Varian entered the spaceship in curiosity and awe. Despite nearly a thousand candidates boarding a single spaceship, it wasn't crowded at all.
The interior of the spaceship labwas vast, with mobile seats. The candidates got into their pre-assigned seats.
The whole setup was was closer to a lecture hall than an airship.
A stage slowly rose from the floor. After precautions of safety, the spaceship took off.
The spaceship took off and everyone was thrown to the back of their seat by inertia.
After stabilizing, Varian looked out of the window. The world flashed at an extreme speed, and he felt like he was watching a movie.
Like him, all the candidates also gazed out. They were already outside earth's atmosphere. It was like they started to zoom out of earth and in a few seconds, Earth was nothing but a tiny dot.
'This isn't what 1% of light speed though.' Varian was disappointed.
"We are not going at the full speed. We'll extend the 5 min trip to 18 minutes to accommodate the written test." Varian was jolted out of his thoughts when the familiar voice of a female military officer sounded directly in his head.
He forced his heart to calm down. Most candidates also reacted in a similar, if not more extreme. Everyone calmed down in a few seconds.
But it was certainly a creepy experience letting someone talk in your head.
'So she is a telepath.' He realized the Divine path of the officer.
There was absolute silence in the spaceship. The female officer appeared on stage unnoticed.
"I am Reina, 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 sounded in everyone's head.
Varian 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 level 5 Telepath. She can kill all candidates on this shuttle with a thought.'
He compared his power to her's and realized despite his rapid improvement; he was still at the bottom of the pyramid.
He was still a Level 1. From a Level 1 to level 9, it was a long, long way.
'I'll worry about that later. Now my biggest worry is…'
{Written Test begins}
He looked at the holograph test paper in front and gritted his teeth. 'I lost my sleep because of you, damn written test!'
He cursed it in his heart, but faced the question paper with full focus. Thankfully, he only had to think about it instead of actually writing. The latest technology of "think to write" made lives easier.
Thus, the barrage began.
"Explain Blink"
'Blink is the event when the Sun split into two due to unknown reasons followed by the resurgence of aura. That day was marked as the first of Blink and the calendar was changed to Year After Blink (YAB). The old calendar year for blink was 2021 AD.'
"What are the short-term consequences of Blink?"
'Due to Blink, aura's concentration went from zero to high level in a very short period of time. 99% of the population could not adapt to the aura and died. The 1% survivors awakened in Divine Paths. Awakeners at that time were still in Level 1s and Level 2s. They weren't invulnerable to their time's weapons. The power imbalance created conflicts.
Old Forces who believed in traditional military power clashed with the new forces of Awakeners. This led to the Civil Wars from 0 to 10 YAB.'
'Serves you right! I studied all history. I know all major events.' Varian smiled smugly. 'Nuclear Wars. Human Alliance. Murloc Wars. Even Shadow Nation.'
"Briefly explain the history of Abyssals."
'Abyssals appeared in 400 YAB, ending Humanity's Golden Age. To be precise, 8 Abysses appeared corresponding to the eight planets in the solar system. Each planet had an Abyss paired with it which would revolve with it around the Sun.'
He read the next question with the same smug smile, and it froze in no time.
"Explain how teleportation formations work."
'Your mom!' Varian cursed 'I am neither a Space Awakener nor an engineer. Why am I supposed to know?'
Then he deleted his curses and bluffed, 'They work on the principles of Torrid spacetime.'
"What do you believe is the most significant challenge posed by Abyssals?"
'Lack of information.' Varian's expression turned grim, and he expressed his opinion. 'We don't know who they are, where they come from, and why they come.
Even though the general opinion is that they just want their Abysses to devour every planet, I disagree. There must be something driving them to keep continuing this prolonged conflict for 120 years.'
Despite a century of hostility and frequent wars, Humans didn't know much about Abyssals.
The common knowledge was that Abyssals lived in their respective Abyss. To Earth, Demon Abyss was the pair.
Demon Abyss, like all other Abysses, was a world of its own. It was ruled by Demon Abyss King following a strict hierarchy.
Varian searched the meta net but found no more information about Abyssals. It seemed to be a state secret.
"What is Heaven's Will? What is Abyss's Will?"
'It is the protective...'
Varian spent the next 15 minutes answering the unending barrage of questions. He believed he was a smart person until taking the test. Now he started to doubt his intelligence.
'Teleportation formation? Inner Spaces? How does Type 1 Spaceship's engine work? The fuck!'
If not for the necessity of military discipline, he'd have yelled out loud, 'Am I going to work in a lab or fight the Abyssals?'
Then came the long awaited final question.
"Why do you want to be a Military Officer?"
"I don't want kids to be fatherless. Or lose their mother to accidental magic beasts that escape Dungeons. Humanity will still have problems even without Abyssals and Dungeons, but any problem is better than extinction threats.' He finished the last question and slumped into his chair.
Looking around, others were in a similar position. Some girls were sweating profusely, while some boys looked at the questionare holograph like it killed their parents.
Only a few, he observed, looked unperturbed. They wore expensive clothes and their star weapons shone with great brilliance. They had the air of strength and confidence.
'So these are the elites, huh?' Varian recalled the major power holders in the federation.
The Big Two — Military and Three Prime Families. Small Two — Trade Union and Adventure Guild.
The children of leaders of these powers were an elite of the elite. They grew up under expert training and possessed star weapons a commoner could only dream of.
Fed with expensive potions and rare elixirs of the Ruins, they were raised to take up the baton and continue to enrich their heritage.
The small two — Trade Union and Adventure Guild were relatively new, and had history of only around 50 years.
The big two — Military's and the Prime Family's roots could be traced back to the blink, some 500 years of history!
Thus, the Military and the Prime Families were the major players in the Federation. Children of these powers were like princes and princesses of the old earth.
"We're approaching the Abyss." Colonel Reina's voice rang in everyone's head.
{The written test results will be sent along with practical test's} The AI's voice followed and ignored.
Varian felt his heart stop as he gazed out.
A huge red circle opened itself in the space, like a red mouth threatening to devour the stars. There was a red sky on the other side.
It was the Demon Abyss!