"It's nothing to be ashamed about, recruit. You're a late bloomer," Sergeant Valkyrie said. "That's okay. Your astral node is perhaps finding it difficult to connect with you and send your powers to your core."
Kai sighed. 'Stupid node,' he thought to himself. 'I thought having an astral node would change everything. I thought it would immediately make me stronger, and give me the power to prove a point to these stupid elites. But I guess I'll have to work harder for it
"Does this mean that I won't take the assessment?" Kai asked.
"Well if you're going to be a recruit here, you must have a power rank," Sergeant Valkyrie responded. "And don't worry, you're not going to be the only person in the entire academy who hasn't gotten their powers yet."
"So what now?"
"We move on to the next assessment," she replied. "Speed. Get on the velocity matrix."
Kai was feeling quite confident about the speed assessment. Finally, all his days of running and escaping elites who chased him to beat him up will be of use. He knew he was fast, the only problem was that he didn't have the powers to amplify his speed like Annika and Erik did to make them go faster. He simply got on the machine and started running as fast as he could, imagining himself on the roads of ground zero, running home to his sister while being chased by angry elites.
When the assessment ended, Kai finished with a score of "88 out of a hundred!" Sergeant Valkyrie declared. Kai was very satisfied by this, and the rest of the crowd had fallen quiet, surprised by Kai's speed even without having powers.
"If your speed is 88 without powers, then imagine what it could be when you do get your powers," Sergeant Valkyrie said to him.
"Boo!" Ake yelled. "He's still a powerless recruit. Wasteland scum!"
"Yeah!" some recruits shouted.
"Shut all of your mouths if you don't want to spend a night in the reprimand cell!" Colonel Skai yelled. "And if you're curious to know what that is, let me hear one more word from you."
No one dared make a sound.
"Good. Now go ahead, Sergeant Valkyrie," the colonel said.
"Thank you, Skai. Next assessment. Strength."
The strength assessment was the one that truly tested Kai. He waited anxiously as the Power Gauge lowered the holographic tire onto his arms, Kai quickly used his shoulders to support it and raised the tire with little to no effort, then it transformed into giant drums. Kai immediately fell on his knees, the weight pushing him down but his resilience remained as he pulled himself back up while everyone watched in awe.
Then the drums immediately transformed into bags of concrete, and Kai fell but just when Sergeant Valkyrie was about to make it disintegrate and end the session. He raised his hand. "No," he squealed, his face turning red.
"Your score is already good, you can stop now."
"I can do it," Kai said. And he did, he pulled the bag of concrete above with his weak shoulders.
And in the shadows, it was that mysterious man again. He was watching everything going on in his personal office monitor, and he seemed very focused. "Interesting," he said as he watched. "Add more concrete bags."
Colonel Skai frowned as he heard this in his comms. "Are you sure, sir?"
"Do it."
Colonel Skai then whispered the instructions into Sergeant Valkyrie's ears and she obeyed.
"Ugh!" Kai yelled, crashing to the ground, his veins almost popping and tears falling out of his eyes. The concrete bags immediately disintegrated and Kai was lying on the metal ground, his muscles aching.
"I guess you do have a limit, Mr. Halsten," the mysterious man said.
Back in the academy, Kai pulled himself to his feet slowly. Everyone had watched his display of strength and they wondered how a slave who looked so skinny could be so strong.
"You're not strong," Sergeant Valkyrie said. "You're resilient. Probably the most resilient recruit I've ever seen. If we had points for resilience, you would have aced it. But your score for strength is still the highest so far, at 89. Well done."
Erik hissed. "That means nothing. He's still powerless."
"Shut up, Erik," Annika whispered. Erik wanted to say something back, but because it was Annika, he let it slide because he secretly liked her.
"Agility and Reflex assessment is next," Sergeant Valkyrie said.
Now this was another problem for Kai, throughout this assessment, he could only dodge the attacks from the holographic gormockers. But he couldn't be offensive, he had no powers to retaliate and even though his reflexes were sharp, he couldn't fully pass the test so he ended with a "61 out of a hundred!"
Finally, the time came for the Essence Chair and Kai felt his anxiety grow as he sat on the giant intimidating chair. The wires were connected to his chest and he waited.
"Activating the essence chair," Sergeant Valkyrie said. "Relax, recruit. Your heart rate is high. Remember not to tense your core, the chair has to build a connection."
Kai took a deep breath and the essence chair immediately turned to life. Electric sparks burst into the air as electrolytes filled the chamber. Everyone thought what was happening was normal but Sergeant Valkyrie felt something was wrong.
Suddenly the electrolytes turned from blue to red, and red lightning sparks enveloped the chamber. The chair began to vibrate excessively and the numbers on top were changing constantly.
"Oh my God!" Annika exclaimed.
"What's going on?" Colonel Skai asked.
"Something is wrong with the Essence Chair," Sergeant Valkyrie replied. "His powers are fluctuating, they're not stable. The chair can't get a clean reading."
"But that only happens when the person is overpowered, right?" The Colonel whispered.
"Yes, except this recruit is not. He doesn't even have powers yet. This is strange."
Colonel Skai stared into the chamber. "Is he going to be alright?"
"I don't know," she replied. "We can't manually stop the process, because then he will die."
A buzzing sound started blaring from the chamber as if warning everyone to stay back while Kai was still inside, his body was being shocked by the red electrolytes again and again.
"Everyone stay back!" Colonel Skai ordered. "Don't come too close to the chamber."
And suddenly the electricity made a round ball which then exploded into thin air and everywhere went calm again. Kai was released from the wirings as he struggled to his feet, feeling very weak.
Everyone was quiet as they watched. The number was displaced on the top of the chair and Kai turned to see it. A look of confusion and disappointment appeared on Kai's face, but he was not surprised. The number on the chair was a plain "0"
"Your average is 47.6, Kai." Sergeant Valkyrie said. "You know what that means.
Kai sighed sadly. "Gray rank."