On this particular day, every school in Fairhaven Town had, for once, taken the rare step of declaring a full day of holiday.
At the same time, one could see large groups of knights gathering outside the schools, all anxiously waiting for permission to enter the campus.
"Why hasn't the exam started yet?"
A group of knights paced restlessly back and forth at the school gate.
Today was the long-awaited day of the Official Trainer Qualification Exam, and these knights—people who normally charged fearlessly into battle and treated death as casually as breathing—were now as tense as nervous students awaiting their turn for an important test.
They kept glancing through the gate toward the inside of the school grounds. There, they could see people carrying box after box into the classrooms—those must undoubtedly be the exam papers.
"Hah… what's there to be nervous about!"
A forest ranger tried to hold his trembling hands steady, wearing an expression that pretended the test was nothing at all to him.
To be honest, he truly did feel the exam was quite simple—after all, for a ranger, this knowledge was practically basic fundamental training!
"You call that not nervous? Then why are you shaking like a leaf?"
A nearby patrol guard mocked him mercilessly.
As he spoke, the hand hidden inside his sleeve twitched. Inside that hand, he was secretly gripping several tiny pieces of paper—each one containing answers he had copied down beforehand. His eyes darted around guiltily.
Truthfully, as a man who was half-illiterate at best, passing this exam through his own ability was simply impossible. But with these cheat sheets… if luck was on his side, he might really manage to scrape a passing score.
"Please let me guess right…"
He took a deep breath.
Based on what he gathered, the type matchups chart would definitely appear on the test. Aside from that, the exam would likely include information about common Pokémon frequently seen in Aspiration City.
As long as he copied these parts correctly, getting a score of sixty, the passing line should absolutely be within reach.
"Hmph, I'm not nervous at all!" the ranger said defensively.
Then his gaze shifted toward the knights. He had never once considered the patrol guards to be his competitors. What truly mattered were the knights yet even they were visibly tense. Upon noticing that, he finally felt much better.
Good—so he wasn't the only one nervous after all!
Time crawled slowly by. At last, someone walked to the front and opened the school gate. The moment the doors were unlocked, the groups of registered test-takers surged forward like a tide and poured into the school.
Each participant had received a seating map when they signed up. Now, comparing their papers to the numbers on the classroom doors, they searched through the building until they found their assigned rooms and quickly took their seats.
Pete was also participating in this Official Trainer Exam. After entering his assigned classroom, he carefully looked around. Soon, his attention was drawn to a large black wooden board at the front of the room.
Rows of neat writing covered the board—after a quick glance, he confirmed they were the exam rules.
"Ahem."
Once the classroom was completely filled, the proctor standing at the front cleared his throat, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
"The Official Trainer Examination is about to begin. Before that, I will now read the exam regulations."
The proctor took out a prepared sheet of paper.
These teachers were already extremely familiar with supervising exams. After all, they often administered practice tests to their students to evaluate their learning progress.
He paused for a moment, recalling the instructions Lord Aven had personally given them before the exam, then calmly began reading the rules:
"This exam has a total score of one hundred points. Sixty points is considered passing."
"During the exam, every test-taker must complete their answers independently within the allotted time. Cheating or copying answers is strictly forbidden. Anyone caught cheating will immediately have their exam qualification revoked and will never be allowed to take the test again!"
Upon hearing this, several test-takers visibly stiffened.
Especially the guard who had prepared cheat sheets—his hand trembled so violently that his pen slipped from his fingers.
He knew that if he could just secretly take out those little papers and copy them onto the answer sheet, he might truly have a chance at passing.
But if he was caught… the consequences would be disastrous.
Still… if it was just the proctor in front, and if he was careful enough… maybe he'd get away with it?
"Hehehehe"
Suddenly, a cold, eerie laugh echoed through the room.
A moment later, a Gastly materialized in the air above them, floating lazily with an amused grin while looking down at the startled test-takers.
After revealing itself, the Gastly slowly faded from sight once more, sinking back into invisibility.
Everyone felt their hearts tighten—several people even broke into cold sweat.
According to the Trainer Handbook, this Pokémon was called Gastly, a Ghost- and Poison-type Pokémon. And the most frightening feature of Ghost-types was their natural ability to become invisible.
It was now obvious that this Gastly was one of the unseen proctors of the exam, watching the students from the shadows.
Under these conditions, cheating was utterly impossible.
"I'm doomed…"
The patrol guard felt all hope collapse.
Just sitting here made him restless. He could almost feel that unseen Gastly staring directly at him, waiting for him to slip up.
Soon after, the rules were fully read. The proctor placed an hourglass on the desk and began distributing the test papers, handing each one carefully to the examinees.
The moment Pete received his exam paper, he inspected it thoroughly. They had gone through several mock exams before, so he already knew that except for the very last question, all the others were multiple choice.
According to Lord Aven, this answering method was called multiple choice, and each question had four options labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4. They merely had to cross the one they believed to be correct.
He flipped to the last page—just as expected, the final question required them to write out the full type matchups chart.
Thinking of that extremely complex table, Pete immediately felt a headache forming.
Once all the exam papers were handed out, the proctor returned to the podium and waited.
He did not make them wait long.
From somewhere across the school grounds, a bright and resounding bird cry echoed through the air—this was the official signal that the exam had begun.
"The exam starts now!" the proctor announced loudly, and with a flip, he turned the hourglass over. When all the sand dropped to the bottom, the exam would be over.
None of the test-takers dared waste even a moment. They immediately bent over their papers and began reading and answering seriously.
Even the patrol guard who had planned to cheat reluctantly abandoned his plan and focused his trembling eyes on the exam questions.
Checkmarks appeared one by one across the exam pages.
Thus began the first Official Trainer Qualification Exam in the world—an event that would undoubtedly spread throughout the Pokémon Domain, Aspiration City, and eventually across the entire world.
It marked the birth of an entirely new trainer system.
(End of Chapter)
TN: You know, I think I would fail this exam too hahahaha. I'm ashamed to say this but I don't remember type matchups anymore.