"*Ahem* Y-yes You heard that correctly We have broken a new record on deaths for an exam and teams with negative points for an exam. Out of the 6,212 students that went in, only 4,348 returned... And over half of you actually ended up with a negative score" The General awkwardly continued, the crowd still silent and shocked.
"What was supposed to be a light-hearted exam to teach you, team-work against weak beasts on a dark planet to prepare for the unexpected turned into a blood bath, something we did not at all expect The average beast on that planet was only supposed to be around low E rank and the ones higher than that were almost impossible to find unless you go out of your way to look for them," The General said before being cut off by a student in the audience.
"That's bullshit! The average beast was at least a D rank! And they all came at us in waves! All in the darkness of the night! That was bullshit! I can't protect 3 weak ass F ranks you gave me all the while fighting hordes of beasts at the same time! Just because I am an A rank doesn't mean I should be stuck with a bunch of trash that did nothing but hold me back and make my score negative!" A short yet menacing cyan-haired student complained.
"W-well we had to make the teams equal in someway And, we had no idea about the beasts being that strong. The test was made on the same planet last year and nothing bad happened. If anything student's thought that it was way too easy We had no way of tracking or knowing if you guys were on the planet as the signal to your watch was too far, the only way we could find your location was with the emergency buttons. So, we didn't know that so many people died as the exam was going on. Trust me, if we did, we would have ended the exam long before any of this got so out of hand," The General awkwardly said, leading the crowd to go into outrage.
"You can't be serious! I failed this exam just because of some bullshit like that!"
"Even if this isn't worth as much as the other tests, a failing grade will still fuck with my average!"
"Fuck! my family is gonna kill me when they find out about this..."
"My best friend died because of your negligence! A lot can change in a year!"
"S-so, T-that is why I have decided to give everyone a perfect, passing grade on this exam despite all the low scores! This all happened due to my negligence also, expect an extra $1000 in your school's bank account as a personal apology from me and the school." The General said, making most of the high ranking and even low ranking students stop sobbing and complaining to celebrate.
This proved that most of the students cared more about their grades and passing the exam than the life of their friends which made Alex scoff at them in disgust.
"And for all your fallen comrades I am deeply sorry I know that a lot of you probably stored their bodies in your storage rings. We will give them all a proper burial in the country Z cemetery to honour their brave souls" The General said, making the rowdy crowd a little more serious once more.
"Now, the moment you have all been waiting for, The results for the top 3 teams. We did not mention the reward but that was only to see how much you guys would try when there was no reward you were aiming for. All the rewards will be split equally between all the members of the team. The first-place team will receive $15,000, the second will be $5000, and the third will be $2,500," The General said, making the other teams wait with baited breaths for the final results.
Although they had access to a leaderboard, it was completely inaccurate as it did not include the -1000 point penalty from losing a member. They all knew who was going to be in first place but the other 2 places were still a complete mystery to them.
"In third place with 2 casualties, we have team Nags Axel with 9,947 points," The General announced, making the huge crowd turn their focus on the short cyan haired guy that spoke out against the General earlier as started to arrogantly boast of his achievements.
"I carried an entire team of shitters all on my back and still managed to get in third place! hahahhaha!"
Moby expected such a result. Although his team had more points, they still lacked behind due to their -3,000 point penalty. However, he did not care much, losing $2,500 was not the worst thing in the world as he could easily make that much in a week just from Jayden's allowance alone.
"In second place with 0 casualties, we have team Alex Hart with 11,422 points," The General announced, leading the crowd to look at the smiling Alex's direction who just gave a cheeky wave at everyone looking at him.
"And as no surprise to anyone, In first place with only 1 casualty, we have team Abby Reid with a record-breaking 51,897 points! She and her team broke the country record for this test, which was only 28,582 points that was set by none other than her sister last year by a long, long, margin!" The General said, making the crowd stare at Abby once more who smiled and puffed out her chest in pride, as in her mind, she was representing her lord at that moment.
"She not only managed to discover a new species of goblin, but also ended up completely eradicating every last one of them and their city, making them completely extinct, leaving us no live subject to study." He added with an awkward chuckle.
"Well, that will be all for now! You have all worked and fought very hard for the past week! You all deserve a rest! You will have a 1 week break from school just to cool off and rest! However, until 3 o'clock, you must stay on school premises. In the next few hours, every single one of you will be called to down Arena B to take your lie detector tests! Just wait until you receive a ringing sound on your watch before coming down to the arena! You are now all dismissed!" The General concluded his speech with a fake smile, sweat still running down his face.
'I am so fucking fired' He inwardly cursed before taking in a massive gulp of siliava..
After hearing the General's speech, Moby could not help but laugh as it made him in a very cheerful mood. A 1 week break was too good to be true. It would make his life and Natalia's torture much, much, easier as it removed a lot of the hassle and lost time that school added.
As the horde of students were exiting the school's main Arena, Moby contacted all of his family members except for Natalia to sneak up to their designated meeting spot, the school roof.
He ordered Natalia to just act completely natural as if nothing important had ever happened during the exam.
At first, Moby was unsure if such simple commands would even work. However, after a few experiments with his power to give orders using her as his test subject during the exam, he found out that simple commands were also really effective as they completely conveyed his intentions. The only thing that he could not do was order her to do something that was impossible or control her emotions to make her feel a certain way. The most he could make her do in that regard was order her to do was pretend to feel certain emotion yet not actually feeling it.
Natalia had told him that she had a way of getting past the lie detector test as she had a deal with one of the teachers by bribing them due to her family status. At first, Moby thought that he could use her and this teacher to get past the lie detector test instead of using his new skill. However, he quickly scrapped the idea as it was extremely stupid and risky for no reason at all. He did not want to draw any unnecessary suspicions towards himself by doing such a stupid thing as making a corrupt teacher know that he had something bad to hide.
So, he just stuck with his original plan and told Natalia and Travis to get past the lie detector tests via the corrupt teachers as to not draw any doubts towards them. It would have been weird for them to make a deal with them only to not go through with it in the end.
Moby's plan to get by the lie detector test was both simple and in his mind, completely full proof. With the use of his new mind skill and Jayden's doppelganger powers, there was nothing that the lie detector could do.
Lesser Memory Manipulation [ Level 1 ]
By staring at a target's eyes for 1 minute, the user can tamper with /change their memories to a certain extent from the 2 weeks prior to its activation. The skill requires the full consent of the target and only lasts for 30 minutes before they go back to normal, remembering all that had transpired. This skill cannot be used on the user.
Activation Time: 60 seconds
Duration: 30 minutes
Cost: 100 Demon Energy