Damon narrowed his eyes.
"You were waiting for us to stop pretending."
"No."
Selection's answer came from every direction at once.
There was no mouth.
The hundreds of eyes spread across the sphere simply remained open, watching every movement inside the chamber.
"I was waiting for you to realize that pretending was also part of the evaluation."
Damon fell silent.
Aria was the first to understand.
"It wasn't evaluating only capabilities."
The sphere slowly rotated.
"Correct."
Aria looked at Damon.
"It was evaluating behavior."
"Deception," Selection continued. "Manipulation. Improvisation. Ability to identify incomplete parameters and exploit them. Resistance to instructions. Adaptation under pressure."
Damon slowly lowered his sword.
"You just turned my flaws into qualifications."
Ester did not take her eyes off the sphere.
"It doesn't seem wrong."
"That was offensive."
"Survive first."
The sphere pulsed.
The Selection symbol engraved on the column disappeared.
