- Oliver -
| Second exam started
As soon as the announcent reverberated throughout the base, a wave of movent swept through the line of recruits. Oliver watched as the first participant passed through the enormous gate, disappearing into the depths of the challenge. The others leaned over their wrists, where holograms of the matches began to transmit, floating above their devices.
‘It doesn't seem like a good strategy to be the first to enter,’ Oliver pondered.
He craned his neck to assess the length of the line; there were at least twenty people ahead of him. ‘At least I'll have ti to watch several matches,’ the boy reflected, trying to reassure himself.
Beside him, Isabela and Katherine were already absorbed in the transmissions of the recruits entering the arena. Oliver quickly followed suit.
The mont the image materialized, he was presented with an aerial view of the scenario. The recruit who had just entered had selected the standard entry, which began outside the walls.
‘How did they manage to create sothing this big?’ Oliver wondered, impressed by the monuntal scale of the arena.
It was practically an entire farm inside an arena. The recruit moved along the imposing wall, searching for a passage. However, between the energized barbed wires and the reinforced tal walls, there didn't seem to be much room to advance.
The counter at the top of the arena continued its relentless march.
| 00:15
Finally, after a few seconds of running along the wall, the recruit found a section where the wall was lower and devoid of barbed wire. Without hesitation, he agilely climbed over it, launching himself to the other side and diving into the vegetation—a field covered by tall grasses that offered so cover.
"That was close," Oliver thought, seeing a robot with a yellow marking patrolling the path the recruit had taken just seconds before.
Although they were training robots, these were significantly different from those faced in the previous exam or even the ones presented in the General's videos. Their appearance was almost human-like, with fluid and precise movents. Only the tallic elbows and knees betrayed their chanical nature.
The robot approached the wall, its sensors scanning the area beyond. For a mont, it seed to hesitate as if it detected sothing out of the ordinary. Then, without issuing any alert, it turned and resud its pre-programd path.
As soon as the robot resud its route, the recruit slowly erged from the tall grass where he was hiding. With a swift movent, he ran toward the main street, keeping close to the shadows cast by the few houses.
"I wonder what his boon is?" Oliver asked himself.
When the recruit was about to reach the street, the caras showed two robots approaching from the opposite side. Without wasting ti, he jumped toward the wall of one of the houses, pressing himself against the surface to avoid detection.
With the robots still walking and scanning the path ahead, the recruit seed confident. Pressed against the wall, he silently slid toward one of the windows.
| 01:31
Ti was running relentlessly. The boy jumped into the first house, seeming to want to distance himself from the main street and minimize his chances of being found.
As soon as he entered, the caras switched to show the house's interior. Oliver watched with growing tension, eager to understand the recruit's plan. Two sentinel robots were waiting inside the house, each sitting in a chair around the central table.
The mont the boy touched the floor, surprise was evident on his face. One of the robots turned abruptly, its eyes emitting a red glow as a sinister alarm echoed through the walls. Without warning, both robots advanced, their hands transforming into sharp claws.
The recruit reacted instinctively, activating his Ranger Armor and his Ranger Weapon. Wielding a sword, he tried to defend himself from the fierce attacks. However, the combined strength of the robots was overwhelming, violently throwing him out of the house, debris flying around.
Now exposed, despair was evident in his expression. The alarm had attracted more robots with yellow and red markings, converging on his position like predators drawn to the scent of blood.
No longer concerned with remaining silent, the recruit threw a glowing device into the house. Seconds later, a deafening explosion shook the structure, hurling flas and debris into the sky.
‘A boon capable of creating grenades, or did he acquire them before?’ Oliver pondered aloud, his eyes fixed on the chaotic scene.
But this would not be the last ti the boy used explosive tactics. Desperately running through the streets, he tried to avoid the constant attacks, throwing grenades and improvised traps against the robots that pursued him. He tried to take refuge in other houses and even in the red barn, but with each new attempt, more robots appeared, relentlessly surrounding him.
| 03:15
Ti was running out, and his situation was becoming increasingly desperate. Oliver felt a weight in his stomach. "He won't make it," he murmured, recognizing the certainty of the outco.
"It's impossible that he didn't read the instructions," Oliver incredulously comnted. "It was clear in the test description that the houses wouldn't indicate where the robots would be."
The recruit continued to run through the streets, pursued by an unrelenting horde of robots. Explosions echoed, spreading smoke and debris throughout the simulation's scenario.
Finally, after managing to distance himself from so of the robots that had been chasing him, the recruit reached the big house. But hope quickly faded upon seeing that all the black-marked robots were positioned in front of the entrance, waiting for him like predators encircling their prey.
In a last act of desperation, the boy threw his explosives toward the robots. To everyone's surprise, the machines deflected the projectiles with chanical precision, returning them to the sender. The resulting detonation illuminated the arena's artificial sky, and the robots advanced relentlessly.
The ensuing fight was surreal. The coordinated movents of the robots made it clear that control was entirely in their tallic hands. In less than a minute, the recruit was subdued, falling unconscious to the ground.
| 04:30
| Test canceled
The bright notification appeared in the center of the arena. Imdiately, the robots ceased their activities, and soldiers entered the facility to remove the recruit.
"That’s going to be challenging," whispered Oliver, his eyes still fixed on the scene. The reality of the challenge was becoming increasingly evident.
"No wonder they gave us more than one day," comnted Katherine, thoughtfully crossing her arms. "Everyone will need to test different strategies and get used to using their boons efficiently to save ti."
Oliver nodded, silently agreeing. Looking at Isabela, he realized she was imrsed in her thoughts, possibly devising her plan.
That match wouldn't be the last to end before completing the five minutes. Several other recruits entered the arena, each trying a different approach.
So opted for stealth, attempting to "assassinate" the robots silently to prevent the alarms from being triggered. However, there were monts when several sentinel robots were close to each other, making it almost impossible to eliminate all of them quickly without being detected. The tension was palpable; a single mistake could trigger a chain reaction of alarms and attacks.
Others decided on brute force, advancing and taking down all the robots that appeared in their path. This strategy allowed them slightly better performance, at least reaching the big house. However, this approach also announced their presence to the black robots, which were much stronger and operated in lethal synchrony. The ensuing battles were intense, but each ti, they failed.
Oliver recognized so familiar faces from the first exam. One of the boys, who possessed a hacking boon, tried infiltrating the robots' systems. However, these models were different from the previous ones. They weren't connected to each other, preventing him from shutting them all down at once. After hacking only three robots, his Energy was low, and much of his ti had run out.
Another recruit, who had been in the sa arena as Oliver earlier, could grow in size. He tried to increase his stature and run directly to the big house. However, he was quickly stopped by the swarm of robots, who surrounded him and neutralized his physical advantage.
Up to that mont, the person who perford best was a girl who climbed one of the houses and began acting as a sniper. With surgical precision, she eliminated several robots patrolling the main street. She managed to reach the big house, but before she could retrieve the Orb, her ti had run out. The frustration was evident on her face, but her strategy showed potential.
‘It's not just a matter of being good. You have to be good and fast,’ Oliver reflected, feeling the weight of the competition. The arena didn't test just individual abilities but also the capacity to think strategically under pressure. Every second counted, and the margin for errors was minimal.
Focused on watching the matches, Oliver didn't notice that he was quickly advancing in the line until he finally faced the enormous gate of the second exam.
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