The field was more occupied than last time, with bags of equipment littering the ground. Weapons and armour would be important in this test. Most students simply had three sets of armour and a few weapons of choice, with a few students bringing more than one type of weapon. One student in particular had a large bag of goods, and it wouldn't surprise John to learn that this student could wield all of them.

This hall, after all, was full of children far more talented than he. Like the caster exam the day before, everyone here could be considered a genius of sorts. Details like these were often overlooked, but the average child wasn't typically a mage, let alone a battle-ready one. Prota and Destiny were unique in that aspect, but then again, they weren't exactly normal either.

That being said, John was expecting grand things from the [Protagonist].

"...that's all you're bringing?" he frowned as he spotted Destiny.

"Kit wouldn't let me bring anything else," the hero pouted.

In front of Destiny was his sword and nothing else.

"Seriously?" John said, surprised.

The hero just sighed.

"She said that if I were to die even once, I should just consider giving up. Still, having no armour is… well, I'll manage. By the way, you wouldn't be compensating for anything with that large bag of yours, would you?"

In front of John was a comically large bag stuffed to the brim. It'd been clarified that students would be given a pocket storage of sorts to make it easier to carry around weapons. Unlike the caster exam, students would need to equip new weapons and armour once they died, as their old equipment would be left behind upon death.

"No," John said, looking at his equipment with pride.

Destiny just shook his head. "So, what's that filled with? Armour?"

"No."

"Wh- hey, I know you're good, but isn't this being a little cocky?"

John shook his head. "Don't worry about me."

That was what he said, but the grin on his face made Destiny wary.

"You're planning something ridiculous again, aren't you?"

"I don't wanna hear that from the guy who's going in with a sword and nothing else," John pointed out.

"Ok, but that's not- you know what? It's fine. I'm sure you've got it under control."

John nodded. There was an increase in noise as the exam was about to begin, forcing him to raise his voice as their conversation came to an end.

"Well, best of luck."

"You too," John said, shaking Destiny's hand. "Oh, and if you hear a gunshot, take cover, ok?"

"If I hear a-"

With that, the exam began.

~~~

John sat up to find himself on a mountaintop, similar to the area Prota had been in on her second life. It wasn't nearly as tall, but with no mana, John was stuck up here. That was fine. The map wasn't the same as Prota's, but he'd prepared for all sorts of occasions.

"Alright! Let's get to work," he grinned, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

John reached into the storage and pulled out a massive anti-material rifle, something completely out of theme for this kind of world.

Not an anti-materiel rifle. An anti-material rifle. Because what kind of material holds up against bullets this large?

Multiple magazines of shining bullets fell out with it, the tips perfectly aligned and sharp.

A series of clicks and snapping noises followed as John finished setting up, propping the legs on the ground. He was about to take his scarf off to check for windspeed and direction, only to realize something.

"...the [Author] wouldn't make the setting that realistic, right? After all, it's not like they know how to calculate it themselves, right?"

He would've tested the theory by firing a practice round, but the sound of the gunshot would carry for miles, and that was something he'd rather avoid. Instead, John pulled out a pair of binoculars and began scanning the area for movement. With the number of examinees, finding some poor, unsuspecting soul wasn't too hard.

"Bingo."

John nestled the stock against his shoulder and put his eye to the scope. The crosshairs were perfectly lined up with the target's head. A light ping let John know the bullet was chambered properly, his finger resting lightly on the trigger.

"This is an anti-material rifle. And the students are made of material, right?"

The boy stopped moving. A window of opportunity. John pulled the trigger, the recoil punching his shoulder back as the bullet flew through the air, piercing a hole an inch wide through the poor boy's head, taking him out in an instant. Along with the bullet came a blast like that of a cannon, ringing through the air. He immediately heard yelling, and it wasn't too far off.

"Shit," John muttered, packing his stuff up.

A constraint that came with the weapon storage system was that weapons could not be stored once removed. After all, it was only meant to help with the death penalty. In the terrain John was in, there was no way he could move with a weapon like this in his hands.

So he left it behind.

Cursing, he ran as best he could, navigating through the drifts of snow, making sure not to lose his footing. He could see spots of black behind him, likely students attracted by the noise.

"Damn. I didn't want to set it up this early, but…"

John reached into his storage again and began dropping mines behind. In the deep snow, they'd stay hidden easily, so John just had to hope that his pursuers would continue to follow his tracks.

These kinds of mines didn't even exist on Earth. He was really pulling shit out the ass at this point. Zero's lecture came to mind, but he shook his head clear of those thoughts. He couldn't be distracted right now. Besides, if the [Author] hadn't wanted this, they would've stopped him from doing it.

Probably.

"Next," he muttered, looking for another good spot to snipe from.

~~~

Destiny was dealing with an opponent when he heard the gunshot ring out. It was loud. Very loud. He grimaced, being familiar with the sound.

"That guy's doing something stupid," he muttered, dispatching his enemy.

He was in a dilemma. Given how large John's bag was, it was possible he had a lot more than just guns in there. He remembered the grenade he'd thrown in the dungeon, as well as his use of things like flashlights and flashbangs. He wouldn't be surprised if John had a whole missile or a pack of dynamite.

Would it be wise to go deal with him now? Or should he stay low, as John had advised?

"...dammit," he cursed, turning to sprint toward the direction of the sound.

~~~

"What… is that boy doing?"

The professors were at a loss for words. They watched as John's pursuers exploded into pieces, having set off the mines John had left behind.

"If he's carrying around tools like that, shouldn't he be in the magical engineering class?" Orson muttered, staring at John's weapons in amazement.

"I agree. While a fighter may take many forms, at some point, direct aggression is often necessary. After all, the implementation of aura is meant for physical properties, both defensive and offensive. This boy… is fighting more like a caster."

"Hmm… but is that not fighting in its own kind of way? It reminds me of a hunter hiding in the woods, taking shots at prey."

"But the boy is eliminating his fellow examinees without giving them a chance to fight back."

"Is that not part of battle?"

While the teachers continued to argue whether John deserved to be in the exam, Lupin Wolfhound stared at him with disapproving eyes.

The boy was a coward.

John's tactic wasn't what Lupin was concerned about. Fighters could use methods like this. It was uncommon, given the theory behind mana reinforcement, but there were a few well-known long-range fighters. No, his guerrilla tactic wasn't the issue.

It was John's lack of mana usage.

This exam was to test the boy himself. The boy had yet to do anything to prove his own capabilities. He was relying solely on tools made by others. If he had made the tools, that didn't change anything. As Orson had said, if that were the case, the boy should be in the Magical Engineering class.

"It is outrageous!" Lupin growled.

The balcony went silent.

"Contestants are dying without a chance to show their talent. I know it is not our place to intervene, but… I would like to make a suggestion."

Everyone turned to him. Lupin was known to be stoic, quiet, and grumpy, fitting for his appearance of an old man. Despite all that, he was respected, even among Mythics. Behind his persona of an old man was wisdom and true skill that put him at the peak of combat.

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If he, of all people, was suggesting this, then there would be no argument.

"That boy, Destiny Windwalker. I have heard good things of him from the Elven kingdom. He appears to be well-versed in real combat, and although his sword skills are not the most polished, he appears to have an exceptional mind for fighting. As he has yet to be eliminated even once, I would like to engage the two in battle."

A direct intervention. Everyone went silent. To interfere with the exam like this was against the rules, but seeing as how the exam wasn't going to plan…

"I agree," Sofya nodded.

Everyone turned to the headmaster.

"Fine. Do it."

As the Mythics prepared for the event, Leora pulled Lupin aside.

"Lupin. That boy. He fits the description she gave us," she whispered.

"I know."

"Then-"

Lupin cut his colleague off. "You would risk it over chance? Come, now. If he is truly the one she spoke of, then he will be able to handle his own. If not, we have no need for students who cannot even fight properly."

The wolf stared at John with cold, grey eyes.

"If it comes to it, I'll deal with him personally."

~~~

Destiny gasped as his body was jerked from where it was into an unknown location. He'd been in a field, but now, there was snow all around, the grassy plains far and distant. Something like that was unexpected, but he was ready, immediately scanning the area for enemies.

"Destiny?" John frowned, spinning around, muzzle pointed toward his friend. "What are you-"

"How did I get here?" the hero frowned.

A holographic message appeared in the air as if to answer their questions.

{John Quarta. As you are not displaying the proper skills deemed fit for a fighter, we are presenting you with a chance to prove yourself. You have been given an opponent. We hope you will not disappoint.}

Destiny frowned. "What? Why me?"

{Your entry has already been confirmed. Your results for the rest of the exam matter not.}

Destiny felt relieved and nervous all at once. He was in. That much had been secured. But now, he was being used to determine whether his friend would pass or fail. What was he supposed to do? Go easy? Give John free hits? What was John even doing that the examiners felt the need to do something like this?

"What did you do this time?" Destiny hissed.

"...I brought in an anti-material rifle. You know. It's just like a fireball spell. But, um… faster?"

Destiny paused. "A what?"

"An anti-material rifle."

"Like, an anti-tank rifle-"

"No. An anti-material rifle."

John spelled out material. Destiny just sighed. He didn't have the brain power to handle this right now.

"No one's chased you?"

"I brought a lot of guns," John explained. "It's pretty simple, right? Shoot someone. Run away. Leave mines to cover my tracks. It's been working out pretty well."

"Mines?!" Destiny exclaimed.

"Yeah?"

Destiny sighed, shaking his head. Well, he'd been meaning to deal with John anyway, right? He scanned the area subtly. John still had a gun on him. Based on what he'd said, this meant that there likely weren't any mines around the area. The snow was largely untouched, meaning that movement would be hampered.

Maybe it was time to teach his friend a little lesson. After all, when else would Destiny get the opportunity to fight him like this?

When else would he get an opportunity to kill John?

"You know? Maybe this isn't that bad after all," he said, a grin forming on his face.

John just sighed.

"Yeah, alright. Let's get it over with," he muttered.

John sighed heavily, throwing his rifle off the mountain. Reaching into his storage, he pulled out two pistols. Destiny unsheathed his sword, flames coating the blade.

"We're really doing this?" John groaned.

"Of course."

A quick chant brought wind to Destiny's legs, propelling him through the snow as he made a beeline for John, forcing him to react. With restrained movement, he had very few options. He fired off a barrage of bullets, but Destiny simply blocked them. The element of surprise wasn't present here.

"Damn!" John cursed, throwing himself into the snow, barely avoiding death.

He couldn't use [Infinity] here. He had no idea if it would be picked up or not, but he'd rather not take the risk. He had to fight with what he had. In his panic, he vaguely remembered the promise he'd made to Prota.

"Damn. I didn't think I was gonna have to do this so early on, but…"

John threw his weapons to the side, new ones falling into his hands as they came out of his storage system.

"Really? You're gonna exploit even that?" Destiny yelled, enchanting his sword with flames.

"What other choice do I have?"

John fired bullet after bullet, barely surviving Destiny's onslaught, but no matter what he did, he was always at a disadvantage. It was surprising that he'd survived even this long, and it was likely thanks to the fact that Destiny was enjoying himself, taking it a little easy in order to prolong the suffering.

"Seriously, piss off!" John yelled, pulling out a shotgun, flames spewing out the muzzle as he pumped out shell after shell.

They didn't do much.

He'd known this would happen, though. Guns were only going to be useful up to a certain point. As soon as his element of surprise was gone, he was done for. And once that happened, the [Story] would develop in such a way that he wouldn't be using them again.

He just never imagined that Destiny would be the one to make them obsolete.

"Fine. You wanna play around?" John growled.

Destiny smiled. "Yeah? Show me what you've got. Grenades? A rocket launcher?"

John shook his head, smiling.

"No. A lot cooler, actually. You might hate me for it, though."

John pulled out a strange-looking revolver and… coins. Ordinary gold coins, although they weren't the currency of this world.

Destiny frowned. "What? Are you gonna bribe me? If you are, I'm warning you, that's not enou-"

"Nah."

John tossed the coin into the air, the gold glinting against the sun as it flew behind Destiny's head.

Destiny didn't bother to turn his head. "Was that supposed to be a distraction? What did-"

"Duck."

John took aim and fired, the bullet streaking through the air. Destiny put up a guard, but the bullet wasn't aimed at him.

It was aimed at the coin.

"What are you-"

The bullet ricocheted off the coin, aimed directly at Destiny's head. His senses were good enough that he was able to dodge, but he was left panting as he barely avoided the attack.

"What the- that makes zero sense!" he protested. "What the hell was that? How is that possible?!"

It was John's turn to grin. "Little something fun. Ready?"

The fight suddenly tilted ever so slightly in John's favour. The introduction of the coins introduced a whole new variable of unpredictability. Destiny could adapt to one coin, but not two. Not three. Four, five, six, they just kept going up.

Suddenly, the sky was looking like a constellation, the coins shining in the air like stars, the streak of the bullet connecting them together. With Destiny's level of mana reinforcement, the bullets were slow enough that they didn't kill, but they sure did hurt.

"You- what the hell are you doing?"

"Winning. What does it look like?" John grinned, tossing yet another coin.

Destiny was starting to hate the ping of John flipping that stupid currency into the air, but it wasn't like he was losing by any means. John would run out of coins or bullets at some point, and he still had stamina and mana to spare. Soon, there were only a handful of coins left.

"You bastard. I've got you now," Destiny said, panting.

John, on the other hand, was doing quite well.

"Do you?"

"This is it. You've got to run out of coins at some point, right?"

Destiny's blade began to glow as the heat turned it white, the snow around them melting from the sheer temperature of the fire. John began to sweat, but to be completely honest, he hadn't expected to survive this encounter. Not like this. Not in these circumstances. Given that, there was only one thing left for him to do.

"Alright. Here we go."

John clenched his fist, throwing his hand up as hard as he could, scattering the coins all around them. Throwing his pistol to the side, his eyes flickered, tracking the location of each one, ignoring the fireball of death barreling right toward him.

"That won't do anything!"

"Yeah, but this might."

Destiny's eyes widened as John threw himself to the ground one last time, an anti-material rifle dropping into his hands, a singular round dropping into the chamber. There was a click as John pulled the bolt back, raising the weapon as he aimed at a coin right behind his enemy.

"Bingo."

There was a loud crack as John fired the bullet, hitting a coin dead center. The sheer force of the bullet shattered the coin as it bounced to another coin, then another, then another, drawing what looked like a magic circle above Destiny's head.

"Dammit!" he yelled, turning his body just in time to avoid taking a direct hit.

The bullet punched cleanly through his shoulder, but it wasn't enough to stop him from running John through like a skewer of meat. The two of them fell to the ground, one nursing his wound, the other dying a slow death.

"Ah, fuck," John gasped as Destiny pulled the blade out. "Closer than I thought it would be."

"...doesn't feel like it," Destiny said quietly. "So you can fight."

"Yeah? I thought this was established a while ago."

The two of them went silent, waiting for John to die.

"You idiot!" Destiny burst out.

"Wh- what?"

"Why didn't you do any of that against Doctor? Against the chimeras? Against… argh! Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I-"

"Do you know how much easier some of those fights would've been if you'd just brought coins? Coins, seriously, of all things! How the hell does that work? You- you- argh!"

~~~

The examiners watched the two bicker, dumbfounded.

"That was…"

"What did I just watch?"

Destiny had been incredibly impressive. The ability to sense the trajectory of the bullets and deflect them. A mana reinforcement strong enough to take hits that couldn't be dodged or blocked. An impressive battle sense, strong fundamentals, interesting magic, and, most of all, a drive and determination uncharacteristic of a boy his age.

John, on the other hand…

"Is he human?"

Unlike his sister, John felt… a little cheap. He'd been using dirty tactics since the beginning of the fight, and through his duel with Destiny, he'd given off the impression of a cockroach, barely surviving, using whatever was at his disposal to do the absolute most he could.

And yet… that strange weapon. That adaptability. And those coins. Destiny was right. What was up with that? What in the world had they just watched?

The boy was special. They just weren't sure what kind of special he was.

"Pull him out," Luping growled.

"But-"

"Pull him out. I'll test him myself," he said, his voice low.

"The examinees-"

"You can judge them. I've made a selection anyway. I need to see this boy's potential on my own."

He stormed out of the room, leaving the balcony silent.

~~~

John sat up in a dark room and immediately panicked. Had he died? Was there some sort of sick twist where the exam actually killed its participants? He looked around frantically for the [Reset] button, hoping a singular [Reset] wouldn't attract Diaboli, but it was nowhere to be found.

So when the old man with the dog ears and tail walked out of the shadows, he was actually relieved. A set of candles lit up against the wall, revealing some kind of dungeon-like room built out of dark stone.

"Child," the man said in a low, gravelly voice. "Pick it up."

He tossed a sword over to John, the clanging of the metal echoing through the empty hall.

"What?" John frowned.

"Pick it up. Or, if you'd prefer, use any weapon in your arsenal. But I'd advise against that."

"Hold on. Who are you? Where the fuck am I?"

The wolf ignored his question. "Something about you isn't right. So I will personally be handling your case."

Suddenly, the man's face clicked. This was the Mystic in charge of the Fighting class. Right. John frowned. Had his usage of guns attracted the attention of the Mystics that much?

"Did you really think that would work? Your toys, they-"

"They're weapons," John insisted, cutting him off. "What toy blows the head off a kid from a mile away?"

"...you are quite arrogant, considering your position."

"Should I bow down and pay my respects like a pussy?"

John picked up the sword, pointing it at the Mystic. He was getting a little annoyed. They thought his tactics were cheap? He'd been genuinely trying to win for his sister, and this was his reward?

"Come on, you wanna fight, right? Let's get to it."

The old man frowned. "Quite disrespectful. I'll see to it that you change that attitude quickly."

Although somewhat hunched over, he quickly straightened up, his cane flashing to reveal a long, thin sword. In an instant, he was gone, the dust on the ground scattering as he dashed toward John, who flinched. He couldn't even track the old dude.

He hastily brought his sword up, blocking the attack just in time. Unfortunately, his human hands couldn't keep their grip on the handle, and the weapon flew out of reach, skittering away.

"Is that all you've got?"

John frowned, his eyes locking in on his opponent. Maybe he'd been a little too cocky.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath. "It's always the old dudes that get you."

The Mystic dashed again, like a wolf lunging to pounce on its prey, but John didn't hesitate. He was still in the exam world. He could die. There was no need to fear death. No need to be afraid of anything. It was like having [Resets] all over again.

The only thing to fear was loss.

"Brace yourself, child."

John pulled out a cheap sword the school had provided. It shattered under the weight of his opponent's weapon, but it was enough to divert the attack once. Without missing a beat, John pulled out a spear, throwing it with messy accuracy, and it missed, but it wasn't like he was expecting it to do anything in the first place.

The Mystic frowned.

"What are you-"

Another spear came out. Then another. Then another. A bow fell into John's hands, and he strung an arrow and fired, the flight trajectory wobbly as it made its way to his enemy. Lupin was so baffled that he let the arrow reach him, although he easily caught the projectile before it could do any damage.

"Are you taking me for a fool?"

"No?" John frowned, pulling out yet another weapon. "I'm fighting. Just like you wanted."

"I watched you. Use your other weapons. Your coins. Your explosives. Why do you take this lightly?"

"Ah, the coins?" John said, grimacing. "I can't use that anymore. It was fun while it lasted, though."

"What? What kind of magic-"

John just sighed. "I'm only allowed to use it once. It's a reference that gets stale if overused. Sorry."

Lupin frowned. What in the world was this boy saying?

"Look, it doesn't even matter, ok?" John protested. "You'd just dodge my bullets. This is the best I can do, so let's just get this over with."

Lupin looked at the boy in a new light. So unserious. So carefree. And yet… somehow, it was interesting enough that it warranted his interest.

"Very well. Maybe she was right about you. Perhaps I should show you a little more respect."

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