"Huh?"
"A special final exam!?"
Inside the vast, specialized metal classroom, Kiana's voice boomed with energy.
"That's right."
"St. Freya's most famous policy is to teach according to a student's aptitude. For all of you, whose strengths have far surpassed your peers, the original final exam is clearly insufficient to accurately test your potential."
At the front of the classroom, Murata Himeko—a tech officer (a teacher of theoretical knowledge) with her long, wavy red hair tied up and wearing a pair of rimless glasses (glasses in the Empire are purely decorative)—spoke slowly.
Seated beside Himeko was St. Freya Academy's martial arts officer, Ragna Lodbrok, who had gray, medium-length hair and dark red eyes.
"To that end,"
"The Headmaster has specially applied for this opportunity for everyone—"
Himeko's gaze swept over everyone before her:
Kiana, Mei, Bianca, Rita, Sirin, Bella, Bronya, Seele, Rozaliya, Liliya, Project Bunny, Sin Mal, Theresa, and Stan—a total of 14 people (and one cat).
"Most of you should have already heard some whispers."
"Eh?"
Aside from the utterly surprised Kiana and Sirin, most of the others nodded slightly.
"This operation was initiated by His Majesty the Emperor himself."
"Those tasked will travel directly to the other side of the starry sea. That's right, the target is not a world bubble, but a complete leaf."
"Furthermore—"
From a large door on the other side of the room, a fully armed squad walked in.
"This squad, belonging to the 'War Legion,' will be fighting alongside you."
"Captain Matilla."
A woman with a black eyepatch and hair color strikingly similar to Himeko's, though with a "slimmer" build, stepped forward.
"I am your 'Coordination Officer'."
A voice even more spirited than Kiana's erupted from her somewhat petite frame.
"I am well aware that many of you possess the combat strength to suppress my entire squad single-handedly…"
"But!"
"Individual strength is certainly important, but the battlefield is not a place where you can run rampant on strength alone!"
"You are all powerful, but among your enemies, there will always be those more powerful than you."
"My purpose here is to help you survive better on the battlefield, to help each other compensate for your weaknesses, and to strive to bring every single one of you back to the Empire in one piece!"
"Ah~"
An extremely gentle female voice came from a green-haired woman standing beside Matilla.
"What our captain means is, we'll be counting on everyone for this battle. Our squad can help handle any of the less critical, miscellaneous tasks."
"Hey! Sophia!"
Not far from the noisy scene—
"Mei, why do I feel like… my entire impression of the Legions has just been shattered?"
"…"
---o---
"Ahem!"
"Captain Matilla, um, may we continue?"
Himeko coughed forcefully a couple of times.
"Apologies."
"My captain has caused trouble for everyone. Please accept our apologies."
"…"
Sophia pulled Matilla back into the squad's formation. From the exceptionally calm expressions of the other four members, it was clear that scenes like this were a common occurrence for them.
"Returning to the topic at hand."
Himeko's control over her expression was superb; one couldn't tell from her face that she was mentally吐槽'ing the Headmaster like crazy.
"The world we are going to 'visit' this time is called 'Teyvat.'"
"It is a civilization that was controlled by the [Scions of Long]."
"To be precise, it was once controlled by the [Scions of Long]. For certain students below, if you had paid attention in class instead of pouring all your energy into the [Abyss], you wouldn't be wearing that 'what are Scions of Long?' expression right now."
Himeko shot a harsh glare at her two "precious" students. That's right, the only ones in the entire room who had failed the written assessment were Kiana and Sirin, who were currently busy mocking each other. Even Rozaliya had managed to scrape a passing grade with Project Bunny's "help."
"That civilization was wiped out."
"The descendants of the [Scions of Long] were sealed underground on the continent of Teyvat, while the surface was occupied by an existence known as the 'First Throne' and the humans it 'created.'"
"Although there is some value in 'saving' them,"
"Those beings, which have continuously devolved and are now called [Vishaps], have lost their writing, their language… everything that symbolized their glorious past. They can no longer be called a civilization."
"The main objective of this trip is, in fact, those humans."
"Teacher Himeko."
Mei raised her hand formally to ask a question.
"Go ahead, Mei. What's your question?"
"These outsiders…"
Mei's gaze went past Himeko to the massive holographic image behind her, which displayed humanoid species that looked similar to them but were fundamentally different on the inside.
"According to the definition of 'examination requirements' in our textbooks, they shouldn't be eligible to be the subjects of an assessment, correct?"
"Correct."
Himeko waved her hand lightly, signaling Mei to sit down.
"Mei, you are absolutely right."
The Honkai's test is only targeted at the intra-planetary stage of a civilization on its home star. For civilizations that have already ventured beyond their planet and can invade or even colonize others, the Honkai will not conduct an assessment.
The Empire could certainly start a war, but that wouldn't align with the Monarch's interests. The Emperor's will is the Empire's will, and the Empire will not engage in such thankless tasks.
"But here's a piece of advanced knowledge not mentioned in the books."
"When an outside civilization is effectively in a state of 'exile' and has taken root on a native world (integrated), they actually fall within the scope of the 'examination requirements.'"
After resolving Mei's doubt, Himeko continued.
"According to intelligence from the 'Observation Chamber,'"
"Not long after the 'First Throne' and the human civilization it created began to thrive on this continent, they encountered new outsiders—the 'Second Throne.' We can tentatively assume that the former's civilization was destroyed by the latter, and they were in the process of being hunted down at the time."
"After the war between the two sides ended, a power known as 'Sky Island' is now ruling the continent."
"Given the great distance, the Empire was unable to observe the outcome of the war."
"But what is certain is that while humans still exist on the continent, they are basically in a 'farmed' state. Any humans who dared to defy the will of 'Sky Island' were all subjected to 'divine punishment' and turned into a new species called 'Hilichurls.'"
Ding.
Himeko waved her hand, shutting down the image behind her.
"That's all for the extra-curricular knowledge for now."
"I will send the rest of the data to your terminals. You'll have enough time on the journey to digest it slowly."
Himeko slowly lifted her head.
A cry of immense penetrating power reverberated throughout the skies above St. Freya Academy.
"The long-awaited Starship-class…"
"It seems our transport has arrived."