Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

Alex was neither surprised or unsurprised when he found the sugarcane, as the environment around the temple was strangely tropical.

He pulled the stalks from the ground, it was a small patch but it would be enough for his purposes.

It wasn't like he was planning on sticking around here for long anyway, besides, it was all a simulation so it would all disappear when the 7 day countdown ended.

He knew extracting sugar from the cane would be a time consuming process, but he had no choice since the only other alternative, sulfur, wasn't an option in this place.

After he finished pulling all the stalks from the ground, Alex gathered all of them and brought them back to the small clearing where he had set up his makeshift workstation with his activity over the last few hours.

'This should keep me busy for the next few days…'

He found a sharp stone to strip the useless outer layer of the cane, revealing the juicy inner core.

He spent the next hour or so doing the same thing to every other piece of sugarcane he had.

Alex took off his waterproof shirt and hung it up with four rocks, weighed down with more rocks on top, to keep it in place and in a dome shaped position at the centre.

This way, he could collect the juices.

When he was finished with the stripping part, he smashed the juicy inner core between two rocks, squeezing out as much juice as possible into his waterproof shirt.

This part took even longer, and he had to repeat it with each stalk.

Not to mention the fact that he only had one shirt, so he could only collect as much as that fit in it.

'Shit, how could I forget!'

Alex placed his hand on his head and chastised himself for his stupidity.

'I need to make a container to boil this in!'

Yes, he had missed out this simple but crucial step.

'I don't have the time to be making mistakes such as this.'

There were still around 5 and a half days left before the test ended, but Alex would need a lot of this remaining time just to extract all of the ingredients he needed to create the black powder for the bomb.

Any mistake, or misstep in the process would only cost him precious time he couldn't afford to lose.

***

A few hours later, Alex returned to his makeshift workshop area with a crude looking clay bowl in hand.

His skill at pottery was utterly abysmal, and he was embarrassed at how wonky and disfigured the pot/bowl turned out.

'Thankfully nobody's watching.'

He thought so, but this wasn't the case.

Unbeknownst to Alex, somebody was watching.

Two very influential somebodies to be exact.

And these somebodies had realised what Alex was up to by now.

***

"If this kid is planning on doing what I think he is, then he may just be one of the boldest fellas I've seen in recent years…" Marshal Velen commented to Professor Will, who stood right beside him with the same amused look on his face.

'This kid is smart, but will the AI judge his actions as fairly as the other students?' Professor Will thought to himself.

The AI overseeing this assessment was actually the main AI that maintains and oversees the university's functions on a day to day basis, so it was fair to say that it wasn't stupid at all.

But it ran on logic, just like every other machine or artificial intelligence out there.

It had already compiled a general database of what a 'good' or 'bad' strategy looked like from examining all of the previous students who had ever taken this test, but few had ever chosen such an unconventional 'strategy' like Alex's.

Which led Professor Will to question how Alex would be judged.

Marshal Velen also had similar thoughts, but they were along a different path.

'I need this kid in my strategy department.'

In Marshal Velen's mind, the rest of the students were all mediocre, decent at best.

But he wasn't looking for 'decent' students, no, he wanted the best. The outliers, the unique students who didn't just follow the set path their families or teachers had laid out for them through countless experiences beforehand.

If everybody used the same strategies every time, then could that really be considered a good strategy?

It was the unique strategies that would catch your opponents off guard that were the most effective in real world situations.

Everything else were just predictable and easily avoidable scenarios, as if the hundreds of thousands of students taking the test knew about them, then there was a good chance their future opponents would too.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what this kid does next." Marshal Velen spoke his mind.

'Huh? Did I hear that correctly?'

Professor Will was confused when he heard this.

Marshal Velen was a stoic man — it was rare to hear a compliment come out of his mouth.

***

"All done!"

Alex looked at the small pile of white crystals gathered at the bottom of the bowl with an exhausted but accomplished smile on his face.

But when he looked to the side and saw the countless other stalks of sugar cane he had yet to liquify, his face quickly fell as he realised just how much work he had ahead of him.

'At least the Potassium Nitrate is finished…'

This was the only consolation he had, as he had left that to evaporate near the fires and under the sun for the last few hours, and he was heading over to see the results from it now.

Alex: "..."

Marshal Velen: "..."

Professor Will: "..."

When Alex arrived, he could only stand there with a blank look on his face.

'Why am I so stupid…'

He had made the same mistake again, but he hadn't fixed this one.

Alex had left the Potassium nitrate-water mixture to dry and evaporate in a hole in the ground he found nearby.

But now that the evaporation had finished, all of the Potassium nitrate had been reabsorbed back into the ground, since he hadn't put it into a container…

***

"On second thought, maybe the strategy department could do without this kid…"

Marshal Velen was speechless.