Alex stared at Mira, utterly speechless.
The fact that her test had such an anticlimactic end left him baffled. His test had been a nerve wracking ordeal, and here Mira was, recounting how The Whisperer practically poisoned itself to death.
He internally cursed, thinking, 'Why couldn't my test have been so easy?'
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
Mira's success wasn't due to luck, but her own skill. She was clearly more analytically and strategically gifted than Alex. She had observed The Whisperer, understood its weaknesses, and devised a plan based on these insights.
The fact that it died in a way outside of her calculations didn't matter, as it would have been killed by the fires anyway.
In contrast, Alex had gone in blindly, relying on what he heard and saw, which led to a more convoluted and dangerous solution.
"You're telling it just… died?" Alex asked, still trying to wrap his head around it.
Mira nodded, her smile widening. "Yep, one of the plants I scattered was toxic. The Whisperer ate it and died. Simple as that."
Alex shook his head, laughing despite himself. "I can't believe it. I went through so much trouble making a bomb, and you outsmarted it with plants."
"Well, we each have our own strengths," Mira said gently. "You did what you thought was best given your information. And it worked, didn't it?"
"Yeah, but still," Alex replied, scratching the back of his head. "You made it look easy."
"Strategic thinking is all about knowing your enemy," Mira said. "I had a bit of an advantage because I encountered sothing similar before. But you did great, Alex. You showed creativity, which I heard is valued highly in this assessnt."
Alex appreciated her words. "Thanks, Mira. I guess there's a lot I could learn from you."
"Not ," Mira disagreed. "But them."
She pointed towards the towering skyscrapers at the centre of the city.
"The professors of this place are much better at this than , obviously." She affird.
"Right." Alex replied, reminded of the very reason they ca to this place.
"By the way, I know you succeeded, but what did you get on the test, Alex?" Mira asked, curious.
She hadn't shown it earlier, but she was very interested in Alex's test when he ntioned using a 'bomb' to pass it.
"I passed, full marks."
"..."
This ti, it was Mira's turn to be speechless…
***
Seated around a large, circular table, several imposing n and won sat with tense looks on their faces.
All of them were seriously staring at the singular holographic screen that floated in the air in front of each of the occupied seats.
There was only one docunt on these holographic screens that each of these people were scanning seriously.
"The AI finished computing and analysing the results of all of the assessnts. The first year ranking has been generated according to the results given. It's done."
An old man with a black overcoat and a black camouflage military uniform reported.
He stared intently at the holographic screen in front of him, his face expressionless.
"Are you sure this is correct, sir? This final ranking… don't you think we should choose so more… suitable candidates for the first spot?" A young looking, but serious man wearing a similar uniform questioned. His brows furrowed as he looked at the nas in the top three.
He looked like he had a lot more to say, but restrained himself while in front of so many important and busy people.
"An AI paired with one of the most powerful supercomputers in the federation analysed and sorted these rankings, and you are suggesting it made a mistake, Jonathon?" Professor Will retorted with a deep frown on his face.
This was the first ti he had spoken during this eting.
He usually just sat on the side lines each year and listened to what the true powerhouses had to say.
But this ti, it seed trouble was starting to brew.
Jonathan scoffed at Professor Will's rebuttal, but he diverted his eyes back to the old man at the head of the table.
"I'm not saying the AI made any mistakes… I'm just suggesting we look at this from a… human standpoint." Jonathan spoke, trying to argue his point.
He was already not fond of using AI to judge the potential of students, as he believed using more experienced, human judges would provide better results. Therefore, it made sense for him to be speaking out during this eting.
But that was only a cover.
"It looks like you're not satisfied with your son's ranking, or am I wrong, Jonathan Stein? A young woman with silver hair and vibrant silver eyes asked mockingly.
She was sitting in the chair next to Professor Will's and smiled provocatively in Jonathan's direction.
Jonathan scoffed at her remark and muttered a few curses under his breath.
"My son deserved to be first, so keep your mouth shut, Fayre? I'll speak to my father about this! He'll make things right, you'll see." Jonathan Stein cursed quietly, but loud enough for Professor Will, and Fayre, the silver haired woman, to hear.
Everyone else seated around the round table sighed deeply when Jonathan ntioned his father. The Stein family was famous throughout the federation as so of the strongest humans, but among the higher echelons, they were known more for their anger issues…
"Your father won't do anything to interfere, Jonathan." But the whole room was quietened down when the old man at the head of the table spoke up for the first ti since the bickering had started.
He had been sitting there, silently listening the whole ti, but things had gotten a little out of hand.
When Jonathan heard the old man's tone, sounding so certain when dismissing his father's interference, he couldn't help but quieten down.
His father was strong, one of the strongest people in the Federation.
But when up against the Principal of Capital Pri, he still had a long way to go.
His father was known as being 'one of the strongest', but the Principal was the publicly undisputed second most powerful person in the Federation.
He was the only confird King class S tier awakened.
This begged the question, what about the person in first place?
Well, not much was known about him as he rarely showed up in the federation, but there were rumours that the Principal had fought him in the past, and had lost horribly…
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