“You were supposed to be here hours ago. Where are your preparations for the exam?” She questions, as she inches closer to him, glaring.

“Palla, good to see you’re still… You. Looks like you brought the girls out to play.” He says, turning his attention to Palla’s clones, each of them giving him a different dirty look.

Palla dispels her clones, causing them to fade into mist.

“Stop wasting time and get on with your exam.” 

“Alright, alright… Just having a bit of fun.” He mutters, waving his hand in front of Palla.

Meanwhile, Yvie’s eyes were watering, and she covered the lower half of her face with her palm.

“Are you okay?” Grace asks, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“No. Are you telling me you don’t smell that?” Yvie questions, turning toward Grace. 

Grace tilts her head, confused, and takes a whiff of the air, and her eyes start watering too.

“Whoa, that’s pungent!” Grace nearly yells. She covers her nose. 

“It’s like an entire bucket of rotting onions. Someone here really needs to hit the water!” Yvie exclaims.

The silence of the room is broken by Yvie’s comment, which causes others in the room to mindfully take a whiff. What follows is a wave of coughing fits breaking out every second.

“Yo! If I find out who’s smelling like that, I’m beating your ass for coming out here like that!” A man shouts.

“And you want me to go over there…?” Dodge questions while pinching his nose shut. 

Palla groans and rubs her temples.

After everyone regained their composure, they lined up again before the exam proctors. Grace was slightly hopping up and down, covering her mouth with both hands. 

“Holy smokes, it's Dodge Parker!” 

“Dodge Parker?” Yvie scratches her head.

“You don’t know who he is?!” Grace exclaims. “Dodge was one of the top 20 divers! Known for his speed!”

Yvie eyes her other proctor. 

“What about Palla?” 

“Palla is considered one of the best Diver supporters out there! Her moniker is ‘The Seeress.’ She can predict up to 5 minutes ahead of a fight just from the information before her.” Grace explains.

“Whoa, she went into total fangirl mode. There is one thing I’m interested in, just how strong this Dodge guy is.” Yvie thought. 

“As I’m sure many of you know, it is against the rules to use artifacts during any part of the exam,” Palla states. “Anyone caught using an artifact is disqualified.”

Dodge walks out in front of the crowd.

“Yeah, what she said. Moving on, now that we’ve got your attention, we’re gonna be handing out suits for you all to wear,” Dodge says. “Make sure you keep your hands out.”

Yvie’s eyebrow raised. 

“Huh?” 

Dodge takes a step forward and vanishes. Everyone in the room had a suit in their hands in just a few seconds. Dodge appeared back at his original position with his back turned.

“If I missed anyone, raise your hands. If not, then split up and go to the changing rooms. When everyone’s changed, we’ll begin.” 

“So that's what I’ve got to look forward to someday. I’m excited. I wonder how much money he makes in the top 20…” Yvie thinks.

While everyone went to change, the two proctors remained in the gym.

“So just what are you planning to do, having no preparations for the exam?” Palla mutters

“Eh… It’s just a physical exam. No need to make a big deal of it. How about we make them run some laps?” He says while stretching his arm. “Why do you care what I do?”

“Their lives are in our hands. You know it’s our responsibility to make sure we screen them properly to make sure they can do this job. I don’t have to remind you of how crazy it can get.” She states.

“I don’t need a reminder. At the end of the day, most of these starry-eyed examinees won’t even break the newbie barrier.” He states, throwing his hands up.

“Even if that's what the stats suggest. Are you afraid to come at this seriously? Then, how about we make a bet? I propose that at least one of the divers in this group will break the newbie barrier.” 

Dodge nearly falls, his body grinding against the wall by her proclamation. 

“A bet? From you, of all people? Hell must be freezing over today. Alright, I’ll bite. I want a year’s salary. I’ll be generous; I’ll give ’em 5 months tops.”

Palla grins.

“Consider it done.” Palla leans in close, grinning with her eyes shut. “Good luck.”

Right before she leaves the room, she peers back at him. 

“By the way, your fly’s been down this whole time.”

“What?!” He exclaims as he looks down at his crotch to find no zipper there.

Palla scoffs.

“You’re just as dumb as you are fast.” She says with a smug grin. 

Dodge sucks his teeth. 

As Palla exits the gym, her aide dashes to her side.

“Are you sure you want to make a bet like that? There’s no way of knowing if they’re capable.” She says.

“Even if he can’t see it himself, during the test, I was reading detailed information on each participant across each of the classes. I think we’ve got a good group.” Palla explains. “Probably one of the best physical groups we’ve had in years.” 

As the pair continue down the hall, the last remaining people in the changing rooms return and stand unified in their new outfits. Yvie stood confidently in it, a blue singlet with yellow stripes across the leg. Each had a different number, while Yvie’s was number 65, which sat smack dab in the center of her chest. She looked at Grace, and her number was 73.

“Yeah, so… Those suits you’re all wearing are specially made. We’ve got people in the back monitoring everyone’s vitals or something. So put on a good show for’em, yeah?” Dodge explains. “Being a diver is a very taxing job; if you can’t meet even the baseline, then, I’ll be blunt here, you’re not cut out for this job. If you all understand, we'll begin the exercises. We’re gonna start with something to get your blood pumping. 50 laps around the gym.” He states. “Let's get this started.”

Dodge takes off at an even pace, and despite jogging, his speed was nearly twice as fast as everyone else's. Dodge jokingly looked back at the rest of the pack while running backward. Many were staying with the middle of the pack and conserving their energy, while some appeared to be barely hanging on with their limbs flailing about wildly.

“This is nothing for me. Those 100-degree days running laps around the beach prepared me for this.” Yvie thinks. 

She passes quite a few in the pack and ends up with several other test-takers toward the front. While not exactly close to Dodge, they were the fastest among the group. Grace was keeping up with the middle of the pack, but once lap 30 came around, she was visibly struggling to keep pace. Her pulse was rapid, and her breathing even more so. She would shift left and right every so often.

Yvie, nearly leading the pack, notices Grace struggling as she nears the back of the pack. Yvie slows down and pulls up alongside Grace.

“I know you’ve still got some fight in you,” Yvie exclaims.

“I… Don’t think I’ve got this… This is just the warm-up!” Grace says between huffs.

“What about your dream as a diver?” Yvie asks. “Are you gonna lie down and die already?”

“I’ll… Do more training and… come back,” Grace says.

“You’ve already trained a lot for this. Now is the time for you to get it.” Yvie states. “I told you, just believe in yourself.”

Grace groans loudly while running, surprising the people before her.

“If I die… It’s on you,” Grace says.

“H-hey, I can’t afford a funeral...” Yvie trails off.

Grace picks up her pace, moving to her former spot in the middle of the pack. Unlike her namesake, however, she groaned loudly and flailed her arms around while running.

“What is she, a damn zombie?!” Another runner says. 

Dodge comes to a stop ahead of the pack, and the running comes to an end.

“Whew… That was a nice workout.” Yvie mutters as she comes to a stop. 

After sighing, she walked over to Grace, who sprawled out on the ground, breathing heavily. 

“Good job hanging in there,” Yvie says. She extends a fist to Grace, and she crashes her fist into Yvie’s.

“Thanks… To you… ” Grace struggles to speak.

“Just catch your breath first.” Yvie chuckles. “Still, this was a little more normal than I thought.”

Dodge wags his finger.

“Of course it was. It was just the warm-up. Now that everyone’s awake, we’ll do the Will test.”

Yvie blinked twice. 

“Will test?”