Did solar tech have life?
That was a question asked by people with delusions or that are insane. After all, it had been proven time and time again that they were just machines used to fight the Eclipsed, nothing more.
So why was Illyra asking this?
Simple, she was curious. The kid was the only other person she had heard a human pronoun to a solar tech, just like her teacher had.
He was an insane genius, but genius nonetheless, he believed that solar tech had some form of life or at least emotions and she wanted to see if the kid believed the same.
Normally, she wasn't supposed to come close to any participant of the ongoing test, but this kid had gotten her curious enough to break that rule.
Besides, the headmistress would excuse her actions just this once, right?
"No," Nox answered, looking directly at her, "Solar Tech don't have life."
"I see," she muttered, prepared to get back to where she previously was, a bit disappointed.
"But," Nox continued, causing her to stop, "I do believe they hold fragments of emotions."
"Emotions?" Illyra's curiosity was reignited as she turned back to the kid.
"Hmm," He nodded, "I don't know how to explain it, but ," he picked up the gauntlet gently and showed it to her, "I can feel how happy she is, now that the pathways have been rearranged but at the same time, I can't really say she's alive because of those emotions."
Well, it was confirmed, the kid really was crazy. Or that's what the other candidates thought anyway.
Even Linda had a frown on her face as he rested her gloved hand on the rifle on her table.
For as long as she could remember, she had been tinkering with solar tech, whether that be helping her parents at the grid or fixing broken solar tech, but not once had she felt the 'emotions' from any of the tech.
Was Nox really telling the truth?
She couldn't tell, since he looked so assured of what he was saying. Though most of the students just took that as his delusions and went back to fixing their tech.
"Is that so?" Illyra muttered, "how interesting."
Without another word, she turned back and walked towards her desk as she reminded, "this exam ends in twenty minutes."
Nox looked at her walking back to the front before he focused on the gauntlets again, he had fixed the issue, all that remained was making sure it didn't randomly happen again.
***
Just like that, twenty minutes quickly passed.
Some candidates were long done before the twenty minutes even ended, while the larger number didn't even know what they were doing, so they just gave up.
While some had proud looks on their faces, others just looked relieved to be done.
"Time's up, step away from your stations." The examiner said, causing a few groans to rise from some of the candidates, but still, they obediently put their tools down and moved a bit away from the table.
The same drones that had previously delivered the broken solar tech returned. This time, they placed small circular platform-like objects on the tables of each candidate.
"Place your various restored solar tech on the platform and take it off when you hear a beep," Illyra explained and the candidates immediately followed the instructions.
Nox placed the gauntlets on the platform as instructed, the object let out a small beep as it started scanning them.
A moment later, it let out a beep again reminding him to take the gauntlets off. The moment they were done, the drone returned, picking it from his table and flying towards a box on Illyra's table.
"Good," she said as the last object was in the box, her bored expression was back, "that's it for test 2, you can keep the solar tech on your table as souvenir or throw them away, I don't care."
With that, she walked out of the lab, the drones following behind her with the box.
That last sentence lit a spark of excitement in the room. Even a broken Solar Tech weapon was worth a small fortune, and for students who weren't guaranteed admission yet, that was no small reward.
Well, for those that came from unimpressive backgrounds anyway, since most of their families could afford a lot more than this junk of an excuse for a solar tech.
Some even started walking out, leaving the tech behind... And that ignited Nox's old habits.
Without an ounce of shame, he walked to the various empty desks, picked the solar techs, most of which the candidates hadn't even tried fixing, before walking back to his table with a wide grin on his face.
"Hehehe," he chuckled as the other candidates looked at him weirdly before they also exited the lab.
It had already been established that he was insane and his current actions added to that chuckle just solidified that thought.
Maybe they should try to stay as far away as possible from him.
Nox didn't realize how they were looking at him, not would he have cared if he did, they might think he was just hoarding junk...
Which he was.
But all he saw was a pile of credits just laying there. Maybe more than enough to find a way to escape that crazy woman if he happened to fail the Academy's test.
"You're really going to take all that?" Linda's voice came from behind causing him to turn to her.
Her rifle was nowhere to be seen causing him to look back at her table. It wasn't there either...
Noticing what he was looking for, she chuckled before pointing at her watch and saying, "unlike the others, I'm not rich enough to leave behind a perfectly functional solar tech."
"I see, " he muttered in disappointment, hers would've gotten at least a few thousand creds, plus it didn't need fixing either...after all, she had already done all the work.
With a tap of his watch, he activated the inventory function and a light came from it, scanning the pile.
One second they were on the table, the next, they were completely gone. It was a neat feature that allowed students to store as much stuff as possible.
A ding from Nox's watch told him that the inventory was full before another came, reminding him of the next test.
[Name: Nox]
Location: Virtual room.
Section: Combat
Countdown: 00:59:58
"Alright then," Nox muttered, "let's see how hard this one will be."