Chapter 1293: Suspiciously Good Spirits

To be fair, the instructors could’ve had far more to worry about if a certain dungeon owner had decided to fully utilize the capabilities of one little system that was beginning to enjoy this exercise far too much.

Because what did they mean by plotting courses?!

Making accurate inventories?

Checking environmental controls?

Running diagnostic tests on the onboard navigation systems?

Ensuring every single cadet was properly accounted for before departure?!

How could they possibly require all those things D-29 found incredibly enjoyable and as easy as whirring elegantly, and then expect the little system to sit back without becoming part of the process?!

Such a tease!

Unfortunately, D-29 wasn’t technically enrolled at the Royal Military Academy.

It was a manager of managers!

And as much as the little system would’ve loved to demonstrate exactly how efficiently everything could’ve been handled, it still listened when its employer pointed out that the other cadets needed the opportunity to learn.

Even if their way was admittedly much slower than simply letting D-29 take care of everything it could.

Besides, Luca completing everyone else’s responsibilities without even moving much from his current position probably wouldn’t look particularly believable.

Especially when they were already painfully aware of all the cameras tracking their every move. Or, in the case of the dungeon manager doing practically all the work, potentially broadcasting just how little there was left for most of the other cadets to do.

Tsk.

Seriously, aside from the bathroom stalls, what angle was even free from supervision?!

The others might not have noticed just how extensive the surveillance was, but D-29 certainly had. The little system had already gone ahead to inspect their assigned battleship and discovered several layers of monitoring in place.

Not necessarily a bad thing.

Considering this was essentially an examination taking place far away from the Academy, it made perfect sense that the instructors would want to keep a close eye on everyone.

The problem was that there were so many eyes.

Enough that even Jax, who was about as lucky as a living person could possibly be, couldn’t guarantee he’d find somewhere private enough to slip into the dungeon space for even a little while without everyone immediately noticing that he’d entered a bathroom stall and was taking suspiciously long to come back out!

Safe to say, they needed to do everything as normally as possible.

"..."

Though several of the battleship invigilators probably would’ve fallen ill if they’d heard the absurd conversation between Luca and his system.

Or witnessed the increasingly suspicious, wordless eye conversations being exchanged between Luca, Jax, and Theo.

Because really...

If this was their idea of behaving normally, what the hell did they consider unusual?

__

For one, in the eyes of the supposedly expressionless and neutral examiners, the speed at which Battalion 10 managed to get all its members safely aboard the battleship was simply unprecedented.

Sure, quite a few cadets looked like they’d been left dizzy and disoriented several inches from their lives after Luca’s rather unconventional transportation method, but they were otherwise perfectly healthy!

Which, unexpectedly, already put Battalion 10 ahead in another area.

They hadn’t used any of their assigned medical supplies.

Several less fortunate battalions were already digging into theirs before they’d even managed to leave Planet Nova, since they wouldn’t be cleared for departure until their injured members had been properly treated.

Unless, of course, they were willing to disqualify those injured cadets entirely.

But doing so would affect their overall battalion evaluation and could even count against them in the event of a tie, so that wasn’t exactly an appealing option.

Clearly, Battalion 10 had managed to preserve not only its supplies but also its morale.

Yes.

That.

With such a smooth start, how could its members not be in good spirits?

At least, that would’ve been the logical conclusion.

Except that wasn’t what the proctors were talking about at all.

No, what had caught their attention was the strange enthusiasm of this very smiley and suspiciously easygoing group.

The proctors knew they weren’t supposed to move around or interfere unless they needed to inspect something for departure clearance. But remaining completely neutral was becoming increasingly difficult when the leadership they were observing didn’t seem to mind being approached, questioned, or even openly challenged by their own members.

They’d all heard about DG.

Admittedly, they’d probably watched as much footage of the guild as anyone else and formed a few assumptions about what its members would be like in person.

So it was rather difficult to reconcile those expectations with the sight of Battalion 10’s leadership casually asking everyone to introduce themselves by choosing where they belonged based on what they believed they were capable of doing and, more importantly, what they were actually interested in doing.

Right.

While the other battalions were probably fighting to receive their additional briefing as quickly as possible, the group that had somehow gotten all its members aboard first was using that precious head start to figure out exactly what kind of people they had to work with!

Eventually, one worried cadet, who had still chosen to line up under mecha maintenance despite her concerns, managed to voice the question clearly lingering in several people’s minds.

"Umm... is there a reason we’re doing this now, before we hear the additional information?"

The observing proctors nearly felt relieved.

At least there was still a normal person in this group!

Unfortunately for their increasingly strained facial muscles, the person who answered was none other than Theo Belgrave.

"That’s true," the Pharmacy prodigy admitted. "And normally, listening to the brief first would probably be more logical."

He hesitated briefly before continuing.

"But if you heard something that sounded dangerous or completely outside your comfort zone, what are the chances you’d let that influence what you picked?"

"!"

Several cadets paused.

"The Vice Principal already mentioned Liquid Metal Embrittlement earlier. I didn’t even know what that was until I asked Luca and he explained what he knew."

Theo gestured toward the mechanics among them.

"But if you asked me whether I’d rather serve as a mecha calibrator or a repair specialist after hearing exactly what repairs under those conditions might involve, I’d probably choose calibration. I’d be worried about wasting limited resources or working with something I’m not familiar with."

He glanced around.

"So if everyone starts thinking that way because the briefing scares them, how many mechanics willing to handle repairs would we have left?"

"..."