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Ch79 - Fellow classmates, times have changed
The wretched shrieks and cracks of whips didn’t let up.
Take away their special props, and trainees were no more than mere mortals at the mercy of monsters.
No amount of physical enhancements allowed their shells of flesh and bone to transcend the bounds of humanity. They were always under the fetters of the main system.
Gradually, the noise died down.
Not one of the ten trainees remained standing on the quadrangle.
In fact, it wasn’t even quite accurate to call them humans anymore. Not a single strip of intact skin could be found on their bodies as crisscrossing wounds lacerated every inch, spewing blood in streams. Dying the grass that peeked from the cracks an ominous red.
The force with which one of the invigilators brought their whip down even directly severed a trainee’s neck. On the verge of falling off, the decapitated head dangled gruesomely, revealing an eerily white spine that leaked bone marrow.
In all honesty, this scene was truly horrific. Especially considering the trainees were being tortured alive; even though they had instantly passed out, their bodies still instinctively twitched and rolled in pain, and watching this caused everyone’s scalps to prickle numbly.
After ten minutes of this one-sided brutality, the teaching director waved his hand.
The whips stopped. The trainees on the ground, so mangled that half their skeletal structures were exposed, immediately exhaled and never breathed in again.
This stark cruelty made even the experienced B-ranked trainees involuntarily shudder in their seats.
Few horror instances would draw out trainees’ suffering; it was more common to meet fearsome monsters, even ones that could take their lives in a single strike.
To tell the truth, even if death was inevitable, most would willingly choose an easy death over humiliating torture without any mode of resistance.
“Dump these into the Corpse Pit.”
The teaching director gazed coldly upon the trainees disfigured beyond recognition. “I could have made it quick. Unfortunately, they dared to speak out of turn, attempting to disobey the school’s rules and regulations.”
“These people were enjoying public resources yet didn’t conduct themselves accordingly, only scoring a paltry handful of points on a paper. Their lives only amounted to dregs. Today, we have eliminated these pests for society.”
“Listen up. In First High School, underachieving students don’t have any right to live. Our school deals away with a whole load of trash every year and has received unanimous recognition and acknowledgement from the state and society.
[Bleh. The hell does he mean by underachieving students don’t have the right to live? What are these horrid values?]
[Goddamn, sure enough. As long as you survive enough infinite loop instances, you’ll see all kinds of garbage demons and monsters, smh.]
[I thought the last S-rank instance that locked the poor in sewers was disgusting enough. Who would have thought this would one-up it
 Can academic scores determine a person’s contribution to society? True respect, /bow.jpg]
[This instance is seriously terrible. It’s even worse than instances with supernatural monsters, holy fuck.]
[Those ten B-ranks have it hard
 I’d rather die by the hands of a monster instead
]
All the while, the teaching director continued to brag on the quadrangle.
“Our school, established a hundred years ago, has a rich and long history. Studying here is every student’s honour. In the next hundred and twenty days, we will hold four major exams—the first monthly exam, the mid-term exam, the third monthly exam, and the final exam. Routine weekly quizzes are not included and have no penalty.”
“Only students who have passed these four examinations can receive our school’s graduation certificate. Also, the first placing of every class will be appointed as class monitor until the next examination.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Beneath the platform, each trainee cast their gazes down, crystal clear what they had to do.
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At this time, no trainee had the mood to consider this. They’d be lucky to survive; who’d fret about their academic performance?
Especially notable was the underachiever Tsuchimikado, whose expression had already crumbled, feeling that he was bound to lose his S-ranking this round.
Just as everyone was doing their mental calculations, the teaching director threw another bomb into the mix.
“
This placement exam eliminates the bottom ten of the cohort, but in the upcoming monthly exam, we’ll rank the ten classes as a whole according to average scores.”
“The worst performing class will be executed altogether!”
At this, every trainee wore incredulity on their faces.
Ranked by the average score!
What did this imply? It meant that the ninety-nine students in every class would progress or regress together. As long as one person didn’t study well, he’d drag the entire class down, possibly resulting in the whole class getting punished because of him.
They weren’t playing house; this wasn’t the same as getting a time-out! It was a battle where their lives were at stake!
When they recalled the plight that those ten defenceless trainees were in, a deep sense of fear was struck into everyone’s hearts.
Because from the moment this rule was announced, each person’s life wasn’t only in their own hands but also in the hands of their classmates!
With this system rule in place, it directly disrupted the clear-cut division of power amongst the B-ranks, reorganising them into ten different camps.
Students from other classes were no longer teammates or friends, but serious competitors.
In the face of life and death, no amount of camaraderie would be of any use.
[They must be sick in the head. A class directly eliminated at the next monthly exam?]
[One class is made up of 99 B-rank trainees! Are they seriously going to be eliminated just like that? For real?]
[I know right. What if it’s an S-rank’s class that gets eliminated. Even the thought of it is making me shiver.]
[This is what you call a hell-mode instance. Hot damn, if someone in class drags down the average score, won’t the whole class be buried with them?]
Of the ten classes of trainees, Class 10’s reaction was the most intense.
Two of the top ten were in Class 1, whilst the best student in Class 10 was the twelfth in the cohort. There was naturally a chasm between them and the other classes.
They consoled themselves. “Don’t be afraid; how can we tell anything from the first placement exam? Who knows, maybe we’ll charge right to the top after forty days of revision.”
“Exactly. Don’t cut the wind in your sails and spur others on.”
“Yeah, this is a matter of life and death. We can’t be the first to wimp out.”
Soon after, the teaching director announced the conclusion of the exam and that classes would commence in the afternoon as per usual.
As instructed, trainees got up and began to move their tables and chairs from the quadrangle into their respective classrooms to get ready for class.
First High School’s daily class schedule for autumn was neatly posted in the classroom.
Mealtimes weren’t factored into the schedule. It was obvious that the system had specially adjusted this schedule in light of the trainees’ lack of necessity for food.
There was a period for morning reading, four classes in the morning and four in the afternoon, and two periods of self-study in the evening. After school before evening self-study was free time for the students to arrange their own activities. They could use this time to shower every day. The evening self-study was supposed to be three periods, but the third period was a free period for the students to dictate for themselves. The schedule was packed.
Unquestionably, Class 9 had the most vibrant atmosphere of all classes.
After all, the figure that everyone had their eyes on had directly named himself as Class 9’s homeroom teacher.
Every B-rank trainee was honoured to have the opportunity to receive No. 1’s personal guidance—of course, aside from Zong Jiu.
After returning to their classrooms, as the teachers didn’t come along with them, the trainees in the class were abuzz in discussion.
“Our homeroom teacher is actually him!”
“My god, seriously the greatest honour!”
“I never thought that he’d personally participate in this instance.”
Zong Jiu listened from the sideline and noticed the trainees were quick to get into character. At this time, they had already started to refer to Class 9 as ‘our class’, which was a good sign indeed.
Though on the other hand, it was seriously irritating to listen to their non-stop exaltations. Zong Jiu firmly cut into everyone’s discussion.
“Did everyone get zero for political science?”
Everyone was silent.
They had yet to work out what kind of attitude they wanted to show the Magician. However, considering the other was fourth in the cohort and first in their class, the class monitor appointed by the teaching director, as well as a promising trainee that the Devil looked favourably upon, they had to watch where they stepped. Furthermore, in view of how strict the school rules were, if they weren’t careful, they might have to beg the class monitor to help them at the next exam. As such, they didn’t dare to brush him off, promptly answering him.
“Yeah. I basically filled in everything but I still got zero. It’s really weird.”
The trainee at index 99 trembled. “I also crammed everything I could. Damn it, politics is the only thing I can write about in this paper, but I didn’t get a single point at all, almost
”
He was at index 99. In other words, he was last in class and had just toed the line of life and death, almost falling to bottom ten in the cohort and sharing their fate.
“Geez, we’ll be ranked by class in the next exam.”
Worried, bitter smiles were unwillingly forced onto their faces. “We’d have been okay if we were to compete in other areas instead. It’s been so many years since we graduated yet now we have to go back and revisit our high school syllabus
 just too evil.”
“Totally. Let alone the high school syllabus, I can hardly remember real world affairs anymore.”
Their thoughts drifted to how they’d have to make enemies of their former teammates and friends, and suddenly the mood turned sullen. “We used to move in teams in the infinite loop. Everyone in guilds and parties were brothers and sisters who fought alongside each other, who would have thought that now
 god.”
“Don’t overthink it.”
Zong Jiu frowned. “There’s still thirty days. Everyone is starting from the same line. What’s going to happen when the time comes is anyone’s guess.”
“Or do you intend to give up here and give others hope of life?”
Silence blanketed the classroom.
While this line was incisive, it was reality.
Everyone was selfish. No matter how reluctant, they would still forge forth.
But there were always pricks who were unwilling to step down. “This is just one placement exam. How much weight do you think coming in first carries? I’ll just wait and see if you get driven down in the next monthly exam.”
“Oh? I’m sorry, even in this placement exam, you only ranked fiftieth-something. If you can do it, go ahead and try for first next time. I’ll be watching.”
That person immediately choked.
“Since I’m the class monitor, this is all I’ll say for now.”
The white-haired Magician spread his arms, and his voice was icy. “In the next forty days, I don’t want anyone in Class 9 to hold the class back.”
“From now on, it doesn’t matter how willing you are, which guild you’re from, or how many aces you have under your sleeve. These are redundant now, because we’re all grasshoppers tied together on a string. We live together, we die together.”
“Fellow classmates, times have changed. Right now, your exam scores are the sole metric and salvation.”
“Of course—”
Zong Jiu drew out his words, “If anyone doesn’t like having me as class monitor, then outscore me in the next examination or meet me in the grove after school for a fight. If you can’t beat me, then shut up and do what I tell you.”
The class quietened down, each showing more excited expressions.
Their abrupt obedience surprised Zong Jiu, but just then, suddenly realising something, he slowly turned around.
A dark-haired man holding a book was standing right behind him, his slender figure leaning forward ever so slightly.
He rested icy fingers on Zong Jiu’s shoulder, and the coldness seeped through the blue and white school uniform, reaching straight to the surface of his skin, chilling him to his marrow.
“Quite an inspiring speech, but allow me a word of caution.”
He said merrily, “Fighting is forbidden within the school premises. Rule breakers will directly receive a demerit.”