After Nebula gave the okay, Skysin activated his aura as he stood on the circular platform. Letting the frigid blue energy slowly seep from his body, shrouding him completely. The male officer, with blonde hair and brown eyes holding the black tablet, was more than simply intrigued.
Watching the data of the tablet grow higher and higher without stopping. Reading that Skysin's control and density of aura was far more than exceptional. The young officer was truly impressed, "his aura is denser than mine…"
Bells had suddenly went off, notifying all the examinees that their first—yet short test was finally finished. Some grew angered or frustrated, pleading and demanding a retry, yet the officers appointed over them merely denied. Meanwhile, others who passed were obviously happy to make it, taking a step off the pad, moving to the other end of the room.
The young man with crimson hair sat his hands in his pockets, relaxed and cool, eyeing the failed examinees take their leave. 'Didn't think so many people wouldn't pass the first exam,' he thought to himself, merely giving a shrug, moving on without a care.
As Skysin took a step off the platform, the officer hastily spoke, "e-excuse me?!"
"Huh?" Skysin made a stupid expression, raising a brow, his lips awkwardly parting, "yeah…?"
The officer kept the tablet to his side, "sorry to ask, but why didn't you decide to join the omi-sodaldo instead??"
Skysin raised his head a bit, thinking, "uhh, I dunno. Just not really interested in being a military…guy."
"I see, it's just that your aura is dense, and well-controlled too. You seem very talented."
Skysin made a dumb smile, rubbing the back of his neck, "ah, thanks man. But nah I'm good. You have a good one though." Skysin waved as he walked off.
The officer smiled, bowing, "you as well, sir!"
Skysin tilted his head as he walked, pondering to himself, 'what a nice dude.'
Getting to the group and standing with everyone who passed, Nebula stood at the front, Zeris by her side. As the next set of large doors slowly opened, Nebula spoke, "well done to all who passed."—Nebula scoffed— "Although it's really not that hard to pass in the first place, unless your aura lacks."
Nebula turned to the threshold of the doorway, open to a giant area, a plain, filled with short green grass, a wide expanse of blue skies, and bleachers on the left. As everyone gazed at the new setting, Nebula continued, "moving onto the second test, you'll be tested on your chaotic arts."
Nebula took the first step in, and everyone followed behind. She glanced back to the examinees, "this room is a small dimension created from spatial artifacts, and is specifically designed to absorb the power from your chaotic arts, turning it into data. Like before, if your chaotic art doesn't reach the requirement, you fail."
All the examinees went over to the bleachers, taking a seat, all while Nebula and Zeris stood not far from them. Zeris clapped his hands once, "alright, who'd like to go first?"
Skysin and the crimson-haired boy both raised their hands in sync, standing from their seats, walking forward to the couple of officers. Skysin spoke first, "I'll go first."
"Is it possible if I can go? Sort of in a rush," the boy relayed.
"Sorry man, I was faster though."
"Pretty sure I rose my hand first dude," the boy calmly replied, his relaxed grey eyes looking over to Skysin.
"Oh yeah?" Skysin questioned, "then how about a quick game to see who can go?"
"What game ya got in mind?"
Skysin grinned, "terra, paper and knife."
The boy chuckled, "fine by me."
Nebula, Zeris, and the other contestants all made plain expressions from Skysin's offer. 'Are they serious…?' Everyone asked themselves.
Nothing but a pair of idiots, these two may get along pretty well.
Skysin turned, waving to Nebula, "hey pretty lady, can you watch to make sure no one's cheating?"
Zeris scowled, growling to himself, 'who the hell does this scrawny dude think he is?'
Nebula squinted her eyes, arms crossed, lightly coughing, "…it's captain Nebula, or Ms. Tartervem to you, sir."
Skysin stood straight, clearing his throat, giving a courteous bow, "…Ms. Tartervem, may you please watch over us, your highness?"
"Fine whatever," Nebula scoffed, flipping her hair to the side, "you can start anytime, just hurry it up, will ya?"
Skysin and the boy proceeded, balling their fists, and juggling their hands around, "terra, paper, knife!!"
The crimson-haired boy threw terra.
"SHIT!" Skysin threw knife.
Nebula made a deep frown, nearly about to slap her face from this, 'and here I thought this idiot was gonna win…' Nebula thought to herself, it was pretty anticlimactic.
'What a nimrod, nobody ever draws a knife on the first move!' Zeris cackled in his head.
"That's tough man, better luck next time," the boy chuckled, moving further up. All while Skysin merely moped back to his spot on the bleachers, holding his wrist, staring down at his worthless hand.
'How the hell did I screw that up; I was sure he was gonna do paper…' Skysin thought, bashing himself.
Nebula gave the boy an okay, and he began. The young man raised his hand forward, diagonally towards the blue sky, and a small wisp of white flames began to materialize, slowly dancing with the calm winds.
'White…flames?' Skysin asked himself, but it wasn't just him that was surprised, everyone was. Nebula and Zeris were quite baffled as well, even being a part of the omi-sodaldo, a very diverse military with all types of races and species. However, white flames were never heard of, at least in the Yuman Province.
Zeris softly spoke to himself, his blue eyes wide, 'it's hot…and he's barely even put any actual power into it yet. It's like I'm standing near the sun...'
The boy raised his hand straight towards the sky, his flames suddenly flashed and spread into an odd shape of a flat disk. He released a powerful, wide and searing tower of white fire, shooting towards the sky!! The very force shook the ground; the bleachers rumbled as examinees all grunted or spoke in confusion!
"What the hell!"
"The fuck did he just shoot, a cannon?!"
"MY MALERENZ!!"
After the boy finished, he turned to Nebula, who had a look of shock on her face. The young man grinned, "do I pass?"
"Uh…yeah," Nebula nodded, watching him make way back to the bleachers. 'Whatever he is, that guy isn't yuman… at least half. What's his lineage?' Nebula asked herself.
The young man took a seat; all the other examinees eyed him in pure shock. All except one, that is, "holy shit, that was awesome as hell man!" That one person is Skysin, who was next to the young man, "I never seen white flames before!"
"Thanks," the young man chuckled, "what's your name, dude?"
"Skysin," The speedster replied, giving out his hand, "Skysin Rillem. You?"
The young man took Skysin's hand, giving it a firm shake, "it's Crim, Crim Magmastiem. Nice to meet ya."
"Likewise," Skysin grinned.
After getting her head together, Nebula turned to the crowd, her green eyes looking to Skysin, "I believe someone else wants to go as well, right?"
Skysin made way to where Nebula was, and once she gave him a nod, he started. The atmosphere had reached chilling temperatures. As people breathed, they could see their own breath slowly escape their mouths like smoke from a cigar. Ice exploded, powerful gusts of frigid wind blew, and a towering building of ice had shot right into the sky!
It was ginormous, the sheer size and height surpassed that of a high-rise. If the sky above had any clouds, it would've been far higher than them.
Zeris' mouth is wide open.
People were in simple, and utter disbelief. Not one, but two individuals, teenagers at that, can release such devastating attacks without even breaking a sweat!
'His power output is practically the same as mine!! Him and that boy, why're they just trying to become simple rovers??!' Nebula's thoughts were in shambles; she couldn't understand anything at this point.
Skysin turned to face her, "hey, Ms. Tartervem, quick question?"
"H-Huh? Uh, yes, what is it?"
"What's the next exam supposed to be, if you don't mind me askin'?"
Nebula fixed herself, "um, you'll be facing off against other officers in a quick combat match. Depending on how you do, you either have to beat them, or last the time limit to pass."
Skysin sat his hands behind his head, making a small grin, "ohh okay, sounds easy enough. Thanks."
"Easy…?" Both Nebula and Zeris echoed.
Zeris scoffed in his head, 'honestly, how damn cocky is this kid? Even our first-enlisted officers can take on experienced warriors!'
Skysin himself obviously isn't taking this exam too seriously, if he isn't worried about such a thing. Then again, as Zeris just complained about, Skysin CAN be a cocky individual, and it looks like it's showing now. How charming.
Nebula had hastily trailed behind Skysin, gently pulling onto his shirt, "excuse me, um…"
"It's Skysin," The speedster replied, looking back to her with a small smile.
"Why don't you join the omi-sodaldo??"
Zeris cringed, 'why're you trying to recruit him of all people Nebula??'
Skysin chuckled, "ehh, not interested. I just wanna explore the omiverse to be honest."
"I…see," Nebula responded, a bit disappointed, her eyes staring deep into his. 'His eyes really do look familiar…' Nebula thought to herself.
"Something on my face?"
"W-What?? Uh, no!" Nebula grew a bit flustered, her cheeks slowly turning red, "my apologies." Nebula quickly turned around, walking away.
Skysin had returned to his spot beside Crim, the crimson-haired boy looked over to Skysin, "Why're you becoming a rover?" Crim asked.
Skysin whispered, "…I wanna find the rings of chaos…"
Crim's brow had arched from this, his expression already giving away his thoughts, "you for real…?"Crim asked, his lips spreading in disbelief, "those things are considered more of a myth than actually existing, y'know?"
Skysin shrugged his shoulders, "meh, I think it'd be pretty fun. It's all about the adventure too. You?"
Crim made a more melancholic smile, almost as if he was reminiscing, "gonna try and find my old man…he's out there, somewhere."
Suddenly, the next examinee had came forward. An older man, maybe in his late twenties at least. Having a mop of brown hair and black eyes. He raised his hand forward, preparing to release his attack!
*POOF*
Nothing but a puff of smoke.
Everyone was dumbfounded, they at least expected something. While most remained silent, Skysin and Crim held their laughter to themselves, nearly breaking down.
"…Yeah…you fail sir," Nebula relayed.
"Okey…"
After all the examinees went, some passing as others failed, Nebula had turned to the group who remained, "alright, we'll be proceeding to the last and final exam." Nebula walked forward, taking the others to the next room.
"Oh! Ms. Tartervem, got another question," Skysin called out, catching up to her and Zeris.
"What's your question?" Nebula asked.
"If you don't mind me askin', how strong are our…testers 'posed to be?"
"Well, they're all still private ranked, so not entirely too strong. But they CAN hold their own against veteran warriors, even beat them more than likely."
Crim pondered, "I see, not bad. And your rank is… what again?"
"A Captain, so about four ranks above private."
Skysin tilted his head, "you can rank up by growing in strength and good leadership, right?" He chuckled, "you must be pretty strong then, huh?"
Nebula had let out a small giggle, "I won't say entirely too much, don't wanna come off as conceited or anything. But, I believe I can handle my own to some extent."
Ten minutes had passed as they walked through the large plain of green grass, nothing but the examinees, the wind, and the broad blue sky above. Skysin, Crim and Nebula kept their conversation going, along with Nebula laughing from the jokes Skysin cracked. Zeris grunted softly, keeping a sour expression on his face. One could tell he was obviously jealous, to say the least.
Zeris coughed, "…sorry to interrupt, but we're here now."
Nebula looked from Crim and Skysin, coming to see ten private officers all standing just a few feet from them. "Oh," Nebula stepped forward with Zeris following behind. Getting to her juniors, they all bowed to her in respect.
Nebula turned to face the examinees, "this is the last exam, and for this, you all will have a quick bout against these private officers. You don't have to necessarily beat them, but you'll have to last a certain time limit. Simply one minute. Do that, and you'll pass."
Everyone nodded in response.
"Alright, who'd like to go first?" Nebula asked.
Before Skysin or Crim could move forward, a tall, muscular man with a bronze skin and long black hair stepped up. "Me," he stated, wearing pants and boots, no shirt.
Skysin squinted his eyes, but didn't argue, 'it's not too bad…I can at least try and gauge all the officers strengths like this, if they're all around the same level.' Skysin thought to himself.
A female officer stepped forward from her group. The girl and tall man already prepared for battle. The man smirked, "I heard you guys aren't too strong…should be an easy pass, huh?"
The female officer kept a stoic expression and looked to Nebula. Nebula nodded, raising her hand, "you may begin!"