Nox followed the directions provided by the floor towards the supplies bay.
According to the instructions from the watch, he was supposed to collect his equipments for the next test from the supply bay.
Beside him was Devon with hands in his pocket as he casually walking forward.
Walking behind them… or rather, being physically detained behind them… was Cass.
Well, attempting to walk behind them.
Instead, he was currently surrounded by a group of girls who had swooped in the moment the the reached this hallway.
Three of them were blocking his path, asking questions at rapid-fire speed.
"Is it true your family head is one of the few Transcendent rank knights?"
"Are you really from Nimbus Heights?"
"I heard you solved a fifth-tier resonance equation when you were ten!"
Cass was just standing there, completely sleep-deprived from spending so much energy on the tests, and deeply overwhelmed.
"…I didn't solve it, I just simplified it."
"KYAAA, so humble!" one of them squealed.
He turned to Devon and Nox for help, but the two just outright ignored him and walked forward faster.
The bastard brought this upon himself by being too handsome and coming from a high class noble family, so he should deal with it himself.
"He'll live," Nox said as they continued forward. "He… uh… looks like he's enjoying himself."
Behind them, Cass was visibly not enjoying himself, this was his first experience with fan girls and he was getting completely overwhelmed.
"Um, c-can you all please let me through? I don't.... I really don't..... I'm not...please stop asking questions."
"Cassian, do you have a girlfriend?"
"Cassian, what's your ideal type?"
"Cassian, can you give me your number?"
Cass looked like his soul would soon escape his body, this wasn't his forte... He very much preferred time sleeping and with his books than this much interaction.
Luckily, an angel descended and save him the fan girls, much to their annoyance.
Forcing herself through the gathering of girls, Linda grabbed his hand and pulled him towards Nox and Devon.
The reaction of the girls was surprise at first, before they frowned as the unknown girl pulled the precious Cassian out of their clutches.
They had annoyed looks on their faces before one of them suddenly asked, "I-is that his girlfriend?"
Linda froze mid step.. That's right, in her attempt to help, she might just've started a rumor.
She could try and clear it up right now, but that would only cause the girls to flock him again.
So she just tightened her grip on his wrist and continued walking forward. Cass, on the other hand, was a bit confused at the stranger suddenly holding his arm.
Well, that is until he remembered that she was the same girl that had joined them during lunch earlier, though he couldn't be too sure since he was completely focused on the test questions.
Devon was the first to speak up the moment they were close enough,
"You shoulda seen yo' face," he said, bursting into laughter. "Bruh, you looked like yo' whole soul boutta pack its bags and walk outta your body."
"Yeah," Cass muttered, "I'm not used to dealing with that much people."
Nox shrugged, not even bothering to stop, "doesn't matter, you're free now."
He nodded… then before pausing.
"…You two didn't help me at all."
"Nope," Nox said bluntly.
"Not even a lil' bit," Devon added with a smile.
"...."
Cass's eyes twitched, he thought they hadn't noticed earlier when he pleaded for their help but turns out, they really did.
They just chose to ignore.
Before Cass could say anything in response, their watches let out a ding causing them to look at the screen.
[Supplies Bay approaching – 00:00:37] [Equipment Pickup Required: Combat Trial]
"Aight, gear time." Devon said.
Ahead of them was a set of sliding doors. Above it, the words [SUPPLIES BAY – CANDIDATE ACCESS]could be seen.
Candidates walked in and out, some excited, others pale at the thought of the Combat Trial that awaited them in less than an hour.
Linda finally let go of Cass's wrist, choosing to walk beside them instead.
***
The quartet walked into the the supply bay and truthfully, instead of a bay, it looked more like a locker room with..well, lockers.
Each had a number on it and Nox watched as candidates walked towards them and unlock it with a similar card handed to him by Luna.
Nox's watch vibrated again.
[Locker 117 → Assigned]
[Tap your ID card to unlock]
He spotted his locker on the left row, sandwiched between Devon's (118) and Linda's (116).
Slowly, he walked towards it and scanned his card on a scanner that was fixed on the door.
With a click, the door opened, revealing the equipments he was granted.
His first thought, when he heard supply bay, was that they'd get to select their own Solar tech, but it turns out that academy was the one that assigned them to each candidate.
Inside his locker was a pair of boots, a combat uniform...most likely, the Academy's and a pair of daggers.
[Please collect your equipments and make way to the virtual room]
[Remaining time: 00:19:58]
Nox looked at the equipments before letting out a sigh, the daggers would basically be useless in his hands since he had no prior combat training or experience.
He just calmly picked them up and walked to the changing area, trying not to think too much about how the Academy expected an untrained kid from the slums to fight tier-2 Eclipsed with two knives and a uniform.
Devon peeked into his own locker.
"Yo, I got gauntlets, sweet."
Cass opened his locker before quietly muttering, "…Why did they give me a staff and glasses?"
Nox didn't get Devon's reply to Cass's questions as he looked at the daggers again, they looked pretty neat, at least they were cleaner than the ones he usually fixes.
They also had channels for SE which he didn't know how useful for him it'd be since, unlike all the other candidates, Astra didn't allow a helion core be planted in him.
Why? He had zero idea, but she claimed he might be able to use SE without one, which, until now, hasn't happened yet.
He flipped one over, testing the balance.
It wasn't bad.
Just… completely useless to him.
With a sigh, he shoved them into their sheaths and stepped into the changing area.
"Let's just get this test over with."