Big Willis waved his hand and those silver compressors canons were all placed below their feet. Felix beamed them in his spatial card swiftly just like the others.
"If you don't know how to use them, I can show you a quick demonstration now." Big Willis offered.
No one lifted his hand to accept it since they all knew how it works pretty well.
They practiced with it in the UVR before applying it in the trials to enhance their chances of passing them.
They didn't know if they would use them but it was only common sense to believe so.
"Good. As you all know, the highest rank obtained in the trials is 'B'." Big Willi glanced at Wolverine and said, "However, the assembly has come to a unanimous decision to increase it to 'A' rank."
"You kidding me?"
"Is my information outdated or are we just hearing about this?"
"Meh, I doubt anyone here can score a 'D' even if they tried their best."
"I just don't want to fail again…This is my last attempt."
Everyone reacted differently to the sudden news.
Some seemed pretty confused by the adjustment while some were pretty disinterested in it.
After all, the ranking system starts from 'F' and ends at 'SS'.
Most of them lacked the confidence to get an 'E' rank and pass the trials. Don't even mention hitting the 'A' rank.
'F*cking sweet!'
Meanwhile, Felix had a different reaction than the others as he was beaming in delight at such a piece of godsent news.
He easily concluded that the change must be due to Wolverine, the son of the Void Harvesters leader.
His father must have convinced the other assembly members to do this favor for him. Most likely because he was confident in his son's ability to hit the rank.
Still, the main reason must be because Wolverine wouldn't be able to hunt with his father right off the bat due to his rank 'B'.
He would need to grind missions to hit rank 'A' and only then could he join him in the frontlines.
'This Wolverine guy doesn't seem too bad after all.'
Felix didn't give a crap about their reason as he was happy that he was here to benefit from their abuse of authority.
"As you guys know, to get promoted to 'A' rank, you need to hunt hundred low-born void creatures and ten elites." Big Willi mentioned, "However, since you guys are given only fifteen days and three compressors, this requirement will be halved."
No one seemed to be surprised by this since they knew that normal requirements for rank promotion outside didn't apply in the trial due to the limitations imposed.
This applied to all ranks.
Just like there was a promotion, there was also a demotion. To pass the trials one needed to hunt enough void creatures to secure an 'E' rank.
If he succeeded and got his mercenary ID but failed to finish his accepted missions in time, he would get demoted continuously until he reach the infamous 'F' rank.
It was extremely easy to get demoted to 'F' rank since the void creatures outside didn't behave the same as in the trials.
Plus, by being in a squad and just starting out, the emotional and mental elements mess with the performance of almost every newbie.
If their mistakes didn't cost them their lives, it would most definitely cost them their mission.
"Since no one seems to be complaining, sign this contract and get going already."
Big Willi forwarded a contract to all of them then broke into light particles, leaving them to their own devices.
"Finally it's time to hunt." Wolverine cracked his shoulders nonchalantly and jumped on all four.
Then, he morphed into a semi-dark wolf with a moon tattoo on his forehead and sprinted like the wind up north.
The instant Felix saw this, he turned around and sprinted in the opposite direction without using supersonic mode.
He allowed Wolverine to pick his destination first so he wouldn't end up meeting him in the trials.
Since the gravity wasn't that powerful, Felix struggled a bit at the start to adjust his sprinting force. Instead of sprinting on the ground, he was leaping tens of meters in the air with each step.
Felix disliked not having control of his movement.
So, he made sure to lower his force bit by bit until he finally managed to avoid getting launched into the air.
"The hell? I can understand Wolverine deciding to go solo but what about him?"
"Tsk, he will run back begging for a squad after he faces a single pack."
His actions had startled the recruits as they didn't expect that Felix would choose to play solo as well.
Being solo sure had its own advantages of always having the last strike against the void creatures. But, it wasn't really worth it due to the many risks involved.
In their eyes, it was the dumbest thing to do because void creatures could creep up during one's sleep from anywhere due to their formless nature and range of sizes.
Who could defend themselves against a tiny worm-like void creature at night without having patrols keeping a lookout?
Even an 'S' ranked mercenary preferred moving in a group.
"Idiot, he would die in the first week."
"Who wants to party with me? I am a peak 5th stage fire bloodliner."
"I am interested."
The recruits ignored Felix and focused on creating their own squads as fast as possible. 15 days was nothing when they were given a 1k km radius to search for void creatures.
So, the moment a squad made out of five get created, they move out almost immediately.
No one wanted to get more into one squad because there was no rule stopping them from betraying each other.
Because only the killing blow against the void creature count, there was bound to be some heat rising within squads as days went by.
….
Meanwhile, Felix was reading the contract carefully while continuing to sprint at a manageable pace.
'So, allies allowed, killing allowed, only three compressors are allowed, repairing them is allowed as well, and we can use all of our stock of energy stones.'
Felix summed up the highlighted terms of the contract and signed at once after finding no issues with it.
Naturally, it was also an NDA contract that forbade him from exposing anything he experienced in the trial to anyone.
'If I want to ace the trials, I need to keep moving and avoid taking more breaks than necessary.'
Felix understood that hunting 50 low-born void creatures and 5 elite void creatures would be quite tough in such a short period of time.
He needed to be always on the move so he could end up meeting as many packs as possible.
Though, he wasn't that hopeless to rely on luck.
'Good thing I have my void eye.'
Felix smirked faintly and lowered the bandana to cover both of his eyes and expose the void eye.
He didn't care if anyone saw it since no one would assume that it belonged to a primogenitor right off the bat.
Felix continued sprinting while looking around him carefully. He focused mostly underneath since void creatures should still be traveling underground.
After ten minutes of swapping between visions, Felix finally managed to locate a pack of void creatures traveling two kilometers below his feet.
They were all outlined in purple, making them stand out like a sore thumb in the void realm. He counted at least ten of them.
'Let the hunt begins.' Felix licked his lips and increased his speed.
He knew that he should be chased by a few squads since they would want to avoid meeting with Wolverine as well to avoid fallout with him.
This would limit the directions chosen in the vast empty expanse.
Since killing was allowed, they really should have followed after Wolverine instead of Felix.
In this trial, the void creatures weren't the apex predator…It was him!
***
On a humongous scarlet planet that resembled a burning star from afar, hundreds of fleets were docked in space stations around the planet.
Only a few of them were on standby as they kept orbiting the planet.
Meanwhile, inside a base that was stationed deep underground to avoid the burning heat, an aged black man with a grey beard and a bald wrinkly scalp was sitting in front of a holographic screen.
Though he looked old, his body was as firm as a boulder.
What was unique about him was his fangs, sharp claws, three milky whitetails, and lastly a lunar tattoo on his forehead.
Just like commoners, he wasn't releasing any kind of pressure at all.
He could totally be ignored by any bloodliners passing by him as they would mistake him for being a commoner.
He was watching the screen that was displaying Wolverine upclose. They almost resembled each other if it wasn't for Wolverine being in a semi-transformation.
'I have taught you everything.. Don't embarrass me, son.'
