Chapter 6: Three Years

Three years passed by in what seemed like the blink of eye. Connor had grown into a young man; his body had been sculpted by the years of physical training while his mind had been sharpened by his studies. He had continued his meditation every day following those three years. Younglings were encouraged to meditate for an hour five times a day which Connor had done. The bounty that it had brought him was 368 Exp points. This had allowed him to level up twice as Connor also learned that the required Exp for a level grew as the level did. He hadn't spent any of the FPs or SPs he had gained however as he discovered that the one point he had put into Shii-Cho was enough to put his mastery slightly over the rest of his clan.

The knowledge had gained on Shii-Cho had already been well digested while his proficiency in the force was above average. Overall, he was quite pleased with the progress he had made over these last three years. Connor has also overheard from those in the Temple about the ongoing effort to cleanse the dark energy at the foundation. The Jedi Council had indeed investigated at the Grandmaster's request, what they found was an enormous amount of dark energy, so much so that some of the council members were unable to be around it for more than a couple minutes. Sentinels, who were specialized to deal with such matters, were sent to cleanse the energy. Over the past three years, about 70% of the darkness had been removed.

To the jedi this was like unknowingly having asthma only to be slowly cured of it. Jedi master could feel their force sense had been sharpened. This was displayed when Grandmaster Yoda almost immediately was able to predict that the invasion of Naboo was the work of a Sith Lord and the Sith had returned, though who the Sith was, was still a mystery. This came as a great shock to the Jedi Council, but they all knew that the Grandmaster would not say something so lightly. This was confirmed with the appearance of Darth Maul, but he was later defeated by now Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi albeit at the cost of his master Qui-Gon Jinn. Connor had wanted to change the unfortunate death of Qui-Gon Jinn, but he had been powerless to do.

The rest of the events played out like they did in the movie. Anakin was taken as Obi-Wan's apprentice. Palpatine still held emergency powers in the Senate and the galaxy was at peace once again. Connor wanted to oust Palpatine as a Sith Lord but knew that this would only cause further trouble. The clone army would still be under his command and he could not be killed by any jedi in the Order. Connor would have to slowly plot and execute a plan to dismantle the current Sith and make the Empire something that never was. Darth Sidious may be known as a schemer, but Connor would scheme more.

Today was finally the day that Connor's pampered life in the Temple would come to a halt. He would now undergo initiate trails and be presented to various members of the Order that they may select him as their padawan. Connor felt that his chances were pretty good and had the additional FPs up his sleeve. Connor made sure to do one last round of meditation to calm his mind before heading to the room where the initiate trials were to be held.

Entering the room, Connor saw many of his clan had already arrived. He saw Bruce was there too, Bruce and he had grown a great sense of companionship over these past couple of years. It was safe to say that Bruce was the closest thing Connor had to a brother. Today was the last day they would see each other for some time. Connor had no doubt that Bruce would get chosen by a master. While Connor's lightsaber mastery was above his, Bruce made up for it in brute strength and his power in the Force was actually above his own.

"You nervous at all, bruv?", Bruce walked up and asked Connor. "No, I pretty aware of the abilities I possess", Connor replied. "What about you?". "I could hardly sleep last night, I kept dreaming that I cut my own arm off during the trails", Bruce admitted. "You'll be fine, you one of the best in the whole clan. If you can't get selected who else has a chance?", Connor knew that Bruce was just nervous, and people start to doubt themselves when under this kind of pressure.

Bruce and Connor continued to talk until an old man in robes walked in. The old man was a member of the Jedi Service Corps and one of his responsibilities was to administer the initiate exam. "Please settle down, in a few minutes members the Jedi Council will be here to observe the abilities of you all. Please find open mat and sit down on it", the old man's raspy voice came out. The old man had probably been doing this for years, as such his instructions were clear and concise.

Connor then proceeded to locate an empty mat and sat down in a meditative pose. After a few minutes, a couple of Jedi walked in, among them was Grandmaster Yoda and Mace Windu. The old man's voice rang out once again "We will start with the basics: recite the jedi code in its entirety together as a clan". The entire clan spoke at once:

"There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force."

"Good now we will test each youngling's connection to the Force", The old man seemed satisfied and moved the next portion of the trails. The old man then passed out ten iron balls to each youngling. "In your meditative pose, lift as many of these as you can", the old man instructed. Connor stared at the balls in front of him; this was commonly seen as the most important part of the test as this was where a youngling could showcase their skills the best. For Connor, however, this was not where he would take his time to shine.

Connor was well aware of his abilities, so he closed his eyes and focused on seven of the spheres and slowly lifted them into the air around him. Seven was considered good but not great. After a few minutes, Connor slowly let the orbs fall to the ground, gently placing them down. He made sure to not just drop them as control was just as important as power. When Connor opened his eyes, he looked over to see Bruce supporting nine of the metal spheres. 'Show off', Connor thought with a smirk.

Once all the younglings had finished it was time for the final part of the exam which was the typical deflection training. This one was mostly routine as most of these younglings had been practicing this for years and it did turn out to be routine with all the padawans deflecting every bolt.

"Would anyone like to try multiple training droids", the old man asked. This was almost like a prank the administrator asked every year. Any youngling who attempted multiple training droids usually wound up in embarrassment. The young ones simple didn't have enough time to polish their saber skills. Just as the old man was about to conclude the trail, one hand shot up among all the rest. The old man, the Jedi Council, and the rest of the clan all looked to see who this hand belonged to. One young man was standing beneath this raised hand: Connor Seasto.