Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

The special program was the result of an unprecedented partnership between the multinational company Hónghé Holdings and NIST, a prestigious U.S. government agency. And this special program had the public purpose of attracting and developing extraordinarily talented people all over the country, either to employ them after this six-month training or to launch them into the job market.

Since this program was directly involved with the United States government, it obviously followed the mold of a military school. Thus, the basic rules of the program followed military standards, except for a few liberties.

From day one, the applicant could not leave the compound as freely as originally advertised. People could visit Woodbury or travel to see family, but only on holidays, special occasions, or by prior request.

Also, although the NIST properties in each state of the country were large enough to provide each student with his or her own room, four students had to share a room in the dormitory in order to promote "team spirit" and "a sense of collective honor. Klaus only found out about these little details when he arrived at the door of his room and heard voices coming from inside. When he opened the door with his card, a pillow flew at his face. Since he had fast reflexes, he caught the pillow before it hit his face.

"Sorry about that, brother!" Someone shouted from the room.

Klaus put the pillow down and looked inside, realizing that not only would he have roommates, but that he was the last of them to arrive at the dorm.

His other three roommates were already there, and how did Klaus know that there were only four people per room? Simple, it was because there were only two bunks.

"Dude, why are you so late? You were the last one to arrive." One of the men standing near the door inquired.

Klaus Park entered the room ignoring him and was immediately surrounded by the three new colleagues like a bunch of kids teasing a hottie on the street.

"Yeah, don't tell me you went to one of the lectures." Another one of them said.

Klaus was a quiet man in most situations, but being suddenly surrounded by three guys he didn't even know bothered him enough to make him remember what his high school was like.

"What do you want?" He asked with a stern look that made two of the three boys cringe.

"We just want to discuss who should be our leader. You know, in a place where there are only men, such a thing is necessary. I think we should vote by age, and the oldest should be the leader. As you all know, the older, the wiser." The speaker was a man as tall as Klaus, with long brown hair, a muscular body, and a thinning beard on his face. He was the only one who didn't tremble under Klaus' gaze.

Technically, being the leader of a room was something everyone wanted, because he would be the man who had the most say in most things.

"David, that doesn't make sense. Age doesn't mean anything. I think a leader should be smart to get more benefits and things for our room. My qi is 170, and yours?" A young man with blond hair and a cocky smile asked. He was wearing a formal vest with a slightly crumpled collar.

"Don't talk shit, Nathan. Qi doesn't mean anything. I think the most important thing for a leader is emotional control and charisma. And I don't want to brag, but I was always the captain of my school's volleyball team in high school and elementary school. Many people with high IQs are actually idiots. How can someone like that be a leader when they don't even have motor coordination? Andrew A. McClelland replied.

"Who are you calling an idiot?" Nathan Whitehouse grabbed another pillow from the bunk next to him.

"You know what we have in common? We're all here because our archery scores were among the best in the selection process, and also because the rest of us are just average compared to the other geniuses. So we can't fight. Do you understand?" said David S. Jones, the tall, muscular, self-proclaimed wise guy.

Klaus frowned and asked David:

"How do you know that? How do you know that each of the four of us only passed because of our grades in archery?"

"That's basically what it says in the email each of us got when we got here." Nathan explained, lowering the hand that was about to throw another pillow in Andrew's direction. "All the people who were accepted into the selection process were automatically assigned to departments based on their top exam scores. They also put people with similar skills in the same rooms to create a sense of togetherness and competitiveness at the same time."

David smiled and patted Nathan on the shoulder as he looked at Klaus. "That's it! So, my friend, if you are here with us in this room, you have surely been assigned to the archery department, just like the three of us." David said and then suggested, "And considering that, I had another idea. What do you think about us deciding who will be the leader based on who is the best archer among us? That would be fair for everyone."

"New guy, what do you say?" Nathan and Andrew looked at Klaus.

Klaus looked at the three of them and gave a closed smile. "I don't think it's a bad idea."

He was still a little confused and would normally prefer to watch the video with the explanations before doing anything, but it was impossible for someone like him not to get excited about a little competition.

"So, if everyone's in favor of this, it's already decided and there's no turning back, we'll compete for the top spot with bows and arrows." Nathan said proudly, as if the whole idea had been his.

"Fine, but can I at least put my things away first?" asked Klaus, pointing to one of the low beds in the bunks.

Since he was the last to arrive, he couldn't choose which bed he would sleep in, but he wasn't complaining about that either.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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