Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

Chapter 92: Chapter 51 Collaborative Assessment_2

This state only lasted for a few seconds before it ended, and Hexia was also surprised as she reminisced and experienced it.

Perhaps this is the essence of the Songstress Talent, Soul Resonance, truly empathizing in the literal sense, thereby breaking through the barriers between minds.

Time slowly passed by, and in this warm garden, the swing occasionally drifted up and fell back down, lifting long strands of hair and the hem of a dress.

An hour of familiar rest time came to an end.

After receiving a notification on her personal terminal, Hexia, along with the Indigo Snake, left the garden and headed to the assessment location; the position for the first phase had already been sent to her.

This was an open meadow, but it had been briefly transformed into a venue for the second stage of trials, laid out with various obstacles, including streams to be crossed, stakes to be jumped over, tunnels to be passed through, and spinning windmill blades to be dodged, among others.

"The first phase of the assessment is quite simple, you just need to get past it with your companions. During this time, you can only use vocal commands and communication, you can't directly carry your 'companion' through, and how you get your 'companion' to follow you and work together to unlock the mechanisms of the obstacle course depends on your rapport and connection."

After the introduction, the student council member stepped aside from the passage behind him and let the students participating in the second stage enter one by one.

"It's a very simple process, and it falls within my expectations," some students began to discuss, everyone had anticipated this, and it was probably just the start of the warm-up.

However, was it really that simple? Soon after the first student entered the field, a rigorous test presented itself.

"Little Black, hurry!" the first student to get a companion was weaving through the various obstacles with a young wolf.

At first, it went smoothly, but when it came to a part where constant dodging and jumping were required, the student focused on getting through and, when he reached a safe spot and looked back, the young wolf had already fallen into the water and drifted far away.

Although he didn't know what the consequences would be for not getting through with his 'companion,' since the theme was 'bonding,' such an occurrence was definitely not allowed.

The student had no choice but to jump into the water, swim towards his companion, lift it out, and then the two of them started over from the beginning.

With this student setting the example, the others became much more cautious, always ensuring that their companions were with them.

And in the later stages, the earlier students couldn't be seen anymore, and one could only experience it for themselves when it was their turn to enter.

Soon, it was Hexia's turn.

"A snake, hmm, this might be a bit difficult for you," the staff member registered.

"Why is that?" Hexia asked curiously.

"Among these animals, mammals are the most intelligent and the easiest to tame and obey commands, so it will be much simpler."

"However, you don't have to be too downhearted, compared to ordinary animals, Transcendent creatures are much more intelligent, so it's not entirely hopeless." After a few words of comfort, he let Hexia into the field.

The challenge of the adventure through the course began.

First was the flat grassland, Hexia walked half a step ahead, leading the little creature at her side to follow along with her.

Unlike the students who yelled commands, Hexia hardly spoke along the way, the two, one human, one snake, quietly advanced, crossing the grassland, jumping over horizontal ladders, and stepping on wooden stakes in the water to avoid the fan blades.

It seemed not to be difficult either; the girl lightly jumped down from the ladder, and the Indigo Snake also wound its way around the railing and slid down, landing beside the girl.

At the last stage, a mesh curtain split the paths of the two, Hexia's side was flat and simple, while the animal partner's was much more complex and full of pitfalls. Typically, the students in the second stage had to keep giving orders and communicating to make their 'companion' avoid the wrong directions and navigate around the mechanisms to ultimately pass through.

Now the difficulty gradually increased, and within an hour, some students were already able to command the animals with preset orders, but still, many couldn't manage to do so. They could only stand in place anxiously, issuing orders repeatedly while their 'companions' looked confused and hesitant.

"They still lack patience," the senior students observing from the high stands commented.

"Indeed, many people are not accustomed to living with a companion who differs from them. When the other can't quickly understand their commands, they easily become irate and angry, but this is essentially impotent rage."

"True strength lies in understanding this difference and devising ways to compensate without caring in the slightest, such that those around you can catch up,"

"These are animals that are relatively easier to tame and simpler to get along with. If it were people, it'd be even less hopeful,"

Below, Hexia led her 'partner' easily past various obstacles. Thanks to her Talent, she seldom spoke up. Sometimes, a single point of her finger was enough for the little snake to grasp the gist, allowing it to breeze through.

"Yes, that direction is correct, pull down the lever,"

Standing in front of the sealed stone door, Hexia directed the little snake at a distance to pull down a conspicuous lever mechanism, after which the stone door lifted, and the endpoint of the first trial was reached.

"Congratulations to student Hexia~" the staff inside welcomed her and then asked her to continue registering and filling out forms.

After a simple warm-up stage, one-fifth of the students were eliminated, and the real assessment gradually began.

"The second trial, defeat the illusion mice."

With those words, two huge grey-white mice were released into the arena below, and the students, unable to enter the field themselves, had to rely on commands to make their 'partners' fight one against two and overcome the enemy.

The battle began.

In the arena, the indigo young wolf bared its teeth and snarled, confronting its two opponents in a tense and probing standoff.

In terms of strength alone, the Primordial Sequence 2·Illusion Mouse (Standard Red Copper) was definitely not a match for these carefully nurtured 'partners', but the challenge was to use wisdom and communication to help the 'partner' win despite the numerical disadvantage.

"Run!" the student at the front issued the first command.

After the familiarization phase and the first trial, the relationship between the two had grown close. On receiving the command, the young wolf immediately started running. Then it was the illusion mice's turn to hesitate, but they had been hungry for too long to resist the prey before them and also began to run into action.

Their gray fur bristled, and the illusion mice in the field of view suddenly enlarged several times over and lunged at the running young wolf.

This was the ability of the illusion mice, using illusions to confuse and intimidate their adversaries, induce fear, and facilitate their own movement.

Although the student above knew these were illusion techniques, the young wolf below did not understand. In its eyes, these were two enormous creatures, forces it couldn't resist, prompting a whimper as it panicked and fled towards the corner, even crashing into the wall.

"Idiot!"

Seeing the young wolf below running headlessly, the student above was furiously embarrassed because if the illusion of the illusion mouse was seen through, they were no more of a threat than ordinary large rats.

"Whimper—" The young wolf below didn't understand and continued to frantically paddle with its limbs on the grass, trying to escape, even attempting to hide in the entrance hole on the field.

Watching its rear sticking out and limbs digging at the earth, the student above couldn't help but cover his face in embarrassment.

Maybe he had given up on himself, or perhaps he couldn't hold back anymore, he yelled again.

"You fool, turn around and bite them! Haven't you noticed how light their footsteps are when they run? It's fake!"

Although he revealed the truth, the 'partner' animals weren't trained to understand such complex language before and only grasped simple commands. However, the dissatisfaction and anger in the shouting finally allowed the young wolf to react a little; it turned its head fearfully and resentfully, fur standing on end, facing the two 'giant' mice approaching.

Facing this snarling young wolf, the illusion mice also hesitated for a moment and didn't charge immediately, so the two sides began a standoff again.

After a series of roars and screeches, seeing that the two large mice didn't rush forward, the young wolf gained back some confidence. When the student above shouted "Attack" for the seventh time, it finally charged forward.

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Amidst a flurry of flying fur and screeches, close combat immediately broke the illusion, and the scene after Manifestation boosted the young wolf's confidence even further. During the final moments of tearing and gnawing, it killed the two illusion mice on the field.

"O'Conner, passed!" an employee outside the field blew a whistle, marking the emergence of the first student to pass the second trial.