Chapter 239: The Five Tests of AF1 [Part 1]
Maybe it was because everyone’s minds hadn’t settled down yet after arriving at a strange place, but they chatted until a bit later than usual. The four of them helped out Teita a lot because he was the youngest person in the hostel. It was obvious that the boy lived like a prince considering that he even had a personal wash robot in the bathroom. That old servant had arranged everything for him.
The four of them got to check out Teita’s room after the old servant was done tidying the place. Almost everything was in place, and if the boy needed something done all he needed to do was to send an order to the housework robots and AI systems.
The gray cat immediately felt an itch behind its back the moment it saw the thick, plush carpet spread out inside Teita’s room. It couldn’t wait to rub its fur against the carpet, and in reality it did exactly that until Cillin took it away by the scruff just before bed time.
“There are several hidden security cameras inside this hostel. There are three in Teita’s room, one outside the kitchen, one in the bathroom, two in the living room…” The gray cat said discontentedly beside Cillin after it was brought back into the room.
In the end, they discovered that every part of the hostel was monitored except the rooms of the other occupants.
“It seems that Teita’s background is pretty deep.” Cillin scratched the gray cat’s chin while thinking about the information Teita told them just now. Then, he closed his eyes and began to sleep.
The young man was woken up by the gray cat before he could enter deep sleep.
“What is it?” Cillin didn’t even open his eyes.
“The boy can’t sleep. He probably isn’t used to this place and misses home.” The gray cat could see what was going on in Teita’s room through the security cameras.
“Well, he’s here already. He will get through it eventually.”
Ten minutes later.
The cat’s paw hit Cillin’s back.
“Now what?” Cillin still hadn’t opened his eyes.
“The boy looks pretty sad. You sure you don’t have the heart?”
“Humans are used to crying while growing tougher. It is one of our ways of growth.”
The gray cat’s ears flicked.There was no telling if it understood the statement or not.
Another ten minutes later.
Cillin abruptly opened his eyes this time. The gray cat was just about to hit him again right in front of him.
“Alright fine!”
At the same time, inside the room of a vast castle-like building complex on another imperial capital planet, a couple of people were staring at a big monitor and observing Teita’s condition.
When the eight years old child rolled back and forth on his bed and unable to sleep, two women holding handkerchiefs couldn’t help but wipe the tears on their faces again and again.
“I told you we shouldn’t send him in so early. Look, he can’t sleep since it’s not home!”
“Yeah, dad. Teita’s still young, and you know what kind of place AF1 is. Plus, Teita shouldn’t need to go through what we already did. We can protect him ourselves.”
“I agree. Let’s bring Teita back, shall we?” Another man dressed in military suit asked.
Everyone stared at man who still looked soldierly and handsome despite his age at the center of the group.
The beautiful woman at the side wiping her tears glanced at her father standing perfectly straight at the center of the group and thought: He won’t hold out for long. After all, he’s the one who worries about Teita the most out of all of us. The old man had sent Teita into AF1 on the spur of the moment after someone in the military probably whispered into his ears, but right now no one regretted the decision more than he did. He just couldn’t say it because his dignity wouldn’t allow it.
The old man let out a sigh of relief in his head as he listened to their words. I guess I should take him back; he is too young. They can talk all the way; it’s not like I’ll lose anything if I take back my word. I can always send Teita back to AF1 in another two years; and I’m sure he won’t disappoint me. But now? he’s just too young, too young. My poor boy.
The old man was about to say something when the doorbell to Teita’s room rang.
Teita immediately sat up from his bed and tried to remove the dejection and helplessness on his face as best he could. The sight caused their heart to ache again.
Teita opened the door, but before he could speak something was thrown right towards his face. When he hurriedly caught the incoming object, he discovered that it was the gray cat.
Cillin yawned and said, “Something to keep you company with. This cat likes your carpet, so please keep it around if you don’t mind. Of course, if you do mind then feel free to toss it out of your room anytime you like.”
Once he said this, Cillin went back to his room and to catch his sleep.
At the door, Teita blinked a couple of times before he stared at the gray cat in his lap. Then, he closed the door and walked back inside.
The moment the gray cat entered Teita’s room, it immediately jumped onto the carpet and rubbed its fur along the edges of the room. When it rolled all around the room once, it looked up and saw Teita staring at it unblinkingly. The gray cat shook its fur and said, “Just ignore and go to sleep. I’ll guard the door for you.” Then the gray cat went back to rolling around the carpet.
Teita’s feelings improved by a lot after the gray cat intruded into his room. After watching it for a moment, he carried the soft bedding on his bed and put it next to the gray cat. Since the bedroom had a smart thermostat setting, there was no need to worry if he would catch a cold at all.
Half an hour later, both the boy and the cat fell asleep together on the carpet.
The people in front of the big monitor didn’t say a word until a very, very long time later. In the end, the old man didn’t bring Teita home. He decided to postpone the decision until he saw Teita’s results.
The tests anticipated by more than a thousand participants had finally begun.
Every participant possessed a recommendation card, but they didn’t all receive it at the same time. The countdown began when the number of participants reached a certain threshold.
The first test of the Five Tests of AF1 was the written test Teita mentioned earlier.
The previous written test only had one test paper, very few questions and a three-hour time limit, but the questions were incredibly difficult. This time though, things were very different.
Today’s written test was ten hours long with no breaks in between. All participants were to bring their own food, and the only two places they were allowed to be in during this period was the exam room and the toilets.
No participant knew where their seats would be. After they were gathered in one place and requested to take a seat wherever they wanted, a cover rose from beneath the chair and enveloped the participants. They were then transferred to the exam room automatically.
Inside the exam room, the participants could only see white light plates and compartments around them. They couldn’t see through the light plates, but the people on the other side of the light plates could see them clearly. Therefore, there was no point in pretending that there existed trickeries that wouldn’t be caught by the observers. If a participant was caught, the consequences were severe to say the least.
When every participant was shifted to the exam room, they discovered that they were facing a thick book of test papers. That’s right, a whole book. The test papers contained questions about basic personal information and all sorts of other test questions.
Cillin gave the papers a look. The first few pages of the test papers were all questions about basic information such as his hobbies, his habits, the books he read, the kind of information he studied, the kind of internet content he followed and so on. A lot of people embellished their answers in a positive way, but they had no idea that the teachers would prepare their test questions according to the information they wrote. If the teachers found out that someone was lying, they would make life very, very difficult for said participant.
Cillin didn’t write too much about himself. For example, he only wrote “shooting” under specialties. After all, Guan Feng’s gun was right there. It was something that was going to be revealed sooner or later.
These basic information revealed how much a participant knows about themselves. It was also possible to judge if a certain participant was arrogant or self-abased from their answers.
That being said, Cillin had no idea what kind of stick he was going to be measured with in this written test. As Teita had said earlier, some people were accepted into the school despite not knowing how to write.
When he wrote down his first word though, Cillin was starting to understand a little the point of this written test.
A person’s words reflected some sides of the writer themselves. One could even say that a written word was a reflection of their writer. Moreover, a person’s words grew more forceful and steady as their age and experience increases.
A person’s words also revealed their emotions at the time. A person in a good mood would write a fine work, but a person in a bad mood would write a crooked and ugly work.
The pressure of writing, the structure and style of the strokes, the size of the words, the amount of time the writer wrote without lifting their pen from the paper and so on could also reflect a lot of things. For example, the amount of strength a person normally used, self-awareness and the balance between thought and action could be seen from a person’s writing. A person’s writing speed was also related to their speed of understanding. The composition of a text could even reflect a person’s view of the outside world.
Naturally, a person’s mentality was reflected in one’s writing too. A person’s words changed along with their mentality. Since this was a whole book of test papers, a lot of people’s handwriting were sure to grow more and more slovenly over time. However, there were also people whose handwriting never changed much no matter how much they wrote. This was where the difference lied.
After Cillin was done filling up the basic information, he began reading through the test paper. It was a habit of his. Even though he didn’t need to write anything at Seven Lights, he would still read through the questions before he started working on them.
The first question required Cillin to define terms. It was a familiar type of question, but Cillin was at a loss for the first in a very long time. It was because 99% of the terms were uncommon words, and some Cillin hadn’t even heard of despite arriving at Mist Bodhisattva Empire for some time now.
He continued to flip through the pages. There were question and answer, math, discussion…
Unfortunately, there were no multiple choice questions or true and false questions in the test paper, so there was no chance for the participants to make a lucky guess. Moreover, the written test had a huge scope just like what Teita had told them, such as the formation of the universe, quantum mechanics, evolutionary history, molecular formula, human reproduction, normal or abnormal physiological indicators and even ancient questions that were similar to “which came first, the chicken or the egg”.
When Cillin flipped to the fifth from last question on the third from last page, he raised an eyebrow.
A short, unremarkable sentence was printed on the spot: Please complete thirty of any of the questions written above. No extra marks are given beyond thirty answered questions.
Most of the time, a line like this normally appeared at the first or last page of the test paper, so the way AF1 did it was pretty unique and obscure.
He wondered how many people would be bummed when they read this line at the end.
Cillin shook his head and read through the last few questions. The rest of the questions were pretty much the same as the previous ones except the last question. Once he confirmed that there were no other hidden meaning in the test paper, he began writing.
Two hours later, Cillin finished answering the thirty questions at the front and the last few questions at the back. All that was left was the final question.
The final question went like this: If you believe that the earlier questions cannot express your qualities or abilities, please write whatever you wish here.
After thinking for a moment, Cillin suddenly drew a cat - a round, fat cat holding a fish biscuit in its mouth - in the answer block of the question on a whim.
Cillin didn’t turn in his test paper immediately even though he was done answering the question. After inspecting his answers once, he lay on the table and caught a short nap. He had a feeling that the next few tests would consume a lot of energy, so he wanted to store up some energy in advance.
Some AF1 and AF2 teachers were walking around the exam room, so they saw every little trick some examinees tried to pull clearly. They warned those who should be warned and deducted marks from those who should be deducted, but no examinees were disqualified from the test immediately.
There were some people who finished their test papers ahead of time just like Cillin. These people either turned in their paper early or slept on their tables just like him, so Cillin didn’t stand out among these people. That being said, all examinees who finished their papers within the first three hours were placed in a special record by the chief examiner.
Cillin was woken up by the end of exam bell. After he got out of the exam room, he met up with Libero and the others at the agreed place.
Judging from Libero and Ironhead’s dejected expressions, they probably didn’t see the line at the third from last page until it was too late. Walley looked as careless as he was before. Teita didn’t see the line, but mentally speaking he was doing pretty well. The test was done, and that was that. He didn’t feel much pressure to begin with.
The teachers didn’t give the examinees who finished the first test much time to rest. Not long after, a spaceplane delivered them to the location of their next test.
The stress test tested the examinees physical stress such as resilience, immune tolerance, physiological response under certain conditions such as low atmospheric pressure, low oxygen level etc. and so on. The examinees’ physical limits and physical disabilities were investigated as well. The final result of the test were graded in descending order: S, A, B, C and D. However, the examinees themselves were not informed of the final results.
Humanoids had another category under their results; it contained the signs of their bloodline. However, these information were kept confidential from all examinees, and only the teachers in charge would know about them.
Cillin went through a series of tests such as a basic drug allergy test, wound healing test, low atmospheric pressure test, low oxygen level test, heart rate test and many more. When he left the test room, the person in charge of grading him wrote an “S” in the final grade bracket.
Things happened in the way Cillin imagined them to be. Again, the examinees were given very little rest time before they were sent to another location on the planet to perform their third test. This time, Cillin discovered that the number of examinees had decreased a little. It wasn’t much, but about fifty or so people were definitely missing from the scene.
The third test was also called “The Three Tests”. The examinees were required to choose three subjects from a list and be tested on them. Cillin chose shooting, melee combat and parts assembly.
The reason Cillin chose these three subjects wasn’t because he was most confident with these subjects. It was because these three subjects were his known skills. At the very least, he was sure Guan Feng knew about them.
Needless to say, he breezed through the parts assembly test. The people present at the parts assembly test room had researched Cillin’s product and wrote very, very long comments on their appraisal form. As for what they actually wrote inside the form, Cillin had no idea.
In the melee combat test, Cillin ran into a big guy like Ironhead. This man was good at strength, and he was able to punch a hole in the reinforced floor and moved onto his next punch without being affected whatsoever. At the beginning, Cillin fought defensively, took his time to figure out his opponent’s strength and allowed him to fully demonstrate his abilities. After that, he ended the combat in a single attack.
The final subject he chose was shooting. Since there were a lot of people who chose shooting too, Cillin had to queue up and wait for his turn.
Unlike the previous tests, the shooting test was semi-public. The examinees who chose shooting were allowed to see what was going on inside the shooting range.
There were a lot of excellent shooters among the examinees, and everyone of them worked hard to show their expertise. Strangely though, the teachers in charge barely reacted to what was going on even though a lot of the examinees were cheering.