Chapter 11

In any world, I suppose they allow early submission of exam papers in the college entrance exam hall, right?

But the precondition for early submission is that you have stayed in the exam hall for at least half an hour.

Moreover, even if you submit early, you cannot immediately run away.

At this point, it's time to choose: 1. energy-saving hibernation, 2. start spacing out, 3. engage in a stare-down with the chief examiner, or 4. look around until warned by the security robot.

Actually, you can also choose all of them if you have enough time to experience every item.

Aomo only experienced three items: locking eyes with the chief examiner, looking around, and spacing out.

The lofty ambition felt while writing faded after handing in the paper; looking around brought only a heavier, solemn unease, each examinee's face shadowed with gloom, wearing expressions of anxiety, unease, despair, or pain.

It's already a time when one can harvest negative energy; really, no ascendant who takes an unconventional path considers staying to cultivate in the exam hall?

Watching and watching, I felt that the will I'd gained from syncing up with the horse racing girls in a race was about to be worn away and assimilated, yet time crawled so slowly that his mood was like the drizzle outside the window.

No.

Gazing at the drizzle outside the window, Aomo's mood suddenly improved.

He indeed has a fondness for rainy days—whether listening to raindrops hit the ground or enjoying the natural coolness brought by the rain flow, it can make him feel refreshed; but the real reason his mood improved was that the ever-cautious him had tucked a folding umbrella into his messenger bag.

No.

Ugly, too ugly—Aomo, how could you use others' misfortune to please yourself!

Aomo harshly self-criticized in his heart, gazing at the clouds outside the window, when a rumbling sound suddenly came; he saw that the massive gate-like building, towering like a landmark, emitted a brilliance that briefly pierced the clouds.

That was the activated star gate; each activation meant a batch of passengers embarking on the interstellar journey.

As one of the twelve traveler special zones of the Holy Terra Federation, the function buildings of the Gate Zone are never lacking, and they can enjoy ample natural sky.

Rather than other cities where towering skyscrapers, crowded hovercar fleets, and busy cargo ships obscure everything, necessitating holographic projections to pretend a patch of pure sky exists.

Simulating a relatively traditional, natural environment that most travelers can accept is the significance of the traveler special zones.

From this perspective, this overly conservative college entrance exam format is also putting that policy into practice.

Heaven Gate City (also possibly a large starport)

It is also a place that requires arrival via star gate transmission.

In other words, it won't be long before he can experience that star gate—provided his college entrance exam scores meet the standard,

Should be, perhaps no problem... Aomo originally had a sufficiently clear awareness and confidence in his own score line; although he couldn't hope to seize the throne of first place in the college entrance exam, at least being a Knight of the Round Table under King Arthur was no problem, even though people often remember only the few seated around the round table and overlook that the total number of Knights of the Round Table is actually over a hundred.

Boundary Gate District, Terra Federation

Boundary Gate District, Terra Federation

Some predictive functions based on maxed-out computing power had already been activated; some tests essentially knew the result from the very beginning.

But who can guarantee that the result of mechanical computation has no surprises?

Machines can be free of surprises, but people can have them; holding the belief that one might perform extraordinarily while others might falter, the necessity of the college entrance exam suffers no weakening.

But perhaps it's precisely because many had already assessed their situation early that so many show up before the exam with a posture of 'body and soul doomed,' 'Moscow is behind me,' 'The First Legion has no secrets!' 'As long as I can reach that place!' 'The pen feels light!' 'I will change the fate of failing!'

In this regard, Aomo himself belongs to the conservative camp—namely, he prefers to trust his own feeling, or intuition, over mechanical predictions.

Molisen, Telesen Academy

In the era when source energy and machinery develop together, no one would slight the intuition of a source-energy ascendant.

For ascendants, so-called intuition often amounts to a summary obtained after a flood of information swiftly passes by.

Just as Aomo sees that a horse racing girl's every movement in walking tends to favor bearing weight on the toes, he naturally thinks that is the fleeing horse's method of maintaining high speed; but if the other's steps are more even, accustomed to staying behind, then it is an omen of the chasing horse's stored energy bursting forth.... Thus, by giving Aomo confidence in the conclusion derived from accelerating deduction, this principle, when examined closely, also turns out to have a wonderful similarity to data calculation.

Both involve organizing information for deduction and swiftly arriving at a conclusion.

The greatest distinction between the human brain and machine lies in the true coordination and unity of the human brain and body, whereas machine... machine is not incapable, but have you not seen those two function blockers placed in the exam hall?

No.

Although this is also a necessary part of the college entrance exam, the saying 'the devil rises a foot, the Dao rises ten feet' is also commonplace.

However, the examinees in Aomo's exam hall are clearly of good quality, or perhaps too many have given up and resigned themselves to fate; even when they could actually run away, Aomo didn't see any of the traditional 'caught on the spot!' farce—instead, stepping out briskly, he bumped into a microphone thrust toward his face.

"Hello, fellow student, could you spare a moment of your time?"

"..." The insignia of the Gate Zone local TV station was crystal clear on the microphone; after glancing at the interviewee's attire and the burly man holding the camera nearby, Aomo understood, and with a sufficiently natural smile said, "College entrance interview? Sure."

"All right, as the third student to walk out of the college entrance exam hall, may I ask how your experience in the exam hall was?" The reporter seemed not intending to ask, as usual, how you did on the exam.

Source Energy Department

Necromancy Branch, Source Energy, Pain School

"Uh..." The reporter, not expecting such an answer, coughed and reverted to the most basic question: "How do you think you did on the exam?"

"Doing my best, in that environment just managing to walk out without breaking down counts as a victory."

"Student, are you perhaps planning to major in trainer?" the reporter asked again.

"No, I feel unable to bear the responsibilities of a trainer; as for which department to go to, please forgive me for keeping it secret."

Actually, I haven't decided yet which major to go into; we'll see later, but the thought that someone I know might see me like this makes me want to put on a front, just in case.

"Is there anything you'd like to say to the audience? By the way, the first thing the previous examinee said upon rushing out was: 'I hope Mejiro Bourbon wins the Asahi Cup.'"

Meipubopang, Ailisuzhi, Jidong District, Asahi Cup, Derby, Satsuki Sho

Training Staff

Although, due to Central Torrasen Academy always being in the Gate Zone, elements related to horse racing girls can be said to be within the exposure of Gate Zone citizens from childhood onward, yet this student's series of off‑the‑cuff answers still shocked her and the cameraman.

Telesen

"Also, I want to say that I hope all my fellow examinees can be more optimistic."

Really, thanks to him for still remembering to answer the original question; the reporter muttered inwardly, but her professionalism kept her going, she continued with a beaming smile, thanked him for the answer, said goodbye, and then had the cameraman refocus the lens on her face:

"Next, we'll look for the fourth lucky one!"

Telesen Academy, Chestnut East Dorm, Lifa

Mibu Bourbon, who only last month terminated the contract with the trainer due to a conflict over training policy, is currently in a state of lacking a trainer while ostensibly recuperating (written as resting).

If it were hundreds of years ago, horse girls recovering from injuries would still be taken for granted, but given today's medical standards, talking about recuperating is somewhat of an excuse—most injuries and ailments can heal quickly on their own, and even some diseases once considered incurable now have curative treatments; several horse girls known for fragile bones, being here, can be said to be welcoming a good era.

It also makes horse girl races as seen by some time travelers less predictable, and even the horse girls as seen by horse girl players show differences in each attribute compared to memory; certain distance affinities and the like are no longer fixed.

At such a time, even trainers who cling to their preconceptions are indeed not as good as horse girls who personally feel their own physical condition.

And the suitability mentioned by that youth is also bluntly, hitting the core of the conflict between her and the trainer that blew up.

「It is feasible to adopt, 」Lifa's horse girl, with mechanized self-discipline and manner of speaking, is called a cyborg, 「Is that... the uniform of Limen Middle School？」.

「Do you think he can be a trainer? 」.

「Cannot confirm... the only thing that can be confirmed is that he does not intend to become Master. 」.

In the same dormitory area, different rooms, the roommate, not the brown-haired horse girl in the dormitory, was merely observing the precipitate in the test tube, but heard the hurried, fierce footsteps approaching outside the door.

Pushing the door open was a head of pink hair—none other than her overly noisy yet somewhat useful roommate,

「What's up? Shumajun, any big news? 」.

Well-informed, that is one of the roommate's abilities; however, most of the information the roommate gathers is not what she cares about, so Ailisuzhi calmly returns her attention to the test tube, no longer paying attention to that out-of-breath roommate.

「Su, Suzi! Unbelievable! Someone's directly praising you on TV!! 」.

「？」.

Not everyone pays attention to the college entrance exam live interview, but the student council and the chairman obviously need to know the situation of same-city examinees; however, these momentary surprises can't compare to the liveliness of Lidong Dormitory.