Chapter 2 - Candidate assessment

After walking through the bustling street, Adrian stops in front of an intersection, and right across the highway was a large two story building with a large "A" at the topmost part of the building.

Adrian's mouth opened in awe as looked at the large structure before him, this is where the candidate assessment is going to take place, the alliance branch in sector R.

The Alliance is a powerful organization formed by world leaders to fight against the alien invasion. They have advanced technology and awakened soldiers who are humanity's best hope for survival.

"Urgh... That's about all I know about the alliance, well, I hope they don't ask me questions" Adrian scratched his face.

After admiring the building, he waited for the traffic light to turn red before he crossed the highway.

As he walked past the large gates, he looked at the guards stationed at the gates, there imposing figure and sharp gaze would make anyone think twice before doing anything stupid

Many others where also stepping through the gates, while some of them came in different shapes and colour's of cars, most of them dressed normally, only a few dressing caught his eyes.

"pfft.. Is that guy wearing a cape?!" Adrian let out a stiffed laughter as he looked at a young man wearing a black jacket, black pants and a long red cape draped over his back.

"That's the Axels family dress code, the cape signifies there prestigious standing" a slightly deep voice chimed in

Adrian's eyes widened in surprise as he turned to the source of the voice, laying his eyes on a tall young boy with a brownish blonde hair, he looked like someone his age.

"Oh don't mind me, my names Dave, you?" Dave stretched out his palm for a handshake

Adrian looked at the palm before shaking him back,

"Call me Adrian, first time seeing someone dressed like that" Adrian scratched the back of his head as he retracted his palm.

"Figures, I just happened to hear my dad talking about them" Dave replied.

Adrian nodded and continued walking towards the building, Dave noticed the saddened expression on Adrian's face and decided to maintain the silence as they walked towards the building.

Immediately Adrian stepped into the building, his mouth was left agape, again. The bright lights reflected off the white floor that seemed to be made of marble, different designs and chandelier adorned the whole place.

The ground floor is a wide expansive space with couches and chairs stationed at some places, and adjacent to the entrance, a receptionist could be seen, two stairs at the side of the building that leads to the uppermost floor.

Adrian stepped forward as he took in all the amazing sights around him, he noticed that most of the people where heading towards a large door at the the right side of the place.

A sign that read "Candidate assessment" was written boldly on the door,

"That's where the test is taking place, let's go" Dave pointed out.

The made there way through the expansive space and passed through the door, "Damn... It's so big" Adrian muttered in amazement.

The place was a large rectangular hall, with high ceiling. The walls are made up of sleek grey material, and the floor is covered in a dark, polished wood.

There was a large elevated sitting area to the left side of the hall, Adrian looked at the people sitting there, "There's alot of people.. How big is this place?" Adrian wondered.

And in the middle of the hall was a slightly elevated platform that had a length of 20 meters, and a width of 7 meters.

Above the platform was a large holographic display that read," 7:55 AM", it kept on ticking by the second. And on the other side of the hall, a large screen that seemed to be floating displayed the names and number of candidates that's checking in.

"Let's go have our ID scanned" Dave tapped Adrian, to wake him up from his amazement.

"Ye-yeah sure, almost forgot" Adrian followed Dave as they headed towards the side of the hall, where a large desk with different types of computers were kept, and sitting behind the desk were three officials, donning a sleek black and white uniform.

"Good morning sir," Dave said as he pulled out a small card from his pocket and handed it to the official, the man nodded and swiped the card through a small black box.

After he returned the card the big screen flashed and Dave's name appeared as number "132."

'Oh yeah the card' Adrian thought as he put his hands in his pockets and pulled out the same card, written on the card was his information.

>CANDIDATE ASSESSMENT CARD<

[NAME : ADRIAN LANE]

[AGE : 17]

[STATUS : UNAWAKENED]

[REGION : PLANKTON CITY]

[EVALUATION : N/A]

After scanning his card, he collected it and looked at the screen with anticipation, a few seconds later, the screen flashed and his name appeared with the number, "133."

"Let's go sit there," Dave said, pointing out the spot as the made there way towards it.

After settling down, Adrian looked at the whole place, awe plastered across his face, it's like he stepped into another world. 'I wonder how the academy would look like..'

After a few minutes, the large holographic clock hit, "8:00 AM"-

*DING!*

And bell-like sound reverberated throughout the whole place signifying that it was time.

A large bulky man steeped onto the stage and addressed the audience, "Good morning aspirants, I'm instructor John, and I'll be overseeing today's assessment, four different tests would take place today, and the requirements would be to pass three of them." John let them absorb his words before he continue.

"The first is the strength assessment, here you would have to deal damage to the disk shaped board in the first section here," - he pointed at a black circular disk with the diameter of 3 meters and a light pattern running across the board -" the required score to pass this test is 5 or above anything less is a fail." he pointed at the smallest part on the platform.

"...and the second test is the speed assessment," Instructor John continued.

"Here, you'll need to run through the obstacle course in the second section of the platform" - he pointed to a section of the platform with a winding path and hurdles - "and complete it within 60 seconds." John explained.

"The third is the reflex assessment, you'll need to react quickly to a series of incoming disks, in the third section of the platform" - he pointed to a section of the platform with an empty space and a large wall erected at the side - "and the disk would be shot out from the wall at high speed, you'll need to dodge them without taking damage, the test will last for 5 minutes, and you'll need to survive the entire duration."

Murmurs filled the air as the audience spoke between themselves," Isn't it a little too hard? "

" It's definitely harder than last year "

"How do you know dufus?"

"Shut up, I was here last year too"

" As expected of the alliance, it's not easy to enter there academy"

"Hmph.. Easy peasy lemon squeeze"

Different people voiced there opinions, before instructor John clapped his hands, signaling for them to stop the chatter.

"And the last assessment test would be the aether sensitivity test. Candidates are expected to test how attuned they are towards aether, which would take place in fourth section, you're expected to put your hands on the pedestal-mounted orb in the fourth section, the orb contains a concentrated amount of aether, and the candidate task is to touch the orb and attempt to make a reaction occur within it.

The requirements to pass this test are hidden...let the assessment begin!" John stepped down from the stage and sat behind one of the desks.