meowscarada, he would not have wanted to use Haunter for the battle.
Pokémon battles had risen long ago, traceable back to the era when Pokémon were called magical beasts. As a high school teacher, he was naturally well-acquainted with type-effectiveness relationships.
Yet this was an exam after all, and the key to this exam was not the victory or defeat of the combat; victory or defeat only accounted for a portion of the score.
Spotting problems during the battle was another focus direction.
However, the course of the battle exceeded this teacher's expectations.
"You get back in there!"
"Gengar? Giga!"
Haunter only saw holding its head with both hands, making a bewildered expression where it understood nothing at all, and wobblingly drifted up to the ceiling with zero intent to fight.
Other examinees waiting on the sidelines saw that Haunter was not following orders, and their gazes all concentrated on the proctor.
Pokémon and trainers are a two-way choice. Trainers pursue powerful Pokémon, and Pokémon will also look down on trainers. Therefore, situations where a trainer abandons a Pokémon or a Pokémon abandons a trainer both happen.
According to industry phrasing, people believe that Pokémon have levels, and in the eyes of Pokémon, trainers naturally have levels as well. This sort of situation is usually judged as the trainer's level being insufficient.
However, this "level" is merely an adjective, generally used to express the difference between Pokémon or trainers via high or low tiers. Individual circumstances vary among Pokémon, and this world is not a gamified data world with explicit numeric levels appearing.
A Pokémon not listening to orders is fine when it happens to a novice trainer, but for a proctor to encounter such a thing was somewhat humiliating.
Finally, with a flash of red light, the proctor directly recalled Haunter into its Poké Ball.
"Your Pokémon is raised quite well, it scared this guy so much it doesn't dare to fight."
The proctor rubbed his forehead helplessly. He knew that Haunter's hard power could not beat Meowscarada, but he never expected Haunter to passively avoid the fight.
"Then the exam..."
"It's my fault. The first round is your win. My second Pokémon is this one."
"Slowbro..."
Looking at the Slowbro in the arena, Xin Mu always had the feeling that his opponent was holding back. Picking a type combination like this seemed like no easy feat either.
"Never mind, this doesn't matter. Meownei, use Leafage."
A flower bud was taken in Meownei's hand and whipped forward. With the condensation of Grass-type Energy, a large mass of shredded green leaves flew out from the bud, and a massive amount of leaves wrapped Slowbro in the middle, only dissipating out of thin air seconds later.
"Slow..."
Slowbro blankly raised its hand and touched its head, seemingly failing to understand what had just happened.
"Nothing? Meownei's level wasn't completely inherited? If that's the case... Meownei, Seed Bomb!"
Although Slowbro's physical defense was not low, it reacted with absolute nothingness under a type-advantageous attack, which made Xin Mu feel somewhat unreasonable and bewildered as to why the proctor hadn't given any orders yet.
Yet before Meownei could unleash the next round of attacks, Slowbro suddenly let out a loud cry, then directly passed out with its eyes closed shut.
The proctor remained calm in the face of this, silently recalling his Slowbro, and then posed a new question.
"Student Xin Mu, please answer why Slowbro ended up in this state."
Before you continue