Shortly after lunch, the new students entered different training rooms according to their randomly assigned numbers to participate in various simulation exercises.
There were three stages in the simulation. The first stage pitted them against two Scythe Honkai, essentially free points. Any Valkyrie who came to St. Freya couldn’t even defeat two Honkai, she might as well go home early and call it a day.
To the school administrators’ relief, the pass rate for the first stage for this year’s freshmen was 100%. Everyone secured the basic points.
However, much like a certain frustrating game, the second stage’s difficulty spiked dramatically. Each new student had to face 4 Charge-type Honkai Beasts, 3 Scythe Honkai, 3 Dual-blade Honkai, and 2 Archer Honkai. Furthermore, the movement area became very limited, making it impossible to dodge attacks solely by maneuvering.
Enoxia looked at the cannon fodder she was about to face, her face filled with worry.
Unlike in the Sea of Quanta, the staff at Schicksal were quite meticulous and rigorous. If she were to temporarily alter the data of the monsters or herself too outrageously, they would likely make her retake the test immediately.
But she didn’t want to steal Kiana’s and the others’ spotlight either. So, how could she ensure she wouldn’t obliterate the enemies instantly while still guaranteeing her advancement?
Of course, she could simply ask Theresa to pull some strings for her. But that would mean needing the admin’s permission to be the ‘big boss,’ which took all the fun out of it.
“Ah, forget it, no use overthinking. I’ll just fight normally.”
As the start command sounded, Enoxia shot an arrow into the sky. The arrow burst open like a flower, splitting into hundreds of smaller arrows that rained down. The Honkai and Charge-type Honkai Beasts were riddled with holes before they could even get close.
Enoxia watched the word “PASS” appear above her head. Ignoring the stunned proctors and observing classmates, she turned and left the training room.
By the third stage, the number of people had noticeably decreased. When Enoxia arrived, Kiana was next in line.
The opponent for the third stage was a single Chariot-class Honkai Beast, and the simulated scenario was an urban cityscape. Even though they knew everything before them was an illusion, the Chariot-class Honkai Beast’s building-height stature still delivered a massive visual impact. The student before Kiana lost her nerve before the fight even began, resulting in a defeat declared in under ten rounds, after which she scurried out in disgrace.
Watching the girl’s fearful and deeply ashamed expression, Kiana scratched her head in confusion, then entered the simulation training ground.
[Hostile module loading…]
[20%, 50%, 80%, 90%…]
[Hostile module loading complete.]
“Chè chè!”
The Chariot-class Honkai Beast bellowed as it charged towards Kiana with heavy steps, each footfall making the ground seem to shake.
For Kiana, who had seen real Chariot-class Honkai Beasts before, this fake naturally held no terror for her. She stood motionless, quietly waiting for it to approach.
“Strange, why isn’t this candidate moving? Her expression doesn’t look like she’s frozen in fear either. What is she planning?”
When the Chariot-class Honkai Beast was merely tens of meters away, the mystery was solved. Kiana leaped from the ground, reaching a height greater than the Honkai Beast, then delivered a powerful kick straight to its head.
“Neko Charm!”
A giant cat’s paw materialized mid-air and slammed down, kicking the Chariot-class Honkai Beast flying.
The Honkai Beast spun through the air like a top several times before crashing to the ground with a loud “thud,” dead.
Relying on pure, overwhelming force, Kiana annihilated the Chariot-class Honkai Beast in a single strike, becoming the student with the shortest clear time so far. Seeing the teachers’ astonished looks and her classmates’ envious gazes, Kiana swaggered out of the training area, her pride practically lifting her chin to the sky.
With Kiana setting the benchmark, Enoxia knew how to handle her own test. Facing the Chariot-class Honkai Beast, she intentionally missed a few shots and let the timer run just a tad faster, ensuring her final score wouldn’t break the top five.
During dinner, Enoxia once again sat with Kiana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya. Even though they had only chatted briefly at lunch, Enoxia could clearly feel that Mei and Bronya were significantly warmer and more familiar with her now.
“Tomorrow, everyone who passed the third stage must take an additional test,” Bronya stated calmly while eating her meal. “All participants will be divided into groups and enter the same simulated environment for a mock combat exercise.”
Kiana, as usual, talked with her mouth full. “Pfft, it’s just a simulation. We’ve even experienced real Honkai outbreaks, why should we be scared of a fake one? As soon as we get in tomorrow, I’ll link up with Mei—”
Before Kiana could finish, Bronya shot her a disdainful look. “Idiot Kiana, don’t interrupt. I haven’t finished. In tomorrow’s test, all students will use standardized virtual avatars, and weapons can only be chosen from a limited selection of just over 1,000 types. The only distinguishing feature between individuals will be their assigned number. We won’t know who is who.”
Kiana’s face immediately fell. “Whaaaat? Why? Fighting alongside teammates you’re not familiar with will seriously reduce combat effectiveness!”
“Idiot Kiana, do you think you can always choose your teammates on future missions? What if you get separated from Mei sister during a mission?”
“…I don’t wanna be separated from Mei…”
This time, even Kiana herself understood that, even though the Principal knew her well, it was impossible to guarantee she’d always be paired with Mei on every mission. So, the usually talkative Kiana closed her mouth and focused on eating.
Enoxia, of course, already knew the details of tomorrow’s test. Since no one would know who anyone else was, it was the perfect opportunity to have some fun.
After dinner, Enoxia arrived at a small villa specially arranged for her by Theresa. Theresa was worried that having another Valkyrie live with Enoxia might lead to them seeing something they shouldn’t, resulting in Enoxia having to alter their memories or perceptions.
St. Freya Academy was established, to some extent, to allow Valkyries to find their “true selves.” Naturally, Theresa wanted to minimize the probability of them losing that “true self.”
All management personnel supported Theresa’s proposal and provided Enoxia with every convenience.
Enoxia wasn’t freeloading or enjoying privileges without giving anything back. She paid St. Freya Academy 100 million yen (over 5 million RMB) monthly as rent. Enoxia stated that if anyone could offer a higher price, she would yield the villa to them.
Some teachers naturally wanted to oppose this plan that clearly favored one particular student, but there was no helping it—Enoxia was simply offering too much.
Of course, the so-called “small” villa was only in comparison to the one she shared with Sirin on the island. Although it was only one story, it had a study, living room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, all fully equipped. The living room had a TV that could access all channels without pop-ups, ads, or payment screens. The study had a computer that could display 8K resolution without requiring any subscriptions.
“The conditions are really good… though I don’t actually need most of this… Oh well, I’ll just treat it as an additional base for dealing with unexpected situations. Network connection… complete.”
Enoxia slipped into the computer and returned to her own home.
“Yaay, Enoxia’s back! Are you having fun at St. Freya?”
As soon as she reached the living room, Elysia’s holographic projection greeted her enthusiastically.
“Of course! There are thousands of unique and beautiful girls there, you know~?”
“Enoxia, you’re deliberately teasing me, aren’t you? You know, my mind is already imagining four—no, five different versions of what it’s like now~!”
Enoxia blinked playfully, then looked at Cecilia, her expression becoming somewhat more serious.
“From what I saw today, Theresa has perfectly implemented your philosophy and… your final wishes. Here, every Valkyrie gets to live as a ‘person’ first, before becoming a soldier. However…”
“However what?”
“However, counting me, there are already three Herrschers at St. Freya Academy. To monitor Kiana, Otto will send Fu Hua over. According to info from Anti-Entropy, Welt Yang is also coming, apparently to teach history… I don’t know why neither Schicksal nor Anti-Entropy have any issue with a male teacher joining an all-girls school… Anyway… with four Herrschers and one former-era MANTIS, St. Freya is about to become the demon’s den of the Far East.”
Listening to Enoxia describe the situation at St. Freya, Cecilia felt deeply gratified.
The next afternoon, St. Freya Academy, Fourth Laboratory.
There were about a hundred students who had cleared all three stages yesterday. They entered the same room, lay down on beds, and put on devices similar to VR headsets.
In the blink of an eye, the scene before Enoxia changed.
“This is… Nagazora? Schicksal is really cutting corners, just directly copying the blocks around Senba Academy.”
Enoxia looked around and found that everyone had become black-haired women with the same face, wearing camouflage uniforms. Their faces were very blurry, the models resembling cheap NPCs from some video game.
“A07, so that’s my number.”
Others also began exploring the map and their own avatars. Just then, a voice that was clearly AI-synthesized rang out:
“Honkai eruption in 100 seconds. Please use this time to select your equipment.”
An interface popped up in front of Enoxia’s eyes, with a countdown timer steadily decreasing in the upper right corner.
“The weapon variety has indeed been reduced quite a bit. All pretty standard stuff like submachine guns, pistols, sniper rifles, and greatswords…”
Spotting a red-painted Barrett, a slight smile touched Enoxia’s lips as she began adjusting its various parameters. By now, she had complete mastery over all the data in this simulation space.
“Rules: This simulated combat exercise consists of 10-person groups… survive for as long as possible… Good grief, 100 seconds to read the rules, pick suitable equipment, and familiarize yourself with the terrain as much as possible? That is indeed a bit tight.”
The moment the countdown hit zero, hundreds of Honkai Beasts instantly appeared across the map. Perhaps because Chariot-class and Templar-class Honkai Beasts were too large and took up too much memory, there was only one of each type on the entire map.
However, since the spawn points were completely random, some people had extremely bad luck, appearing right in the middle of a pack of Honkai Beasts the moment the countdown ended.
In less than a minute after the start, four team members had already “fallen,” while only a few Honkai Beasts had been eliminated.
Unlike the other members struggling in combat, Enoxia, by exploiting clipping through walls and terrain, reached a vantage point without firing a single bullet.
“Really, why so tense? Just treat it like an immersive FPS game.”
Checking the remaining team members’ data and emotional states, Enoxia shook her head somewhat disappointedly.
Five minutes later, three other lucky team members managed to reach this spot. Taking the unconventional route required navigating several turns, which also meant the Honkai Beasts hadn’t breached this area yet.
Enoxia knew only the four of them remained. The first wave of Honkai Beasts was barely depleted, and the second wave had already begun.
However, there were no supply crates on this map. Firearms only came with three magazines total; once the bullets were spent, it was down to bayonets.
But considering the damage output, even with perfect accuracy, emptying one magazine would at best take out two Charge-type Honkai Beasts. The Chariot-class and Templar-class weren’t really meant to be killed. Frankly, this assessment wasn’t testing combat prowess but survival ability.
As for weapons like the Barrett, which could take out a Charge-type Honkai Beast in two shots, they only came with six bullets total. Due to their slow rate of fire, Enoxia was the only one among the ten who had chosen it.
By now, two of the other three team members were out of ammo, and the last one had less than one magazine left. Although the terrain here was complex, they understood this merely changed a death sentence to a temporary stay of execution.
Just then, a powerful melody suddenly blared:
[Packing the bags and setting off…]
Following the sound, they saw Enoxia, now with her own background music, raise her sniper rifle and fire several shots per second at the distant Chariot-class Honkai Beast.
Enoxia hadn’t actually done much. Aside from enabling herself to clip through walls, adding plugins for infinite ammo and auto-aim, she had merely modified the Barrett’s firing rate to match that of a submachine gun.
Dozens of seconds later, the Chariot-class Honkai Beast collapsed and its body vanished. It seemed it was just designed with a large health pool, not as unkillable. Theoretically, once out of ammo, one could use movement to constantly evade its attacks and eventually take it down with melee weapons.
With no F11 or F12 key available, the other team members could only watch as Enoxia single-handedly surrounded hundreds of Honkai Beasts. Simultaneously, they felt extremely fortunate to be in her group. No matter what, their survival time would be far superior to other groups.
If the big boss just wants to protect humanity, what’s wrong with that?
