Demon Slayer: I was taken home by Shinobu Kocho at the beginning.

Meanwhile, seeing the situation here, Ichinose sighed inwardly and didn't come over. As for Hashimoto, he was even less likely to come looking for trouble.

Tatsuya Kamio underestimated the students' desire for a higher ranking, or perhaps it was because it was the first day and they were still full of energy. Even though the location of the project was relatively far away, they still managed to gather a group within thirty minutes.

Soon, the English test began, and among the participants in the group, apart from Ichinose, Kamio Tatsuya was not familiar with either of them.

On the contrary, Ichinose gets to be greeted by almost everyone from every group, whether they are first-year or second-year students.

She's truly a queen of popularity, which is why Tatsuya Kamio prioritizes Ichinose below Kamuro and Shiina.

Because she was kind to everyone, while Tatsuya Kamio wished that this kindness belonged only to him.

The written test questions weren't too difficult, and Tatsuya Kamio handed in his paper quickly. Before him, there was someone who finished even faster: Honami Ichinose.

"Kamio-kun, it seems I've won this time."

Looking at Ichinose's beaming face, Kamio Tatsuya curled his lip. What's so smug about him? The score hasn't even been handed out yet.

Then, both Kamio Tatsuya and Ichinose got full marks. Ichinose got first place because he submitted his paper earlier, while Kamio Tatsuya came in second.

Well, second place is fine. Anyway, second place means three points plus two servings of food.

Since it was already close to noon, the four of them decided to have lunch together.

After lunch, Tatsuya Kamio parted ways with Kamuro and the others.

"Masumi, after F8 comes D7."

After watching Tatsuya Kamio leave, Hashimoto spoke with a puzzled expression.

"What F8 and D7?"

“Tatsuya asked us about the route beforehand, and then told us to head towards F8 after the exam, and then D7.”

The three of them didn't quite understand what he was saying, so Hashimoto chose the simplest method and took out his walkie-talkie to ask Sakayanagi.

It's better to ask another riddle-maker directly than to ask the riddle-maker directly.

"I see. It seems that Kamio-san obtained the exam schedule through some means, which is why he said that."

Sakayanagi saw through Kamio Tatsuya's intentions, which startled Hashimoto.

"Isn't that cheating?"

"Not necessarily. After all, it was mentioned in yesterday's meeting that all the route maps are in the watch." Sakayanagi said dismissively, "Judging from Kamio-kun's action this morning of not setting off directly but going to change his watch first, he probably took the watch apart."

At this point, Sakayanagi expressed some regret, realizing that it was too late to find out now, as it was no longer possible to disassemble the watch and retrieve the data from it.

Because there were no tools.

"Shall we go to F8?"

"No need. After you rest for a while, just slowly move towards D7. I will keep an eye on the nearby projects."

Kamio has excellent physical abilities, while our group, because of me, can't get high scores through basic movement. To get a ranking, we can only rely on completing tasks to rack up points.

"I understand. Then let's get ready to go."

After hanging up the phone, Hashimoto looked at Kamuro and Ichinose.

"That's how it is. Let's go."

After returning to the previously designated location, Kamio Tatsuya leaned against a large tree to rest, not planning to push himself too hard for the first three days.

Aside from ensuring a good score on basic movement skills, you can do the assignments if they come up, but don't force yourself to do them if they don't.

Because the scores of the ten groups before and after the test will not be confirmed until the fourth day, it means that only on that day can one judge their scoring efficiency by comparing their scores with those of the groups before and after them.

We can adjust it gradually later.

At 12:58, the alarm set by Tatsuya Kamio on his tablet woke him up. Two minutes later, Tatsuya Kamio's watch beeped, indicating that the next location was C6, thus confirming the route.

Kamio Tatsuya put away his tablet, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and headed north. Not long after, his watch beeped, indicating that he had arrived at area C6.

The next stop on this route is D6. To the north of D6 is a lake, and Tatsuya Kamio plans to camp nearby for the night.

Then, Tatsuya Kamio took out his tablet. There happened to be a research project at B6 on the west side, and if he went there now, he might be able to snag one.

I also checked the scores. I have 15 points so far. One point was for the basic movement in the morning, three points were for the second place in the project, and the remaining 11 points are for the basic movement.

As expected, they came in first place. Having a route map allows them to act in advance, which is definitely a significant advantage.

Kamio Tatsuya put away his tablet and headed toward the B6 project. About twenty minutes later, Kamio Tatsuya saw the place where he could participate in the project.

The test here is a grip strength test conducted in groups according to gender. With Tatsuya Kamio's physical abilities, as long as he successfully registers, he will undoubtedly win first place.

Meanwhile, on the cruise ship, Yuecheng realized what had happened when he saw the combination of the rideshare card and the additional card pointing to two different groups.

He saw through Nagumo's plan at a glance; he was just trying to boost his scores by monopolizing research topics.

As for Tatsuya Kamio, is he planning to defeat Nagumo single-handedly?

Tsukishiro didn't think Kamio Tatsu was overestimating himself because of this; in fact, she had some expectations for his performance.

As for the final score from this exam, Yuecheng didn't care at all. Anyway, I'm leaving after summer vacation, so what does the fiscal deficit have to do with me?

Chapter 328 The First Day, Only Forty-Six Minutes

In the grip strength competition, Tatsuya Kamio undoubtedly won first place, adding five more points to his total score, bringing his total to twenty points.

Although he didn't know the exact scores of the other groups, Tatsuya Kamio felt that his score shouldn't be too bad.

Moreover, since there was no risk of dropping out, many students looked quite relaxed, and no one seemed particularly concerned about the victory.

Furthermore, Tatsuya Kamio observed that all the third-year students who had just participated in the grip strength test were in single groups.

According to information gathered by Tatsuya Kamio before the start of the school year, apart from Kiryuin, the maverick senior, there were no other solo groups in the third year.

In other words, were these people dispersed from the very beginning?

If I'm not mistaken, the rest of them are probably all with Nagumo.

If Nagumo wants to monopolize the questions, he needs a lot of cannon fodder.

Assuming that Nagumo's group eventually forms a team of up to seven people, in order to avoid losing points, one person will be asked to complete the basic movement, while the rest will aim at the task.

Kamio Tatsuya has already participated in two projects, and the maximum number of people in each project is ten. In other words, Nagumo needs at least nearly sixty cannon fodder.

With the current number of third-grade students... that's more than enough.

After finishing the grip strength test, Tatsuya Kamio took out his tablet again to check the nearby topics. This time, there were many more topics, covering almost the entire island.

Nearby, at D7, a fire-making task has been introduced, while at C6, a geography test has been added, and further away in the G3 area, a task called a miscellaneous studies exam has been introduced.

Miscellaneous studies... Kamio Tatsuya was somewhat interested, but that place was too far away, and to get there, one would need to cross the small hill in the middle of the island.

So Kamio Tatsuya decided to go to the nearest D7 area. Although the grip strength test had wasted some time, Kamio Tatsuya thought that if he was lucky, he could still catch up with the geography test in the D7 area.

After spending more than ten minutes arriving at the research site, the geography test had not yet begun.

"Huh? Isn't that Kamio-kun?"

The person in charge of this project seems to be Hoshinomiya, the homeroom teacher of Class 2-B. As soon as Kamio Tatsuya arrived, she shouted to say hello.

"Hello, Hoshinomiya-sensei."

Regardless, since the other party was a teacher, Tatsuya Kamio still greeted him politely.

"Did you come all this way just to visit me?"

"No, I'm just here to take the geography test. It seems like there's still a registration deadline, right?"

"Oh dear, this is really upsetting. If I can't cheer you up, I won't help you register."

Looking at Hoshinomiya's affected manner, Kamio Tatsuya felt somewhat disgusted.

"Sure, if Ms. Hoshinomiya wants to lose this job, I have no objection. Do you want me to report you to the school for deliberately disrupting the students' exams?"

"Tsk, Kamio-kun is really not cute." Hoshinomiya's expression immediately changed. "Hold out your hand."

After successfully registering, the geography test began, and Tatsuya Kamio was the last student to participate.

This time, Kamio Tatsumi didn't encounter a seeded player like Ichinose. He not only handed in his paper first, but also ensured a 100% accuracy rate, successfully obtaining the first place's five points, bringing his total score to twenty-five.

However, this time the reward didn't include food or drinking water, making it less appealing than the English test I took this morning.

After finishing his assignment, Tatsuya Kamio opened his tablet again to find the next assignment. For the first three days, he only needed to focus on getting high scores and did not need to do anything else.

However, Tatsuya Kamio was no longer favored by Lady Luck when the two new projects that appeared nearby were launched, and he was overtaken by other participants before he even had a chance to compete.

However, in the last designated area, Kamio Tatsuya was fortunate enough to win first place, directly receiving a ten-point ranking bonus, plus a one-point arrival bonus, bringing his score to thirty-six points.

Although he didn't know how the other groups fared, Tatsuya Kamio felt that this was a pretty good score.

After getting those eleven points, Kamio Tatsu decided not to go on any more trips. On the first day of the exam, before the students had scattered to various parts of the deserted island, there would be too many competitors no matter what he did.

I was able to get three research projects by sheer luck, but relying on luck for everything is too unreliable.

Moreover, even if Tatsuya Kamio has good stamina, he will quickly consume drinking water while running back and forth. He didn't bring much water, and he might not be able to secure a water-gathering assignment later, so he still needs to use it sparingly.

Looking at the lake to the north, Tatsuya Kamio found a big tree and sat down. The scenery by the lake was nice, and there was even a fishing area.

Unfortunately, Tatsuya Kamio did not prepare any fishing gear.

Looking at the sun in the sky, Tatsuya Kamio decided not to set up the tent now. If he opened the tent now, it would probably steam him to death by nightfall.

"Tsk? What are you doing here?"

While Tatsuya Kamio was resting and looking at the lake, he heard a familiar voice. Turning around, he saw a girl with blue hair.

"Ibuki, what's the matter?"

"It's nothing, just a normal exam." Ibuki said, taking two steps forward. "By the way, you're resting here? I remember you guys had a lot of ride-sharing issues stuck with you, didn't you?"

"No one said I can't rest, right?" Tatsuya Kamio closed his eyes again, enjoying the gentle breeze. "How were your results today?"

"Only thirteen points, so-so."

Although Ibuki said this, Kamio Tatsuya could tell that the guy was very proud. He remembered that he wasn't first in the second area.

"You got the first-arrival reward in the first area this afternoon?"

How did you know?

Hearing Ibuki's surprised tone, Kamio Tatsu realized that it was this guy who had taken his first place.

“Because I’m second.” Kamio Tatsuya opened his eyes and said calmly, “If I’m not mistaken, we should be on the same path.”

"D8, C7, and then D6?"

"That's right."

"That's really unfortunate."

After saying that, Ibuki stopped paying attention to Kamio Tatsuya and walked towards the lake. Then, in Kamio Tatsuya's sight, Ibuki put down her backpack and took out a tent.

Seeing this, Tatsuya Kamio's expression turned somewhat strange.

Is this idiot planning to set up a tent right now? And why didn't he choose a shady spot? With this blazing sun, the tent will get really hot inside.

Aren't you going to sleep tonight?

However, Tatsuya Kamio didn't bother to remind her, because he had already noticed out of the corner of his eye that something seemed to be being prepared at the fishing area he had seen earlier.

Is there some kind of research topic here?

Thinking this, Kamio Tatsuya picked up the backpack he had placed under him and walked over there.

"Are you preparing for a research project?"

"That's right, we're preparing a fishing project. If you'd like to participate, you can wait a bit; this should be the last project for today," a school staff member kindly replied.

Upon hearing the answer, Tatsuya Kamio nodded.

Hehe, it seems Lady Luck is still on my side. That's great.

So, Tatsuya Kamio stepped aside and waited for the assignment to be prepared.

"Is this preparation for a research project?"

Ibuki stopped setting up the tent and walked over directly.

"Hmm, a fishing project? What? You're planning to participate?"

Tatsuya Kamio glanced at her.

"Is not this nonsensical?"

"Ibuki said with dissatisfaction."