The Rise of the Black Plain

While the array was processing Alina's physical test result, one of the examiners quickly started asking her different questions.

Such questions were the same as the town's Cultivation Ranking leader, Quinn, had heard earlier. That was the set of questions prepared by the selection organization and which was being applied to all competitors.

Finally, Alina started to answer the first question. "No, I never killed anyone."

Hearing this, the examiner, who held a clipboard of papers in his hands, asked her without any change in his countenance. "Why?"

"I have always lived in the Dry City, and before Mr. Minos arrived, I had never imagined becoming a warrior. I cultivated techniques focused on this aspect, but that wasn't something I thought of using in battle. Instead, I thought I would become an ordinary worker, like my mother."

"Allied to that, I was lucky never to be involved in a dangerous situation in which my life would be at risk. Consequently, I never needed to kill anyone." She replied sincerely.

At the same time, that soldier with the clipboard was writing down everything Alina had said while chewing some candy. "OK. Let's go to the next question."

...

"No, even if I were in love with someone, I would never try to harm that person just to get him to stay with me. If I loved someone, then even if he needed or wanted to leave, I would fully support him."

...

"I would save the child and the man." She replied after thinking for a few seconds about the situation presented by the previous question.

It was difficult to save someone and, at the same time, abandon someone else. Still, given the situation, Alina knew there wasn't much to do. If there were indeed only the possibility of saving only two people, leaving one to die, then that would still be the most acceptable attitude.

Unfortunately, the world could be ruthless. In some circumstances, either an individual would strive to save at least one person at risk, or they could all end up dying.

Indecision could lead to the worst possible results!

And in this case, given the impossibility of saving the three people, due to the description of the question, then trying to do something like saving the three would be very dangerous.

That could result in the death of the entire group, relying on the person who originally had nothing to do with the situation, the savior...

That is, instead of one death, the worst result could be four deaths. And that was unacceptable!

Sometimes you can't avoid inevitable deaths.

That is sad? Yeah, but there's nothing to be done. Not even individuals who reach level 100 have invincible powers. They are not all-powerful or omniscient. Therefore, some deaths could not be avoided.

However, the unfortunate thing would be the case of preventable deaths. For example, suppose someone tried to save the three people, and all four ended up dead. For one of them, such a thing was inevitable, but for the others, especially the one who had tried to save the others, it would be a cruel fate.

There was some sense in dying in battle, fighting for life or freedom, dreams, but not in a situation like that.

For all that, Alina had responded without much hesitation.

The examiner continued his note while asking her. "Why would you leave the woman behind?"

"First, I would never abandon a child. It doesn't matter if the child is disabled or not. A child should not be abandoned under any circumstances. With that, there remains the man and the woman."

"Given the man's description, he seems to be preoccupied with the lives of the other two people, unlike the woman's behavior. She seems to want to save herself most of all and doesn't seem too worried about the child." She replied calmly.

The question included several details about the behavior of each of the characters, and Alina had not felt well with the woman's behavior. 'For this story, the three people must be a family. But I feel like this woman would flirt with the savior, if he were a man, to ensure her salvation…' She thought about it, feeling uncomfortable.

"OK."

...

"Yes, there is someone I am not capable of hurting. She is my mother. I guess I don't need to explain why right?" She asked with a slight smile on her face.

"Haha, no, I can understand. OK, last question. What is your goal in the army, and is there any other dream for you besides becoming a soldier?"

"My goal is to become strong and be able to provide a better and more comfortable life for my family. By joining the army, I will be able to pay for numerous resources that my family would never be able to afford, including allowing my parents to live much longer."

"As for other goals... Let me see, something unrelated to joining the army... I'd like to have my own family and see my descendants do great things."

"OK. That's all, Alina." The examiner said as he finished his task and went behind the bench in that stall.

After that, the result of her physical examination was finally presented on the array's screen.

- Level: 29

- Talent: Blue

- Physique: King

"Okay, young Alina, lastly, what is your innate ability? That can help you get benefits in the army if you pass the selection." An old man said as he scratched his eyes to see if he didn't see something wrong.

'Physique of King-grade! Impressive, she must have quite a powerful ability!' He thought shockingly as he still watched the physical test array's screen.

Someone born with a Blue talent and a Physique of a different degree than the Warrior one was something tough to happen. In fact, such a thing could be considered typical as children with talents superior to their parents!

So, this old soldier was positively surprised by the result of Alina's physical test.

King-grade Physique's innate abilities were so good that many noble families invested in individuals with such traits, even if they lacked the desirable Black talent.

But unfortunately for Alina, or perhaps, fortunately, the former spiritual academy in this town, there was no subordinate of large noble families working regulation around here. The only one who would come here occasionally was principal Lionel.

However, he only came to the Dry City when youths with Black talent showed up, totally ignoring this other possibility. Consequently, the former Black Star Academy's employees, who were ignorant and unaware of the matter, had not even passed this information on to the Gill family.

In fact, they had thought that this was an error of the spiritual array, which was already very old and occasionally needed maintenance...

Consequently, Alina had not been called to any noble family.

And on this young woman's side, she had also always thought that her ability would have no use in battle, so she hadn't run after such a thing. 'I could, at most, work destroying the garbage...' She thought about it back then, when she'd convinced herself that her skill wouldn't serve to place her in a noble family.

Alina then sighed and said. "I don't think my ability can be of use to the army. Anyway, I don't know much about it, but I name it, Disintegration."

"Oh? I have never heard of such an ability. Maybe it is a new variant." The old man commented in a low voice.

Innate abilities could be any type.

However, when individuals with compatible natural abilities and Physiques of the same degree had children, these offspring had a high chance of inheriting an innate ability similar to those of the parents.

And because of that, many abilities had already become famous across the Central Continent, given the vast presence of individuals with similar powers. Thus, for example, a family could be renowned for its innate ability to control flames... And in it, although it may differ in each person, in more general analysis, they would be considered from the same class of abilities.

Hence, the reason for the old soldier's comment. There were skills related to flames, water, wind, visual skills, stat-boosting, etc. There were many large families of innate abilities, with variations of the same class of power.

Two individuals with flame-related powers, while one could produce lava, the other could absorb and release heat with his flames. Anyway, the possibilities were endless, and each individual would have different characteristics.

On the other hand, there were variant abilities...