There was hardly anyone left in the hall. The 140th candidate had been called and Kody knew he would soon be called. He silently wished the whole group had passed, if one of them died on the first test then that would be really demotivating.
He stared at the ceiling waiting for his name to be called. The hall was strangely silent, with only the echoing of footsteps breaking the silence from time to time.
The initial fear had died down, but he still knew there was a possibility of him dying.
But that wasn't happening anytime soon, so he decided to take a nap. Just as he was about to doze off, a crisp sound echoed throughout the hall.
"Due to a lack of test material, the six of you have been given an automatic pass.
You will now be transported to the waiting area where you will be officially registered as cadets."
What was that
Kody opened his eyes after hearing the announcement. His eyes widened.
"D—did I just pass without doing anything?" Just as he was about to celebrate, he felt the ground disappear. The familiar feeling of going through a portal washed over him as he fell—although it wasn't as intense as before.
Adjusting himself, Kody found himself in a different place as he stood up. The portal above him vanished with a swishing sound. Kody observed his whereabouts.
This area wasn't as large as the hall; it was a small waiting area packed with people. He recognized some people instantly, they seemed to be the people who had passed the test. But something that put him off was the gloomy air everyone had, as if they had lost a close relative.
It was strange that almost no one seemed happy about passing the test.
He quickly found Ariella and walked towards her, she was talking with a boy who had his head in his hands.
He didn't find D'vonte, though, and this put him on edge.
It didn't take long for Ariella to notice Kody, and he could swear he saw her expression relax. Although, she seemed off: she didn't have her usual calculating gaze. Instead, she was as gloomy as everyone else.
Was it that bad, Kody thought. If it had been, then he was glad he hadn't experienced it.
"Hey, where's D'vonte?" Kody asked.
"He's Dead."
Kody froze, the smile on his face lost all its naturalness.
It had been a possibility. But Kody had never seen it as one, the thought of one of them dying during the first test sent a shiver down his spine.
Kody had genuinely bonded with him a few minutes ago and now he was dead. It seemed so strange.
"Oh," he replied, a bit out of it. He didn't know how to feel, he hardly knew D'vonte so he couldn't mourn him, but his death still put a very bad taste in Kody's mouth.
He noticed Billy who was wearing similar clothes to D'vonte.
"And him?"
"D'vonte's brother, Billy."
Kody looked at her with a questioning gaze, but she didn't seem to be joking.
"How?" Kody asked.
It was Billy who replied. "My brother saved my life." His fists clenched as he spoke.
Kody's brows furrowed as he gazed at the should-be dead man. But before he could ask any more questions a giant screen slowly revealed itself from the roof.
On it was a bulky man wearing rusty armor. All gazes shifted upward as everyone waited for him to address them.
"Congratulations. You are now officially cadets of the horsemen.
Before saying anything more, I feel I need to clear a misconception you all currently have. We have no intentions to kill any of you, that's the job of the battlefield.
We, however, cannot train slop. Because of that, some of you have and will be put down. I know many of you already hate us, that's alright. We don't need your love, we need your ability."
Kody turned to Billy and noticed blood dripping from his clenched fist. He didn't say anything, but he could feel Billy's hatred. It was almost solid.
The speaker continued, "We don't plan to kill any more people, for now. So unless you are trash, you don't have anything to be afraid of.
"The next test will check your elemental compatibility and your conductance of Natoce or as the masses call it, mana. The results of this test will be displayed and those who rank higher will be appointed as group leaders.
The rankings will be based on the rarity of your element and your level of mana conductance. Good luck."
The man's figure disappeared, but his words lingered in Kody's mind. They had yet to enter the battlefield yet everything already looked so bleak.
The screen's interface changed into an empty scoreboard. Kody sighed, his shoulder felt lighter now that death wasn't pressing on them. Perhaps it was because he hadn't taken the trail of heart, but everyone didn't seem to share the same optimism as him.
"I have to be number one. For him," Billy mumbled to himself.
Kody was really curious about what happened but now wasn't the right time.
The next test talked about mana, a popular thing in this era. Kody didn't think he had talent in that field as he had never done any training related to it before. But as they say, you couldn't fake talent, if you had it you had it, if you didn't then you didn't.
So Kody didn't think there was much he could do concerning this test. He could only pray his element wasn't shitty. If it was then his chances of survival would immediately drop.
"First candidate: Aaron Russell." The voice rang out and once again the boy wearing a chainmail stepped forward, entering the green door at the far end of the area.
___________________________________
Logan shifted his glasses after inspecting the equipment for the umpteenth time. His supervisor had praised this batch of cadets as promised and talented. If that was true then he was set to witness the rise of many unique elements. And because of that he couldn't let any problems arise with the test.
He had been in charge of the Natoce test for a very long time and he had witnessed the rise of numerous unknown elements. But even at that he still longed to witness more.
There was something oddly satisfying about seeing something you have never seen before.
Everything was set when the first candidate walked in.
There's nothing peculiar about this one, Logan thought. His eyes for promising cadets had been trained over the years, he hardly needed more than a glance to see their value.
Aaron was wearing a chainmail and staring at Logan's lab in amazement. The lab was mostly metal and smelled of it too. A few machines were lying around. In the middle of the lab was a chair, beside which was a machine that read data.
Logan, in his usual lab coat invited the boy to sit on the chair.
He turned most of the lights off—changes were easier to notice in the dark.
After that, Aaron quietly sat down. Logan didn't bother with pleasantries and got out a bowl of a transparent liquid and a berry-like pill.
"Take, eat this," he said passing the pill to the boy.
Aaron took the pill but didn't eat it.
"Why?" He was looking at Logan suspiciously. Logan wasn't surprised, he knew none of them would trust him, especially not after what they had been through.
"Your body doesn't have mana yet, this gives you temporary mana," Logan explained.
Aaron's frown lessened, albeit only a little.
"If you don't take it you'll fail the test."
Aaron, after hearing that, became cooperative and swallowed the pill, with trepidation.
A few seconds later Aaron's eyes widened. "Wow," he said. "I feel so powerful."
Logan rolled his eyes. They all behaved like that after a pill that small.
"Place your hand into this bowl." He doubted the boy would have any noteworthy element but he still had to do his job.
For the first few seconds after Aaron placed his hands into the bowl nothing happened. But Logan noticed something. The bowl was getting hotter, but very slowly.
"You can remove your hand now." The boy removed his hand.
Logan took the bowl to his work table and inspected it with his equipment.
A minute later he talked into a walkie-talkie, "Grade C Fire manipulation."
"Noted." the walkie-talkie hummed back.
Logan walked towards Aaron whose face was full of expectations.
"Congrats kid. You got a grade C ability. Fire manipulation to be exact."
Aaron, however, didn't seem to like his results.
"Really? Grade C?"
"That's better than most, kid."
Those words didn't make him feel any better.
Logan didn't say any more. He handed him a large orb.
"Hold this with both arms and imagine all the energy in your body flowing into the orb."
The boy took the large pearl and fondled it admiring its brilliance. After that, he held it with both hands and did as he was told. Not long after the pearl began to glow.
Logan watched carefully to see if the color would change, but it didn't. He sighed, a bit disappointed.
"E+ Mana body," Logan said into the walkie-talkie.
"Noted," it hummed back.
Logan took the orb from the boy and said, "All done."
"How did I do?" The boy asked.
"Well your mana body is only E+, that's pretty average."
"Mana body?"
"Basically, how well your body can handle mana. You can be on your way now."
The boy's face fell, but he got up and left nonetheless.
Logan waited for a minute before the next candidate came in. He immediately recognized him. Levy Orion, the number one priority Cadet.
A small smile formed on his face. Now this was something he was looking forward to.