Three prominent figures were in a heated argument in another room in the base.
"You saw he was in clear danger, yet you decided not only not to interfere with the test but to prevent others from doing so themselves."
The person yelling was a dark skinned man with an eye patch over his left eye. His face was riddled with scars.
"Answer me, Cayenne!!"
Miss Cayenne placed her tablet to the side and stared him dead in the eye.
"There was no question asked, if I'm not mistaken. Only a statement was made and you can't 'answer' a statement." The end of her lips tugged into a slight smile.
"Daniel, I think you are letting emotions get the better of you. In the end, not only was she fine, but he also killed the harpy." Miss Cayenne reached for her tablet.
The third person in the room shifted uncomfortably. He was none other than Eric.
"You see, Singfall. The person you wanted to kill not only eliminated his target but was one of the three people amongst the recruits to do so."
Eric clenched his teeth and knuckles until the latter turned white and popped.
"We have seen that he has a form of rudimentary battle talent. Let's see the intellectual talents of his best friend." She turned to Mr. Daniel.
"If that will be all…" Then she left.
Mr. Daniel began hyperventilating and thrashing the objects in the room.
He reached for his eye patch and pulled it off. His left eye came into view as none other than a mass of pitch black nothing.
A massive wave of dark energy left him and filled the room. As it vanished, all the furniture, everything that was in the room was gone. Erased.
Eric leaned against the wall with his breath caught in his lungs. Part of his skin was missing.
"Sorry." Mr. Daniel put the eye patch back on his eye and left the room.
_____
Axel and other researchers were waiting for their assessment in one of the labs they had access to.
"Axel, what do you think the test will be about?" One of them called out to him.
He pondered for a few seconds.
"To be honest, I have next to no idea. It seems that the military has a lot of faucets that we remain unaware of."
Judith, one of the Researchers with dark hair done in two ponytails, smirked.
"All big words to say that you are none the wiser."
Ever since she had seen Axel, she had made it her mission to upstage and undermine him. The worst part was that he hadn't even noticed her until she challenged him.
It was a mathematics competition that she had forced him into. He had won with some difficulty but she still refused to let him be.
Axel spared a moment to look at her before looking at the person who had asked him the question.
"Yes. What she said."
Judith was about to complain further when the doors opened and Miss Cayenne walked through.
"The Soldiers are done. They did very well." She looked at Axel after the second sentence.
"I expect you all to do the same, if not better. Now, follow me."
The Researchers followed her in a near single file out of the lab. Their movements were coordinated to an almost robotic extent.
They soon reached a familiar lab. Lab 8B-2.
Miss Cayenne used her watch to open it and they all entered. Inside, they had numerous tables laid out for them with black rocks and a tablet beside them.
There were enough rocks for each of them.
"This test is quite simple. This is an analysis test. You are meant to discover the intrinsic physical properties of the minerals that have been assigned to you."
The Researchers walked off and filled out each table.
"Take note. These minerals might look the same, but they are completely different from one another, and trust me when I say that you've never seen or heard about any of them."
Miss Cayenne nodded at them. "Good luck." And then she walked out.
Axel stared at the small rock on his table. He reached for the drawer under the table and brought out a pair of gloves.
The gloves were an already known feature of the table so it wasn't surprising.
After putting it on, he grabbed the rock and began examining it.
He left the table and went through one of the doors in the lab and came back with several tools.
Placing them on the table, Axel felt that he was ready to test the mineral.
The first thing he did was to place a small electric pen on the mineral to determine conductivity.
After connecting an ammeter to it, the needle didn't deflect. It wasn't conducting electricity.
'An insulator, perhaps?' Axel muttered to himself. He would have to run further tests.
Amongst the things he took was a thermometer. He placed the thermometer to its surface and much to his surprise, the thermometer read 0⁰C/32⁰ F.
'But it isn't cold to the touch, then how?' He placed his hand under his chin.
Axel reached for the magnet he had brought. He placed it over the mineral yet there was no attraction or repulsion.
'That is a no on magnetic properties.' Axel dropped the magnet beside the electric pen and immediately reacted.
The last time he had done that, he had almost gotten electrocuted and separated the two.
But much to his surprise, the magnet didn't affect the pen.
Axel lifted the magnet and tested it on steel surfaces but it had lost its magnetism.
Lifting the electric pen, Axel tested it but found it still worked.
He placed the pen on the mineral and tried again but once again, nothing happened until a small glowing blue crack appeared on the mineral.
Axel took the thermometer and checked its temperature and found it to be 1⁰C/33.8⁰F
Numerous thoughts ran through his mind, and he isolated the ones that were the most promising.
"No initial reaction to electricity, initial temperature of 0⁰C/32⁰F. Makes objects lose magnetism and, after further exposure to electricity, shows a change in structure and temperature."
Leaving the table again, Axel brought a Bunsen burner and a conical flask alongside a wire gauze.
He heated up water to the boiling point and placed the mineral into it. The temperature of the water immediately dropped to an astonishing temperature of 2⁰C/35.6⁰F.
With a smile, Axel took the tablet and typed in the only observable property of the mineral.
[The mineral has only one distinguishable property; Absorption of energy]
[The reason for my deduction is below…]
A loud siren broke the concentration of everyone.
Miss Cayenne walked into the lab and didn't bother to make a remark regarding their test.
"Time for the next test."