After Ning was done, Heera, Rachel, Band, and 16 others passed after 3 more rounds to become a member of the Tower's Battle Force.
They were now the primary strength of the tower that would be called anywhere to fight off evil and opposition.
"Congratulations on joining the force. Go get yourself assigned to a team. Starting today, you will start serving the people."
Tristan left without explaining anything. Once he left, a group of men and women entered with medical equipment and started working on anyone that might have been injured.
Aside from a few twisted ankles and bruised muscles, everyone was surprisingly fine. Everyone had kept themselves from using attacks that would harm others in the long term.
Even Ning's reverse gravity and Heera's electrocution lasted a fraction of a second to not hurt them.
Once they were all healed, they were taken to a different room that looked like an auditorium.
A man by the name of Himer stood on the podium and started giving a speech.
"You are unlucky," he started, making everyone confused.
"You are unlucky in the sense that you will now have to do what no one before you had to do and no one after you will have to do."
"The world changed 2 years ago before the last group joined, but no one had yet to move with the changes. So, they were able to integrate into the force before the chaos erupted."
"However, now you will have to fight off the evils that spawn from this chaos, and bring order to the world before you even get a chance to see what your rooms look like."
"Such pity. How unlucky you are."
The man's eyes suddenly changed as pity switched to seriousness.
"Will you let the evil grow just because you aren't used to fighting it yet?" The man asked.
"No, sir!" everyone answered.
"Will you let your luck stop you from triumphing against evil?" he asked.
"No, sir!" everyone answered even louder.
"Are you going to act like a coward and bring shame to the force?" The man shouted.
"NO, SIR!" their screams were reaching a crescendo.
"Good, now go out there and don't return until you have made this world a little safer for the others to live in!"
"YES SIR!" they shouted.
The man nodded firmly, proud of the new recruits, and left the stage. A woman walked in his stead, holding a sheet of paper, and started speaking.
"Rachel Sterra, report to captain Osted in 3rd brigade."
"Vesa Markus, report to captain Himer in 8th brigade."
"Banrod…"
"…"
The woman spoke everyone's name and where they were assigned to. She spoke the names of the 19 different new recruits and stopped for a few seconds before putting her notes down.
"Who is Terran Forn?" she asked.
Ning rose his hands. The girl checked Ning for a bit and looked down on her notes.
"You are requested to not join any of the teams for now. The tower has yet to decide one for you," she said.
"Huh? Why not?" Ning asked.
"I don't know. You might be important to the tower for all I care. I am just letting you know what was sent to me on this piece of paper. If you want to learn any more, go ask someone higher than me," she said.
Ning wanted to say something, but there was nothing he could say.
'Damn these people. Are they trying to keep me locked up because I'm the only source for their Aether,' he thought.
"Oh, he's here, is he?" a voice came from outside the door of the auditorium as rather resounding footsteps came closer to the group.
The girl on the stage frowned, wondering who was making such noise. However, when she saw the person walk in, she immediately put away the annoyed look and instead put on a smiling face that was ready to bow at any moment.
The new recruits wondered who it was and turned around to see the new person.
They were all immediately shocked to see who the person was. They didn't recognize her at all, but that hulking body on a female figure was hard not to get shocked by.
"Yo! Terran, you made it," Merasi said as she put her hands up in greetings.
Ning was a little surprised to see her here too. "Lady Merasi, it's good to see you," he greeted her back.
Heera's eyes narrowed as she immediately recognized who she was. After all, her dream was to be someone just like her.
As for the others, a few of them got gears in their heads turning after hearing the name.
"Lady Merasi, what are you doing here?" the girl at the stage came down to speak with her.
"Oh, nothing. I just had someone come tell me that he had arrived at the tower," Merasi said.
"Anyway, you in the Force now? Who are you under?" she asked.
"Yes, I just passed the test, but unfortunately, I don't seem to have a captain yet, unlike the others," Ning said.
"No captain? Why not?" she asked with a weird look on her face.
Ning simply shrugged his shoulders and turned to the lady at the side to speak.
Merasi turned to look at her too, and the woman felt all the pressure in the world drop on top of her.
"It's actually…" she got close to Merasi to say something. She tried to whisper, but she couldn't reach Merasi's ear at all, so Merasi had to lean towards her a little so she could speak.
After listening to her say something, Merasi nodded. "I can see why he would be afraid of sending him. Even though it is guaranteed to be safe, just on the off chance it isn't, the tower will suffer a bit of a loss," Merasi said, and the girl nodded.
"Yes, that just means that we have to improve his security by all that much," Merasi said with a mischievous smile on her face as if she was up to something.
"You mean…?"
"He will be under me from now on."
