Riley confirmed his conjecture, but he still had questions he couldn't answer.
But one thing was clear. Even though he didn't have any memory of her — Trish was real. And whatever predicament she was in, he needed to save her.
The Sun was setting, marking the end of the month.
Riley returned home and spent the next 5 days visiting the murloc islands. He spent all fighting the stage 1s and mastered his Awakner powers.
But to his utter dismay, his progress bar never moved. It stayed stubborn at:
"Body Path stage 1: 50/100"
On 4th, Septa, Riley woke up earlier than usual.
'Today is the day. I must make it!' He looked at himself in the mirror. 'I only got one shot to find Trish. Next year, I'll be 19 and I can't take the test.'
'I can do it!' Riley cheered himself. How successful it was, he didn't know.
He reached the Starfish Spaceport. It was crowded with hover bikes and hover cars. Swarms of youngsters entered through the six entrances of the vast spaceport.
Starfish was one of the finest spaceports of Earth. Spaceports were similar to airports of Old Earth but with space shuttles.
Starfish was an 8 pointed spaceport with 8 terminals dedicated to a planet each, including Quintessense.
After Quintessense war, the Quintessense terminal was disbanded and now used for other purposes.
Riley reached the terminal. It was a huge building made of crystal walls with star treasures as defenses and enlivened by holographs boasting about humanity's achievements.
The entrance was divided into two sections. One for the Officers and the other for soldiers. Each had different academies. Due to their different requirements, they also had different entrance tests.
Soldiers or troopers were trained in Imperial Trooper Academies.
Officers were trained in Defense Academies. Naturally, there were only Five Defense Academies on Earth and the Raiders Academy was the best.
'So I'm aiming for the highest of high.' Riley sighed and entered the officers' section.
To be admitted to a Defense Academy, one was required to reach at least stage 2 and at most 18 years old. That was only a prerequisite. Then they had to make the cut in the entrance test, something which even geniuses didn't always succeed at.
Passing through the tunnel entrance, Riley finally reached a vast hall. There was a stage in front and all candidates stood in preassigned positions in uniform distance.
Riley reached his position and stood in the standard military posture. But the sight outside the glass window caught his eye.
The Space shuttles on the runway were not just difficult but impossible to ignore. They were pitch black, and at least 200 meters long and at least 60 meters wide. To put it into perspective, it was double the length of a football field and just as wide.
'So these are the fabled Type 1 Space ships, huh.' Riley sighed in amazement at this marvelous creation.
A Type 1 Space Ship was said to travel at an insane 1% of light speed.
To put that into perspective, any location on earth can be reached with in 4 seconds. Moon can be reached in about 2 minutes and mars in around 5 hours.
Riley was transfixed by the marvelous ship and didn't notice a female military officer stepping onto the stage.
"Szz"
Those who weren't concentrating on the stage got a slight shock under their feet, and that included Riley.
Feeling the numbing pain from his feet, he looked at the officer along with others and she said harshly, "Getting distracted will kill you. Always focus on mission. Now sign the forms or back off while you still can."
A form popped up in front of every candidate. It stated that the candidate understood risks and if they died; it was their own doing.
"I... I don't want to go."
"Me too. The death rates are 30% for fuck's sake."
Whispers filled the room and a section of the candidates couldn't bring themselves to face the final choice.
Riley signed the form and, along with thousands more, entered the Spaceship.
"The Entrance test began!"
Riley stepped into the spaceship with curiosity and awe. Despite nearly a thousand candidates boarding a single spaceship, it wasn't crowded at all. The interior of the spaceship was vast, with mobile seats, resembling more of a lecture hall than an airship. A stage slowly rose from the floor after safety precautions, and the spaceship took off, causing everyone to be thrown back into their seats by inertia.
Once stabilized, Riley looked out of the window and saw the world flashing by at an extreme speed, feeling like he was watching a movie. Like him, all the candidates also gazed out, already outside Earth's atmosphere, with Earth reduced to a tiny dot.
"This isn't what 1% of light speed looks like though," Riley eExpressed his disappointment.
"We are not going at full speed. We'll extend the 5-minute trip to 18 minutes to accommodate the written test," a familiar female military officer's voice sounded directly in Riley's head, jolting him out of his thoughts.
'So she is a telepath,' he realized, identifying the Immortality of the officer. The silence in the spaceship was absolute as the female officer appeared on stage unnoticed.
"I am Jane, Colonel of Blue Regiment. I will be the overseer of your group. The entrance test has two parts: written and practical. You have 15 minutes to finish the written test," her lips didn't move, but her voice resonated in everyone's head.
Riley felt bizarre having someone communicate with him mentally, but he was already used to it due to the System.
'A Colonel, huh? So she is at least a stage 5 Telepath. She can kill all candidates on this shuttle with a thought,' Riley thought, comparing his power to hers and realizing he was still at the bottom of the pyramid as a stage 1.
The written test commenced, and Riley faced the holograph test paper in front of him, feeling frustrated but focused. Thanks to the latest technology of "think to write," he only had to think about his answers.
The barrage of questions began, testing his knowledge of various historical events and technical aspects related to the ongoing conflicts with Bysteds. Despite feeling confident at first, Riley started to doubt his intelligence as the questions became more challenging.
Finally, he faced the last question, eExpressing his heartfelt reason for wanting to become a Military Officer: to prevent more children from losing their parents to various threats, even if humanity still faced problems.
As the written test concluded, Riley observed his fellow candidates, noticing a few elites who seemed unperturbed by the test, exuding strength and confidence with their eExpensive attire and star weapons.
"We're approaching the Abyss," Colonel Jane's voice rang in everyone's head, causing Riley's heart to skip a beat. As he gazed out of the window, he saw a huge red circle open in space, revealing the menacing red sky of the Demon Abyss.