The Children Of Thalia

Opening Exam

I woke up earlier than usual. Half an hour five. It's near autumn, so the morning air feels colder than the previous weeks. But I don't feel sleepy one bit. Maybe because I went to bed early yesterday.

I grabbed the exam card lying on the bed. Yeah, I kept checking the card information yesterday. After Ansel called me to pick up the card, I immediately went to Helder. He rattled about a lot of things, but not too long either. After returning to the hotel again, I immediately checked all the information about the card. The complete data of the exam and myself as a digital written exam participant in the nanochip installed in it. CTI suit technology, of course. CreaTech Industries has been a major technology advocate for Helder for a long time.

Today is test day. I know, but I I woke up at eight. Damn it, though strangely I was not inundated by panic. Ten o'clock is the opening time of the practice exam, containing announcements about how the exam will run, rules that must be met, graduation requirements, and so on. All of that is on the participant's card, and it is easy to guess what the exam will be like.

I rise with great disdain. No anger, no hatred. Just a little disappointed when I realized what Ansel and Sean meant to me be careful. I washed my body quickly, then put on SMP-sports clothes - one of the test requirements. I straighten my hair. Luckily it was cut, so I didn't have to tie it up like I usually do in gym class. I grabbed a bag of change of clothes and some extra stuff, then looked in the mirror.

My eyes are a little different than usual. Has the way I look at things changed? My body is straighter, probably because of a little bit of yesterday-yesterday training. Although, well, I'm still a little unsure about my height. A 15-year-old child usually begins to grow. Maybe I'm a little late, or will I be like this next? Well, it's impossible, right? I remember mom being very tall, or was dad short? I forgot what Dad looked like. Mom said dad died when Lizzy was three months old, which means I was about three or four.

Now that I think, I've never seen a picture of you. But yeah, I'll think about that later. My focus now is on the practice test.

"You're slow." Ansel complained as I approached him outside the hotel.

"Don't Sean say my preparations should be ripe?"

"Whatever. Here, put it on. Opening starts in half an hour."

I took the helmet Ansel gave me. It feels a little big, or indeed my head is smaller. Well, at least for a five-minute trip, no problem. After I sat in the passenger seat, Ansel pulled the gas lever.

I asked him to pick her up, not him to offer. He didn't want to at first, but I had things to talk about quickly. Maybe later when I get there.

Good thing, Ansel is fast driving. The school gates are crowded by practice examinees with their varied sports uniforms. The buses stopped at the front stop, dropping off children from various schools. I don't want to imagine how chaos would be after passing through the gate. The examinee now I heard there are four thousand, with the number that can pass only about two hundred. Very tight, but challenging.

"So doubt now?" Ansel asked as he took off his helmet.

"Little." I also took off the helmet, gave it back to Ansel. After I looked again, his eye bags looked black. "You're not sleeping?"

"Many problems need to be solved."

"Midgard's Quest?"

Ansel did not answer. I know it's true, but he's trying to dodge it.

"There's a problem too, you know?"

"Yeah, right." Ansel first attached the helmet I was wearing to the back seat, then put the helmet back on.

"To be sure, you already know your challenge, don't you?"

No need to be reminded anymore.

"My problem is DiMichelle, your problem is the person behind it. Is that it?"

"Heh-heh." He chuckled, patted the eel and rubbed his face firmly. "Yes, that's right. But you mustn't forget that your main task is to pass the test. Don't worry, our attention is already locked on for some parties. You just focus on the exam."

I know he did. He is also intelligent, though reckless. I just want him to know that I also understand who we're dealing with.

"I understand. Do what I need to do, do what you need to do, right?"

"Fright."

"All right, see you later."

I raised my arm, Ansel who understood immediately gave a fist bump with a satisfied grin.

"See you later."

He put on his helmet and left. I guess he'll sleep again, either in the dorm or in his office. I wanted to sympathize, see her thick eye bags, but I knew she looked like it was her own fault.

After the crossing lights glowed green, I crossed the street. It was so crowded that I felt like I was in the market on Sunday morning. It even looks like cars are still arriving to cause a small traffic jam in front of the school. Lustful, my chest is really pounding with an overwhelming sense of nervousness.

The opening of the practice examination was carried out in the academy hall, which was not too far from the front gate. The hall was commonly used for events that invited outsiders, so it was placed in a place that was easy to reach. The architecture of the building is similar to eggs. If from the information on the card, he said this was inspired by the Tokyo Dome in the past. Maybe I should ask Kuro Fuyuki about this, I have never been to the Eastern region before. The Helder Hall is also very large. I don't know what the total area is, but this building can hold up to seven thousand people. Enough if one day there is an event that requires all residents of Helder to gather in one place. 

After exposing the examinee's card and passing through the scanner, my eyes really felt pampered by the luxurious interior design of the hall that was more like an opera house. I looked up, unable to take my eyes off the elegant-looking arch architecture of the ceiling, with warm marble-coloured paint overlaying it. I see, the curved ceiling is made so that the sound can bounce perfectly. I guess the walls of the hall are also made of thick concrete or ceramic layers so that the sound echoes are perfect. The chairs were made circular around the stage in the middle, completely like an opera house. I had to walk through the front row of participants who already looked full before climbing the stairs to the fifth row from the bottom, then sitting in a rather middle seat.

The waiting time is about fifteen minutes. The Thalia curriculum educates children for the discipline of time since childhood, so that as long as I am in school, or as long as I live, I have never found a delay, at least here. When the clock shows ten o'clock exactly, the whole lamp is turned off. The entire voice disappeared instantly, silence enveloped all of a sudden. We know it's time to pay attention.

The lights of the room were extinguished, changing into floodlights that illuminated the steps of a man on the stage. He's not the principal, I know. She is Helder's invitation-only host. As soon as his face was highlighted, all fell silent with a red face as if ready to burst out with over-excitement.

The man stood behind the podium, fixing the mic in his ear before speaking in a loud voice.

"Greetings, all prospective students of Helder, congratulations on your success in the written exam!"

And all clapped their hands while cheering. The man bowed politely, putting his hands on his chest. The gesture was so smooth, but it was fast like a rush. It was one of his hallmarks, even when he was appearing on television. When he raised his hand, the cheers subsided.

"thank you. I am very honored to be standing here, in front of prospective students who will advance Thalia in the future, the golden generation that will bring victory to Thalia. Let me introduce myself, I am Ellis Grant, an ordinary poet, unlike all of you who are so extraordinary, each of you carries great potential for the future of Thalia, without exception. It is our duty, the old generations, to guide you to the bright future we all desire.

"Gentlemen, today is a sign, a great achievement for the next step you must take for a greater purpose. You're all "people above average". When you pass the written exam, when you are submitted to apply to Helder, even when you have the courage to enroll in Helder, you have become an above average teenager. Be proud of yourself.

"I want you to remember that the test you will take today is not just about academics, not just about gifts, but also about your determination, drive, desire, and professionalism as participants. Each of you has a goal, has a desire to be achieved, and will do your best to achieve it. That's why you have to be professional about that desire, do your best, show that you deserve to be shown, show that you deserve to walk through the gates of Helder as the best academy student for the receiver, Helder Academy.

"School is the best time to develop, to explore, to discover new things. Those times are the best times for you to challenge yourself, to push yourself beyond your own limits, as well as to achieve your greatest version. And it all starts from here, the Helder Academy Practice Examination that has been specially prepared to assess your potential to the highest point."

When the person spoke, the hall shook like an explosion, or it was. An explosion called a spirit. That man, Ellis Grant, was a prominent poet whose name was timeless. I heard he first debuted eighteen years ago, three years before I was born. He was an amazing man who even when I caught a glimpse of him, I felt an incredible charisma stir from him. He was able to make everyone completely silent listening with a full red face visibly vivid.

A beam of projectors from the back of the hall shone on the large screen in front, about a meter above Ellis Grant's head. They feature a map of a city that never existed in the real world, but is inspired by the original city that existed before the war. I know that because everything is written on our participant's card. It was the city where the practice exam would be conducted.

"Gentlemen, what you see now is an arena where you show your potential. Helder has designed the most suitable place that can give you a challenge both personally and in groups, a small town with four different climates, with four different biomes, he said, with life and environment made as similar as possible to a real city. This is Upgraded Synthesize City, or you can call it Sintes City. This city is completely artificial, you won't find it in any country. Each one of you will be randomly launched inside this city after the exam begins."

The slide changed, enlarging the atmosphere inside the big wall of the city.

"As you can see, there are people interacting inside. Of course, everything is fake. What you will see and feel later is a renewable program of artificial intelligence technology Helder. Every life there is not real, but you will be confused by an illusion that feels so real. You don't have to think about that, you just have to think about the exam."

Slides change again. The camera rises towards the sky, then turns to reveal a portrait of the city from above. It looks like an ordinary city, but it is true that the North, South, East, and West ends of the city have different climates. The North has a cold climate with white snow, the East is tropical climate, the West is dry climate, and the South is the ocean.

"I guess information about the exam is already available on your exam card, but let me explain a little here."

A red tube with a bear symbol appears on the screen. So that's what we're looking for, huh?

"We call this "ticket". What is important to you is not what is in the tube, but about the tube. This tube is the object you must look for in order to escape. The practice exam this time is about how you who will be dropped off at random in the City of Sintes can find this tube that may be hidden in a different corner, with a different climate. Maybe even after you get one of them, you still have not graduated, depending on what challenges you can get.

"Yes, challenge. The assessment will be made personally. You'll get your own challenge to reach for this tube. There will be twenty-four types of tubes all over the city. You don't have to worry, it doesn't mean that the number of tubes is only twenty-four. If a person manages to get one tube, then another tube will appear as a replacement. I must remind you again that the final limit of this exam is when the graduation quota has been met, or after the four-hour deadline is completed. No need to worry, you will get clues in the form of puzzles that will be sent directly to your participant card. Solve the puzzle, grab the tube, get your graduation tickets. If you are intelligent, which I believe to be true, you should realize that this test is about your wisdom in using your power, in using your talents. Answer me, are you ready for this?"

""""READY!!!!!""""

The thunderous response from all the enthusiastic participants broke up the hall space like thunder. However, the person did not seem satisfied.

"My answer, ARE YOU GUYS READY???????"

The next answer sounds more like it's breaking the ears.

""""""""SIAPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!""""""""

"Then let's start now!"

When the person raised his hands high, the floor of the hall suddenly glowed brightly, causing a sudden panic. The light travels over the floor forming a large symmetrical circle with geometric patterns in the center. Even without looking directly at it, I could feel a complex set of calculations along with patterns I had never seen before slowly entering my head, making my head full instantly, making my eyes feel heavy.

"No need to worry too much. The process is a little disturbing. Helder has made sure that all this is safe, it's just a little amused." Ellis Grant. He lowered his hand, then smiled as if he were proud. "Everything you need will be available on your exam card. So take a deep breath, stay calm, and keep believing in yourself. You have tried your hardest to get to this point, you have everything you need to succeed. I believe in you, we believe in you, and we're very interested to see how it will turn out. See you at the end line."

Those words were the last words we heard before our sight blurred. Only white, empty without any other color I could see. My ears stopped hearing voices, my nose stopped smelling odors. My consciousness suddenly disappeared.

...* * * * *...