Which meant cars, shuttles, or other rides. At least, that was what non-powered people did. For those with powers, they would be using their powers to get to the school. A warm-up to make themselves look all that much better to anyone that was watching. Not that I thought that anyone was watching.
If anyone wanted to watch and check out the various powers to show themselves this year, they would be watching the interior districts. Aka, the rich idiots that paid good money for their kids to be taught by the best of the best and given every opportunity to grow their power. I wouldn’t even be all that surprised if a few of them managed to evolve their powers once or twice.
The worst part was that everyone knew that your power could evolve. It could change into something more specialized or more versatile. Yet nowhere in the curriculum did it tell us what triggered such changes. So, other than the few lucky idiots who had their powers change on them out of nowhere, no one in our school had managed to evolve the things.
That didn’t mean that the people in our school with powers were not impressive. A thought that was only reinforced as a flare of fire tore across the sky toward the school grounds. Behind the inferno that was Peter, Lincoln glided on an electric bolt as it raced down one of the few wires strung along the road.
A few stopped to watch as each person with powers passed by, slowing our progress even further until it was little more than a crawl. Thankfully, the entrance was visible at that point, and we could just shove our way toward the three arches that bottlenecked the school gates.
Of course, the sight of those odd machines set my senses off. They reminded me of the scanners set up for government buildings, but something about them was off. Like the very air around them was charged differently. That, or my already annoyed mind was making stuff up to get me to say ‘fuck the consequences’, turn around, and leave.
Before I could talk myself into running, I forced my mind onto something, anything else. The first thing that caught my attention was the clothes of everyone around me. As I had expected, most were in their best clothes. Dresses, suits, and even a few versions of battle outfits. And yes, the sight was as weird as it sounds. I mean, imagine people wearing a suit and tie standing next to someone in beastleather armor or full-on mage robes.
Which brings up an issue I never understood. What was with those robes? It wasn’t as though they helped with casting, at least, not as far as I knew. Sure, they made it easier to move around, but what was the point when the damn thing caught on everything? And past the wall that kept us safe, anything that had the possibility of slowing you down was a liability that would just end up getting you killed.
Then there were the obviously rich and pompous idiots who swaggered forward as their guards pushed and shoved people away from their charges. Why they were here in this region of the city and not the inner city testing center, I had no idea. Maybe they wanted to be worshipped. Joke's on them – no one out here was going to do that. And if they did, it sure as hell wouldn’t be for free. Something they would be lucky to even discuss, as most of the people I knew would rather spit on them than entertain them for more than a moment.
As we got closer, I noticed that the people operating the machines were doing nothing. Well, nearly nothing. They simply sat watching the screen as people passed through the arches one at a time. Nothing more.
The only one that was doing anything looked bored as fuck as he repeated the same tired lines over and over. “Do not push as you move through the scanners one at a time. Once through, grab the card that pops out of the slot to your right and bring it with you to one of the registration desks.”
After the fourth time, my mind wandered back over everything I had to get done after I finished. While I could get the pulsating diode I needed for the Hanson’s freezer from one of the salvagers, there was almost no chance they still had one. The things were used in practically everything, and yet there were never enough on the market. Even finding a second-hand one was akin to finding a fresh mana shard lying around for the taking. Cost nearly as much too.
Honestly, it was almost better to go to one of the scrap yards and see about finding some stuff to salvage that might have one or two that were at least partially functional. Who knows, I might even get lucky and find enough to last us a few months. If not, I could try to finagle them into something that worked until I found a replacement.
Then there was the mana regulator in the Gibraltar’s console that needed repair. You would think that they would have given in and paid for an upgrade, or even a less worn-out unit. This would be the ninth time we repaired it, and I was worried that I would have to tell them bad news one of these times. And we were not even the first group to try fixing it. I was just the only one willing to give it a go. All so it could keep limping along for a few more months.
Actually, with my mind wandering all over the place, it latched onto the issue and soon enough, I had a solution of sorts. Nothing permanent, but the fix might last a bit longer than our patches. Of course, it required that I get a bit lucky in the salvage yard, as, while those diodes were uncommon, finding a completely intact mana cell was practically unheard of.
And just as my mind started to go through all the possible parts that might have compatible mana cells, it was our turn to pass through the arches. My mind went on alert as I tried to prepare for anything that might happen. Whether that was in the form of pain or pressure, I had no clue.
I was almost disappointed when all I felt was a curtain of mana and air washed over my body. That was it. Even as I stood there, confused, a stark white, featureless card slid out of the slot of the pillar on my right. Bert, the ever-annoying guy, took both of our cards and pocketed them. His voice carried back to me as he walked away. “I think I will hold onto this.”
Annoyed with the man, I ground my teeth together as I chased him. “I can carry my own stuff, thank you.”
He continued toward the nearest empty person with the sign ‘Registration’ stuck to the ceiling over their head. “I know, but I also don’t want you to somehow lose it. After all, you need this to take the test.”
“I wasn’t going to lose it.” It came out more as a grumble than a proper reply.
The fucker had long fucking legs. Legs that he used to keep just out of reach, even as I ran after him. I only managed to finally catch up when he stopped in front of a bored-looking person. “Card and ID.”
Bert handed over one of the cards before taking a second to pull out his ID from his front pocket. Her movements were lazy as she deposited each into a slot in her console. A really out-of-focus holographic screen flickered to life above the device. With it came the absolute worst image of Bert I had ever seen.
“Name and age?”
“Bert Livenson, 19. Here to take the test for the academy.”
“You and everyone else, honey.” Her voice was devoid of care as she started to flick through the screens. Probably verifying that he was who he said he was while making sure he qualified to take the test.
Then, as though it had never been there, the holographic screen vanished, and she passed his cards back. “While the white card is all that you will need for the tests, you are free to bring in anything you like. You can even trade cards, steal them, or otherwise cheat. If you see cheating, don’t bother reporting it. No one cares.” Her voice seemed to flatten out as she got to the end of what had to be something she had repeated more than a dozen times.
Not that I cared. What caught my attention was the fact that they didn’t care about cheaters. That didn’t even make sense. What was the point of these tests if people could just cheat? Someone who wanted fame or power could simply pay someone powerful to take the test on for them. Or, if the person wanted to stay hidden, they could simply have someone weak take it for them.
Before I could voice my confusion, she continued. “The only thing that matters is your results on each test as they will determine how much support you will receive in the future. Support that you will be expected to work for. The more support you get, the harder and more frequent the tasks you will be required to complete. Failed tasks can result in a monetary penalty, monetary penalty, or other punishment.”
Oh. In a twisted way, that made sense. They didn’t care if you cheated. They just cared if you were able to complete their tasks and grow strong enough to justify the money they poured into you.
“The next written test is in ten minutes in room 8F. It is down the hall to the left. Simply go in, find an empty spot. Everything you need to know will be explained there.” With that said, she waved him away and gestured at me. “Card and ID.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Bert handing the card over caused her to let out a soft sigh. It made me wonder if she thought we were already cheating. Still, she did nothing more than gesture for my ID. Without a word, I passed my ID over as I answered the question I already knew was coming. “Eli Tazlin. 18.” The image of me that came up was nearly as bad as Bert’s.
Unlike his information, mine was filled with odd symbols here and there. Their odd flickering drew my eyes. It felt almost as though they wanted to tell me something. Like they held a secret they wanted me to know.
Curious, I looked to see if she noticed the odd symbols. If she did, she didn’t care. Her focus was entirely on her job of scanning through everything before passing the cards back to me and starting her spiel once again. I wasn’t given a chance to listen, though, as Bert grabbed my arm and started toward the hall.
I still remember taking a class on history in room 8F, but I could have sworn the place was a fifth of the size. I didn’t even know that the classrooms in this part of the campus could be combined.
Still, even with the extra room, the place felt cramped. There was barely enough room to walk between the desks that filled the place. And that was before you included the fact that most of them were full of people. Each of which was here for the same thing we were.
Bert was lucky enough to find a pair of open seats next to each other. Seats that we reached just as a loud thud reverberated through the room. The sound drew my eyes to the front of the room, where what looked like a burly man slowly gazed out at the crowd. It was a bit hard to tell. What with the front being three classrooms away.
My guess was confirmed as his voice boomed out of every desk interface. “You are here to take the written portion of the test. You will find that there is a slot in your desk interface. Place your test card into that slot to activate the interface. BEGIN!”
You know, it is funny how the oddest things become routine. If this were any other test, the teacher would have taken a bit of time to explain the test and to mention that cheating was not tolerated. That doing so would result in a fail, a dismissal, and a discussion with the principal. Then again, they had said they didn’t care if we cheated.
As soon as my card slid into the slot on the right, the small projectors set into the desk lit up. The harsh beige grey desk surface gained a blue tint as the interface activated.
User: Eli Tazlin
Center: Lionsguard High School
Written Test
I waited for a handful of seconds, yet nothing happened. As my fingers touched the interface, the screen changed to reveal the first question.
The primary purpose of the outerwall surrounding any city is to:
- Mark the city’s legal boundary.
- Provide protection from monster incursions.
- Separate the rich from the poor.
- Support mana-conductive antennas.
Was this a test or a joke? A city could expand as much as it wanted. The only real limit was how far they wanted to stretch their defenses. Expand too far in any direction, including vertically, and you risk a breach in the city's defenses. Something that other cities had learned the hard way. Of course, while the city could keep to a small section of land, the population continued to grow. Without room for the population to go, they would be forced to leave.
Then there was option C. The rich had their own wall, built to take care of monsters and humans that tried to get too close, and it was nowhere near the edge of the city. And while all the walls supported mana-conductive antennas, they weren’t the only places the things were mounted. There were some scattered throughout the city as well as in strategic locations outside of it.
Which left B as the only option. Not that it wasn’t obvious at the start. Even the weakest of the monsters could kill hundreds before they could be found and put down by any of the guards. If not for that, I was pretty sure the government would have already pulled every bit of funding from the wall that they could. Hell, if the rumors were to be believed, the wall was already down to a skeleton crew.
As soon as I tapped on the answer, the question vanished to be replaced by the next.
Which of the following events led directly to the expansion and strengthening of the city’s defenses?
- The First Breach
- The Fall of Northgate City
- The Mana Wave of 2037
- The Academy Riots of 2048
Option A, The First Breach, was over a century ago. Just because no one knew it at the time didn’t mean that it didn’t happen. As mana poured into the world, it caused nearby creatures to mutate. That, and there were a few of the weaker beasts that managed to make it through the tiny breaches. Let's just say the results were a bit – bloody.
And of course, that was only the first of the breaches. They were nothing compared to some of those that appeared now. Thankfully the walls kept those creatures on the other side. Fuck, the very idea of living without a wall sent a shiver down my spine, yet that was what they did. Oh, how little those people realized how much their lives – hell, their world – would change in the coming decade.
Not that they seemed to care. In fact, according to the history books, a fair chunk of the population seemed to think the creatures and deaths were either a government hoax or AI-generated crap. If I could ask them one question, I would ask about their last thoughts as they were eaten by those fake creatures.
As for those that survived the initial mutations ran for their lives. Some ran to the military bases, but even the military ended up abandoning their bases for the hard stone of the mountains. It didn’t take them a year to set up a series of small settlements in a number of caves and valleys. Then, as if it had been waiting for humanity to relax, a massive wave of mana swept down from the sky.
The sudden and massive influx of mana burned everything it touched. Those that somehow managed to survive mutated and became warped. Not even their minds were spared. My history book called it the week of hell, and that was the first such wave. There have been a dozen or so waves since that event. Stories and recordings of those times were the stuff of nightmares. It was almost enough to have me worshipping the creator of magitech.
Too bad those same magitech deflection shields ended up being the reason for the Academy Riots of 2048. All because no one wanted to pay for their installation in every city across the network. Not that the magitech strengthened the walls in any way. It just diverted the massive waves of mana away from the city, protecting those inside the walls.
In all honesty, the Fall of Northgate was the only real answer. Not that there was much of a choice. The city fell because a few forest giants happened to hit the wall at the same time. While the defenses could handle one, five was well beyond what they could take down. Within a few hours, the walls were breached, and everyone inside was either dead or running for their lives.
Most of the questions were like this. Either stupidly obvious or traps. Even the short-form written ones had me wondering just how someone could fail to do well on these tests. That was until I ran into a question that required me to put in some work.
A patrol rotation is 6 hours. Each soldier is required to spend an equal amount of time at each of three watchpoints. How long does each soldier spend at each point during one rotation?
- 60 minutes
- 90 minutes
- 120 minutes
- 180 minutes
I never said it made me work hard. The question required a little math. Then there were the questions that almost seemed tailored to me.
A night maintenance tech left these notes for the morning shift. They are in relation to a light that was repaired a week ago.
- When not in use, the indicator crystal shows a steady and sufficient charge level.
- When operating for short periods of time, the light operates at full brightness without fault.
- During sustained use (>30 seconds), the light starts to pulse.
- As the light pulses, nearby lights pulse in a counter rhythm.
- Mana cell was replaced twice.
- Emitter crystal is free of defects.
Given these notes and local limitations, which subsystem is most likely to be the cause for this issue?
- The emitter crystal is misaligned.
- The mana regulator’s feedback loop is miscalibrated or partially failed.
- The light housing is not properly sealed.
- The replacement mana cell charge is no longer sufficient.
Yeah, that was the regulator. Sure, most of the other options were possible. Well, not the one about the housing. That was just a stupid answer. The real clue was the fact that the nearby lights pulsed in response to the light’s failure. That wouldn’t happen in any other case.
The questions became a blur in my mind as I started to just mindlessly answer them. Then, without warning, the screen flashed white as text filled the screen.
User: Eli Tazlin
Test concluded
Results saved
Proceed to the CAVERN when directed
As soon as I finished reading it, the entire screen vanished as the projectors turned off. Judging by how many people were looking around, I wasn’t the first done. Not by a long shot. And here I thought I did quite well. At least I could say I was faster than Bert. Whatever question he was stuck on seemed to be confusing the hell out of him. I shifted in my seat just enough to get a look at his screen.
For this scenario, you possess a high-mobility close-combat power that lets you rapidly close on a target and hit them with more force than a normal soldier, but only in short bursts. However, after each burst, your body suffers from a brief period where you are nearly unable to move.
Your supply convoy has four members:
- One shield user specializing in area protection.
- One long-range caster with good accuracy but slow cast times.
- One non-powered scout.
- You.
Reports state that convoys along your route are likely to be hit by fast but lightly armored monsters. Which tactical approach best uses your abilities without putting any team member at unnecessary risk?
- Stay far ahead of the convoy while using your bursts to intercept any possible threats.
- Remain near the center of the formation, but use your bursts to quickly finish enemies that your team members have injured.
- Constantly alternate between flanks while using your speed to intercept any possible threats.
- Stay near the rear and avoid using your bursts unless the front line collapses.
As I read the question, I wondered how badly I’d done. That question was nowhere on it. The only power question I had was limited to pure theory. Nothing even approaching tactics or teamwork.
Sure, I wanted to fail the test, but that didn’t mean it didn’t burn my pride. Especially when it was Bert who might be doing better than me. God, I hoped at least one of the next tests was more in my wheelhouse. Not because I wanted to beat him. Nope. Not at all.
Okay, fine. I didn’t want to be beaten by the brute in the one type of testing I always beat him in.