Chapter 28 Disappointing Score

“Oh! Oh yes! Sorry! It’s just that I was so disappointed in my students that I completely forgot. Yes, yes, please! Go on, Hale! Show us how it's done! Same setting and all; try to get the best score you can.”

As Aria stepped up, the other students watched her with skepticism. They had just faced a horde of mutants - Aegis units - and had struggled miserably in their teams, scoring far below what was required. The sight of her preparing to go in alone did little to give hope.

“What’s she thinking?” one of the nerds muttered. 

“There’s no way she can do this alone! It’s impossible to score enough points without a team backing you up.”

“Seriously! That's impossible.”

“She’ll just get swarmed! Those Aegis units are no joke!”

“Yeah, good luck with that!” someone scoffed. 

“She’ll be lucky if she even survives the first mutant!”

Aria could not care at this point about what anyone said. All she wanted was to feel the familiar embrace of the tank mech cockpit and crush the mutants she hated so much - even if it was just VR training. 

The moment the virtual world enveloped her, she got to work. First, she quickly calibrated the damaged tank mech, optimizing its systems. With each adjustment, she could feel the mech responding better, gaining an edge right from the start.

 “Come on, baby, show me what you can do!”

Once satisfied with the adjustments, Aria armed the mech's one remaining arm with a tank knife and took off to the ammo drop as quickly as possible. But instead of following the usual paths like the other students, she opted for a more creative route. She pushed the mech to its limits, vaulting over broken buildings and debris, using the smaller, crumbled structures as makeshift cushions to land more gently. With every leap and bound, her score began to skyrocket, and the other students watched with their mouths agape, unable to believe how she was racking up so many points simply through mobility.

As she dashed through the city ruins, she encountered her first group of Aegis mutants. Instead of panicking or slowing down, Aria charged at them. But to Aria, Aegis mutants were no threat. She sliced through the mutants as she ran past them making it look easy.

Upon reaching the first ammo drop, she slammed the tank mech rifle into the ground and quickly reloaded the particle charge, the familiar motions feeling like second nature. She had done this countless times on her missions in the heat of the battle and in VR simulation it was even easier.

 Grabbing the rifle, she quickly scanned her surroundings and darted up to a higher vantage point. With only one functional arm, she had to recalibrate her aiming, compensating for the missing support from her other arm. But that didn’t deter her; if anything, it made her more excited.

Turning on the three-shot burst mode, she focused on the approaching horde of mutants. She began firing, making sure not to waste a single bullet. The mutants fell one by one, their bodies crumpling to the ground as Aria’s score continued to spin like a slot machine jackpot, rising higher and higher with each takedown.

With each mutant that fell, students began to lean forward, glued to the screens, their earlier jeers replaced with a growing sense of disbelief. 

With her final charge loaded into the tank rifle, Aria set out from the ammo drop. A dense swarm of Aegis mutants crowded her path, closing in from every angle. Yet, to Aria, this was hardly a problem. She moved through the oncoming mutants, each shot precise, her rifle dealing devastating three-burst shots that cut through mutants in satisfying sprays of VR pixel blood. She left a path littered with fallen enemies, her score ticking up at an unbelievable rate.

Upon reaching the next ammo drop, she quickly reloaded, but there was no pause. With her sights set on the evac point, she tore through the hoard of mutants with ease, her score continuing to rise. When she finally arrived at the evac zone with a few minutes to spare, it would have been the perfect time to make a triumphant exit, sealing her success and ending the run. But Aria was far from done. She took one look at the advancing mutants and decided she’d milk every last second out of this test.

Standing her ground, she aimed at the remaining mutants, firing off her last rounds with steady shots. Each mutant that dropped sent her score even higher, but as her rifle clicked empty, Aria just smiled.

"Tsk! Empty, run out of charge. But doesn't matter, for trash like you, shooting is just a waste of ammo! I will rip you all in pieces with bare hands!"

 Flipping the rifle in the air, she caught it by the barrel, using it as a makeshift baseball bat. With adrenaline fueling her every swing, she waded into the horde, smashing mutants left and right until the rifle itself splintered apart in her hand.

With rifle broken, she drew her tank knife and continued the fight, slicing through mutants, score reaching numbers the other students could hardly believe. As the timer flashed its final few seconds, Aria spotted one last mutant, far across the field, lumbering toward her. Without hesitation, she hurled her tank knife with pinpoint accuracy, watching as it struck the mutant dead center, causing it to explode in a burst of VR pixels gore.

As she crossed the finish line, the simulation ended with a text flash of "Mission Complete." The entire VR room went silent, every pair of eyes locked onto the score display. The screen read an astounding 234,000 points, a record-breaking score, at least for their class. The students stared, slack-jawed, at the staggering number, still processing that one person alone had managed to score more than entire teams combined.

Instructor West glanced at the score with a slight, disappointed smirk. Crossing his arms, he muttered just loud enough for no one to hear, “Huh, I see. Our best pilot has gotten a bit rusty. I expected double that score.”

As the numbers on the scoreboard blinked, confirming Aria’s jaw-dropping score, the VR room erupted in varied reactions. The muscleheads were the first to break the silence into loud cheers, pumping their fist into the air as if they’d just won a competition. 

"Now that’s what I’m talking about!" one of them shouted. 

"That’s the kind of power we need - straight-up mutant-smashing strength!"

"It's a bit shame we won't be running 100 laps but to see such performance was worth it!"

"Heck yeah! We need to work harder! Work our muscles harder! We need to do better!"

 Their respect for Aria was instant, her dominating performance embodying everything they strived for in combat.

Meanwhile, the academic group exchanged incredulous looks, their amazement quickly giving way to skepticism. They gathered in a hushed circle, whispering theories and suspicions. 

"Do you think she cheated?" one of them muttered, adjusting his glasses.

The girl with a ponytail said, "There’s no way she just walked in and scored that high without something suspicious going on. Maybe she hacked the system or used some hidden override or third-party software. That would explain the unreal score."