I’ll be the Red Ranger
Chapter 110 – Concluding the Second Exam

- Sebastian -

It wasn’t common to have two generals’ meetings occur so close to one another, just two weeks from the last. Nevertheless, with the evaluation event underway and the latest news from the frontline, all five were once again summoned to the NEA Rangers’ headquarters.

Among the five, worry was evident—especially on the faces of two of them. Sebastian, the General of the Yellow Rangers, looked harried, burdened by supply line issues on Olympus. Jason, the General of the Black Rangers, bore heavy shadows under his eyes, his stress etched into every tense movement.

“I need us to finalize the evaluation,” Jason began, his voice low and urgent. “We’re suffering too many casualties among the Black Rangers, even more after the constant attacks on the Half Wall.” He paused, looking around the table at his fellow generals. “Also, several sections of the wall are being protected by Rangers from other divisions, which only heightens concerns about the fortress’s security.”

Wiz, the Blue Ranger General, leaned forward, his gaze sharp. “We’re close to finishing the evaluation. For now, what’s the status of the assault to the north of the Half Wall?”

“The Dardanus forces failed to hold back the attack on their own,” Sebastian answered, “but we managed to deploy reinforcements in time so the enemy couldn’t breach our fortifications. Still, we lost over a hundred mechs to contain fourteen Titans.” He paused, drawing a deep breath. “On top of that, we have no clue how they’re acquiring so many Unique Z Crystals. A few years ago, an attack with this number of Titans would have been unimaginable.”

“How many crystals were we able to recover from the Titans?” Wiz asked.

“Only two,” Sebastian replied. “Both were given to the Dardanus, who suffered the highest casualties during the defense.”

“Did any of them react to the people around them?” Wiz pressed, leaning in slightly, eyes narrowed in anticipation.

“None,” Sebastian confirmed. “The Dardanus tested several members of their House, but it seems none of the crystals selected anyone. They’ll likely try selling the crystals if no one in their ranks can use them.”

“Damn. I was hoping we’d have a chance at getting another Unique Ranger,” Wiz muttered, frustration plain in his voice.

Sebastian knew Wiz’s excitement wasn’t solely about bolstering their forces in the ongoing war. Instead, Wiz was keen to learn more about the mysterious connection between a Ranger and a Unique Z Crystal—knowledge that might one day tip the balance of power in their favor.

Quinn, Jason, and Camille remained intently focused on the holographic display suspended in midair, its shifting data streams detailing the past few weeks’ worth of frontline results. Nearby, Sebastian and Wiz exchanged a few lingering words.

“Any chance Stewart will show up for this meeting?” Sebastian asked, his gaze shifting momentarily from the hologram’s shimmering surface to Wiz.

“Most likely not. He’s already made it clear who he’s watching during this phase of the evaluation, and the Sixth Division has been dispatched on a new mission,” Wiz replied, adjusting the holo-interface as lines of data flickered and re-formed.

“Alright, let’s focus on our main objectives,” Quinn said, pulling everyone’s attention back to the matters at hand. “We need to complete the second exam.”

She paused, letting her words settle over the group. “We have two unusual situations demanding our attention. The first involves a recruit who bent the rules of the second exam. We need to assess the gravity of this infraction and determine the appropriate punishment. Additionally, we’ve just received a new shipment of Z Crystals, prepared for immediate Ranger use. We can either increase the number of available slots by a thousand in this evaluation cycle or wait until the next batch.”

Rather than any of the more hot-headed generals jumping in, it was Wiz who took the lead. “I’m not convinced the recruit bent or broke any rules,” he began, pausing to check the name on his wrist console. “Oliver wasn’t wrong. If we examine the directives closely, there’s nothing stating that a recruit can’t remain at the entrance. The regulations are silent on that point.”

“That’s just a technical loophole,” Camille countered, folding her arms. “The timer was supposed to start the moment the recruit selected an entrance.”

“True,” Wiz conceded, “but Oliver exploited that gap perfectly. Isn’t that precisely what we want in someone undertaking an assault mission—the ability to think of unconventional tactics?”

“Perhaps,” Jason replied, “but that would be unfair to the other recruits who followed the exam’s intended spirit.”

“It only became unfair after we patched the arena’s oversight,” Wiz argued. “Before that, anyone could have tried the same maneuver.”

Jason’s face hardened. “Wiz, I understand your preference for recruits who challenge established norms and think outside the box. But how can I trust someone like that in the field? I can’t even be sure he meets the minimum skill level. Yet here we are, discussing him as if he deserves the top spot. Moreover, his outlandish completion time caused a stir—several recruits simply gave up, feeling the standard was now unattainable.”

Sebastian squirmed in his seat; he knew Jason wasn’t worried about this. However, he and Quinn didn’t value this type of solution, and with many Great Houses descendants wanting to join their divisions, having a Nameless in the first place would make them lose a lot of face.

Sebastian decided to step into the debate. “I understand that the action may have caused issues in the media and with the other Houses. However, we must admit that it was a problem that we were responsible for. The battery within the bots was intended to be exploited, but we didn’t expect someone to find a ‘bug’ with the first entrance. Oliver didn’t violate a direct rule; he capitalized on our shortcomings. On the battlefield, such cunning could be invaluable.”

Quinn eyed Sebastian sharply. “This borders on insanity. When would someone just wait for the enemy’s batteries to drain in a real scenario? And another concern: how did he even know about the battery issue in the first place? Could he have accessed privileged intel about the exam’s robots?”

With a few deft taps on the console embedded in the central table, Quinn called up a feed from the exam archives. The holographic projection showed Oliver’s unorthodox strategy in vivid detail: him entering the arena, waiting for twenty minutes, and then running into the open field with all the robots completely inactive.

The recording froze, and then Quinn switched to another timestamp—Oliver’s first time on the Leaderboard. The recruit was firing at the ground in some inexplicable but effective maneuver, trapping the Black Robots on the ground below and revealing an unknown vulnerability.

“The recruit has done this sort of thing before,” Quinn continued, her voice carrying through the command room’s hush. “He was the first to uncover the Black Robots’ weaknesses.” She let that memory hang in the still air before Sebastian summoned yet another hologram, this one scrolling through the profiles of dozens of recruits, each face and set of statistics flickering across their vision.

“It could easily be his Boon—some kind of ability that grants him insight into mechanical systems,” Sebastian offered. “We have other recruits with machine-aligned talents. It’s entirely possible the information was gotten from the robots itself.”

Wiz’s voice cut through the silence. “We have three options. We can punish him for this action, ignore it completely, or grant him a bonus.”

“Grant him a bonus?” Quinn exclaimed, incredulous. “Are you out of your mind? What kind of precedent does that set for the others? It would be disrespectful to the other recruits and an invitation for others to challenge every existing rule in the exams. At a minimum, we should invalidate his attempt and consider a punishment.”

Sebastian folded his arms, standing firm. “I disagree with any punishment. Doing so would be a self-inflicted wound. Mark my words—there are plenty of Houses out there who’d love to have a resourceful talent like Oliver. If we don’t secure him now, we’ll lose him forever.”

A heavy silence settled in, each general weighing the implications. The quiet hum of distant machinery and the faint whisper of airflow filled the gap. Finally, Camille spoke, her voice subdued but pointed. “What are his best times aside from this attempt?”

Sebastian consulted his data stream. “His next best performance was two minutes and two seconds, achieved on the final day of the second exam.”

Camille’s eyes narrowed, reflecting the holographic data swirling overhead. “So this decision is make-or-break. The six-thousandth place time is one minute forty-eight seconds, correct?”

Sebastian nodded. “Correct.”

Camille’s lips twitched into a thin, ironic line. “So he’ll either end up in first place or fail to advance to the next stage altogether.”

Even as she spoke, a new projection materialized in the center of the room: dual recordings of Oliver’s attempts played side by side. On the left, the impossible 00:31 run—he seemed to ghost through the course in a blur as if he’d scripted the entire scenario. On the right, his 02:02 attempt—solid, competent, but unremarkable compared to the previous feat.

"Since we’re in a deadlock, I’d like to make a proposal." Wiz began to explain.

The other generals paid attention to the proposal. Although it wasn’t perfect, it satisfied each of them to some extent.

"Alright, then we conclude the second exam."

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