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He went down to the diner area when his stomach couldn't bear it anymore. There were quite a lot of students already there, chatting while they ate. There were only men. Ron guessed that the dorms were separated by genders from this. It was an obvious guess but since no one told him about it beforehand, he could only discover it by himself.

He went to the counter and greeted the kitchen staff, which were unsurprisingly a bunch of robots. He asked what was on the menu and the robots gave him a plate instead of answers. He looked down. It did look appetizing. It seemed to be pasta with some sort of sauce and some sort of meat. He shrugged. That was fine in its own way.

He looked around and found a table with empty seats. There was only one. He went over there and sat. Quite a lot of people turned their heads as he did, some with grins. He didn't put much importance to it and began to eat.

The food had been surprisingly delicious. Maybe because the food at the hospital was trash or maybe those robots were just really good. It would probably take a few days to truly find out the truth.

Once done, he took the plate and left it where it was supposed to be sent. Then, he left the cafeteria. As he did, quite a few students sighed.

It was only a few minutes later that a group of men with mechanical augments entered the cafeteria and went to sit at the table he had been. The one that sat on the very same chair got angry and screamed: "Who the fuck dared to sit on my seat?!"

No one answered him since, in fact, no one knew who Ron was…

Ignorant of this, Ron went back to his new home and slept.

The next morning, he woke up from someone knocking on his door. He went to open it and found the dorm head, Grey, looking at him sternly.

The man entered the room and spoke gravely: "You're already late for your exam, kid. When did you plan to get up?"

Ron looked at him surprised then at the clock. It was 10 a.m. and sure, it wasn't early but then again, it wasn't that late. He woke up at 3p.m and such back at the hospital. Heck, his living hygiene back there had been quite bad. Still, it's true that he was used to waking up earlier. Well, he wouldn't die from this.

Also, there was one more thing that was irritating him: "You never told me when would be the exam"

That was right. Ron was never told when the exam would start. As he heard that, Grey turned around and tried to remember. But he didn't. Because he really forgot to tell the kid about it. He coughed a few times and waved his hands: "Fine, never mind that then. Just get some cloth on and let's go"

Grey left the room and waited in the hallway while Ron went to take a shower, brush his teeth and pick an outfit for the day. Blue pants and blue shirt. Nothing amazing. Everything in the closet was similar to this anyways.

As he got out, Grey hurried him further and Ron simply told him: "We're already late anyways"

To be honest, Ron's attitude was rather bad but if you considered that his goal was to fail the exam, things changed. It was all about your point of view.

Grey didn't know and his only goal was to help. So, he hurried Ron all the way until they reached the right building where the test would take place.

It was just like the others. Brown bricks piled on top of each other to an impressive height and length. Grey took Ron to the 3rd floor. As the elevator doors opened, a stern middle-aged woman appeared. It scared Grey into taking a few steps back, colliding with the elevator wall. Ron looked at him curiously, wondering if this was truly an ex-soldier…

But the tone of voice from the woman made him reconsider: "Grey, you are late"

She was cold and her glare was piercing. She seemed like someone you definitely didn't want to make an enemy out of.

Grey bowed in a hurry as he pushed Ron out of the elevator and pushed a button to go down. He kept on proffering apologies until the doors closed. As they did so, Ron heard the middle-aged woman sigh. Then, she turned to him with an amiable smile. She looked like a different person, gone was the coldness she exuded previously.

In a gentle tone, she said: "You must be Ron? Come along, I'll show you where you will take your test"

He followed her as they went into a room not far from the elevator. There were around four dozen desks if you didn't count the one at the front reserved for the teacher. She pointed to the very first desk in front of hers. There were a few papers on it.

"This will be your test. It is nothing but a formality. Just do what you can, no pressure, ok?"

Ron nodded.

Both went to sit and Ron began to read the first question: [Explain how a spaceship model X7586 can go through a vortex type R485 without damages]

He didn't have the slightest clue. He didn't even comprehend the question.

He began to read the other questions and it was always the same. Since he didn't know, he didn't even bother trying. He picked the pen and began to doodle all over the papers, wasting time.