Listening to Nadron's team-up proposal, Vivian and I exchanged a brief look because we both could sense the boost in his strength thanks to his grim cypher. If he wanted to, the brothers could overpower us, meaning his proposal didn't feel like a choice. However, Vivian and I knew what we wanted and formed a temporary alliance to make sure Nadron would respect our choice.
However, before we could inform him of our decision, Nadron got his answer from our expressions and spoke before we could: "I get it, let's go our separate ways. If fate wills it, we'll have more chances to work together—hopefully in a less competitive environment."
Nadron turned and left with his brother to hurry and make the best of the boost he got from his grim cypher by killing the two dozen drunkeys. Seeing the Napes brothers leave, I immediately switched my mirrored grim cyphers to Aceso's Breath and Solo Soldier. My Gion tattoo radiated dimly as my gaze rested on Vivian in high alert. She had already shown that she didn't mind eliminating other examinees to gather the attention of the recruiters.
"Relax, I have a policy: I don't hurt cute guys as long as they exchange Grim IDs with me," Vivian said, her hair dancing in the air as if it had a will of its own. Then, as her eyes met mine, both our grim cyphers flashed in our pupils, exchanging our Grim IDs.
[Grimlock Vivian Vox's Grim ID saved in your Grim Web community.]
"Answer when I call," Vivian stressed before turning to leave. "See ya later, Crayon V. Wyatt."
I watched Vivian's back profile as she left, her almond butt bouncing with every step she took. She appeared about Crayon's age, but considering this Earth's increased average lifespan, it was hard to tell one's age just based on appearance. This was especially true for women. The cosmetic and skincare products and therapies of this Earth were like magic, not to mention the female grimlocks and their cosmetic grim cards and gion tattoos.
After my temporary party members left, I continued on my course to the center of the formation array. They preferred to hunt grimmons at the edge of the forest and keep gathering points instead of risking their lives going for the flag. But I came to realize that I had to aim for the flag if I wanted an officer rank and not be assigned a soldier rank.
Any military organization has a structured hierarchy with distinct officer and soldier ranks. They serve completely different roles. In layman's terms, one is the brain and decision-maker, and the other is the brawn, the heavy lifter.
No matter how high your rank was as a soldier, you would still find yourself on the battlefield. Meanwhile, no matter how low your rank was as an officer, you would never find yourself on the battlefield unless it was absolutely required. Even if you did, you would get a cushy camp and soldiers waiting on your hand and foot.
Not that I was an elitist, but if being one saved my behind being served as food for some grimmon on the battlefield, then yes, I was an elitist. I would rather fail miserably trying to capture the flag in hopes of getting into the officer ranks than get the highest rank possible in the soldier ranks.
"BWAAAAAAM—!"
Then the end-of-exam horn sounded, and the formation array began to slowly dissipate, and before we knew it, we found ourselves teleported to right where we had entered the formation array.
"Fuck!" I cursed as the fact that I only had ten points crossed my mind. But my attention immediately shifted as I listened to the other examinees discussing who could have captured the flag and ended the exam so soon.
I also wondered who could have made it to the center, defeated the grimmons guarding the flag, and captured it in such a short time. Now, what kind of monster would be capable of that? I mean, we were all limited to using the four basic grim cards during the exam.
All we had were our grim cyphers, gioncores, and gion tattoos, along with three health and gion recovery potions each, to fight awakened grimmons. Yet, to achieve this feat in such a short time could only mean they were blessed with an insanely powerful grim cypher or gioncore, or they had mastered a very powerful gion tattoo.
I followed the crowd to our guardians, still wondering who the motherfucker was that I had to blame for my low points. It wasn't just me—each one of the examinees was unhappy about how soon the exam ended, and they weren't even able to amass enough points to pass. They would have to attend the remedial garrison training for the next six months and retake the exam. I would have been just like them if not for the pack of many-gaze hyenas.
"Had I known the exam was going to end so soon, I would have jumped into the mist to fight the drunkeys instead of letting Nadron hoard all those points, damn it all!"
Vivian's voice came from my side, snapping me out of my thoughts. I was a little spooked because I hadn't sensed her arriving next to me. Not letting it show, I asked, "Do you have enough points to pass?"
"I do, but I could have gotten more," Vivian said grudgingly, then asked, "What about you? Ah, right, you are a healer—"
"No, I'm not. I wanted to be, but I don't have a medical license," I finally clarified that misunderstanding now that the exam was over.
"Sucks to be you. Did you amass enough points or not?" Vivian asked as we found our respective guardians.
"Are you one of the Zenith Guild's new recruits?" I asked, having noticed that Vivian's guardian was among the instructors and trainers I saw with Maul Fisher.
"Yes and no. I joined their training institute two years before I even became a grimlock. They want me to sign with them, but I haven't decided. Is that a problem?" Vivian asked cutely, while my face turned stern and I cursed aloud in my mind, 'Damn, honey trap!'
If the exam hadn't ended, I almost fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book.