The aftereffects of teleportation was nausea, dizziness and many others. Because of the fact that none of the examinees were ordinary people. Despite that, some of them had green faces while others… definitely weren't suited to appear in public. It looked like their future teachers had no regards for privacy and dignity of the students.
"Toilet's that way." Rachel AKA Invigilator O frowned as she waved her fingers and little clouds of darkness surrounded some of them and they vanished.
"This is why I told you we should give them some time before we call them in." Invigilator D sighed and stepped forward, looking at the rest of them.
"Looks like you all have potential. If most of you had come during ordinary times, you would have been in the elite class. But, in your batch, outstanding is merely ordinary." Everyone listening to him were confused as to whether he was praising them or telling them not to get a big head.
"If it was up to me, I'd personally like all of you to attend. But-" a flame pillar suddenly rose before him, forcing him to cut of his speech.
"Well, it is up to me and I'm declaring that everyone currently present have successfully passed the exam." Merlin stepped out of the flame pillar and looked at them with a calm yet fiery gaze. Most of the students were confused as to who he was but the well informed ones straightened up and lowered their heads.
"Greetings, Headmaster." Invigilator D subtly hinted at his identity to those unaware with a loud voice.
"Thank you for the introduction, D. It has been so long that I had almost forgotten this old face of mine isn't popular with the youths of today." Merlin patted his chest and gazed at his students.
Bryan who was positioned at the back of the ground suddenly shuddered as the man's gaze seemed to pass through him. His life, secrets, and ambitions felt like they were laid out in the open. And from the reactions of those next to him, he wasn't the only one.
"May I ask why the sudden change of procedures?" D called out to Merlin in a low voice and the latter signaled that he would tell him later.
"You can return home now. We have prepared transportation for those of you that can head back home today and lodgings for those who can not." Merlin snapped his fingers and the doors at the end of the room swung open.
"We will have to take out leave now." With the haste Merlin moved with, even the slowest of students could tell that something was off. But those were not confident in their ability to pass felt like this was a second chance and did not speak up.
'I wonder what happened.' Bryan was struck with unease as he made the way out of the room. According to the script, anytime something out of the ordinary happened at the entrance exam, it usually meant bad things for everyone except the protagonist.
'But this is reality. Just because I'm reincarnated doesn't mean I'm the protagonist.' He did not have mind reading abilities or the power to see a person's true nature. For all he knew, his classmates could have a similar template or one greater.
'Anyways, I just have to do what I can.' regardless of what happened, the power he had now cannot change anything. Rather than worry about things beyond his reach, it would be more efficient to direct that into training.
"Wait!" a deep voice rang out and Bryan felt a strong pulling force in his arms, almost causing it to pop out of its sockets. Hissing in pain, he turned around and saw Lucy who was looking at his face with a fiery gaze.
"W-What?" he asked, a little shaken. Lucy breathed in as she steadied her heartbeat and said, "Can we exchange contact information?"
"O-Okay." Bryan subconsciously raised his arm until he realized he wasn't wearing his watch and dug into his pockets but didn't find anything to write with.
"Here." thankfully, Lucy came prepared and handed a black pen. Bryan accepted it and scribbled his number on her palm. "You too," he said, handing her the pen and a few seconds later, an eleven digit number was on his right palm.
'Now that I think about it, this is probably the first time I'm doing this in years. Kinda embarassing.' Bryan wondered whether he should get the other's number when an uncomfortable feeling surrounded his wrist and a plain iron bracelet appeared there.
"That's the corpses of the beasts you killed." A voice rang out in his mind. Looking around, he saw the same was happening for most of them.
"Thank you." He muttered and walked to the nearest vehicle.
….
"Why did you suddenly decide to change the rules at the last minute?" after sending all the students home, Merlin, Rachel, and D sat with the latter two facing the former in his office.
"We have a situation." The characteristic smile on Merlin's face morphed into a frown as his forehead creased and he said, "Sector One has fallen."
BANG! The table separating the three of them shattered. Rachel, the one who had shattered the table had a grave look on her face, around her, ether could be seen distorting the air and space causing dust and stone to rise up.
"How many?" D was in a similar state except he was more calm than her and asked the important question.
"Everyone. We haven't heard about any survivors for now." Merlin responded and he took in a deep breath.
"Still, isn't it reckless to take in all of them? Only about 5% of them may actually survive." Rachel calmed down and asked with concern.
The main reason why they limited the number of students they accepted was simply because only that amount had what it took to become the elites of the beast taming world. Even if they did not worry about resources and trained with everyone equally, most did not have what it takes to survive.
"Either they die now or die later. The war we are fighting is not one where you can remain safe even behind the front-lines. Besides…" Merlin turned his chair around and looked out the window.
"...these children might surprise us. That is what kids are best at doing."