Dean would be tested at room #14. There was a direction pointing to that room and Dean followed that direction. It seemed that the other students were also heading for the other rooms with either a backpack or a suitcase with them. He entered the room and a sergeant greeted him.
"Kid, place your bag right here, that thing is heavy, right?" An old man, probably in his thirty, was saying that as Del proceeded to one of the testing rooms The rank on the left side of his arm indicated that he was a Staff Sergeant.
"Yes, sir." Dean placed the bag in the designated place before he proceed to the next area. He put down his backpack alongside its rifle. All that was left was the content of his pocket and the empty pistol. "And son, leave your rifle there."
Dean's rifle was pretty much a standard-issue rifle, albeit with an improved sight on top of it, and the fact that it was available in full-auto. Usually, the military school only provided S12-AR, a semi-automatic rifle. It was not like he would be allowed to use it on full-auto during the test, anyway.
"Thanks, sir," Dean walked away to the testing ground.
Probably thirty students were waiting inside of a room with multiple courses. Some were orphans, others were ordinary students.
"ATTENTION!" The same staff sergeant that told Del to drop his backpack shouted right in front of them. The muscular-looking man with a scar stretching in his jaw shouted at them and explained the instruction to them.
He then explained the first test would be the strength test. It involved destroying as many targets as you could, with your hands. Yup, pretty straightforward. Each target would get harder and harder as in harder to be destroyed with a punch. A student must either destroy its head or its thorax, or four different body parts that were not thorax or head to be counted as a score.
The target had a similar appearance to a human mannequin, but it had different hardness based on how many mannequins had been destroyed previously. The more mannequins that you could destroy, the more points that you would get. The total time was one minute. It would start at the first target that the student touched. For every target that was destroyed, a student would get 100 points.
F = 100-500
E = 600-1000
D = 1100 -1500
C = 1600 - 2000
B = 2100 - 2500
A = 2600 - 3000
S = >3000
Dean didn't feel any confidence at all. Strength was never his biggest forte. Fighting with a rifle was one thing, but punching something was another. In this case, Dean wasn't even that good at it. It was not like he wouldn't get admitted if he got an F. Well, basically, training for killing something.
"Let me show you an example," the staff sergeant said as he folded his shirt.
He ran to one of the mannequins, slamming it to the ground, and crushed its head into smaller pieces. He moved to another mannequin and punched through its chest and created a large hole. However, the sergeant had to use more force to destroy it.
The sergeant then kicked one of the mannequins with his feet and the head smashed into multiple pieces. He continued destroying the mannequins, but over time, it changed from destroying mere plastics to destroying bricks. The sergeant even struggled, how about Dean that didn't have any strength-enhancing spell?
[24 Targets Destroyed]
The sergeant came outside of that room with blood all over his hand. It looked like the mannequins were more than capable of destroying someone's hand. 'Well, you don't exactly punch a tank, don't you?' Dean thought as he saw that view.
The sergeant bandaged his hand and he let the student try the course one by one. The first student that tried it immediately smashed the first mannequin, then the second, and so on and so on. Still, he didn't even touch the sergeant by his score.
[14 Targets Destroyed]
The other students tried the test. So far, most of the students achieved a D-rank. Some achieved the E rank, but only one student achieved the C-rank. Overall, pretty much expected. It was not like you could beat a staff sergeant in a breeze. The one who achieved C-rank ended up the same way as the staff sergeant, more or less, his hand bled.
Dean also took his test. The mannequin progressed from very easy to like punching through a plate of steel. Dean didn't destroy too many targets, he only destroyed several targets. He only achieved E-rank for what it was. Even though it was E-rank, it was the lowest score in the class.
[8 Targets Destroyed]
Yup, Dean got the lowest score. Dean just sighed. Then again, against people with magical powers designed to strengthen themselves, Dean had no chance. He then moved on towards the next test. This time, it was the magical energy test. It gave a numerical amount of magical energy stored in someone's body.
This next text was no better either. Even though Dean could use a healing spell, it didn't mean he had a lot of magical energy in total. Probably, from the last medical test that he took, he had 500 points or so.
"First student, Laine Kenzie."
A girl with red hair with some sort of athletic build would fit her description well. She was quite beautiful, even though she wasn't exactly the
The first student touched some sort of round ball. It was safe to assume that it was used to measure the amount of magical energy that a student had. However, the score benchmark was a little bit staggering for Dean.
F = 100 - 2,000
E = 2,000- 5,000
D = 5,000 - 10,000
C = 10,000 - 20,000
B = 20,000 - 40,000
A = 40,000 - 100,000
S = >100,000
Yup, pretty much, as same as before. The magical energy would be measured with that. And yeah, it was quite common to see someone with more than 2,000 magical powers. Dean was pretty much on the edge here.
Still, who has more than 100,000 magical powers? Dean doubted there was someone with that much magical energy. He had met many people with an amazing amount of magical powers inside of their bodies, and 100,000 was just a ridiculously high number for him.
'Warfare is never about magic,' Dean sighed, refusing to believe that one of the tests was for testing magical power instead of its relevancy in combat, but again, he had to do it, whether he agreed with it or not.
[3,400]
E-rank for Laine. It was definitely below average, but that was the gorilla that achieved C-rank on the strength course. Even if magic wouldn't solve her problem, her fist would probably solve the problem.
"Next student, Dean Barnett."
Dean put his hand on that metallic sphere. The dial on top of it showed his total magical power. It increased since the last time, but it didn't increase by a big margin. It barely increased.
[500]
Suddenly, the crowd started to whisper about the magical energy that Del had. In a society where magic was overrated, it was expected, but this was the military, everything was equal, more or less.
"An F-rank? Not every day you see that."
"Dean Barnett, isn't it? He's weak."
"You sure? That person scared a senior into submission."
"He's nothing without his gun."
"No magical power? That's odd."
The staff sergeant even approached Dean. "Son, the machine is working, right?" The staff sergeant put his hand on top of that ball and the dial changed into another set of numbers. This time, it was much bigger.
[8,000]
"Son, you're quite odd. But well, NEXT!"
Del moved on to the next area. The other students had much much bigger magical power than him. However, this time, he was the weakest, again. Most of the students had more than 4,000 magical power. Even, one student surpassed the staff sergeant by scoring 8,500 on that dial. Of course, it was quite an achievement and she got praise from the staff sergeant.
The girl's name was Carla, a girl with naturally gray hair. Dean might read it once, but gray hair was a side-effect of having above-average magical energy. It was quite rare, though. To be honest, ever since humanity discovered magic, some funky hair colors started appearing left and right.
However, on the next test, Dean finally could shine. This time, it was the marksmanship test. It was pretty straightforward, shoot as many targets as you can with the provided ammunition for one minute. The rifle would be provided by the academy.
F = 0-20
E = 31-60
D = 61-90
C = 91-120
B = 121-150
A = 151-180
S = 180
Note: Every 10% reduction in accuracy will result in -10 points.
There was an S12-AR on the table alongside six 30-round magazines filled with 30 rounds of 6.8x60 mm bullets each. Of course, Dean was confident that he could get an ace in this. However, the first student that did the test wasn't him.
"Alright, it seems that some of you can't operate a weapon, so here's a crash course of operating an S12-AR." The sergeant gave instructions on how to use the rifle. Several students were annoyed, thinking that magic was superior to a rifle, but Dean knew better.
The sergeant gave the student a crash course, Dean didn't need to listen. He could disassemble and reassemble the rifle in the dark, operating it was very easy, even solving a malfunction. That was just how adept he was with using an assault rifle. The thing was, that thing was a government-issued assault rifle that was probably cleaned by a lazy ass student.
"Alright, first one, Carla, go ahead."
Carla picked up the rifle, racked the charging handle, and started shooting at the targets. The timer would begin once the first target was shot. Carla pulled the trigger of her rifle and the first bullet flew right to the target.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Carla tried to shoot her rifle as fast as she could at the target, but Dean noticed it. She was rushing it too much, some of the bullets missed the targets. Then, she tried reloading the rifle, the rifle didn't shoot a bullet. Carla panicked and tried to solve the malfunction, but Dean knew the issue.
The magazine was upside down. No matter what she did, nothing would solve that kind of malfunction. The staff sergeant immediately intervened and helped her. She grabbed the rifle by force and flipped the magazine upside down. "Idiot." He then gave the rifle back.
Carla started shooting again, but the timer ran out.
[34 Targets Down. 95% Accuracy]
"Alright, so…. E-rank. NEXT!"
The other students began shooting and they got their results. The staff sergeant took the result manually one by one. He decided whether a student got an A-rank or an F-rank. It was all that he did. Why? Unlike the other tests, there was no way to determine the score automatically.
[80 Targets Down. 60% accuracy.]
"You'll kill a lot of civvies with that fire, boy. E-Rank, next."
The students that nailed a lot of targets usually also missed a lot, and the students who got perfect accuracy were too slow to kill a lot of targets. The result was more or less the same, but a lot of them got the D instead of E this time. Well, it was Dean's turn and he was the last one.
Dean grabbed the rifle, then he felt something wrong, the rifle was not in a good condition. The trigger felt too smushy, and it seemed the dust build-up was really thick. With that condition, the gun would certainly jam without any exception. The question was, when would it jam?
Dean aimed the rifle at the target. He held a deep breath. He then started shooting. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. The observing student, including the staff sergeant, was looking at him in awe. Dean fired the semi-automatic gun as if it was fully automatic. Yet, Dean hit all of the targets without any effort.
CLICK.
As expected, the gun's jammed. Dean tapped the magazine inside and pulled the charging handle. The bad round came out and the gun started shooting again. It was so fast that the sergeant even nodded several times while mumbling, "Good reaction."
Dean then continued shooting the rifle that would certainly jam again. He then continued shooting until the magazine ran out. He then inserted a new magazine. He pushed the bolt carrier and the gunshot once before jamming again. He did the previous procedure, but the bad bullet didn't come out.
Dean pulled the magazine out while racking the bolt forward and backward multiple times. Two bullets came out, it must have been a bad magazine. He changed into a new magazine and continued firing into the targets.
The sergeant muttered, "What a quick response time, the kid's good."
After that, the gun malfunction again. He did the usual solving procedure, it didn't work. He pulled out the magazine and checked the chamber. A bullet came out of the rifle, but another bullet was stuck inside of the chamber.
The sergeant muttered, "A death jam, damn, that thing is hard to solve."
Dean pulled out a bullet from the magazine while trying to pick the bullet from the chamber, it didn't work. Dean then did what he could do right now. He slammed the gun against the table as hard as he could, hoping the gravity would help him.
BAM.
The rifle hit the table very hard and the bullet fell off. Dean put a new magazine and he continued shooting. He changed into the last magazine as the timer hit 30 seconds. He pulled the trigger again.
BANG.
The end of the rifle blew off. The gas tube must have been broken. The gun was unusable at this point. His reflex immediately went for his pistol and shoot at the target. Too bad he didn't remember the pistol was empty. After that, he ran out of time.
[124 Targets. 100% accuracy]
"Alright, B-rank, but kid, that's some impressive shooting, and sorry for the broken rifle. I'd give you an S-rank if a malfunction is put as a grading criterion. Couldn't do better myself, kid," the sergeant praised him.
All that was left in the sergeant's head was the bottleneck. Dean still managed to score the top score, even with three jams, and two of those jams would usually take more than two minutes to solve. It was just impressive.
Still, most of the students weren't impressed. They were still thinking that magic was better than guns. Dean would happily disagree with that statement. He knew better. And that concluded the whole testing. He just had to wait for his final score.