Road Of Advancement

After resting up the group was once more called to attention by the alumni. Nothing really changed about the program ahead of them. Their schedule simply accommodated for the most optimal routing use of the campus facilities. Theodore however, did notice he was once again in the centre of attention. His scores and his high aptitude made everyone take another glance at him. No one doubted that he would be taken in by the KMU.

Someone with such a high neural aptitude would usually not even have to take the tests to be admitted. Neural aptitudes like his and Dwights were very rare. With an aptitude like this, you were basically branded as a future mech pilot with a bright future. Sure, you could do amazing things in other fields, but the demands of a high aptitude and the standing and respect that a expert-pilot gained were not something you could casually gain in another field!

There were seven known classes of mech pilots; Cadets, Novices, Intermediate Pilots, Advanced Pilots, Senior Pilots, Expert and Master pilots.

Cadets were pure trainees. Novices are those fresh from school - graduated and resolved to stay in the mech pilot circuit. Intermediates Pilots are pilots that have shed the first threshold and have gone beyond the normal parameters that a novice can achieve. It's known to be a pretty steep step and many would fail to make it this far. Intermediate pilots could pilot much more efficient and handle much greater stress on their neural aptitude.

After intermediate Pilots, each advancement would slingshot the pilot into a whole new realm of piloting. Their Mechs became increasingly more potent because of their abilities. Those beyond advanced pilots were already small-celebrities and important characters in the force of a country. Only a couple would advance to expert each year and only once a decade would a new master pilot emerge in the galax. They were extremely rare and they could be said to be the 'ultimate' weapons of a state. A single master pilot could determine the outcome of a war! Their destructiveness was on a whole other level.

Because of this, they were also heavily restricted. If a master pilot was sent out, it simply meant an all-out war was waged and the state would be lost if he were to perish. Therefore there were very few instances where a master pilot would enter an actual battle. Even in first-rate states, master pilots could be said to be equal to kings. They are the actual backbones of a country and therefore no one could ignore the words of these esteemed beings.

A neural aptitude score of 90 guaranteed the pilot would become at least intermediate pilots! Their high aptitude guaranteed they could handle the heavy loads and stress of the more advanced mech models! They would advance eventually just by gaining experience! And after shedding their skin and advancing, they would immediately become forces to be reconned with amidst the intermediate pilots! It was widely known that the higher your aptitude, the greater an advancement would impact your abilities!

The group was then split in two - one group would go on to do the field test and the other would take a break before they would jointly continue to take their general knowledge and science tests. Theodore's score of one hundred and forty in the simulation test easily passed the one-hundred-and-twenty bar, so he joined the field test.

The six lucky participants that made it were: Lilly-Anne, Dwight, Louis, Anthony, a dark horse named Grey and Theodore himself. Theodore quickly inquired and found out that Grey was a former nobody turned lucky rising star after testing his aptitude and scoring 77%! He was only a little behind Lilly-Anne in this regard! Truly astonishing. Theodore liked the idea that a commoner would make it in KMU so he encouraged the shy kid as they marched to the open field ahead.

On the field, six standard training mechs stood prepared for them to operate. Live testing came with a lot of protocols. Each student was taken apart and seated in the mech as they were given detailed instructions on said protocols. There were many restrictions, all weapon systems had already been disabled, but nonetheless these 180tons weighing monsters could potentially be very dangerous!

For Theodore, this wasn't the first time in an actual mech. Redford had drilled him thoroughly and he knew the codes by heart. Once he entered the c.o.c.kpit he actually felt comfortable and he silently listened to the instructor. After his 'pit was shut, he dialled up the power and had certain key-settings overruled by Summit who was patched into the system.

With his drills with Redford, he quickly learned how important it was to optimize the settings to your own liking. A standard mech was not a fit for everyone. It was like a racing car - if you did not adjust it to your own driving style, the car would not perform its maximal potential.

A mech and pilot needed to synergise in order to achieve maximal results. Therefore, coding and overwriting were very common things for a mech pilot. Theodore himself had - with the help of his tutors - developed a script that would instantly configure the mech to his liking. Most pilots would have a military comm that came with a similar function, but as Theodore had nog joined any pilot program he did not have access to such a module.

They were given ten minutes to run the field and acclimatise to their mech and - if they could - change settings. Afterwards, they were to run a customized obstacle course. It was called the 'ringer' and it was actually a standardized test by the KMU to test their first and second-years. A leaderboard would show who completed the course the fastest and who did the most damage to 'enemies' and still completed the course. The last score was a combined score for their speed and kill count.

The leaderboards had a motivating presence in the KMU and it reminded everyone that they were constantly in need of improvement, as the leaderboard would change year-round. It fired up the competitiveness among the students and would also accurately judge their improvement and skill level.

The ringer had hurdles, moats, flying obstacles and enemies on the ground and air. Just making it though was already a challenge by itself. Speed, reflexes, courage, battle-instincts, tactics - everything would be tested in this competition.

They would complete the course in order of their scores - High to low. This gave the lower-scoring students a chance to learn from the mistakes of those that went prior. This way they could maybe challenge the times of those before them. It also pressured the ones going first into giving it their all. What would they do if they were passed by someone that went later?

Dwight completed the course in fashion - his sharp, controlled moves combined with his accurate decision making and high speed netted him a result of 3:27.18 - A score that actually brought him to place 31 on the leaderboards! He just beat the majority of the first and second-year cadets! These people were one year ahead of him and had been given a year of premium systematic training!

Theodore knew he couldn't replicate the feat of Dwight. He was not as skilled as Dwight and would not be able to control his mech in the same fashion. The beeline Dwight took was not even an option to Theodore - he couldn't fathom how used to piloting you had to be to balance your mech at those speeds while keeping low and with such sharp moves.

Theodore had Summit brute calculate the optimal route based on his training experience. The AI had been with Theodore through all the training so he could very accurately judge his options.

They then confirmed their battle plan. It was quite simple: only time mattered, weapons were disabled anyways, take the straightest line possible while using the obstacles and fixed positions as cover against the enemies. Summit would keep reporting the actual battle scenario and update the plan as they went.

Theodore simply ran, squeezing out every inch of performance in the mech - trying to keep it low whilst accelerating and making his movements as efficient as he possibly could.

Unlike Dwight who came out unscathed, Theodore had already accounted for being hit a couple of times and taking some damages. He couldn't be bothered; he would only be scored on his time.

So Theodore simply baffled everyone by running as straight as possible, in great strides, taking fire on the way as he netted a time of 3:42.78. He was fifteen seconds slower than Dwight - which seemed to be quite a lot, but Dwight himself seemed astonished as he cautioned the rest. Theodore also entered the scoreboard albeit just at place 47.

"Don't think you can do the same. He is either very lucky or actually quite skilled, as he managed to spread the damage he acc.u.mulated was very neatly over his armour. It might not be the same result or skill as I displayed, but impressive nonetheless." He said, advising the baffled remaining four over the open channel.

Theodore chuckled, after training with Redford it had become second nature to take hits and try and spread the damage out. It was actually a skill Redford commented highly off. It was usually only learned by novices, but Theodore learned it out of necessity after being beat harshly by Redford all the time.

Surprisingly to Theodore - but less to Dwight, the others performed remarkably less than the pair.

Carson and Hollow both clocked in the four high - 4:47.60 and 4:52.78. Lilly messed up her run by smashing into an obstacle and taking some serious fire. She finished in 5.32.98. Grey actually put up the most surprising result by beating Hollow and almost equalling Carson with a very competitive time of 4:48.76. The results were pretty close between them. But seconds on the ringer actually meant that there was a distinguishable difference of ability.

The group was then 'rescued' from their mech 'pits and rounded up in order to meet with the left-over group that had been given some rest. They then walked up to the next test. Nobody really stressed much about this test; general knowledge and languages would not impress the KMU quickly nor would it put them off from recruiting them. For those trying to get in based on their total score, it was just important not to flunk here.