"Welcome Candidates," the voice immediately caused the chattering candidates to quiet down.
Nox with the other three were currently in a room full of white. The walls, floor and even ceiling was covered with white panels with nothing else in sight.
Well, except other candidates in their combat uniforms similar to the one Nox currently had on and an elevated platform which the man who previously spoke was standing, but even that was completely white.
Some of the candidates already had their Solar tech on or in their hands, while others seem to have them stored in their watches for now.
Ahead of them was a man who, calling huge would be an understatement. The man was built like some kind of bear, easily standing at seven feet with a build so large he could probably cover half of the candidates here behind him.
Even his uniform was having a hard time holding on, with the buttons threatening to let go any second.
"This," he continued, his voice sounded like something rumbling, "will be your Combat Evaluation."
The candidates quietly listened least they risked pulling his attention towards them.
"No instructors will supervise you directly," the examiner continued. "Your vitals will be monitored, but intervention will only occur in cases of lethal danger."
In other words, if you were not dying, them they wouldn't be saved by any instructor. Sounds fun.
"In a few minutes, this room will transform into your testing ground and each if you will be transported to a different location," he paused, scanning every student that stood before him, "where you will face simulated Eclipsed ranging from tier 1 to 2."
This caused murmurs to rise among the candidates....well, some of them.
Most had been training since childhood to handle these creatures, all they lacked was a Helion Core and now that they got it, this would be a walk in the park for them.
Others though, not so much.
Some of them hadn't even faced an Eclipsed before so how were they expected to fight one?
"Yo Cass," Devon turned to him, "think you'll be fine?"
"Yeah," Cass nodded, before lazily replying "all I have to do is analyze their weaknesses, besides, even if I fail this one, I'm sure I'll make it into the Academy's Scholar division... that's all I'm interested in anyway."
"How 'bout you Nox?" He then turned to Nox, "think you can handle an Eclipsed or two by yourself?"
Instead of an answer, Nox summoned the gauntlets from his watch and then looked at them, "I'll survive."
"SILENCE," the examiner's voice seemed to shake the entire room as he pulled the attention of the candidates back to him.
"You all will be graded by points," he continued when not a single other voice could be heard except his, "points which you will gain from defeating the primals."
With his words, their watches let out a ding, drawing the attention of the candidates towards it.
[Tier 1 Eclipsed: 20 Points
Tier 2 Eclipsed: 50 Points]
"Your total score," he went on, "will determine whether you pass or fail."
"With your watches, you can request to be extracted from the test," the examiner said, "but understand this clearly, If you call for extraction, your test ends instantly, there'll be no reattempts."
Well that wasn't surprising, but it was better than waiting untill you were faced with grave danger before being helped.
"Any questions?" The examiner said as he quietly observed.
At first, no one dared ask anything...well, until a hand shakily rose from the crowd and the examiner's eyes immediately locked on it.
The other candidates immediately moved out of the way, revealing a scrawny looking boy with shaggy brown hair and eyes.
He seemed completely unremarkable and honestly, as if he was sick. He had bags under his eyes, a telling sign that he hadn't slept for a while now.
"Yes?" The examiner asked looking at the kid.
"A-are we allowed to team up?" The boy asked, "I-I mean, if we encounter other candidates?"
The other candidates seemed to have expected this question since he looked like someone who had no chance of passing this test alone.
Hell, with the way he looked, they wondered why he was even taking this test.
He could've just performed well in the previous two tests and pray he passed them instead of partaking in this one and trying to leech off someone.
"There's no rule against teaming up," the examiner said, "but the point is give to the one who defeats the Eclipsed."
"I see," the kid muttered to himself and went silent, the other candidates staying away from him since they didn't intend to be the ones being leeched on....no matter how pitiful the kid looked.
"Any other questions?" The examiner asked and this time, no answer came so he slammed both palms together.
It sounded like the rumbling of thunder, but soon enough, Nox noticed that the white walls were shifting in response to his clap, and soon enough golden light started filling the room.
"With that," the examiner said, "your combat exams begins."
Without even giving them the chance to react, the candidates were also covered by the same golden light and teleported away just before the room could completely transform into a forest.
----
In the same virtual room, high up and held up by one of the walls was a sky box, one that the candidates hadn't noticed even though it wasn't hidden.
The examiner was teleported into the skybox only to realize that all his technicians were stiffly working.
The reason.
Well, there was two...no three.
One was Ascended Astra Dawn, the second was the headmistress and the third was a girl with emotionless gray eyes and short black hair.
Her face didn't hold the least bit of emotion as she looked at the forest form and the candidates appear in different locations.
"Ascended Dawn, Headmistress," the man called out respectfully, forcing his massive frame into something resembling a disciplined posture, "what brings you here?"
"The blind bat wants the kid to join the exam," Astra was the one who responded causing the entire room to break out in cold sweats.
She was the only one crazy enough to speak to a Transcendent rank like that. The headmistress on the other hand just chuckled and turned to the hulking man before saying with a smile, "if it's not too much trouble."
Of course it was, the test had already started and all the Eclipsed were accounted for based on the overall strengths of the candidates, adding one more was just introducing a variable...
But was he going to tell her that?
No way.
Instead, what came out was, "it's not."
"Great then—" before the headmistress could complete her words, the girl commented.
"I want to start close to him," her voice, like her face, lacked the least bit of emotion.
Her finger was pointing to the screen showing a candidate with black hair and golden eyes, causing Astra to frown as she asked,
"Nox?"