2 Chiron's School for Youngsters

Jayce yawned as the yellow light streamed through his thin curtains. His blonde hair barely covering the top of his green eyes. Fairly well muscled for a teenager Jayce was now one of the tallest kids in his class and had many bruises on his arms from martial arts practices. Jumping up excitedly he pulled on his shorts before dashing downstairs to eat breakfast with the other students. He was already the last one to arrive and his closest friends were already deep in a discussion about tactics before he was able to pile the eggs and sausage high on his plate.

The red brick of the cafeteria kept their school feeling cozy but there were robots flying about quickly with plates of food, plates to be washed and silverware to distribute to the students. TV monitors floated near the ceiling showing the latest local events, as well as highlights from last year's team competitions. Sitting down at their favorite table he stuffed a particularly long piece of sausage into his mouth while silently joining the group's conversation.

"Look I just don't think I could be teammates with an alien, I know that they're just as strong as humans in different aspects but there's a reason that humans are the only race to win the tournament more than once."

Jayce thought to himself, "ah this old argument." Then proceded to focus solely on his eggs.

"So you're saying that you would rather have an only human team? Single race teams are statistically far inferior to multi-race teams in terms of wins and losses. You're really only damaging yourself when you choose to think this way."

"Wins and losses only matter when the grand prize isn't the goal, and for me, the only goal worth chasing is the possibility to have as much power as whatever those things are that sent us here!"

Jayce sighed audibly before glancing at the fourth member of their little troop. Jenira was far from the top achieving girl at their school but she was invaluable to the chemistry between the friends when the other two, Micu and Ralnas got into this familiar debate. Skinny with a penchant for wearing red and black clothes Jenira was unconventionally pretty. Her ears were full of piercings which only brought more attention to her auburn hair. She often drew henna tattoos in shapes that Jayce never recognized. Glancing at her brother she said, "Ral can't you just enjoy the fact that there are three other humans who can actually put up with you and stop antagonizing Micu? You know he's as determined to win the grand prize as you are."

Ralnas, his eyes burning almost as brightly as his fiery red hair cast a sidelong glance at his younger sister before raising his hands in exasperation. "Fine fine, I guess I can't push you guys too far away the day before we graduate from this evil place." Ralnas was their most outgoing personality but he also lacked the size to back up most of his antics. Though he worked longer and harder than Jayce in their martial arts classes he hadn't developed the same kind of muscle mass as Jayce had. His technique was second to none but his reckless personality often got in the way of him executing his strategies correctly.

Jayce noticed some disapproving looks at hearing Ralnas talk ill of their school. He knew that Ralnas was also a huge troll and enjoyed the anger he stirred up in people. He continued, "You guys better get some good rest though because you know the capability exam starts the day after we graduate and that will determine our future far more than the diploma we get from attending this school."

Just as he stopped talking as if on queue the bell hanging above the food station rang loudly and the students departed to their respective rooms to get dressed for the rest of the second to last day of their high school career. Jayce and Micu were roommates but Jayce slept so heavily he almost never woke up in time to join him in the mornings until just before school would start. As they climbed the stairs together Jayce asked Micu, "So who started it this time?"

"Started what?"

"Don't pretend to be dumb, I know you're used to Ral's trolling so what sore spot did he hit on this time to provoke you?

Micu was often the voice of reason amongst the four of them. The highest-ranked boy and second highest in the class Micu had the air of a brain surgeon about him. Methodical in his tactics when it came to team competitions the other three trusted him completely. They also often teased him about how hard on himself he was. He had a habit of rubbing his glasses on his shirt when he didn't understand something so before tests, Jayce would often look for places to hide his glasses while he slept.

"Oh... he uh was talking about his parents again..." Micu trailed off.

Jayce knew enough about Ral's and Jen's background to not go near that topic, it always led to arguments. He glanced to the opposite hall where Ral roomed with another kid they never really interacted with and wondered why he would bring up the topic of his parents himself.

Choosing not to worry about it Jayce dug through his unruly closet trying to find a clean shirt to go with his blue jeans. As he churned up clothes digging deeper and deeper in his closet he heard Micu open the door and the familiar sound of Ralnas's voice echoed through their room. "You know I could have been roommates with you two but Jayce's side of the room is so dirty it almost makes me want to take another shower."

Micu laughed and then sighed since he too hated how dirty his friend was. No matter what tactic he had tried to force Jayce to clean up they all ended up being way more work for him than they were worth. For the last few months, they had just agreed to try and keep the room as separate as possible and a thick roll of black duct tape stretched down the middle of their room dividing the sides.

"Guys you know it's just not in my DNA. Mom said my dad was also messy so I'm not going to worry about it," Jayce earnestly responded. He was very used to being teased about this and had become quite resistant to their taunts. He eventually found what he was looking for and pulled a grey hoodie off the floor before smelling the collar, the armpits and then the lower back to check for smells. After approvingly nodding his head he pulled on the hoodie and asked the other two, "Ready?" They nodded with Micu rolling his eyes as obviously, they had been waiting for him to finish getting dressed.

Walking down the hall they bumped back into Jenira who was leaning against one of the gleaming pillars on the stairs waiting for them. Seeing them she looked Jayce over before nodding, "At least you don't smell like a shirt that has been underneath who knows what for three months." Jayce pouted and slumped his shoulders as he thought it would be hard to tell that this shirt had come from the bowels of his closet. Everyone laughed at him as they made their way to the first class of the day.

The Chiron school was one of many schools that had popped up quickly after humanity found itself back in this weird game. No one remembered anything about what exactly the game was but it became obvious quickly that there had been humans here before. Schools, shops, gardens, police stations and all the normal amenities that humans had become accustomed to were already present here staffed by helpful robots who helped humanity re-acclimate to the new rules of their world. Chiron was a man who had previously run a small college somewhere in the midwest and he seemed perpetually happy about everything. His cheerful attitude quickly developed a following and his school was now among the top schools to get into with new students having to enter a lottery to be selected in. As some of the first few students admitted Jayce had no idea what it felt like to be selected in the lottery. He had however seen dozens of parents leave in tears after not being chosen.

The school focused on teaching the kids the skills they needed to survive in this new world as there really only existed three jobs here. Crafters, fighters, and adventurers with everything else supplied by some unseen system that provided food, shelter, raw materials, anything that could be created. The only thing this system lacked was the ability to create complex items and anything that needed to be forged, fashioned, designed or refined had to be done by a crafter. Chiron had become famous for his battle techniques and training which caused people to often ask him how a mid-western American college president knew so much about fighting to which he would smile and shrug.

Jayce and the others were at the end of their training and they assumed today would a be a celebratory day to reward them for ten years of hard work. Slipping into their usual seats they waited for Mr. Chiron. This was the nickname the students had given him due to his fatherly nature. In their year, there weren't that many students because they were the second class to ever enter the school so there were far fewer of them than any class below them. This allowed them all to get to know each other fairly well as individuals. Jayce and his friends had sat at the same seats for the last four years and everyone agreed that changing seats made the class feel weird. A total of 16 students were in their class which they affectionately referred to themselves as the "tiny class".

Jayce glanced up at the clock and noticed it had already been six minutes since the class was supposed to start. "If the professor doesn't show up by 15 minutes into class were allowed to leave early you guys know." He happily announced to the rest of the students. Everyone laughed as they had all heard him make this joke maybe once a month for as long as they could remember.

Professor Chiron was not always on time but he always showed up just in time to catch Jayce trying to sneak out of class. Another five minutes passed and Jayce made exaggerated motions as though he was packing up his book bag, while classmates began calling out, "Mr. Chiron! Mr. Chiron!" with mocking grins on their faces. Finally, the door opened and Mr. Chiron strode into the room followed by two assistants carrying some sort of chair that had weird wires running throughout it.

"Jayce please stop packing up your belongings," Chiron said without looking up from his notepad and then smiled mischievously before continuing, "Students today is a special day! We're going to test your potential for growth with this chair here. After ten longs years of having to listen to my jokes, and even more impressively to Jayce's terrible jokes you have survived! Ten years of martial arts training, gun range tests, logic puzzles, tactics, history of Earth and most importantly dodgeball you've finally completed the beginning of your journey. I am so proud of all of you. Especially after that time the simulation room caught on fire and we all worked together to put it out before the school got charged too much money." He paused here and waited for the students to laugh at his joke. "Okay, I guess that one wasn't that funny…"

He put the notepad down on the chair and looked up with a wide grin on his face, "Luckily for you all, I figured out how this chair worked with the last class so there shouldn't be any casualties this time..." He then glanced at the students who had turned stiff as statues at hearing him say this. He then laughed from deep inside his belly for too long and the students rolled their eyes at their teacher. Jenira whispered to Micu, "and we wonder where Ral gets his troll-ish tendencies from." before snickering together and looking at the confused Ralnas.

Mr. Chiron finally pulled himself together and wiping tears from his eyes caught his breath before continuing. "Class I'm being serious, the elite academies don't allow people in without a certain potential score. You've all been training for this since you arrived here so you all should have higher scores than normal kids your age but also bear in mind that these results could very well determine the rest of your life. Whether you become a crafter or a fighter and even maybe an adventurer will have a lot to do with this score. Also please note that this chair only gives you a potential score, if you get lazy then you may never reach your initial score or if you suddenly discover a new technique not yet in the system you can surpass your score. It's never a" he air quoted with his fingers here, "for sure thing where you will end up."

He then picked up his notepad and reread his notes before continuing, " Last years class high score was 850 which is considered extremely high for a human. Our strength stats often weigh down the potential score compared to other alien races but the minimum to get into an elite academy for humans isss..." Chiron scanned his notes again briefly forgetting what he had written down just minutes before. "730 is enough to get every academy to interview you, anything less and you'll have to find a lower league team to take you in before you can reach the peak level. Any questions?"

A hand shot up like a bolt of lightning followed by a pretentious voice, "So if we don't score below 730 you're saying we should just be crafters?" Jayce noted the voice without even looking up from his now completely disorganized desk. Isabel, the most accomplished girl in their class, especially in war games, and Micu's crush for as long as they had been friends. He thought she would for sure get a high potential, maybe even break last classes record. "Well if you don't feel like working your way up from the bottom then probably yes," Chiron matter of factly answered. 'So some of us aren't going to be scouted at all by elite teams?" She asked sincerely. Jayce listened to her speak with a cold sweat dripping down his back. He had no idea what his own potential score was going to be but he desperately didn't want to be a crafter.

Mr. Chiron cleared his throat and then announced to the class, "We'll be doing this all class period today. The machine takes a second or two to examine the potential score and I found last year that by rushing some of the kids their scores were negatively affected. So if you want to remain in the room you are welcome to, if you prefer to stand in the courtyard or outside that is also fine. I will buzz your watch when it is your turn. I have randomly drawn names and will be calling you out as you get selected. Isabel, you've been chosen to go first."