Steel Waste

Afton walked outside the classroom as other students sent envious glances at him, once outside he was greeted by his parents and Adah who didn't seem surprised that he'd finished so quickly.

His mother hugs him to her chest before he's able to back away, "How did it go Afton? Do you think you did well?" she quickly asks.​​

Afton gently pushes her away as to not hurt her feelings and looks at them, "Judging by how the examiner almost passed out when he saw my paper, I think I did alright." he says with a small grin.

Zachary snorts, restraining his laughter as they were outside the test room, "That's my boy, maybe I can request for you to be made my apprentice once you're promoted." he wonders aloud.

Afton shakes his head, "Sorry dad, but even if that were allowed I'd not accept it... I know you're strong and could teach me a lot, but I want to prove myself. If the others found out you'd apprenticed me they'd think its only because I'm your son." he explains, getting a proud nod from his father.

Adah "Have you been training for the physical test? I've neglected that subject as I myself only barely passed it." she asks, worried that he'd fail due to her focus on his studies.

"I'll be fine, you'll see that I haven't forgotten to train my body." he says, calming the anxious woman he'd come to consider a sort of grandma. The trio leave and head up to the surface to wait for the next test to begin as Afton stays put.

Ten minutes later someone else had apparently completed their test early, Afton nods at a dark brown haired girl with a boyish face. "Finished?"

They nod, "I am... I didn't expect to see anyone else finish before me though, I'd pushed back becoming an Initiate to focus on other studies, so I thought I'd definitely be the best here." she says while giving him an appraising look.

"I'm Afton Parker by the way, ten years old."

The girl nods, "Sandra Torres, twelve, nice to meet you Afton. What did you think about the third question on page four?"

They talk about the test and what answers they gave as they wait for everyone else to arrive, Afton found the girl to be pretty good conversation, she was similar to him in a way. Rational, reserved, introverted, but still did her best in whatever she put her mind to. He was looking forward to see what she'd do in the future.

A few other students came out early, but most existed just as the test ended, probably rechecking their answers as many times as physically possible. Doran walked out next and nodded to everyone, "I bet your all mentally exhausted for that, right?" he asks and receives nods from the students, "Well, get ready because you'll be doing your physical test right about... Now. All of you follow me, if you fall behind then you automatically fail." he states as he begins jogging through the hall.

Some students are confused by the sudden activity and lag behind, having to sprint to catch up to the rest of the group. Doran increases his speed so that those following him are halfway between jogging and sprinting, eventually reaching a ladder that leads to the surface.

He jumps on it and quickly climbs up, throwing open the hatch and crawling out. Afton follows with dexterity none of his peers had seen him show before, standing to attention before Doran with not a drop of sweat on him. "Sir."

Doran just sighs and seems to accept his absurd talent and continues to wait for everyone to climb out. Some of the kids seem to think this was a competition and barged people out of the way to get to the ladder first, some even pulling people from the ladder as they climbed.

Once everyone was on the surface a Knight wearing Power armour climbed out aswell, walking over to Doran and pointing out a few students.

Doran shakes his head and points at them, "Those of you who barged, grabbed, disrupted, or attempted to stop others from climbing are hereby disqualified, maybe next year you'll learn some respect for your fellows." he says, causing the selected ones to grumble and leave, though, some of the more unruly ones were dragged away by some Knights.

Afton dabs his forehead with his forearm, the exercise hadn't caused him to start sweating, the sun had... As he spent so much time underground his skin had become pale and not suited for it, he could feel his skin slowly burning under its intense rays.

He glances around at the area and spots the many heavily armoured patrols wielding an ungodly amount of firepower... Only someone with a deathwish and a mini-nuke launcher would dare approach them unsolicited. Nothing had really changed from last he saw it, ruined buildings and vehicles sat around like monuments to humanities sins, though, he could see red cloth tied around some of the nearby lamposts that hadn't been knocked over.

Not only that, he could see his parents and some of the higher up members of the Brotherhood watching from the sidelines... Even Veronica and the Elder were watching, though, the latter seemed wholly unconcerned with them. If Afton had to take a guess, he'd say Veronica managed to get permission to watch.

He glanced back at the group and spotted his friends, Miles had already been sweating from the brief run through the tunnels, but Melissa seemed completely fine... She was an airhead but didn't lack physical abilities.

Doran smirks at them and pulls out a bottle of clean water, the condensation covering it gave the impression that it was ice cold, causing the thirsty students to audibly gulp their saliva. He cracks it open and takes a large swig, exhaling with satisfaction. "What? You didn't think this was for you right? Only those who pass the test may get one, so, consider it a reward to... Hmm, the top five ranked people, everyone else will have to wait until the third phase test is over before you can refresh yourself." he explains, even though Afton was well hydrated, he couldn't help but feel parched by the end of his speech.