"AH HAHAHA! I shouldn't have told you that, should I? Ooops!" Elder Liam laughed and scratched his head sheepishly at his slip of tongue amid the frowns of the rest of the Elders."

"Elder Liam! What's the meaning of this? Are you trying to win his favor by giving him critical information before the event begins? Are you trying to break the rules set forth in the Staff Regulation Book! " Elder White stood up and attacked Elder Liam viciously with her words without a shred of mercy.

Elder Liam's face turned really ugly and there was even a slight tinge of fear as he glanced at Grand Elder Shella nervously.

"Oi you loathsome old woman! Why are you accusing me of purposely breaking the rules without understanding the situation? It was a slip of the tongue! A slip of the tongue!" Elder Liam shouted back at Elder White loudly.

"Enough, both of you. Elder Liam, please refrain from further acts of misconduct. Purposely or not, I would be forced to take action if you do that again. Consider this my final warning. Elder White, let us be magnanimous today in front of our new students, shall we?"

"Of course, Grand Elder Shella." Elder White replied smoothly with a bow and then sat down with a satisfied smirk on her face.

"OF COURSE GRAND ELDER SHELLA!" Elder Liam shouted thankfully. "REST ASSURED IT WOULD NOT HAPPEN AGAIN! HAHAHA!"

He shot Elder White a sharp glare and then sat down with great relief.

I watched the whole thing with amusement and of course with rapt attention. The politics of the higher ups are definitely something that the bottom feeders have to know in great detail if they want to survive and even thrive in any organization.

I learnt that early as a bottom feeder junkyard scrapper.

I sat down where I was supposed to sit and waited silently for the rest of the kids to arrive. As expected, after approximately ten minutes, the two ferocious cousins came in second and third again, and with a full blown all out squabble in progress.

"YOU were the one who said WAIT!" Sherry shouted as she hopped into the second peak. "If you hadn't said wait, I would have definitely kicked her away! Look at what she managed to do! She scratched my arm! It's RED NOW!"

"I thought you were going to kick the rabbit! How was I supposed to know you were aiming at the girl who was hiding in the bush next to the rabbit?" Sheera shouted back as she climbed up into the second peak with a trembling rabbit cradled in one of her arms.

"OF COURSE I was aiming at a person. Why in the world would I kick a cute little rabbit for no reason? The fact that you thought I was capable of such an act is unforgivable! How could you have such a low impression of me?!" Sherry yelled loudly.

"Stop yelling so loudly! You're scaring the rabbit!" Sheera yelled as loudly as Sherry.

"You're yelling!" Sherry yelled.

"NO! YOU're yelling!" Sheera yelled back.

"Welcome to the third segment of the entrance test, girls." Grand Elder Shella greeted the two girls in a soft voice which was amplified by a powerful device. As a result, her words thundered resoundingly through the entire second peak and cut into the two girls' argument.

The two girls swirled their heads around at her voice and squealed loudly.

"AUNT SHELLA!!! Long time no see!!!"

"AUNT SHELLAAA!!! LOOK! WE FOUND A RABBIT!!!"

"Enough, enough. Calm down and sit next to that fine young man over there." Grand Elder Shella said with obvious amusement and gentleness in her voice.

"Alright Aunt Shella."

"En!"

The two girls obediently followed Grand Elder Shella's instructions and promptly forgot about their earlier argument.

historical

"You again! So you're not only strong, but also very good at fighting huh? You'll be a fine rival for me!" Sherry glared at me.

"Why do you automatically assume he's a good fighter? He might be really bad at fighting, and merely reached this place first because he's just so darned strong physically!" Sheera guessed with eerie accuracy.

That's Sheera Lin, the Great Undying General for you. At ten, her instincts were already as sharp as a seasoned killer's.

"Of course he is a good fighter." Sherry glanced at Sheera in irritation. "I can sense it!"

Sherry Lin, on the other hand, was not quite as angry and violent as she is now. But the seed was definitely there.

The Undying General and her Eternal Warrior. Truly a fearsome pair.

"Sense it? What are you? A clairvoyant?" Sheera scoffed at Sherry while gently stroking the trembling rabbit in her arm.

I sighed deeply and tuned them and the rest of the world out as the two girls continued to squabble. I closed my eyes and tried to sense the red mecha core and the red energy within me.

The moment I closed my eyes, my resonance with the mechas on the practice arenas zoomed into focus. I tried to shut them out as well, and directed my attention inwards into my body.

I tried to remember what it felt like when I was controlling the red energy, and tried to look for a sense of familiarity in every nook and corner of my body.

Nothing responded.

There was a slight tension in the area near my heart, and I instinctively knew that the red mecha core was still there. However, it did not respond to my attempts to communicate or control it.

It remained there, dormant and out of reach, waiting for a catalyst of some sort to trigger it.

Still, although the red mecha core was dormant and no red energy circulated within my body, I could sense that my body had been slowly and passively absorbing the white mecha core and the white mecha particles.

Everyone who knew my incredible strength probably considered my body as an unnatural anomaly born of biological experiments like what the Russians are doing. A freak of nature, but still part of nature nevertheless.

They never would have guessed that at that moment, I could easily break those Russian biological "supermen and women" like breadsticks with my current physical strength!