There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 245

Chapter 245: Chapter 238. Double Assessment

More than a hundred of people gathered in Trinity compound that day, almost as many as the espers already part of Trinity itself. And that was only the ones who already passed the initial assessment; the first level.

But even only reaching that far was already considered achievement for some. After all, unlike guides, espers who joined a guild’s open recruitment session were mostly fresh graduates. High-quality espers were usually being scouted instead of going through many layers of assessment levels.

Arlo was one of those rookies. He didn’t go to one of the esper’s academies, but he had lessons from all of the espers in his clan, which was more than enough to grant him the first-floor trial success.

If it came to talent, Arlo had more than a decent potential. After all, he came from an old lineage of a loyal vassal to the House Ishtera. Unfortunately, the talented boy soon grew dissatisfied with the objective of his training.

Why would he need to better himself for another person? Why would he need to dedicate himself to someone who wasn’t even there, when he didn’t even know existed?

This disappointment turned him into a rebellious boy, and he neglected his potential just to reach a bare minimum, because, what for?

Why should he work hard if he couldn’t even do what he wanted to do; going from dungeon to dungeon, making the world safer one dungeon clear at a time? Instead, they said he should look to work for something that would make it easier for them to look for someone; like his police cousin, Cohen.

Arlo hated it. Arlo hated this man who he was supposed to call ’Master’.

But this man, who he had bent to hate for the rest of his life as the reason for his damnable cage, was also the man who later set him free. Telling the seniors to let him do whatever he wanted to do, to stop this Templar nonsense altogether. The man even looked disturbed and downright disgusted at the word ’Master’ being thrown at him.

The man was awesome!

Arlo thought, as an esper, he would look up to another esper as a beacon. Someone great and historic-bending like the Serpent Lord perhaps, who he had the privilege to meet for three times already. But he never thought he would end up considering a guide as his role model. Hearing about the man’s struggle in the red-zone and his amazing tale in the Borderland put Arlo in awe.

How could he whine about his cage and limitation after hearing such a story?

How could he keep being lackluster after the door to his iron cage was blasted open?

In the short time since he heard about Trinity’s annual recruitment, he put himself in maximum gear, digging into all the potential he initially had, working so hard to increase his tactical skill and theoretical knowledge, and secretly took the trial for the second floor without even telling anyone from the family but Lisa.

For the first time, he felt like he was working toward his own objective, not the clan. He found his own dream, his own worth.

And now, he stood one step closer to that, as he stared at the number badge in his palm, inside the large conference room where all the applicants were waiting.

There were a lot of people here, at least a hundred, possibly more. These were the people who passed the initial screening and thus qualified to show their prowess in front of Trinity’s squad leaders, including the Serpent Lord himself. And since Trinity never mentioned how many people they would take this year, everybody in here might as well rivals. Knowing Radia Mallarc and Bassena Vaski’s temperament, they wouldn’t hesitate to fail everyone if they deemed those people worthless.

But Arlo felt confident. Not because he personally knew the executives, but because now, he knew he was on the right track.

Rather than the Serpent Lord, however, he wondered if he could see the guide instead, the man who set him free.

Right as the clock above the podium struck nine, a staff came out to tell them the system of their practical assessment. A group of twenty would be called each time for the assessment. The test itself was not disclosed, and once they were done, the participants were not allowed to go back to the conference room.

Looking at his number, Arlo realized that he belonged to the first batch. Instead of being nervous, the young man got excited instead. He felt like he would get nervous if he had to go later, waiting while wondering what kind of test they faced. It was better to just get it done.

Soon, the first batch was called, and Arlo had to tell himself hard to walk calmly instead of jogging toward the podium, where a staff was waiting to guide them to the testing site. They were led through the hallway to a big elevator that usually used for cargo loads. With the staff’s special badge, the lift went down to the basement floor.

Although...it definitely didn’t feel like a basement. With a high ceiling and bright lighting, they felt like they were walking inside an arena stadium instead. Kind of like the place where a gladiator-style tournament for Esper usually took place for entertainment.

Wait...