'Who is this kid?'
Gene has been the only trainer for new blood, wanna be divers for a few decades now. The understanding of material prowess, tactics and his ability see the minor flaws with people's movement, made him the best choice to help the new people improve their over all survivability rate in the ether caves.
"Ok lets continue and test your over all speed. See that floating orb in the middle of the room go touch it, repeating till it changes color. Then follow it as best you can,.....til you can't . Hahaha"
While the test seemed simple on the surface, it was made to increase in speed till the participant could not reach it with in a 10 second time period, allowing for an over all score for agility. After that it would pause till the person reached it then take off releasing a light trail that the participant would need to follow at their top speed, allowing this test to also test a person stamina. While the room wasn't a grand stadium, it was still quite large allowing for crates of different sizes to serve as obsticals for the runner.
Ayden had been running as fast as he could to try and reach this test on time, but instead of the normal ache of tired muscles and the need to catch ones breath Ayden felt like he was just getting warmed up.
"Begin when you're ready!" Gene activated the system, which caused the orb in the middle of the room to begin glowing a light yet warm red color.
Ayden walked up to the orb conserving energy, instead of breaking out in a full sprint before the test even started. When he looked at Gene a slight smile could be seen, because this was one of his critical thinking test. If a person was to rush out to the orb they just be wasting energy and were more likely to rush into a fight unprepared causing their own or a teammate's death/injure, why not walk he always though; yet most ran!
With a solid slap the orb took off, but with out to much speed. Ayden didn't even need to move and was able to strike it once more. This time the orb made a sharp change of direction and speeding up again, it took 3 more slaps for the trial to actually begin to challenge Ayden.
Once the orb had picked up speed hitting the orb was a bit more challenging. On top of that the surrounding terrain of crates began to become a burdensome obstacle for Ayden. The need to make quick decision on which way would give the fastest and safest route to rise and fall with the orb was increasing with difficulty.
But as things started getting more difficult Ayden noticed that his eyes were more adapt at seeing details, such like a slight curve in the orbs trajectory so that it could make a turn in between a set of crates with little lose of speed, or the sharp direction changes when he made contact, the unevenness of the tops of crates, even letting him see alternative paths that would let him catch up.
Still the orb continued to increase in speed and directional randomness. Even with his keen eyes his own speed began to be a hinderance as he was unable to slow enough to make a turn, or was moving to fast to get his legs above an obstacle while he was in the process of jumping it.
Ayden wasn't done yet though, he kept pushing after every crash to get back up to speed. Finding different ways to get his body to touch the orb. Then something odd happened, his mind began to slow things down as if some switch in his eyes made it so that he could see real time and slowed time simultaneously.
Gene stood there again shock spreading through his body as his tablet informed him of the on going trial, real-time.
*beginner level complete*
*intermediate.....start *
Most people barely lasted half as long when it came to speed. Thinking that being fast was the way to go, without paying any heed to terrain. Today Gene saw the makings of a great warrior.
As the orb sped up Ayden didn't just try and match it, he tried to find ways in which he didn't have to. It began to look for ways to cut out the need by using positioning instead, using his head and judgment.
As time went on and the orb upped its difficulty a strange grace could be seen in his movements. The look of a strange dance began to unfold right in front of the spectators eyes.
Ayden could feel that the orb had changed some how, like it was moving in ways to avoid him not just moving. He had long passed the speed his body was used to and still he had more, it was as if he had been remade.
Then when he had cornered the orb it did a complete 180 degree directional change and came back at him, while his mind was surprised and froze for a second his muscle memory took over.
With a strong push from his back foot has able to gain a bit of air, his hand shot out just enough to tap the orb with the tip of his finger giving him more time. Even though he only had a second in the air he pulled all his limbs into a tight ball shape, then when he was closer to the ground he placed the ball of his leading foot firmly on the floor pushing all his weight into the ground.
Gene seeing the orb flying back toward Ayden figured it would be over shortly, but it wasn't.
After Aydens foot hit the ground he used a deep squat to angle his body back, then twisted his body 180 degrees. The movement had the feeling of practice as all the force of landing at that speed pushed his heel to the floor, and using it like a springboard Ayden changed direction and was back at full speed with little to no time lost.
'Hmmm, this feels more like a dance than a way to kill people' from that moment on Ayden could only think of his family's martial arts as a martial dance.
This was a game changer when incorporating his martial dance. If the turn was to sharp earth style movements let him take it, if an obstacle appeared to block his path fire style kept him moving while going a around it, if it moved toward the ceiling trying to escape air style let him maintain speed up the sides of crates without the need to use his hands allowing for less time loss.
Ayden couldn't get enough, the joy of going full out and testing his limits ever present in the look of his eyes. Then the orb stopped moving and changed again.
* intermediate level complete*
*overall speed test complete*
*incorporating stamina test now*
*advanced test.... start*
To Genes surprise once again, Ayden passed all other new diver records with an odd grace. But all must pass this test in order to move on to live field training on the plans above the cave. But it's not as easy as people think, because the orb changes from defense to offense for the advanced test.
While they only tell new testers about the first part and stamina test, there were always difficulty levels only a few ever reached them without training. While those that did reach them, if they'd known before hand typically conserved there energy causing for inaccurate result putting their lives in danger later on in live field training.
Gene could see that Ayden wasn't holding back, and had the body of someone who had been training both body and techniques for a large part of their life. The average strength of people who come in being a 2-3, 5 after training but Ayden got a 7 which is usually what class 1S divers received. Same with stamina and agility but Ayden was shaping up to pass that as well.
'How far can you climb Blackwater' Genes expectations rising with each second, as was the growing crowed watching from the observation deck above.