The assessment venue wasn't the single large mountain David had initially guessed, but rather an entire mountain range, including several surrounding peaks.
According to Dominic, who accompanied them in the vehicle, this mountain range—including the surrounding swamps and basins—was formed after an unstable small Mystery Dungeon merged with their world.
Therefore, it possessed its own self-contained ecosystem, with mountains, jungles, lakes, streams, cliffs, basins, swamps... every type of terrain imaginable, making it an ideal assessment location.
"It seems the League really goes all out when they finally make a move!" David exclaimed.
There were probably ten to twenty middle schools from Imperial City participating in the joint assessment. Imperial Capital No. 1 High School had the most participants, though still fewer than three hundred students.
This meant the total number of participants in the outdoor practical assessment was only around five thousand.
However, this Mystery Dungeon covered an area of at least several hundred square kilometers. Mountains occupy far more usable space than flatlands of equivalent area. Using such a vast region for their assessment was excessive—like using a cleaver to kill a chicken.
When the vehicle stopped, David and the others disembarked to find many students from other schools already waiting around the assessment mountain range.
In addition, numerous League staff members were present. Upon seeing David's group arrive, one quickly stepped forward and said,
"Is this Imperial Capital No. 1 High School? Please wait a moment. The specific rules of the assessment will be announced once all participants have arrived."
Hearing the staff member's words, the Imperial Capital No. 1 High School group wasn't in a hurry. They found a good spot and waited quietly.
All schools treated this assessment with great importance, and it wasn't long before all participants had arrived.
The lead staff member, seeing everyone had gathered, stepped forward and began to speak.
"Hello everyone! My name is Vincent, and I am the supervisor and safety officer for this outdoor assessment. Now that everyone is here, I will explain the specific requirements and precautions for this evaluation."
After speaking, Vincent turned and gestured toward the mountain range behind him.
"The Trial Mountain Range—this is the venue for this assessment. You will undergo a seven-day outdoor expedition here, and your final scores will be determined by the points you accumulate."
"The rules for this assessment are straightforward. We will mix all of you together and randomly deploy you into the outer regions of the mountain range."
"You have two options. The first is to survive in the outer areas of the mountain range for seven days. As long as you persevere until the end, you will receive a baseline of two hundred points."
"The second option is to venture deeper. We have placed numerous supplies throughout the mountain range. Obtaining them will not only help you survive better during these seven days, but you can also earn corresponding points based on the value of the items obtained. However, one thing to note is..."
"Most of the supplies in the assessment area are placed near wild Pokémon. The deeper you venture into the mountain range, the greater the quantity and value of supplies—but the stronger the surrounding wild Pokémon will be as well. Remember to assess your own strength reasonably before pursuing supplies."
After quickly delivering this information, Vincent paused, took a sip of water from his bottle, then continued with his reminders.
"Defeating wild Pokémon, like obtaining supplies, can also earn you points. However, there are many Advanced-level Pokémon in the assessment area..."
"The final point: this assessment allows for the acquisition of points from other participants. By defeating an opponent, you can automatically gain thirty percent of their points."
"Forced battles are permitted, and even surprise attacks are allowed, but remember one thing: directly attacking the Trainer themselves is absolutely forbidden!"
After explaining the rules, Vincent gestured to the staff members behind him, who brought out pre-prepared supplies. He then picked up a watch-like device from among them.
"This is a special points wristband, which records the points you earn in real-time. It also has a distress signal function—if you encounter danger, press it, and the patrolling staff in the assessment area will come to rescue you."
"However, this also means your assessment ends at that point, and your final score will be based on the points you had accumulated when you pressed the distress device."
"After defeating an opponent, you can choose to press the distress signal on their wristband to eliminate them from the assessment..."
"As for these items, they are your essential supplies for the coming days. If there are no questions, please come forward and collect them!"
After Vincent finished speaking, the surrounding participants immediately formed lines to collect their supplies.
David quickly received his supplies and examined the backpack in his hand.
One points wristband as mentioned, a small flashlight, a windproof lighter, a simple sleeping bag, plus one day's worth of food and water for the Trainer—a bottle of purified water and a small packet of compressed biscuits.
These few simple items constituted all the supplies for this assessment.
David looked at the supplies in his hand and thought: although the supervisor had said that surviving for seven days would earn the baseline two hundred points, looking at the items provided, it might not be quite so simple to survive in the outer areas of the mountain range for seven days.
If a Trainer rationed this amount of food carefully, it could barely last three days, but with a Pokémon's consumption added in, it might be gone in a single meal.
And this sleeping bag... it was November, after all. Relying solely on this sleeping bag, one might freeze at night. This meant that to get proper rest, one would either need to find a cave or similar shelter, or construct a shelter themselves.
Otherwise, the only option was to venture deeper into the mountain range, hoping to find a tent or similar items among the cached supplies.
Moreover, the supervisor had just mentioned that the closer one got to the deeper parts of the mountain range, the richer the resources became. Given that, it was easy to deduce that supplies in the outer areas would be extremely scarce.
If someone was determined to remain in the outer areas, it was highly likely they wouldn't accumulate many points. Due to lack of supplies, their condition would deteriorate, forcing them to withdraw early—possibly not even earning those two hundred points.
"It seems the League's true intention is to encourage the new generation of Trainers to be bold in exploration and courageous in taking risks."
David shook his head and reflected. If someone didn't even have the courage to actively explore in an assessment where safety was guaranteed, such a person would struggle to progress far on the path of a Trainer.
Soon, everyone had collected their allotted supplies, and the assessment was about to begin.
David was still wondering how the personnel would be distributed when, unexpectedly, the supervisor who had just briefed them directly mixed up students from all schools.
This complete intermixing of all schools also eliminated the possibility of forming groups beforehand.
Then, staff members drove out dozens of vehicles, transporting participants randomly to the outer areas of the mountain range, dropping off one person at a time at relatively distant locations.
Before long, David and the others were all randomly deployed throughout the outer regions of this mountain range.