After me, Bright and another group of two followed and after them, some more Trainees did their appraisals before it eventually came to an end.
With the Appraisal now done and dusted, German stepped back into the spotlight to address us like he had usually done.
However, German simply stood and said nothing for several minutes.
This silence lingered and in the minds of every recruit present, they felt as if this quietness lingered even more than it actually did.
Hearts throbbed.
Teeth were sucked frantically and in panic.
Fingers flickered and were fiddled in fear of what the outcome of the Appraisal would be.
However, those who had succeeded in sparking a reaction on the Appraisal Tablet, and also awakened a skill, were a hundred percent safe.
They knew in their hearts that they had retained their spot in the Cube.
Those who only turned on the normal grey colour of the Tablet, and had no Skills to attach to it, could only hope.
Those who had neither of these two…
…Well, their fate was obvious.
German cleared his throat.
Click– Click– Click–!
Each click he made on the screen of his device worsened the anxiety among the recruits lined up in ranks in front of him.
After a few seconds, a giant, luminescent golden brown screen appeared in front of him and floating in the air.
On this screen were names… many names.
These names were arranged in alphabetical order and belonged to those who had succeeded in today's Appraisal Event.
The owners of the different names listed were the ones who would continue to stay in the Cube for further training.
'Three hundred names. Same as before.'
Shortly after the screen was erected, complaints started to fly from every nook and cranny of the hall.
Recruits who felt that the system of selection was unjust, and needed to be looked into, voiced their opinions.
The instructors did not react to complaints that were quickly becoming a nuisance to their ears.
They remain uninterested.
Not until one foolish recruit would dare to shout at them in just a few seconds.
"That's not fair!" the foolish trainee blasted from where he was standing.
German turned in the direction that the bold complaint had been fired from.
"Any problem?" Eric edged the recruit on, cupping his left ear toward the lad as if he couldn't hear the complaints.
"It's not just fair!" the recruit repeated himself, falling for the obvious trap.
"What a bold lad," Bright commented beside me.
"I hope he doesn't get into trouble though," Cassandra added, her voice tinged with pity for a colleague.
"He's a fool."
My stern voice brought them to a halt as their eyes now focused on me briefly.
Cassandra playfully smacked my shoulder. "Don't be like that, Lux."
"Maybe, he's just pained, you know," Bright added, supporting Cassandra's view.
Both tried to convince me that this recruit was not to be blamed for how he was reacting right now.
However, the same recruit had the option of shutting his mouth.
We had all witnessed what had happened to the one who voiced out against them.
That kid never returned.
Like hell, I know where he even is now.
"You think you deserve to pass?" the Head Instructor asked.
At this point, I'd keep quiet if I was that recruit but the bold lad didn't know what was in store for him in about three minutes.
German turned around, settling his eyes on the recruit as he took a few steps towards the poor boy, distardizing his courage.
A half-hearted smile appeared on the instructor's face as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"You think we…" he said, turning and looking briefly at Eric and the other instructors present.
"You think we made a mistake and you deserve a pass, right?"
The recruit swallowed his saliva out of fear but the fear in his heart was not overwhelming enough as he managed to continue looking at the Instructors.
Eric clicked his tongue and chuckled as he watched the little drama that was soon to unfold.
'Oh well…'
A wave of unseen force suddenly breezed through the entire hall, striking our bodies before we could even sense it coming.
Even though I knew what was coming, I didn't bother doing anything extra.
I simply stood in one place like the rest and waited it out.
It was futile to try and resist it.
We, recruits, were not that powerful yet to consciously resist German's Essence.
German's menacing Essence wasn't going to last past some seconds.
However, in that short time, many recruits fell to the ground and went unconscious due to their inability to handle the wave.
It was a pity because this was the weakest amount of Essence the Head Instructor could release and all one needed to counter it was just to be awakened.
It was that simple.
…If a trainee possessed even a drop of Essence, they would withstand the wave.
Within seconds, many of our colleagues fell and all of them who had fallen victim to the pressure were those who still retained a Virgin Body Constitution and did not have an ounce of Essence within them.
*********
Several minutes later…
We would all leave that hall a short while later, not intervening or making any movements towards our unconscious colleagues.
We dared not to.
The feeling of pity towards our fellow trainees died the minute we set eyes on any of the instructors.
Sigh–
I returned to my dorm in the company of Bright, Sarafina and Cassandra.
As wrong as I truly desired to be, Cassandra made sure to prove me right—she continued to nag about me not visiting their room.
Sigh–
That was all I heard from the walk out of the hall until we got to the path that led to our different hostels.
Of course, for peace to reign, I had to make a promise that I wasn't exactly sure if I was going to keep it.
Well, because it was her, I'd make an effort.
Everybody had gone to rest and bask in the joy of their newly acquired skills… or maybe train to understand how their skills and Essence worked.
Little did they know that we would be waking up to find ourselves extremely short in numbers.
In a moment of infuriation, German had singlehandedly slashed our number down to only the three hundred trainees who passed the Appraisal Stage.
This number compared to an admittance number that was a bit above a thousand was just… meh.
That was when the full strike of the Cube's reality was felt.
Sadly, it was only going to get tougher for us.
Especially with the complete resumption of classes already scheduled to start the next day.