After the identification was all completed, Kai took one more look at his ID card. It read:
NAME: KAI HALSTEN
GENDER: MALE
CLASS: SLAVE
ID NUMBER: ST000142
He wondered if he was the only one whose class was a slave. Of course he was, everyone else was an elite.
"Hey! 142, I'm 144!" Frode exclaimed. "That means we're probably on the same team."
"I see. What a coincidence," Kai said with suspicion.
"Hey, you're 144?" A petite blonde girl with glasses asked Frode. "I'm 145. I'm going to be with your team."
"Cool, I'm Frode!"
The girl smiled nervously. "I'm Ingrid." Ingrid seemed very intelligent and innocent, she loved the color brown as almost everything she was wearing was brown.
"Nice name," Frode replied, he then gave Kai a tug on the arm. "This is Kai. Don't mind him, he's a quiet type."
"Hello," Kai said to Ingrid.
"Hi," she replied, still nervous.
"Wow, our team is slowly building up," Frode said enthusiastically. "I wonder who 141 and 143 are."
Kai started to feel a little overwhelmed, he never knew they would be divided into teams and he would have to work with elites. His throat was parched and his eyes started to get red. He knew the problem, he needed water! But he had to hold on, a few hours left to complete the daily mission.
"Excuse me, did someone here say 143?" Kai heard a familiar voice ask. "I'm 143."
To Kai's surprise, it was Annika Randi, Ake's twin sister and President Kirk's daughter who had given him a ride just yesterday. Kai was stunned. How could she be on the same team as him?
"Whoa, Annika Randi!" Frode exclaimed. "You're in our team?"
"I guess I am," Annika smiled, not taking her eyes off Kai who was still shocked to see her. "Kai? You're going to be my teammate. Who would have known?"
Kai didn't say anything. He didn't even know what to say, he just glanced at her and then at Frode.
-|SYSTEM IS NOTICING AN EXCESSIVE SWELLING OF THE HEART|-
The system continued to say that each time he looked at Annika.
"Who's the last member? 141?" Kai asked to change the subject quickly.
"That would be me."
They all turned around to see the popular, powerful, and good-looking Erik Esben, one of the most promising talents in the recruits. His father, Dru Esben, was the record holder for the most gormockers killed with 231. Erik was already a powerful fighter at that young age and everyone knew he was going to graduate from the academy as a Grade A alien hunter.
"Well, would you look at that? They teamed me up with a slave boy, a comedian, a nerd, and the president's daughter," Erik said coldly. "Nice to see you, Annika."
"Be nice, Erik."
"I'm the most powerful in this team, so obviously I'm going to be the leader," Erik declared. "You do as I say and don't mess up. Also, don't mess with me. I'm stronger than you."
"I don't know why they even paired me with nutjobs like you. I'm supposed to be on Ake's team. But since I'm here, you all will have to pay me my due respect as the high-ranking recruit that I am. You will follow my lead, do all I ask, and if I need some nanobucks, you supply it. I hope that's clear!"
Everyone was silent during and after Erik's short speech. Kai didn't know who he was, but Frode and Ingrid did. Everyone did, he wasn't someone to be messed with. But Kai wasn't sure if he cared or not. He didn't like bullies, but he knew not to try to object or fight with Erik.
"Don't listen to Erik," Annika whispered to the rest of the group.
"What do you mean don't listen to him? He's a very powerful recruit. You heard him, he'll beat us up if we don't obey him," Frode said.
"He's not going to do anything," she assured. "Erik is just a bully."
"I know," Frode replied. "But I'm not about to get my ass handed to me when I can just give out a few nanobucks to avoid it."
"Alright, that's enough chit-chatting!" Colonel Skai announced. Everyone immediately fell silent and turned to him. He was standing on a solid electrolyte platform with a military woman beside him. The woman was holding a file board and watching all the recruits closely.
"Now that you have all found your teammates, it's time for the power level ranking to begin!" Colonel Skai continued. "This is Sergeant Valkyrie, she is in charge of ranking your powers and documenting each level up. I'll let her take the stand now and address you."
"Recruits, welcome to the STARLITE recruitment academy," Sergeant Valkyrie began. "You will spend the next year training your skills, increasing your knowledge, leveling up your powers, and learning to fight. You are all special people, granted powers by your astral node. But we know that some are a bit more special than others. A bit more powerful. And that is what I'm here to determine today."
There was silence as everyone looked at each other, wondering if they would be one of the very special ones or not.
"Now, obviously you were scanned a bit during your application to know your power level and potential, but here in the academy, we're going to be more thorough. We'll be using the P.A.C. to determine your power level. If you don't know what that means, it's the Power Assessment Chamber. As you are aware, ranking is in colors. You'll be ranked in gray for extremely low, black for low, green for good, blue for extremely good, and yellow for excellent. This color ranking will then be displayed on a badge with your names on your uniforms. As your power increases or decreases, your color changes." Sergeant Valkyrie took a deep breath. "That's enough explaining. Now in your groups of five, follow me into the training tower, and let's know what your ranking is."
Kai took a deep breath. He had one more chance to prove that his powers were not low and that he didn't belong to the gray rank. And now, he was determined to do just that.