Listening to The Keeper, everyone, both losers and winners, quickly changed their mentalities and quickly realized the situation.
Now, they were even eligible to be called recruits.
No... They were candidates instead.
Even though things seemed unfair, arguing and fighting with the Keeper and the veterans would only make things worse for many.
So those who lost inwardly swore to pass the next test tomorrow.
As for those who did succeed in completing the task, they didn't lower their guard at all.
They followed the Keeper and the rest into the building in silence, leaving the helpless losers behind.
Only 37% or so had managed to complete the exercise, while the majority lost.
To be honest, many didn't per se take the exercise too seriously because, to them, they had already been accepted into the Federation's army as soldiers.
So they didn't think they could be sent back at all.
But now, they knew better.
Walking in, they first passed through an open entranceway before taking a left turn.
One should know that the entire building was a giant circular ringed structure that couldn't be fully explored even if they were given an entire month to do so.
It was 7-storeys tall and about the width of half a street block.
Again, who knew if the place had other underground floors?
As they diligently followed these veterans, they realized that there were countless doors to their left, spaced out at certain intervals.
And to their right were massive windows that showed the outside, allowing the sun or the moon to display properly.
Looking around, Ji Shen assumed things should look like this throughout the ringed ground floor.
It was like walking around a massive hallway.
They walked for quite some time before finally stopping before one of the doors on their left.
Honestly, all the doors looked exactly the same, which was too confusing.
Senko pushed his glasses calmly: "I've counted it. This door is the 13th from the main entrance we used to step in."
Ji Shen and Lin Chindu nodded: "Hmm.."
....
Ji Shen squinted his eyes and the entire room before looking at the windows behind him.
The windows were ceiling-high and were all separated by 10~14 inches of solid wall.
An excellent way to remember these doors is to take into account the images shown by the windows.
If they could note everything correctly, maneuvering around these parts shouldn't be too difficult... But that's only if they remembered accurately.
It looked like while here, they had to use their brain at their full capacities if they were to ever survive.
What sort of training centre was this?
One of the Hell Shadows opened the massive double-sided doors, revealing another entrance room again.
As explained, the building was about the same width as half a street block.
So the space they had been moving on, was just a fraction of width from the rest.
Now, they were going deeper into the building structure.
The black door opened up, and they stepped into another room.
And 3 meters away was the widest stairway they had ever seen in their lives.
The veterans and the Keeper stepped on the stairway and turned back to face them, who had now gathered around.
"Each floor has 50 stairways taking one either up or down.
This will be the first and only time when we will ever guide you within this building.
When in enemy territory, it's a soldier's duty to find their own way around.
You are here to learn and become the best of the best, fighting for the Aclon Federation!
If you can't even survive here, then it's impossible for any of you to survive in the barracks as a whole, talk less of doing missions and staying or surviving in enemy territory."
....
(0_0)
Everyone's heart skipped as countless thoughts quickly flashed through their minds.
Things were getting harder and harder, making them second guess themselves.
They couldn't help feeling envious of those who actually succeeded in becoming soldiers.
What the hell did they do to get that far?
The Aclon Federation didn't believe in babying anyone.
Every soldier's position was well deserved and prideful.
Sure. There were incidences where the rich would push their heirs or prodigies up.
But that didn't mean that the people they let in were weak.
Knowing all that they knew now, rather than feeling down, many felt excited instead.
The fire burned within them, increasing their desire for success.
The veterans smirked when they saw this.
Good.
The more fired up these people were, the more entertaining the season would be.
What could they say?
They loved training newbies.
Tonight was going to be a terrifying night for many.
How many would sleep tonight?
How many would come out victorious?
This was what they were most looking forward to.
Ji Shen was still deep in thought when suddenly, his ears began ringing.
~Ding.
[Host. New Mission Alert.]
'_'