The first part of the Stormrunner Exam was a written test on physics, geology, and meteorology.

As Shon opened the booklet, he chuckled. This exam seemed to be an easy one.

“What is the first law of thermodynamics?” the first question asked.

“The first law of thermodynamics,” Shon wrote, “dictates that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but only transferred between different states.”

Yes, the first law of thermodynamics. Because of this iron law, Fraxian powers depended heavily on their surroundings. It would be useless to transfer energy if there was none to begin with. Furthermore, in realistic settings, it would take a Fraxian much more energy than the ideal number derived from equations. Disrupting thermal equilibrium meant heavy heat loss into the environment, and like all other organic beings and inorganic systems, the Fraxian biology was simply not a perfectly efficient machine.

Valerians also understood the laws of thermodynamics well, perhaps even better than Fraxians. Shon heard many stories from the earlier days of the Gloom Centuries, especially during the November Riots. The Valerians who broke into Fraxian homes would extinguish all sources of heat so the Fraxians could not fight back. Some shot the Fraxians outright. The crueler ones would tie the Fraxians up a beam and light a fire under their feet. The fire was big enough to cause physical pain, but it was just small enough so that the Fraxians were physically capable of redirecting it without inflicting damage. Faced with the burning pain, those Fraxians would instinctively perform thermal transfer to protect themselves. After an hour, they would reach the limits of their physical capacity and die of exhaustion rather than thermal injuries.

Those were dark days. At least these bloody riots would never happen again under President Valtora’s rule. Shon breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was not born into a life of comfort, at least Fraxians like him were given legal protection and a chance to work their way out of poverty. He could even join the ranks of Valerians as an honorary citizen.

Shon smiled. The future ahead of him carried infinite possibilities, even though some possibilities were infinitely far.

Shon refocused on the exam booklet. He breezed through the other questions. He almost regretted spending so much time preparing for the written portion, given how easy it was.

However, every now and then, he would encounter an interesting problem that got him thinking.

“What are the four types of lethal debris in a sandstorm?” asked the booklet.

Shon struggled to remember. Evidently, there was sand. Death by asphyxiation. There were boulders, like the large rocks he shot up in the range earlier. Death by blunt trauma. There were those sharp metal poles blown from destroyed buildings. When they got accelerated by the winds, they would effectively become lethal javelins. Death by penetrating trauma.

And of course, there was gravel. How could he forget? This was the mechanism of death on his dad’s death certificate. He remembered that during the funeral, his dad’s body was wrapped entirely in shrouds. The autopsy report could not find a word precise enough to describe the state of his father, or whatever was left of him Doctors said that the torrent of high-speed gravel disfigured his father, but according to people who had been there, these gravels tore up his flesh and bones and brought them into the wind, like a horde of bloodthirsty locusts. There were photos from the autopsy, but Shon never had the courage to take a look.

“The four types of debris: aerosol, boulder, spike, and shrapnel,” Shon put down the formal names on paper.

Shon kept writing, trying to push the thought of his father out of his mind. He could not let any emotions distract him from passing this exam. He silently apologized, but that was what his dead father — and his living mother and sister — would have wanted.

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For nearly all the remaining questions, Shon could recite the answers from the top of his head. His mind began wandering off. He wondered how he would do in the thermal manipulation test and the political loyalty section. Those shouldn’t be too much trouble. The hardest one would be the Stormrunning simulation.

Thirty minutes left. He flipped the booklet over. One essay question left.

“In 500 words, describe the relationship between Fraxian biology, the laws of thermodynamics, and the city’s power infrastructure.”

No wonder the rest of the exam was so easy. This problem was novel, unseen in any past exams or exam prep. While most problems depended on rote memorization, this problem required a thorough, systemic understanding of how the sciences in the textbooks apply to daily life.

Shon wondered why this year’s exam was suddenly so different. Did the criteria for selecting Stormrunners change?

Shon smiled. Although he had not encountered this problem in his earlier preparation, this question had tested him right in the area of his interest. The best Stormrunners fell in two categories — those with a personal vendetta against the storms, and those who wanted to explore the unknown with the help of the most cutting-edge technology. Shon happened to be both.

He picked up his pen and began writing. The entire power infrastructure of the Republic of Valeria was designed and built by XetaCorp. The founder and CEO of XetaCorp, Theo Xeta, combined the laws of thermodynamics with Fraxian biology to create ThermoTech, a branch of engineering applied in most modern-day tech.

The details of ThermoTech remained proprietary information, but Shon understood the basics. Fraxian cells contained specific genomes capable of sensing and transferring heat. While a regular Fraxian could not even extinguish a candle without breaking a sweat, ThermoTech extracted Fraxian cells and amplified useful traits through genomics. By building amplification devices around these cells, they could serve specialized roles like power sources, information carriers, or sensors.

Shon looked around the room for some inspiration, and he saw the bright thermolamps hanging overhead, illuminating the room for years without a break. That was a perfect example. He began illustrating a diagram.

In a thermolamp, cells were built to be specialized in incandescence, or changing heat energy into electromagnetic radiation like visible light. There were only very few cells, condensed in an orb smaller than a speck of dust. However, with the help of amplification infrastructure, the perceived energy could be made much bigger.

Shon drew another picture of a person yelling into a canyon. Normally, a person’s voice could not travel far. However, in a perfectly shaped canyon, the voice might carry for miles. A ThermoTech amplification device was like a perfectly shaped canyon. It did not produce extraneous energy, but it rearranged existing energy in the most efficient manner.

Suddenly, a thought came across Shon. Valeria had always glorified ThermoTech as the cutting-edge technology that solved all of humanity’s issues. However, Shon looked back at the stinky train ride earlier today. Then he remembered how he had shivered in the cold shower he had taken the night before.

What if the world should not have been this way? What if Fraxians, serving as such an important cornerstone of science, deserved to enjoy the benefits of their creations?

He had heard stories about the land far, far away, about the Bastion Empire. Of course, not the official propaganda that threw all kinds of derogatory remarks at the Bastion Empire, but from word of mouth.

In the Bastion Empire, Shon had heard, Fraxian powers were celebrated instead of detested, which allowed them to create much better innovations.

From the whispers of refugees and immigrants, Shon had learned that Bastion scientists had discovered a revolutionary energy source called electricity, capable of powering even the poorest homes. The Bastion Fraxians used thermo manipulation to create superconductors — lossless energy mediums used to build floating trains and machines that split atoms. Some veterans had even described how Bastion Fraxians manipulated energy particles in mysterious patterns, crafting fearsome thinking machines that could compute storm trajectory and thermodynamics simulation ten times faster than the best Valerian scientist.

Perhaps in the Bastion Empire, Shon and his family could live with dignity…

Shon quickly shook his head. No way. The Bastion Empire was a horrific dictatorship. His mom did not risk her life to sail across the seas just for her son to be so ungrateful. His future was in Valeria. That was why he must become a Valerian citizen, so he could never be exiled. That was why he must become a Stormrunner.

There was a loud buzz. The exam bell broke Shon’s train of thought. Thankfully, he had the essay long finished.

Shon quickly stashed away his thoughts of the Bastion Empire. Given that the political loyalty test was in two hours, he should not let any questionable thoughts enter his mind. Especially not thoughts about the Bastion Empire, supposedly Valeria’s biggest enemy.

Shon quickly went to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face, bringing his mind back to the present moment. Right now, his priority was to ace the thermal transfer test.