The moment the lights came on,
the enormous venue instantly fell silent.
All the examinees gathered up in the high spectator stands
now had their eyes fixed on the battle arenas below.
This time,
the examiners in charge of the assessment
were all teachers sent out by the Wintergreen City Pokémon Academy.
Each examiner had a different personality,
and a different standard for judging.
So,
what kind of examiner you were assigned to
would decide the future prospects of quite a few examinees present.
With the same strength,
you might pass under an easygoing examiner with looser requirements,
but under a strict examiner,
you might not pass at all.
However,
no matter how big the differences were between examiners' standards,
any Trainer who had not reached Entry-level
would not pass.
That was the most basic rule of all.
Seated in her spot, Isobe Himeko
was not like the others,
frantically checking to see who the examiner on her arena was.
Ever since Amano Joji had snorted,
left behind a meaningful look, and walked away,
she had fallen into thought.
Joji was the kind of person with a very small mind.
She had humiliated him again and again in public,
refusing to give him any face.
With his temperament,
there was no way he could tolerate that.
Yet today, he had left as if nothing had happened.
It was simply too abnormal.
When something is abnormal, there's always something behind it.
And coupled with that look Joji gave before leaving,
Himeko could be sure—
that petty, narrow-minded bastard
was already plotting something harmful to her.
"Did you notice the number tag? You and him are on the same arena for the exam."
"And he's one slot ahead of you."
Hirata Shiko's voice
suddenly sounded in Himeko's mind.
Huh?
Hearing Shiko say that,
Himeko immediately recalled it.
Her own number tag was 300.
She was the 30th person on Arena No. 10.
And Joji…
The number tag at his waist seemed to be 290!
That meant—
he was the 29th person on Arena No. 10, the one right before her!
Could it be
he was going to pull something here?
Make it so she failed this test?
Himeko frowned.
Given Joji's personality, it wasn't impossible.
But—
Himeko had absolute confidence in this assessment.
The levels of Lopunny and Kirlia
had already surpassed Entry-level
and reached Professional-level.
In this assessment, she could send out either one
and pass easily.
Since Joji was preparing to make a move during the test,
then Himeko wanted to see
exactly what kind of tricks
he planned to use.
"Holy crap! Arena 1's examiner is Teacher Ryu—this is amazing!"
"Arena 4 is Teacher Ken, that's not bad too!"
"Hahaha! Best luck—Arena 8 is Teacher Boo!"
"I'm done for—damn it! I'm Arena 10! It's that devil examiner, Teacher Moo!"
"Holy crap, Arena 10 is that female demon!"
"Thank goodness I'm not Arena 10—if I ran into her, I'd be finished!"
...
Down on the ten battle arenas,
the examiners stepped up onto the platforms one after another.
Under the lights,
the many examinees in the stands immediately recognized
who the examiners were.
Some people were delighted
because they'd drawn an examiner with lenient requirements.
Others,
because they'd drawn a strict examiner,
looked grim.
Especially the examinees assigned to Arena No. 10—
the moment that examiner appeared on the stage,
everyone's face turned waxy pale,
ugly to the extreme.
On Arena No. 10,
standing there was an intellectual-looking woman in her thirties.
She wore black-rimmed glasses
and a fitted professional outfit
that outlined her figure.
In her right hand, she held a teaching pointer, her expression stern.
On her chest,
there was also a shining Wintergreen Academy badge.
"Is the examiner on Arena 10 really that scary?"
"Yeah, she looks really pretty."
"What the hell do you know? Old Witch Moo has been an examiner for ten years—do you know how many people have passed under her in all those years? Three! Only three!"
"Holy crap? That ruthless? In ten years, at least five hundred people have taken the exam under her, right? And only three passed?"
"No way. Didn't the survey data say that each year the overall pass rate is ten percent? That's way too low."
"You know why it's ten percent? Because the pass rate under other examiners gets dragged down by her pass rate, which isn't even one percent!"
"Hiss… then aren't the people who drew her group basically doomed?"
"Let's hold a three-second silence for these unfortunate friends!"
...
The discussion in the stands grew louder and louder.
Most people's attention
was focused on Teacher Moo at Arena No. 10.
As an examinee for Arena No. 10,
Himeko also stood up curiously
and looked down below.
(End of Chapter)
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