Chapter 11 The True Face Of Spencer’s School (3)

"Joseph, you fail. Next!"

The latest attempting candidate jumped back in intense fright the moment he found people in lab coats surrounding him. They held him by the arms until he faced Mrs. Rose Marilyn."

"Do you want to join the trash heap or have your memories erased or will you try again?"

There was no way he could pass in such a short time, but having his memory erased did not sound so bad. His instincts mad him not even consider joining the trash heap. Maybe that was where they took her.

"Memory."

"Be warned," her pretty face contradicted what she was about to say. "If it goes wrong you might end up disabled and at that point you either chose to join a home for the disabled or you will be sent to trash heap."

The words stuck In his throat and then he smiled brighter than he thought he ever could. "Let me try again, please."

Tumunomi Escaver had watched more failures than successes, as there was at least 80 percent failure rate, and he just wanted to get everything over with as soon as possible but everything ended up taking a whole day.

And because everyone who failed had avoided the trash heap option tried again, the trial was extended again and again.

Still, there were some impressive people.

There was Jason who stood heads and shoulders above everyone else.

He was not exactly bulky but his age of 12 and his height made one prefer him as a friend more than an enemy.

The tall boy had approached the DumbbellLever and picked 70 kg. He did 5 sets on each of his hands for 30 reps and he panted lightly as he set it back down.

Finim Barboach had even clapped once for him and then gestured towards the next machine as his stopwatch recorded his time and the people behind him took even more details.

Rolling his shoulders, he placed his feet on the tread and he paddled until sweat fell from his brows and his body shook but he did an impressive one minute.

He watched carefully for the glass box, until he was sure of what he saw and then entered the opening that closed.

This was only for 15 seconds and it was his least impressive score so far. Maybe it was his large physique tat kept him from dodging the bouncing tennis balls all about the enclosed glass room. Although even that cannot be said as the Glass room this time was bigger than that of Joseph's as if it were intelligent and took his own form into consideration. But still, relatively, Jason would definitely be ranked up there.

His performance on PressureMill was impressive but after he had lasted for about an hour. And his collapse was still something that nobody was disappointed in, as for every 5 minutes the PressureMill inclined for 2.5 Degrees.

"Congratulations," Finim Barboach clapped for him. "Come this way."

He stood apart from the lines and just in front of the PressureMill.

Iri was another success.

15 kg for 10 sets of 40 reps, 5 minutes on the Mindsewer, 300 seconds on the ReflectionLawn and 30 minutes on the PressureMill.

Jin was another surprise. 25kg for 25 sets of 3 reps, 15 minutes on the Mindsewer, 150 seconds on the ReflectionLawn and 40 minutes on the PressureMill.

…

At the end of they, not that they could tell because of their location but because they were told, Finim Barboach took a step back as Mrs. Rose Marilyn stepped forwards and assumed center stage.

"Thank you for enrolling and I hope to see you on the morrow. So, rations will be served and prepare yourself for what is to come, thank you.'"

The ones who had passed had been given the healing Potent Artefacts. Although they ended up being injured at first from the sheer potency and effectiveness of the pill, the effect of the pill kicked in after making worse their injuries. Those who parts of their bodies were now immobilised had been fed and others who could hear ringing in their ears until they could not stand properly had a helmet placed over their heads

A table was brought In and on it were a myriad of dishes. Tumunomi Escaver thought he was imagining things but the aroma alone made his temperament clearer. He felt rejuvenated like he had already drank water and began salivating in unnatural hunger. He turned to see the eyes of mixed degree of somberness and regret glance at the food even though they did not move. Their complexions became better as the table was moved towards the winners.

"These delicacies are Epic Beasts that have come close to cultivation. Of course, Portent Artefacts have been used for the ingredients and their effects would be far stronger and potent than regular food. This will be for the winners."

But Tumunomi Escaver was not surprised by their refreshed countenances that still held frightened eyes.

In one instance, Stone had been unlucky. Right from the DumbbellLever, to the MindSewer, the ReflectionLawn an finally the PressureMill, he had gotten bad results.

So bad that even though he had opted to try again, they had taken him straight to the last machine. And when its head rest settled on his eyes, he froze. And the boy stayed that way unt he was dragged down after the head rest mechanically returned to its resting position.

He then snapped his head to his surroundings as he was being carried away by the arms in confusion.

"Where are my? Who are you guys? Where are my friends?"

He was taken back to the elevator and as this had even lit up hope in the eyes of the contestants who had been trying over and over because of Uji's treatment. Stone's outcome had been rather positive

But what about Emma?

Emma had a similar streak as Stone who had just finished before her. So, she felt like he did not have such a bad outcome.

When it was her turn to come down from the machine, her face had contorted and spittle dribbled from the corner of her lips. Her head even hung to one side and she could barely speak anymore. Right now, Emma could only make unintelligent noises.

"Kuh, kuh, kuh."

She shook like she was epileptic and the guards carried her out.

Finim Barboach was as indifferent as some of the kids who had wanted to use the Memory option decided to keep their traps shut but the last one solidified their convictions.

Winfried was also anther failure. But despite his zest and zeal and his ambition to one day find good parents who would take him out into the world where he could even begin his own orphanage to raise children and ive them hope he ended up being carried to the last machine as he had wailed that it was not want he wanted.

He had clawed and fought and struggled in vain until he was forcefully strapped unto the chair where the head rest settled on his ace like an incomplete helmet that had only its top half intact. He froze when it began working and then he came out just fine.

Just fine until red poured from both corners of his eyes and then his ears. At which point he now stumbled to the ground before his mouth and nose followed. In his blank stare his body buckled until he fell still.

Some of those watching had thrown up as others had run for the doors they could not open. The ones who where remaining knew that they had to do the prime of their effort and abilities

"This is reality, when there are hurdles to cross, nobody wants to be left behind." Mrs. Rose Marilyn approached Winfried as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Unfortunately, reality is not as generous as we hope." She then turned around and people behind her reached out to grab Winfried's corpse.

And after that, they truly held nothing back and had all tried their darndest. But those who had chosen to try over and over again were always given another chance. So, even when the event was called to a stop for the day, they would be the leftovers for tomorrow.

….

In the end, out of the 5000 applicants in the first batch, 500 had passed, 900 had successful memory erasure, 1,800 of them were disfigured mentally and 2,700 were disposed of.

So, despite their rations being handed to them and them being led back to their rooms, the atmosphere was chilling.

When their doors closed, Tumunomi Escaver was the first person to talk.

"We have to win. All of us."

"Well," Jacob responded. "We are the only ones in our group."

"Yes, we must have been the ones that dropped in last minute." He waited a while before he spoke. "Do you hink Derek took the same course?"

"Maybe." Jacob glanced at John who had been silently crying like Peter, Andrew who had been patting his friend although he too as in a daze, Ivan who had been shaking and Jake who had simply lain and faced the ceiling.

Nome of them had touched their food until Tumunomi Escaber grabbed him and shouted, loudly.

"The food is not going to finish itself. Eat up." They snapped to him and then he chewed a healthy bite.

"Yeah, we need to win." Jacob agreed.

"Well," Tumunomi Escaver bit into his whole fish and continued. "If you can't finish you can always hand some to me."

"Shut up," Jacob had a frown on his face as he held his bottle of one of the drinks handed to him in his leather bag.