Two more months passed and it was getting nearer to the first assessment.
The kids naturally turned their focus to the written examination and the trainings at the practice hall ceased temporarily.
Wen Yu and the attendant boy tried severally but failed to make any progress at advancing because neither could trust the other.
Wen Yu was currently absentminded in a reading cubicle with Qi San and Huo Lan. He grit his teeth in anger as he thought about his lack of progress.
This was too much for him to bear. If he didn't know about this assimilation method then that was different but now...
It was just like somebody extending an olive branch to him only for him to find out it was decayed on the inside and riddled with worms. How infuriating!
That kid was just too much. He was just a kid, what was he so guarded for?!
He conveniently put all the blame on the five year old kid forgetting that he himself could not get pass the barrier of ever trusting someone after what happened with the former Qi San.
But of course, 'it was all the kid's fault'.
"Big bro Yu!"
Wen Yu was shocked out of his reverie. He pinned Qi San with a cold look, causing the kid to shiver.
Qi San's voice softened immediately. "Big bro Yuuuuu... I kept calling out to you but you wouldn't answer me, " he said while looking as if the entire galaxy had wronged him.
Wen Yu sighed and his voice became a bit softer. "What?"
"I was wondering what the key question of the written assessment this time would be on."
Although the written assessment focused on a variety of different subjects, each year special focus was placed on a key question above all else and more points could be gained if the examinees were lucky enough to be more knowledgeable on the topic surrounding the key question.
"I'm really not good at studying ah, " Qi San continued, "Although I have my light brain to transmit information to my brain, comprehending anything that has nothing to do with assimilation or Mechas is so difficult..."
The kid went on to flop on the maglev table like a boneless fish.
Huo Lan stared at him in righteous indignation. How can anyone be this lazy?!
Wen Yu rubbed the space between his brows. He never wanted kids. There was no way he was going to get close to another little human the moment he passed this stage.
He ignored the lifeless Qi San, who proceeded to argue with Huo Lan over something completely basic, and thought back to his own hopeless situation.
Okay maybe he was also at fault because he couldn't trust the kid too but it was only a tiny bit. The kid made it so difficult for anyone to get along with him and was always expressionless, like the universe owed him a billion credits.
The most he'd heard him speak was on the day he was explaining his plight to Shi Anjing. He'd once even swallowed his pride to ask the kid his name again but the kid only stared dumbly at him before looking away.
What the h*ck was that?! Was he going to eat his name? He never remembered kids being so fierce!
Wen Yu chewed on his lips till they became sore. How was he ever going to get strong? Even if he decided to break his back and trust the kid, it wouldn't necessarily mean the kid would reciprocate!
Wen Yu lolled on the chair like a sack of potatoes. Why was life so hard?
Huo Lan hurriedly looked over with a worried frown. "Big bro Yu are you okay? You look like you're going through mid-life crisis."
'...' Wen Yu glared at him.
Huo Lan hurriedly shrank his neck and said in a tiny voice, "Don't look at me like that ah, you look just like my second uncle. My mom said he was going through mid-life crisis too. All he did was eat and get drunk and fat. So pitiful..."
Wen Yu: '...' Where did the silly kid see him get drunk?! Where did he see him become fat?! Wen Yu looked away and generously ignored him.
Time flew quickly and soon enough, it was the day for the first assessment. The pre-enrolled cadets all filed out of their various dorms.
They were filled with both anticipation and hesitation as they made their way over to the examination hall.
It should be known that if they failed to reach the standard then they would be directly sent home before even trying for the other tests.
The elites weren't worried because the majority of them came from homes that made sure they were well versed on various important subjects by hiring famous teachers for them.
Some of them who had incredible spirit potentials didn't care even more because there was no way the Academy was going to send them away.
As much as their potentials were currently 'hidden', Lingxiu wouldn't dare to offend their various families and the Federation by turning away kids with amazing assimilation talents.
As for the pre-enrolled cadets from commoner families, that was a different story.
Most of them happened to be the first in their families to have good enough spirit potentials and didn't have access to information like the elites.
Even though it was a technologically advanced world, not everyone could have access to all kinds of information. This was a well known fact. Insensible or not.
This made the commoner kids to be beside themselves in worry. Even if they had scoured the library and felt a bit prepared, they were still nervous.
There were also some cadets that were orphans too.
Failure for these ones meant going back to the orphanage to patiently wait for adoption, something that rarely happened. There was a reason they were dumped there in the first place!
Wen Yu stared around the examination hall calmly before looking at Huo Lan who was wringing his fingers nervously.
He pursed his lips for a while before deciding to speak up, "No need to be so nervous, it might not be as hard as you think."