11 First Acquaintance

Here the running line of neon text which had made Crey stop was saying,

'...urrently the latest VR game for Fighters - 'Old Earth' with the full-body tech pods on floo….'

"VR Fighter game? Isn't that an upcoming gaming title? Huh, They have it here already? I thought it was going to be released after fall."

"It is not 'that' Game? It's an affluent exclusive title - 'Old Earth' made just for professional players, Fighters, and military students (preferably Evolved) like us. Also, Rich could also afford these but it may not have any meaning to non-fighters. This game is not for civilians at all."

A sudden voice explained to the confused Crey. He turned back to see a young man with dense blonde hair styled into a quiff. It was him supposedly who had spoken. He smiled good-naturedly as he took a sip from a bottle he was holding. Inadvertently, Crey's gaze went to his bottle and was mildly surprised to see it was just a bottle of plain mineral water.

"Hydro homies for the win!"

He smirked but Crey ignored it as he got back to reading neon text to see where the game tech was located. Clearly like every young boy he was too interested in fighting games, especially combatant games like these. But sadly he has no experience in this type of full-immersion VR.

"Can I play?"

Ank smiled as he recovered from his earlier embarrassment of the previous comment which this young man had ignored completely. He beamed as he answered,

"Of course! I was going there too. Let's go together. You look like you have no experience in this, maybe I can introduce you to it."

He extended his hand to shake a hand, to which Crey responded by extending his hand and shaking it. Both of them had a nice grip on the handshake, but with a measuring look in Ank's eyes while Crey was holding just some curiosity over this new acquaintance.

Crey nodded as he introduced himself first,

"Crey Morgan. I am here for the Terra Academy entrance. You are here….?"

"Hehe. I am Ank, from Eurasia. And dude, we all are here for the Terra Academy exam. In fact, this hotel is only booked for the Examinees. All guests for today and tomorrow are candidates like us. So we may be classmates if we manage to pass tomorrow."

Crey had a look of realization on his face as he tried to recollect whether Butler had told him this or he had missed that part of the speech. Both of them began to walk with this time Ank leading the way, as he casually hooked the bottle on the waistband of his black trousers

"So have you already passed the written test? Or are you one of those recommended ones? "

Ank chuckled to kickstart the conversation.

"Well, I am….." At this moment Crey seemed to hear the warning of Butler in his mind, therefore he midway decided to not tell the complete truth,

"....I don't know dude they just asked me to prepare for the field exam as I confessed to them that I haven't prepared for written exams.

What about you?"

If that old butler was here he would have literally slapped Crey for barking like this despite his warning. It is almost as if he was telling him that he is the recommended one because only they can skip the written test.

Ank had weird look on his face but he didn't miss the beat to reply back,

"Haha...that's the first time I heard. And No Man, I am not lucky like you. I just finished my exam one hour ago. Thus I came here to relax by fighting a match or two in the game."

"Oh great? So when is the result? "

This time Ank stopped in his tracks as he turned back and looked at Crey with slightly narrowed his eyes like he was trying to discern what the real deal was behind this odd man? But after Crey returned the gaze without any hint of humor or tease. He chuckled and raised his eyebrows in shock and shook his head.

"Bro….are you real? I don't know if you are trolling as honestly, I am not getting this joke."

"....."

"Exams are digital, with results right after we submit the answers. There is no wait like other exams."

Hearing the deadpan answer, Crey had a great urge to slap his forehead in disappointment. Now he had gone and demonstrated to him that he was a total out-of-place bloke here. Well, it couldn't be helped since he had no intention to be here, so he really had no idea how all of this works.

So if it's like this let's go all the way.

"Oh! That's neat. Then what about tomorrow's exam? Do you know what the field exam is about?"

Crey resumed walking as he tried to play it off. Left behind dumbstruck, Ank chuckled. He hurried to catch upto Crey who had already entered the lift. He pressed the fourth-floor button as they waited for the lift to ascend.

"Haha...good. You really don't know anything about the exam. Well, actually the field exam is practical as the name suggests and every time it is different. Actually, a written exam is just to filter out weirdos and some non-serious people.

Since every Academy has different criteria, this is Terra's famous field exam where the practical capabilities of students are tested. There is always fighting or scope of fight included but it is not significant. But unlike other famous academies, Terra doesn't test the genetic abilities of Students. That is if you don't want to reveal your abilities you can keep them secret from others by taking the Terra exam. "

The lift door opened as Crey and Ank found themselves in the high-tech lobby with various advanced machinery and robots lying in the open. Most of them were for testing one's reaction skills or for relaxation including but not limited to machines meant for fingers, joints, limbs, etc exercise.

Clearly, expensive places are in their own league.