The Army

The military barracks were actually located quite far away from the elevator. Arnold had to walk through several districts before arriving at the barracks. As there was not much transportation within the base except for physically walking, it took Arnold almost two hours to get to the military barracks on Level 1.

The military barracks were located at the very edge of the base. As there was an exit from the base in Level 1 directly towards the outside world, penetrating through the tall walls, the base needed to have a standing army 24/7 to prevent any zombies from breaking in. Although the thick steel door that enclosed the entire entrance made it impossible for any zombie under Level 3 to be able to penetrate in.

The steel door actually looked like a wall at first glance, as it stretches several meters wide. This was so military fighter jets could fly directly down to Level 1 from the sky without having to land on the surface. Also, the military vehicles could directly drive out towards the wilderness and back without going through the tedious immigration procedures on the surface level. Finally, VIPs from Level 6 and Level 7 who wanted to leave the base also had a VIP channel that connects directly from their elevator towards this exit, allowing them to be able to come without even taking so much as a look to the lower class people in Level 1.

When Arnold arrived at the barracks, the place was actually bustling with people. Many of them looked simply like any ordinary person you would find on the street in Level 1. Arnold, who was wearing cotton, a very rare material nowadays, actually looked like a rich merchant among them. Therefore, many people gave wary gazes at him as he passed by.

The recruitment center was located behind the military barracks that was closest towards the rest of the city within Level 1. This was so that potential recruits would be able to get to the center quickly without having to get around the barracks.

The recruitment center was completely open to all people from Level 1 and below. There were no doors located on the recruitment center building, allowing people to directly see everything that was going on inside. When Arnold took a look, he noticed that there was not as many people there as he imagined.

After lining up on the designated queue that said, "New Recruits, Level 1 citizen." He found that there were only 5 people in front of him. Although this might not be quite as surprising as it would seem, since most of the people recruited into the military were the ones that directly came out of high school, which happends during the 6th month of the year. It is now the 9th month of the year, well after the recruitment drive.

When it was finally Arnold's turn to register, he saw the slightly disgruntled face of the person behind the counter. The person was a man in his thirties. There was a nasty scar that protrudeed from his left cheek all the way down to the base of his jawline, making him look like one of those bad boy types that women love. He seemed to be disgruntled by the simple fact of being here.

"Name and occupation." The person asked with no enthusiasm in his voice.

"Troy Anderson. Student." Arnold replied calmly.

The person stared at Arnold and rolled his eyes, "Shouldn't you be in school, kid? What is a person like you doing in the recruitment center?"

"To be recruited, of course." Arnold said as it the matter was completely obvious.

"Do you understand the dangers of joining the army?" The person asked. He was not remotely concerned about Arnold's well-being. However, he was legally obliged to ask this question as required per the rules of the army.

"Yes." Arnold nodded and replied.

"Very well, don't come crying back to me if you wanna quit, because once you join the army, the decision is final. Not even your parents can get you out of it." The person said in a disgruntled voice. He seemed to have got it in his head that Arnold was a naive rich second generation kid from the look of his attire.

Arnold nodded in acknowlegement.

The receptionist took out a digital reader and scanned it across Arnold's neck. Then, he started typing quickly on the computer in front of him. After awhile, he said, "I've changed your occupation from student to military recruit. You now have to report yourself to the training center to get tested for your martial prowess. Good luck." He waved Arnold off, not caring about him anymore.

Arnold walked towards the sign on the side of the recruitment center that said, "Training Center, to the right." Then, he followed the sign and arrived in a rather large indoor gymnasium. There were already mutiple younglings within the stadium, being directred by fully uniformed military personnel. Each person needed to exhibit multiple of there strengths, such as their spiritual power, esper power, martial power, etc.

After Arnold arrived, one of the military personnel that was standing on the side came over and asked with a mildly disinterested tone, "New recruit?"

Arnold nodded at him with a slight form of respect, slightly bowing his head. The military man nodded back at him and asked Arnold to follow him to the training area. After walking almost to the opposite end of the gymnasium, he was placed before a rather large machine. The machine looked like one of those instant photo booths that was popular in East Asian countries from before the apocalypse. After he went in, he found that in front of him was a container that contained a jello-like substance. It was then that something sounded from right above him.

"Recruit #AE-1254. Please place both of your hands in the spiritual sensor for the test of your spiritual level." The voice was a robotic one, completely emotionless. It seemed to have came out of a speaker on the ceiling of the photo booth.

Arnold complied and placed both his hands in the so-called spiritual sensor. As he touched the jello-like substance, it seemed as though he had plunged himself into a rather large slime, making him feel slightly uncomfortable. It was then that the jello suddenly shined a bright light, completely blindsided him. He felt like his spiritual energy was being sucked out from his entire body, making him feel alarmed. He subconsciously wanted to retreat but found that his hands were completely stuck, unable to move even an inch. After he was sucked to the point where his body felt empty, the jello-like substance's bright light finally died down.

"Spiritual Energy Level confirmed. Qi Energy Level Stage 5. High Talent. Recommend special training to subject." The monotone voice sounded. It was then that the military personnel who directed him to this booth suddenly waltzed in and stared at Arnold in surprise. "You're Level 5?!"

"Apparently." I replied, still feeling slightly tired. He asked Andy in his mind what had happened just now and it replied that the substance had literally drained a month of life out of him.

"Where are your spiritual tattos? Show it to me!" The person shouted.

Arnold turned around and raised his t-shirt, showing his lean and muscular back towards the other person. There were five rings in descending order that circled around Arnold's back in the form of a tattoo.

The person gasped and immediately grapped Arnold's arm, stating, "Follow me, I'm going to bring you to see the captain."

Arnold was forcefully pulled along. He did not resist after seeing the urgency within the person's eye. Then, he thought to himself, "Although my spiritual energy is abundant to the point that I now have 5 rings behind my back. However, these spiritual energy also represents my lifeline. Unlike others, I cannot recklessly use my spiritual energy, or else I might die before I know it."

When they walked across the gymnasium, Arnold saw the others staring at them curiously, not knowing what was going on. After a few seconds, however, they simply returned to what they were doing.

After walking to another exit of the gymnasium, Arnold saw a rather large field that had many older people doing different military drills. There were different commanders shouter different orders loudly, while their subordinates would shout, "Yes sir!" And diligently comply with their orders. Arnold and the other person walked towards the right end of the field.

"Captain King! I found a high level recruit!" The person said excitedly as he pushed Arnold in front of the Captain, as if showing him the goods.

Captain, who was currently drilling a bunch of his men, stopped what he was doing and stared towards Arnold and the other military personnel intensely. The military personnel subconsciously shrunked back, but Arnold stayed where he were and simply stared back intensely at the Captain, who seemed to be daring him.