Auron Vale kept working the numbers as he filled in his answers. Fortunately, his mind didn't run slow; even the trick questions with all their twists revealed the key point quickly enough, so his pace never lagged.
They'd been given two hours in total, but a little over an hour in, Auron had already finished. In the remaining half hour, he went back through the paper once, then idly twirled his pen and took a glance around at all the anxious faces pulling grimaces over their sheets. When the window to turn in early opened, he handed his paper to the proctor and stepped out.
Learning from the morning's lesson, he didn't head for the main gate this time. Instead, he sprawled on a patch of lawn under the trees, eyes half-closed, letting the sunlight warm his body.
It was a bit hot, sure—but with the afternoon breeze, the heat felt less stifling and more like a lazy weight.
Math and science done, history came next—ninety minutes, fifty points total.
When the bell rang to end the test and the papers were collected, Auron stretched. That officially wrapped the day's written exams. Tomorrow would be the practicals.
He packed up and left the building, meeting up with his parents to head home together. For whatever reason, whenever Auron and his dad were together, Gengar preferred to slip into Auron's shadow rather than Ashen's.
After dinner, Auron picked up his phone and popped open the group chat.
Auron Vale: @everyone The written part's done for today. How'd you all do?
Simon Greaves: Not bad. Nothing too hard.
Jace Rowan: This stuff is supposed to stump me?
Tim Wynn: Pretty okay. My score shouldn't be low.
Serena Elm: I'm fine~ No worries here!
Hanling Yin: Easy~
Auron Vale: Good. Then let's bring it tomorrow for the practicals.
Everyone: Got it!
Simon Greaves: @Auron Vale Oh, right—which university are you thinking of?
Jace Rowan: @Simon Greaves Why so chatty today? Don't tell me @Hanling Yin grabbed your phone to ask.
Hanling Yin: He did not! He just doesn't like interacting with people much. It's not like he can't talk!!
Auron Vale: We're probably all going Skyspire University. How about you two?
Simon Greaves: "Hmm… we haven't really decided. But if you all pick Skyspire, we'll pick Skyspire too."
Hanling Yin: @Simon Greaves Didn't Dad say he wanted us to go to Capital University?
Jace Rowan: @Simon Greaves @Hanling Yin (shocked.jpg) Wait, you two don't live together???
Simon Greaves: …
Hanling Yin: Of course not!!!! We're not married!! Why would we be living together!! (bonk) (bonk) (bonk)
Jace Rowan: (scratch-head.jpg) Okay, okay—I just thought…
Hanling Yin: (frustrated.jpg) Aaaahhh!! Jace! Be grateful you're not in the same exam room as me!!
Jace Rowan: Practical exam tomorrow. I'm turning in early. Later.
Auron Vale: …
Tim Wynn: …
Simon Greaves: …
Serena Elm: Hahaha, Jace, look at you for once! This is so cathartic.
Auron couldn't help smiling at his phone. He typed a "Good night" to the group, set the device aside, and curled up with his Munchlax to sleep.
…
The night passed without incident.
The next morning, they were assigned a new venue—different from yesterday's. The practical exam used a different setup from the written one.
Unlike the written test, which merely requisitioned high-school classrooms, the practical exam took place in temporary facilities built on every school's athletic field. The city had mobilized all school grounds for this one day.
Vantora had been buzzing the previous night. For the children's exams, countless workers had hammered out, in a single night, everything every school would need.
The practical exam had three parts. The first part assessed training and care.
It focused on the state of a candidate's Pokémon: overall development, whether any potential had been force-tapped or future growth overdrawn, and similar issues. Full marks: 100.
The second part was a comprehensive assessment. It evaluated all aspects of the Pokémon—physical robustness, the health of their regimen, mental state, signs of lingering injuries. It covered these broad categories and was likewise worth 100 points.
These first two parts were essentially checks on the Pokémon themselves and on the Trainer's raising methods.
The last part was the combat trial, worth 200 points total.
Those 200 points were subdivided into three tiers.
Before the combat trial, each Trainer chose a difficulty. There were three difficulty settings, corresponding to three scoring tiers.
First, Easy had a base full score of 50 points. The candidate and their Pokémon battled a randomly selected exam Pokémon.
Easy Optional Bonus: From among regular university freshmen, one student would be selected at random. A battle hologram of that student would command the exam Pokémon to fight the candidate and their Pokémon.
If the candidate opted into the bonus, they received +10 points to the cap, raising the Easy full score to 100.
Medium had a base full score of 90 points. The candidate and their Pokémon battled a randomly selected Medium-difficulty exam Pokémon.
Medium Optional Bonus: From among Project 211 universities, one student would be randomly selected. Their holographic projection would command the exam Pokémon against the candidate and their Pokémon.
Opt in, and the candidate received +10 to the cap, bringing Medium's full score to 140.
Hard had a base full score of 140 points. The candidate and their Pokémon battled a randomly selected Hard-tier exam Pokémon.
Hard Optional Bonus: From among Project 985 universities, one student would be randomly selected. That student's holographic projection would command the exam Pokémon against the candidate and their Pokémon.
Opt in, and the cap increased by +10, pushing Hard's full score to 190.
Regardless of whether a candidate opted into a bonus, a win would always award an extra +10 afterward.
In other words, fighting only the exam Pokémon with no projected commander on the other side would leave you fifty points short compared to facing an exam Pokémon with a commander.
But those fifty points came with multiplicative difficulty. After all, we're talking high school seniors versus freshmen who've already spent a year at a university.
Never mind the clear differences between university and high-school battle curricula; the gap in sheer battle experience over that year alone was already significant.
Still, it all came down to the luck of the draw. Whether it was a regular university, a Project 211, or a Project 985, there were always standouts—and there were always bottom-tier picks.
Each difficulty tier drew from a single person—meaning the three tiers together only needed three individuals' holograms in total.
There was once a college entrance exam where the Hard-tier draw happened to land on the top-ranked freshman of that entire year. That year's Hard bracket was a chorus of tears. Conversely, there was a Medium-tier year where the draw pulled someone who raised powerful Pokémon but had poor command skills. That time, Easy-tier candidates were wailing too—regretting they hadn't chosen Medium instead of Easy.
The battle holograms used in the college entrance exam were a piece of cutting-edge tech—odd, almost uncanny. They'd been around a long time and had been part of the exam for ages.
And not just the exam: the more elite the institution, the stronger the figures encoded in its battle holograms.
Take Dax Jonas, for instance—he was one of Skyspire University's top battle hologram profiles. Swap in an ordinary school, and their strongest hologram might only be a near-Elite—someone just shy of Elite Four class.
Of course, anything can happen. Some regular universities also had Elite Four-class battle holograms—profiles of Elites who'd once graduated from their school and left a projection behind to give back to their alma mater. Once a university gained an Elite-class hologram, though, it tended to climb in the rankings over time.
(End of this chapter.)