The two of them stepped through the door and closed it behind them.
As soon as the door closed, the man turned to look at Nick with a helpless smile. "Sorry, but I have to act like this."
Nick wasn't surprised that the man had essentially broken protocol.
"I understand," Nick answered.
"Thank you," the man said with a quick bow. "Please remove your uniform and hand it over together with all of your belongings. The only things you may keep are your weapons."
"What about my Barrier?" Nick asked.
"That as well," the man said. "Every trainee receives the same Barrier and uniform. Almost all the trainees have the best equipment a city can offer, but not all cities are equal. Weapons are not difficult to manufacture, but Barriers can vary greatly in their power."
Nick nodded and removed his Barrier before removing his uniform.
After removing everything, he put it into his new Space Bag and handed it over.
When the man saw Nick's Space Bag, he took a deep breath.
A Space Bag!
Not even all of the Agents had the privilege of owning a Space Bag!
This guy must have done several great services for Aegis if he was rewarded with a Space Bag at such an age and power level!
The man carefully handled the Space Bag and made sure to double- and triple-check the locking mechanism of the safe in which he put the bag.
If this Space Bag got lost, he might lose his job or even worse!
Meanwhile, Nick took note of a comedy of the current situation. He had just received his Space Bag, and now, he lost access to it for the next 20 years or so.
Nick received a new uniform.
It was a white uniform without any streaks, which meant it was of the lowest rank.
Yet, being at the lowest rank in Aegis was still superior to being at the highest rank in any Manufacturer.
'I guess this rank befits my actual power,' Nick thought as he looked at his uniform.
Naturally, all the ranks in Aegis were related to an Extractor's power, with Nick being the only exception.
Now, his uniform reflected his power.
The lowest of the low.
An Expert.
An Expert was someone amazing in a city but just a commoner here.
Nick also took a look at his new Barrier.
He pressed a couple of buttons and found out that he had no authority to change any settings of the Barrier.
Although, that was to be expected.
He didn't really own the Barrier.
Nevertheless, he could see its statistics, which told him that this Barrier was about as strong as the average Barrier of a Specialist in a city.
Yet, that was still a downgrade for almost all of the trainees who arrived here and a significant downgrade for Nick, who had used a Barrier fit for an Agent.
A moment later, the man held out a booklet for Nick, who grabbed and read it.
It was just a manual that introduced him to his new department.
Nick found a couple of interesting things but put the manual away without any questions.
"Do you have any questions?" the man asked.
"No," Nick answered simply.
The man nodded and gestured towards the door.
A moment later, he opened the door and walked out with a stern expression while Nick followed him.
The Aductress just looked at them without saying anything.
"Belongings confiscated and secured. Uniform, Barrier, and manual handed over. No problems, Aductress," the man said with a serious tone.
The Aductress nodded and wordlessly gestured for Nick to follow her.
The two of them left the room and traveled further upwards, towards the middle layer of the headquarters.
This was where all of the Specters were held, but that wasn't the only thing that was on the middle layer.
The trainee camp was also here.
As the Aductress approached the door, a light beside it turned green, and the door opened.
Nick had already read through the manual and knew exactly what would be waiting for him behind this door.
A gigantic room with nothing but people and metal.
The room was 300 meters wide and 300 meters long but only 10 meters high.
There was no furniture.
No beds, no chairs, no tables, nothing.
Yet, Nick could see a lot of people in the room.
He estimated that there were about 600, and all of them wore the same uniform and were of similar levels.
As soon as the door opened, everyone looked over and became silent.
This door opened rarely.
It only opened when a new trainee came to the facility.
"Welcome home," the Aductress said with a cold voice before turning around and leaving through the same door.
Nick didn't say anything and just looked at all the people looking back at him evenly.
The manual had already explained everything about this place.
This was the First Level.
Everyone stayed here for a maximum of three years.
If they managed to stay here for three years, they would advance to the Second Level.
If not, they would be sent back to their cities.
Only around 20% of trainees would advance to the Second Level.
After some seconds, everyone went back to doing whatever they were doing.
Almost everyone was standing or sitting close to the walls or the few corners.
The only people in the middle of the room were walking from one part to another.
It seemed like nobody liked to occupy the middle of the room.
Nick remembered what he had read in the manual and walked diagonally towards a distant door.
"Hey, newcomer," a guy with a smirk said as he stepped beside Nick. "What's your specialty in academics?"
"Not sure," Nick answered neutrally. "I never focused on any specific field of study. I need to do the tests first to see how I'm doing."
The man's smirk vanished, and he rubbed his chin in thought as he looked at Nick.
"If you want to exchange answers, you can find me on the west side of the room in the mornings," he said as he walked towards the west.
"I'll come to you soon," Nick answered as he continued walking.
As the man walked away, a dark glint appeared in his eyes.
'This guy is dangerous,' the man thought. 'He just arrived and already knows what this is all about.'
Was that true?
Did Nick already see through the true purpose of the First Level?
Partially.
He had an inkling, but he couldn't be sure.
Three more people came to Nick, asking about the same thing as the first guy and receiving the same answers.
Eventually, Nick arrived at the door and passed through it.
This time, Nick found himself in a huge hall with around 1,000 tables with consoles on them.
Around 80 people were currently sitting in front of different desks, tapping away on their screens.
Nick walked up to a random desk, sat down, and tapped on his console.
The screen brightened, and Nick also started tapping away on it.
Trainees on the First Level had to earn a minimum amount of different kinds of points and a minimum total amount of points.
There were four different kinds of points.
First, Battle Points.
These points were earned by going into the battle arena and fighting Specters.
Winning against a Specter gave three points times the difficulty multiplier of the Specter.
Surviving for a minute gave one point times the difficulty multiplier.
Losing gave no points.
One could only earn points one time each month per Specter.
The minimum amount required each month was five Battle Points.
Second, Fitness Points.
Trainees just had to undergo physical exams without being allowed to use their abilities to gather points.
Third, Specter Points.
Specter Points were earned by successfully working with certain Specters.
There were Specters that were difficult to work with and ones that were easy to work with.
Naturally, the ones that were more difficult to work with gave more points.
Lastly, there were Academic Points.
There were different tests with randomized questions on different topics with different complexities available.
One could repeat these tests as many times as one wanted.
However, after a test, one would only get to know their total score of correct answers, not which answers were correct or which questions were correct.
There were over 3,000 randomized questions per level per topic, and they were all worded in a way that required one to explain the answer in detail.
Now, the interesting part was…
There were no teachers.
There was no library.
One could not find any official way to study for these tests.
And while getting the minimum amount of Academic Points was not difficult, the minimum amount of total points was brutal to get.
The minimum amount of total points was the main reason why so many people failed the First Level.
Nick opened the first test, did not even look at its topic, and read the first question.
'I know that,' he thought while typing in his answer.
Then, he looked at the submit button before taking note of the checkbox beside it.
The checkbox read:
"Did someone tell you the answer? (Might result in reduced score)."
Nick didn't check the checkbox and clicked submit.