We were led to a hall that looked like some kind of lecture hall where a large group of people were standing on a semicircular platform that was raised incrementally to surround a single podium in the centre of the far wall.

I’m guessing everyone here was also trying to enter this academy as a student.

I estimate that there’s at least a hundred or so people in here and we’re all competing for the twenty slots that were available.

Now I’m a bit concerned about how they were planning on cutting down our numbers to just twenty of us...

Our android guide led us to a space where we could stand and told us to wait for further instructions before leaving the room.

Taking the time to inspect our competition, most of them seemed to be Mercs if we’re going by how they were dressed and armed.

I’m actually more surprised that they didn’t demand that we disarm when we boarded the station but I guess they have their own ways of making sure people don’t just start shooting each other for whatever reason here.

Or... They just don’t care if you did.

A few more groups of people were escorted in by different androids before the lights in the room dimmed, leaving a single spotlight to shine on the podium itself.

A person literally ascended from the ground behind the podium and I assume there must be some kind of platform behind it that allowed them to do that.

The person was wearing a full faced helmet which was completely opaque and hid their face from view. Still, from their larger shoulders, I’m assuming this is a guy... Or maybe just another android.

"Welcome, prospective cadets. I thank you all for choosing us to obtain your pilot license. I’m the current headmaster of this school and I once served the UTM as an Exo-Knight pilot myself. There’s no need for you to know who I am but I can guarantee you that my skills with the Exo-Knight are legitimate which is why I expect only the best to pass through my academy to obtain their pilot license."

My guy, we’re only here for two weeks to get our license... This is like listening to your driving instructor giving a speech about them being a driver and that only the best can get a driver’s license from them... No one cares, just give us the license and we’ll be out of here.

It’s not like this is some super prestigious academy or something... This is basically like your local DMV or something similar...

Still, none of us said anything and just let this guy say what he wants since we’re still dependent on them to give us that license.

The guy continued, "As you might already know, there is only space for twenty of you to attend our academy and right now, there are a hundred and fifty six of you. We will have to trim that number down so I will have all of you go through a test and the ones with the best aptitudes will be allowed to become an official cadet. Outside of this place, you might have some kind of name for yourself but in here, that means nothing. So if that does not work for you, please step out right now."

There was a moment of silence as no one moved.

He nodded, "Very well, the test shall start now. If I may draw your attention to the tables in front of you, you should be able to see a wrist band right now."

I looked down and sure enough, several silver bands popped out from a hole on the table. All of them were unadorned and looked like a silver cuff where it was not a full circle but had one small part of it missing.

"Put one on and you will officially be a participant of the test. The test is simple. In the next room, we have prepared a simulation where you will take control of a simulated Exo-Knight. It will be a battle royale format where all of you will have to fight each other and for every kill you get, you get ten points and for every defeat, you lose five points. Even if your Exo-Knight gets destroyed, you will respawn after a few moments. We will take the top twenty people with the highest score. There are no other rules. Any questions?"

Well yeah... What kind of stupid test is this?

We came here to learn how to pilot an Exo-Knight and to get the license for one so how stupid is it that the test basically makes you pilot one before you even start learning how to use it?

This is like going to a driving school and the first thing they do is put you in a car and say that they’ll only teach you if you show them you can drive.

Who the heck came up with this idea?

And it seems like I wasn’t the only one to think so either because someone else on the other side of the room raised their hand.

"Hey... How do you expect us to be able to do that if all of us are newbies who came here to learn how to pilot an Exo-Knight to begin with? We literally don’t even know how one works."

The masked guy didn’t seem surprised by his question and merely gestured towards the rest of the room, "As I said. We are only looking for people with the best aptitude. All of you are on equal grounds right now and you’re being thrown into this. So the only thing you can do is adapt and improvise. Such is the way."

That’s just a bunch of bullshit.

It’s not like they made sure everyone here was a complete newbie before they came here... Like look at Yumiko, she definitely has experience with piloting an Exo-Knight so she would have a clear advantage over everyone else here. I’m sure there’s at least one other person inside this room who has also piloted an Exo-Knight before in this batch.

And as though that guy was connected by some kind of telepathy with me, he even pointed the same thing out too.

"You didn’t even vet anyone here, who’s to say that some of them might have had experience with Exo-Knights before which would grant them an advantage over everyone else here?"

The masked guy raised his hand, "There is no need to worry, for the simulators use controls that are completely different from standard Exo-Knights. So in fact, their own experience with Exo-Knights would be detrimental to them as they would not be able to control it like how they had. They will have to discard everything they know about Exo-Knights before they could even control it. Thus, the battlefield remains even."

Huh... Ok, I guess that’s fair... I still think it’s a dumb way to test though but whatever... I could also say that I’m one of the people who has had experience with Exo-Knights since I’ve also played games where you have to pilot a mech suit as well. And I’m pretty sure there’s also similar games like that in this universe anyway.

The masked guy waited for a while more to see if there were any other questions and when no one else said anything, he raised his hand and one of the doors at the side slid open.

"If there is nothing else, proceed to the next room where my assistants will lead you to one of the simulators where you can start this test. Best of luck to all of you."

He then lowered back down through the floor and I suspect that he was doing all of it for dramatic purposes...

All of us filtered through the doorway and into the next room where it was full of those simulator machines that were shaped like eggs scattered throughout the room.

When he mentioned about using the simulator, I was wondering if he had enough to have all of us go at once or we might need to take turns but I guess this answers that question.

He’s definitely doing really well for him to afford so many of these things... Because last I remembered, even one of these would have cost at least several tens of thousands of Credits.

Guess being an Exo-Knight instructor is really lucrative, even without the bribes.

We were then allocated a machine each and I climbed inside mine, finding it similar to the VR Capsule in design.

The only difference is that there’s something like a pilot seat and some other odd looking controls around the seat.

Guess I’m going to have to figure out how to use them in a while.

As I settled down into my seat and the capsule closed in front of me, a thought suddenly came into my mind.

I don’t think they would let us identify who is who on the battlefield so... What’s going to happen if I run into one of my girls?