1453 The Qualification Stage!
Two Months Later...
Felix could be seen sitting on the floor of his room, leaning his back against his bed while having a holographic letter in front of him.
"You got accepted, master!" Karra cheered happily as she eyed the acceptance letter to participate in the upcoming captain's post-examination.
"Only ten golden candidates were accepted with you." Sekiro said with a stern tone, "I heard that more than a hundred golden spirits had filled their resumes. The competition sure is cutthroat right from the start."
"Without the elder's recommendation, it's doubtful if I would have been accepted too." Felix nodded.
A direct recommendation from an ethereal elder was enough to move mountains and if Felix wasn't picked, it was the same as challenging the elder's judgment.
"The examination will begin in two days." Sekiro asked, "Have you prepared enough?"
"We will see in two days."
...
It didn't take long before the day of the examination had arrived...Since such examinations were held in secrecy, only the accepted ones were given the exact location and time.
Felix had arrived at the location half an hour earlier, just to find that all of the accepted golden spirits were already waiting there.
The location was one of the many halls inside the law enforcement building.
When he entered it, all eyes switched to him, each showing a different reaction to his arrival.
Felix recognized only two candidates in the group, they were Nebula and Ravager. The rest were total strangers who he had never heard about.
"Traveler."
Nebula called Felix's name while gritting her teeth, giving him the most menacing death glare she could muster.
"What's up," Felix replied casually like there was no bad blood between them.
"I won't forget the humiliation you put me through in our last fight," Nebula remarked, her tone as icy as ever, making everyone understand that she meant it from the heart.
"Cool."
Felix gave her a slight head nod and walked to Ravager. When he reached him, he asked calmly, "You are also interested in becoming a captain?"
"Yes." Ravager replied, his expression much colder than usual.
Felix could see that he had a new murderous glint in his eyes, which made him wonder what happened to him after he won the tournament.
Still, he kept his curiosity to himself and wished him good luck before picking an empty spot to sit in.
"Bastard!"
Meanwhile, Nebula was seething in rage at the way he was treating her like she was air. She had never been treated in this manner before as everyone revered and respected her due to her strength.
'He thinks he can disregard me like this just because he won once?' Nebula's white furr stood up in agitation.
Nebula had watched the recording of her defeat in the tournament and saw how Felix destroyed the Colosseum.
While this freaked her out a bit, it was still not enough to shake her indomitable spirit and trust in her strength.
In fact, it motivated her to work harder than ever to master more space/time-related abilities.
This bolstered her confidence back to peak again, knowing that she would most definitely defeat Felix next time now that she saw his tramp card.
Unbeknownst to her, the only reason Felix was ignoring her was for her master's sake, not wanting to bully his ex-
servant.
Fortunately, Nebula didn't make any more trouble and everyone waited quietly for the arrival of the examiner.
They knew that they were watched by the higher-ups in the law enforcement department and everything they do or say might be the decider of their recruitment.
After half an hour went by in total silence and glances flying back and forth, the examiner entered the hall right on time.
He was tall with an athletic build and had opalescent skin that reflected various colors depending on the angle of the light.
His eyes were a deep shade of violet, and he sported a long, flowing mane of silvery hair that almost looked like liquid mercury.
He was wearing the same law enforcers' outfit but he had an additional strip above a captain, making everyone understand that his rank would be higher than them even if they became captains.
"Good morning, candidates. I am High Inspector Nolvar and from today onward, you may refer to me as Sir or Inspector."
Inspector Nolvar introduced, his voice a bit scuffed and irritating to the ear, which was a huge mismatch to his stunning appearance.
Everyone greeted back with a respectful look, even Nebula had to lower some for her arrogance to avoid getting disqualified from the start.
The governmental officials take their hierarchy extremely seriously and anyone who went against it would have a high chance of getting kicked out.
"Since you are seeking the captain's post, it will be unfair to put you against the veteran law enforcers without any basic training." Inspector Nolvar shared, "So, it was decided that all of you will become temporary trainee law enforcers without governmental benefits. You will be split into a duo partnership and sent to learn under random squads in the city. After the captains deem you to have learned enough, you will be given your first cases."
"Each case rewards a different set of points depending on its difficulty, complexity, performance...etc."
"The qualification stage will last for a year and the team with the most points at the end of the year will be joining the real promotional examination for the captain's post." Inspector Nolvar eyed them for a moment before he asked, "Everything understood?"
No one lifted their hand or dared to open their mouths, not wanting to appear less intelligent than their peers.
"Good, the teams will be decided randomly. In three seconds, you will get notified of your partner."
As he said, after three seconds passed, everyone's devices rang twice.
Felix glanced at the screen for a moment before lifting back up again and locking eyes with none other than...
"Let's work hard together," Ravager said calmly as he approached Felix with an extended hand.
"Mmm." Felix shook his hand with a head nod in approval.
Meanwhile, Nebula was teamed up with the other sole girl in the group...Seraphel.
Unlike Nebula, she seemed strict, calculative, and as serious as a math teacher. She was wearing a thin black suit with a short skirt and a pair of black glasses. She had her hair made into a ponytail, matching well with her hoof-like black feet.
"You must be really angry at him," Seraphel uttered calmly, her eyes affixed on Nebula who was staring daggers at both Felix and Ravager.
"Don't get chummy with me." Nebula eyed her coldly, "I will come on top whether with your help or not. So, just get out of my way."
"I can't do that." Seraphel pushed her glasses up her nose as she clarified, "We are going to be partners. It will be one of the many criteria to judge our performance. If we don't work together, it won't matter if we solve a hundred cases, our performance will lower our points score."
"Tsk, such an irritation." Nebula clicked her tongue in annoyance, but she didn't reject working together again.
"Honestly, it's pretty easy to emerge victorious against those two." Seraphel mentioned composedly, "They might be powerful, but solving cases depends much more on IQ and EQ, in this department, everyone is falling behind."
Seraphel seemed just as arrogant and cocky as Nebula, the only difference was its relation to her intelligence.
Suddenly, Inspector Nolvar asked out loud, "Everyone content with their partners?"
Seeing that no one was lifting their hands, Inspector Nolvan smiled faintly and moved on.
His smile sent shivers down the spine of many candidates...They understood that nothing would have come up good from protesting against their partners.
"Tomorrow, you will report to your new squads and I don't have to tell you that you should listen to every command from your captain, right?"
"No Sir!"
"Good, you will find your trainee law enforcer's outfit in the pouches in front of you. I want to see you wearing them every single day until you either get accepted or kicked out from the government." Inspector Nolvar gave them a strict look, "Understood?"
"Yes Sir!"
"You are excused."
Inspector Nolvar took off, leaving everyone using their telekinesis to bring their pouches to their hands.
Felix glanced inside and his smile grew slightly wider at the pouch being a dimensional inventory as well.
'I have two now, you can never complain about too much space.'
"First moment seeing a dimensional pouch?" Nebula snickered mockingly after seeing Felix's reaction.
Felix's smile went away, which made Nebula slightly delighted at the fact she unnerved him at last.
"Don't you have anything better to do than keep spectating me?" Felix asked with a curious tone.
He didn't seem mad or bothered, he looked genuinely intrigued, which made it even harder for Nebula to stomach his question.
"Let's go, Traveler, we have little moment to prepare for tomorrow." Ravager interjected, "Don't waste it on some sore loser."
Felix then took off with Ravager towards the gate, not bothering to give a moment of their moment to Nebula.
"I was really just curious." Felix's voice resounded from a distance in Nebula's ears, each word was a stab at her prideful heart.
When someone kept winning his entire life and never got humbled once, it was normal for him to grow arrogant and proud.
Alas, the moment this kind of person loses, it hits them even harder, making it impossible for them to live through the defeat and move past it.
In the case of Nebula? There was no way she would let this slide without attempting to regain her pride with whatever means necessary!
'What a child, her strength and talent has gotten the best of her.' Seraphel analyzed calmly as she watched her seething partner. 'It's better for me, I can use her strength to qualify for the next stage and then easily obtain rid of her.'
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel