Chapter 44: Change of Rules

"Are you serious, Granpa?!" Theresa exclaimed after she heard about the Overseer's proposal to change the current examination. One can clearly tell how shocked she was as she accidentally slipped her tongue and called him 'Granpa'.

"Yes, I am serious about this." The blonde man on the monitor nodded.

"But why now?! The promotion exam will start next week." Theresa has a point. She kept reading the document that Otto sent to her. Especially on the part where the proposed change to be put in the practical exams. She put it down and massages her temple as she determined that it would be hard for the students to prepare for it. Much less now that they only have less than a week.

"The introduction of Emperor level honkai as an opponent... Do you think a bunch of C Rank Valkyrie would be able to take it out?" that was Theresa main concern. She pick up the cup of tea that is on her desk and took a sip to calm down his nerves.

Otto smiled as he understands where his granddaughter was going into. He begun operating his terminal on his part as a ping sound came from the principal's monitor. The screen shows a notification of a file that was sent to her by the Overseer. Theresa stared at the blonde man as her eyes seems to ask, what is this is. "I believe you would understand my decision if you read that report."

The principal raises an eyebrow, in doubt about what the man was referring to. She opened the file and did a quick scan to it. It was not soon that her eyes widen in surprise. "Is this true?"

"Unfortunately, yes" Otto nodded, making the small principal hang her head in disbelief.

The file was a report about the recent appearances of the honkai beast. It says that the honkai has been appearing frequently as of late. Not to mention, it seems like they are growing stronger as the file also includes the growing number of casualties and injuries of the Valkyries.

"As you can see, the lives of the new recruits is at risk. If we do not put a tighter grip on the ranking system, some may end up with a mission that they cannot handle." Otto explained his reason for the change. "This report would normally cause a total overhaul to the system but since we can't afford doing it all at once, I decided to start first with the training facilities."

"Hence why you choose to change the difficulty of the exam." Theresa continued, earning a nod from the overseer. "However, the problem still remains, the students will not have enough time to prepare. Although there is still an option to postpone it, but I don't think that would be the best move."

"Do not worry, I have already formulated some plans for this situation." Otto said to reassure the worried white-haired girl(?). Once again, he sent another file. "I apologize but this is all the time I had for now. I am busy organizing things here in the Headquarters as it is quite hectic because of that report. If you have any inquiries, I suggest you should refer to Rita."

The blonde bid farewell and hung up the call. The whole room became silent as the only sound that can be heard is the beeping sound of Theresa operating the terminal and reading the documents that was sent to her by the Overseer.

After a few minutes, she heave out a sigh and leaned on her chair. Her head is aching a bit so she massages it to elevate the pain.

"This will be hard... " She muttered as she reached for the intercom on her desk and pressed it. "Please, announce for an emergency staff meeting. And would you also contact Ms. Rita Rossweise the come too."

@@@@@@@@@

Glynne and Fu Hua are facing each other while sitting with their legs crossed on top of a huge boulder.

"Are you ready?" the girl asked in which the boy responded with a nod. With his permission, Fu Hua put a hand on his chest as it begun to glow with an orange hue.

Glynne felt something warm entering inside of his chest. He closed his eyes and begun to familiarize himself with the particular energy that is being injected into him.

However, after a few minutes, wrinkles begun to show on his face as he is having a hard time grasping the feeling. The Ki energy, he really having a hard time describing it. It felt similar to that of a honkai energy and yet it seems to be a lot different than that. He could at least tell that, since he is very proficient on controlling the honkai energy due to him dealing with it almost every single day.

Once again, he tried to focus on the Ki energy. The task that Fu Hua gave to him was to find the a similar energy that was inside his body. However, since he isn't that much knowledgeable and familiar with it yet, he needed to learn the feeling first and foremost.

Glynne didn't know how much time has passed. All of his thoughts are only concentrated into the warm energy that is in his chest. For some reason, he felt some kind of ease as time went on. He don't know why but for some reason, he is feeling like someone is embracing him like that of a mother to a child. For someone who didn't get to experience having any parents, he found the feeling rather addicting. He doesn't mind if it continues on forever.

"Ah, " However, all good things must come to an end. Realizing that the Ki energy has been cut off, he opened his to see Fu Hua somehow staring at him. Maybe because they are still feeling the lingering feeling of their souls being intertwined together, both of them are just looking at each others face in a trance like state.

"Kuhum!" Fu Hua and Glynne snapped back into reality when they heard someone clearing their throats. They glance over to who it was and discover a certain white-haired girl looking down on them while her hands are on her hips. "Am I disturbing something?" she asked while her mouth was twitching for some reason.

"Kiana? What are you doing here?" Fu Hua, being the first to recollect her calm, questioned the girl for coming deep inside the woods, where they decided to train Ki.

"Isn't like I'm the only one that came here though." says Kiana while crossing his arms. She then pointed below the rock and urged the two to look there. They quickly took a peek and to their surprised, even Mei and Bronya was here. "Actually, there is something we needed to discuss."

@@@@@@@@@@

Relocating into a shade of a big tree, the group used its roots as seats to sit down. Along the way, the three new arrivals did a quick summary on their reason why they came here.

"Did you already have the gist of what we gonna talk about?" Kiana asked with Fu Hu and Glynne nodding.

Basically, there was a huge announcement that happened awhile ago. Although it was sent via their personal devices, the two are busy with their training so they have missed it. When they operated their phones and checked the announcement, they can't hide the shocked on their face.

"So, what now?" Glynne asked as he was still confused about the change on the exam. "If I would take a guess, one reason you came here is to recruit us."

One of the new rule for the exam is to create a team of five or six members. This is decided so that they could have a higher chance in defeating the emperor level honkai they were about face.

"Mhn... Glynne is right." Bronya nodded. She got near him and patted his head for a job well done. The boy was silent as he has mixed feelings about it.

"Right, if that was the case then. I don't really mind it." Glynne said while he stopped the silver-haired girl hands from stroking his head any further. Since he don't see anything wrong with teaming up with the three, he agrees with the proposal. "How about you, Fu Hua?"

"I have no objections." and seems like she agrees with him also.

"Good" Kiana said while nodding her head in satisfaction. The boy don't know why but it feels like she became the leader of the group as if it was natural. That said, it isn't like he have any objections about it as she did demonstrated her leader skills on the BattleSim last week.

Her academic scores might be low, however it's hard to argue about her innate ability when it comes to battle. Using just pure battle instincts and her quick-wittedness, she could formulate a plan right on the spot. This makes surprises very much ineffective against her. When you couple this with her being a leader, the team would most likely respond in any kind of situation that is thrown at them.

That said, Kiana is more of a commander on the battlefield. She is aware that she is not much of a strategist so she had signaled Mei to go in front and do a quick briefing.

"Alright, as all of you know. Next week, we will be facing against an emperor level honkai beast, Ganesha." Mei said as she operated her device and show a picture of the huge boar like honkai beast to everyone else. "I did a quick research on it as soon as I saw the announcement. As you can see, it is a huge beast that uses its massive size as a weapon. The one we should look out for is its rolling attack which is its most dangerous one."

Glynne observed the footage of the emperor level honkai beast that Mei presented in front. Of all his years in fighting in the frontline, it really not surprising that he had face one or two of these creatures. However, even if he had experienced, he really can't give any additional information in fighting them. This is because he only one-shotted due to the nature of his stigmata.

"If you noticed, the beast only has small legs compared to its body and it often has a hard time turning around when its target goes to its side. Even so, in exchange for its low speed and flexibility, it makes up with its amazing durability." Mei continued explaining while showing them another footage. The beast was surrounded by multiple Valkyries as they simultaneously attack it, making the beast to fall down on its belly. "As you can see here, it would take a lot of damage before we could weaken enough for its legs to unable to support its heavy body. However, this is when it is mostly vulnerable as it seems to receive more damage if it is on this state."

The whole group became silent as they digest the information. Each of them are thinking about their own tactics to deal with the beast.

Bronya has no problem, as her weapon was pretty much a rocket launcher. She could deal a lot of damage however, she has a quite long recharge time inbetween every shot if she wanted it at full power.

Fu Hua was, not that of problem either as she could use her heavy fist and kicks that is enhance by Ki energy to deal a large amount of damage on its shell.

The only problem now is the remaining three.

Mei's weapon, a katana, is very effective against soft bodied opponents. However, since Ganesha has a hard shell, she could only chip in some damage.

Kiana's main weapon, dual pistol, might be of help though. Well, that is only if she would fire it point blank. Her kick may also be of help but it is better to just put her on mid-range position to help deal some constant damage.

And lastly, it was Glynne's sniper rifle. As said on the previous chapters, his weapon could only help deal with small fries. A sniper rifle main concept is to kill an opponent with at less amount bullet as much as possible. Thus why it would that one shot with the an armor piercing bullet to kill a radical level honkai beast. However, it is very questionable if this would happen when facing against any emperor level honkai.

"As expected, I will on the support role." he accidentally blurted out his thoughts. When the girls heard his words, they all stared at him with a confused face.

"What are talking about, Glynne? Don't you have that bullets that goes 'BANG!' on impact?" Kiana asked while spreading her arms to mimic a explosion.

"Are you talking about the explosive rounds?" Glynne asked to make sure. He scratched the back of his head as he seems to be awkward about something. "....I hate to admit it but I actually just made them on a whim, so I don't really remember much on how to make them. It would help if I still have some left as a reference but unfortunately, I used it all up last week."

"""Eh?!""" The sudden revelation made the girls shout in disbelief. They didn't really expected such a helpful ammunition would just be created just because it was only because he felt like doing it. They have realized just how deadly the boy's creation would be if he would make them seriously.

Despite the small uproar that just happened, a certain girl with robotic legs came in front of the boy "Fufufu, don't worry Glynne. Da Bronya would be able to help you with that." She said while pumping her chest.

"Hm? What do mean?"

"The truth is, Bronya was watching Glynne when he made the explosive rounds. With Bronya's perfect memory, Bronya still remembers the process on how you made them." She said with a proud look on her face.

She stared at Glynne with a look on her face that seems to waiting to praise her. He smiled in defeat and do just that. "That will be a huge help!" he said as he stroke the girl's head.

"Ahem, seems like that problem is fixed for the time being." Kiana said after she did a fake cough. Bronya look at her direction at she seems to be glaring her for interrupting the boy's hand. "It is decided that Bronya and Glynne would spending their time in the weapon development building to prepare some equipment. Additionally, should we also give you our weapons for you two to look at?"

"I see no problem with that." Glynne replied while Bronya nodded her head.

"As for Mei and Fu Hua, I think we still need some more information about the honkai beast so I would be asking you two to do some research." Kaina said while facing the other two.

"No problem"

"Understood"

Mei and Fu Hua replied respectively.

"....Wait, then what about you?" Glynne questioned as he was confused that their leader seems to be the only one who seems to don't have anything to do.

"Fufu, Of course, I will be doing the most important stuff." Kiana said will having a smug look on her face. "I'm gonna pester Auntie Theresa about the additional details of the announcement."

This time, it was her who gathered weird stares from the group. "Bronya is amaze how Kiana Idiotka could admit that with such confidence." Bronya muttered, followed by the others nodding their head in agreement.

"What? It isn't like my fault that they suddenly announced about changing the exams. It's natural that people would complain so I'm only just taking advantage of the situation to ask her about some minor details. We might not know, but maybe there are some extra things that they also changed " Kiana's words are, strangely has a point. Taking the lack of retort as an agreement, she puffed her chest up with a smug face.

"......"

"...... What?" Glynne was confused when Kiana's eyes keeps staring at him. His words seems to have made the girl's mood sour as she pouts and got closed to him.

"...Are you not gonna praise me too?" the boy widen his eyes when this words came right out of Kiana's mouth. He look at her as she fidgets on his side while her face was somewhat dyed pink.

'Get a grip, Glynne. You will not fall for the that trick.' - he shouted in his mind as he imagined the white-haired girl smirking when he would show some hesitation here.

He face and look at her on the eyes as he slowly put his hand on her hair. "I guess I underestimated you." he said.

"Hehehe, is that so.... So you see me in a new light." Kiana said. She flashed a sincere smile as she seems to enjoy being patted on the head.

Glynne was frozen as he didn't expect her reaction. He tried his best to hold back his face from turning to red. That said, he really can't deny how cute she is right now.

The two are unaware about the other weirdly staring at them... Particularly the one with dark eyes.

===============

Awight.... Seems like writing at night have done the trick.... Well sort of.

I really appreciate your worries bout me on my yesterday's post. But well, TBH I wanted to rest but since this arc is nearing its end, I wanted to finish it first... Spoilers, the next arc is gonna be a big one so me resting for a bit would pretty much help.

Though I ain't gonna rush it... But if it feels that way..... Can't really do much about it...

Anyways, Thank you for reading!

Ah... Wanna play HI3....