"Student : William Walton . Freshman Year. Test validated and 10 points awarded. Total points : 20 !"
In some ways, there were similarities between Alexandre and this new student who'd demonstrated such a genius level of mastery over Hunter energy in such a short amount of time. Alexandre was, of course, a target of suspicion from his students and teachers due to the way he tended to show off, even though he kept reminding himself to keep a low profile.
Even his two companions saw him as a simple cheat who'd injected himself with the S.G.C., the same sort of person who could be rarely found in each class. This was just what Alexandre wanted, as he preferred to remain discreet about his past.
And so, most likely, this student who Alexandre knew to be a genius would also be just assumed to be a cheat by many who were present.
But Marlon, the only one of the trio not to have passed the exam, wasn't paying much attention to the genius. Instead, he turned and said to William, "Seriously, dude!? I thought you were bullshitting me this morning! How the hell did you master Hunter energy in less than 24 hours? It's absolutely insane!"
William replied smugly, "I've already explained how! You have to think of Hunter energy as a muscle you can control. The more you make it move, the more you can control it to your liking."
Marlon grimaced. "Energy that you control like a muscle? Is that supposed to make sense?"
Alexandre interrupted him and said, "That's a nice baguette you're using as a weapon, William. I assume you can use it with your lightning powers so you don't cook your own hands like you did before?"
William brightened at this. "Oh, yes! It's a sort of metal conductor. It seemed like a very sensible thing to buy, so yesterday, at the end of class, I went to the market to look for something like it. Of course, it turns out that I'm not the first man to use electrical powers! This is just a second-hand item, with only a few statistical benefits, but it allowed me to pass the test!"
Though Alexandre didn't want to show it so it wouldn't go to William's head, he was quite impressed with his friend's performance. Considering how physically pathetic William was, and how terrible his personality had been when they first met, it couldn't be denied that William was hitting his stride to some degree on the island, and his superior intellect was a great part of that. It had taken Alexandre several months to master his own Hunter energy, and while he'd done so without time constraints or clear objectives, William's progress was still quite a feat.
Jack Blades called out, "Anybody else want to take the test?"
There was a brief silence, then a female voice shouted, "Wait! I want to take the test!" The speaker, a young blonde woman, stepped out of line and walked towards the drones.
Alexandre thought he remembered seeing this woman somewhere before, but couldn't recall anything more. He searched his memory as she performed her sigil—
"Student: Claire Beaujoie. Freshman year. Test validated and 10 points awarded. Total points: 20!"
Suddenly, Alexandre remembered this woman! She was the exam candidate who'd attacked him at night during the second test with a net made from Zombie bone. He'd succeeded in overpowering her and had stolen a photo of her. Apparently, she'd been competent enough to make it to this point.
As Claire got back into line, she gave Alexandre a hard glare. It seemed that she remembered him as much as he remembered her! But then she turned her focus back to the teacher.
Professor Jack Blades looked down at his tablet. '59 students passed?' he thought. 'Not bad. Better than I was expecting.' Then he bellowed out, "You really are a bunch of incompetents! I'm sick and tired of seeing you always fail! It's time to put an end to this and get rid of the weak and pathetic members of this worthless group. Follow me! We're starting the next exercise right now."
With almost everyone trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves, the large group of students followed Jack Blades at a safe distance.