Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

Time quickly passed, and classes were about to start.

'The first thing on the itinerary is the talent assessment.'

Alex was quite worried about this assessment, as he didn't want to expose any of his secrets.

He didn't know how the assessment worked, but if it were exposed that he had three talents, and one of them was even outside of the conventional ranking system, ranked at Soul+, he didn't even want to think about the kind of trouble that would cause for him.

The talent assessment was held in over 150 different gyms across the city, as it didn't make any logistical sense to have all the hundreds of thousands of students all crammed into one location.

Unfortunately, a gym was allocated to Alex, and every other student, and they couldn't request a change.

So Alex and Mira were unlikely to end up in the same assessment centre.

When he arrived at his location, it was a huge building spanning tens of floors high. Today, the huge hall on the first floor was reserved for the first years.

Compared to others, Alex was a little early in his arrival so he was nearer to the front of the queue of students waiting to be assessed.

'Thank god I came early…'

But when he saw the length of the queues just 10 minutes later, he couldn't help but praise himself for his foresight.

The gym itself could fit over 300 people inside at once, but there were thousands of people waiting for their turn.

Before the students were allowed to enter the gym, they had to meet some requirements first.

Their ID would be scanned to look at their records, and their age had to be tested to see if they were really who they were claiming to be.

'These measures are probably in place to stop any cheating.'

Alex had guessed correctly, as there were multiple cases every year of a second year or higher student being paid to take the first year assessments for them in order to achieve a higher standing on the first year ranking.

If there were any irregularities with his records, or his age didn't match, then he wouldn't be allowed inside the gym and his score for this section would be a big fat zero.

Alex didn't think that the students who had already enrolled into Capital Prime would make such a stupid mistake — he'd expect such acts from applicants who were yet to enter.

However, the truth was the complete opposite.

Every 100 or so students that were scanned, there would be an irregularity, which would cause that student to be thrown out and given an automatic zero, which would be detrimental to their overall score.

This was shocking for Alex. He didn't think the competition was so high in this place that these students were willing to risk their whole futures just to get a higher spot on the rankings.

'Just getting through the door is a hidden assessment itself!' Alex mused inwardly.

An hour later, it was finally Alex's turn.

"Scan your ID over there, and extend your hand in front of you." An exhausted voice spoke to him.

The man standing in front of him looked dead tired. The deep, dark bags under his eyes indicated he probably hadn't slept in a while.

Alex retrieved his ID from his communicator and scanned it where the man pointed. The ID was scanned, and both his records and entrance exam score were shown and thoroughly examined by the computer that was overseeing the assessment.

A few seconds later, he retrieved his ID, and the results of the scan appeared in front of the sleep deprived man.

[Entrance Exam Score: First place]

[Criminal Records: Shoplifting, Anti-social behaviour]

[Danger risk assessment: Minimal - Level 1 risk of causing harm to people or buildings.]

"Everything looks fine, other than your criminal records. But nothing to warrant expulsion." He said nonchalantly.

His hand then grabbed onto Alex's outstretched hand and pricked his index finger with a needle.

However, instead of piercing his skin, the needle bent instead…

'Looks like we finally have a strong one.'

The man didn't seem to have much of a reaction to this, and only fetched another, stronger needle.

"Relax your hand, I need to draw some blood to check your age."

Alex listened intently, not wanting to mess anything up. He felt a little prick on his finger, but the feeling only lasted a second as the wound quickly closed up.

But the man had gotten the blood he needed already.

"Entrant's blood indicates an age of 17 years 10 months old, matching the date of birth stipulated on the ID." The man spoke to the AI, then finished up.

He let go of Alex's hand and gave him the signal to enter the gym.

"You can go inside. Good luck."

Alex smiled at the man and thanked him. Then he walked inside, his heart beating in nervousness and anticipation.

'First hurdle overcome.'

He knew that there shouldn't be anything wrong with his records, but from his previous experiences with security checks, he just had the vague feeling that something would go wrong for him again.

Thankfully this time that wasn't the case.

Though the man did make a note of his criminal records, which concerned Alex a little.

He had earned those from his youth, when times were tough and he could barely afford to eat, thus resulting in more drastic 'illegal' measures.

'The past doesn't matter anymore. What does matter though, is how the hell I'm going to explain my talents…'

Inside the gym, Alex was led to a section by the AI.

'Talent, rank and energy assessment. So Talents aren't the only thing they will be assessing today.'

When he arrived, he was greeted by a much more professional looking woman, who didn't show any signs of exhaustion like the first man.

"I will first be taking a measure of your soul core's rank. Please restrain your willpower and do not resist this process, otherwise the results will not be accurate."