Assessment Day II
“Now, I know I said we would be conducting one on one drills today, but that is going to be postponed, as the Greatwood Squadron has been called in for Assessment.”
At their Captain's words, a murmur rippled out amongst the Squad. Logan didn’t say anything however, at a loss as to what exactly that meant.
“Everyone here went through a truncated version of Assessment held by the former Major upon arriving at Marineford. This was apparently due to ‘lack of funding’ but with Micah’s treason, we discovered he had been mismanaging funding, sending a large portion to a separate account.”
“As such, we have redirected those payments back to where they were always intended to go, to a Guild certified Assessor, and have been sending Squadrons one by one to Assessment. Now, it is the Greatwood Squadron’s turn.”
With this explanation, Logan remembered a different explanation Gregor had once given him, weeks ago at this point, of Assessment Cards and the Ranks and Tiers involved with them. It made him excited, and somewhat sad.
On one hand, it had been too long since Logan had an accurate gauge on his ability. On the other, it reminded him of his first mentor here, Jeremiah. They had made a shoddy tracking system together when Logan was just learning about the wonders of Divinity. Thinking back made him strangely wistful.
“Alright everyone, step to!”
“Yes, sir!” The Squad responded in unison, putting a small smirk on Gregor’s face.
Logan had to admit, his training had been good for instilling discipline in them. As the Greatwood Squadron marched down the thoroughfare, Logan’s thoughts turned to his upcoming Assessment. Apparently, he wasn’t alone.
“What Ranks do you all think you’ll get? I know I gotta have an S in Body, right?” Larry asked, in a clear, if failing, attempt to be quiet.
“I really don’t know. I’m just hoping I can keep up with the rest of you.” Logan responded.
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“Hello there, Greatwood Squadron! I’ll be your Assessor today, Kavin! I hope you guys are having an absolutely wonderful day so far!”
Woah, this guy is super enthusiastic. He must really love his job.
“Alrighty let's get right to it now! Can I have the first volunteer please step up?” Kavin asked the Squadron.
They looked amongst themselves for someone to step up to the overly excited Assessor. The moment stretched on awkwardly, until Gregor cleared his throat. Instantly, the Squads reaction changed.
“Ah, let me do it.”
“No, let me go first, Jerry!” Larry said.
“Actually I have seniority here, so it should be me!” Arasaka input.
Even Sophia started grabbing people as if to hold them back from getting ahead, before Gregor cleared his throat once more. The Squadron immediately settled down again.
“Wow Captain, look at your Squad’s discipline! Now isn’t that something? Well, let's start with the first person to volunteer, Jerry, was it?”
“Yes sir.” Jerry replied respectfully.
“Wonderful, well lets have you step up here alright? I’m going to Assess you, and it’s going to feel like a pulse of lightning is pushing through you for a second! Don’t worry though, it's completely harmless, I’m just using my Divinity to get an imprint of your traits! Then you can get your Assessment Card right away, isn’t that exciting?”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
When no one responded right away, Kavin repeated himself.
“Isn’t that exciting?”
“Uhhh, yes sir, very exciting sir.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you think so! Let's get to it then!”
With that, their Assessor raised his hands to Jerry’s chest, and light began to stream from his fingers. As Kavin had explained, a small pulse of light washed out over Jerry’s body, extending from his chest to his toes and head, before trailing back to its origin. The process went quickly, only taking about fifteen seconds from start to finish.
“Whew, there we go! All done now, Jerry! Give me just a couple seconds more to make the Assessment Card!”
With that, the Assessor turned and walked over to a small wood and metal box, the Divine energies still swirling between his palms. Once there, he thrust his hands into two holes on either side of the contraption, depositing the energies within. All at once, light began to flare on the boxes edges, and a slight whirring sound could be overheard.
“Ok… and… we… are done!” Kavin exclaimed as the box finished its purpose.
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“Huh, not bad at all.”
Jerry had just received his Assessment Card, with the rest of the Greatwood Squadron standing around him, trying to peak at the older man’s Tier and Ranks. Logan managed to get a good glimpse at it from his side, quickly noting the important points.
Name: Jerry Springer
Tier: D
Body: D Rank
Mind: S Rank
Spirit: C Rank
Affinity: N/A
Abilities:
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N/A
Blessings:
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Hyperfocus
Honestly, Logan probably could have guessed at Jerry’s Ranks and been 100% accurate, but he was more interested in the man’s Blessing. Logan’s knowledge of Blessings and Abilities were very limited, and he was dying to learn a little more.
“Hey Jerry, what’s your Blessing do?” Logan asked.
At first, the man looked a little annoyed, like Logan had asked a deeply personal question. Which, maybe he did, Logan didn’t quite know. But Jerry quickly took a breath, and went on to explain anyway.
“Ah, my Blessing has been very helpful to me in my academic pursuits. It allows me to clear my brain completely and direct my attention with complete intent. This also has the effect of making my Body slightly more coordinated when I’m under its effects, improving the accuracy of my throws.”
Wow. That seemed incredibly useful to the man, and was likely the reason he had become the person he was. Logan found it fascinating, imagining how people would develop into adults with clear advantages in certain endeavors.
Then, it was time for the rest of the Squadron to go through Assessment. One by one, they all stood at the front and let the energetic Kavin Assess them. Everyone in the Squad found themselves at the same D-Tier, which had provided them all with slightly enhanced Bodies. Logan wanted to know what the upcoming Tiers would offer, but before he got the chance to ask, it was his turn to be Assessed.
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As Logan stood in front of Kavin, watching the Divinity swirl on his Assessor’s hands, he tried not to be nervous. Kavin gave him a smile that Logan returned shakily.
You just watched everyone else do it, you’ll be fine. Come on Logan, just do it.
Even though Logan understood that he was perfectly safe, he had never let anyone use their Divinity on him intentionally before. It felt unnatural to him, like he was being cornered in. Taking a deep breath, Logan tried to stay calm.
“Alrighty, here we go!” Kavin enthusiastically exclaimed.
Instantly, the man put his hands on Logan’s chest, and let his Divinity pulse outwards. His earlier description of the sensation was apt, as Logan felt like his blood had been replaced by pure electricity. However, the sensation didn’t hurt, and instead felt… empowering.
The feeling ended almost too fast for Logan’s tastes, as Kavin’s Divinity snaked through his system and back into the Assessor’s hands. Kavin then took the energies over to the box, letting it process them the same way he had for everyone else. However, there seemed to be a slight problem for Logan, as his Card took almost twice the time as his Squadmates’ to process.
Eventually, with a noise that sounded like the machine was breaking, Logan’s Assessment Card came out.
“Huh… Well I’ll be… Can’t say I’ve ever seen that before!”
As Kavin handed Logan his card, he quickly looked it over.
Name: Logan Brewer
Tier: D
Body: B Rank
Mind: B Rank
Spirit: B Rank
Affinity: Life & U̵̦͙͊͋ň̸̡̩͆̋͒͘k̸͕͇͙͙̝͔͗͑͊̌̄̏n̴̜̝̆̽̏̓́̓ồ̷̺͖̓͝͝w̵͖̟̗̙̌̒̽̑̉ǹ̶̢̳͉̣̲̍̓̈́͘̚
Abilities:
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Flora Manipulation
Soul Forged Sword
Blessings:
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U̷̢̢̧̧̬̙̲̼͓̯͛n̷͉̠͇͓̉̎k̴̡̹̝̩̮̞̙̔̈́̐̇͑͒̿͒̆̕͘͜ņ̵̩̞̞̤̘͍̖̈́̑͌̄̈́̄̿͝ͅõ̴̦̦̬̫̞̀̈́̅͋̎͝w̷̧̲͎̺̺̝̪͍̿̇̇͐͂͘͝͝ͅn̴̠͈̣̜͌̒̋̏͜
U̵̦͙͊͋ň̸̡̩͆̋͒͘k̸͕͇͙͙̝͔͗͑͊̌̄̏n̴̜̝̆̽̏̓́̓ồ̷̺͖̓͝͝w̵͖̟̗̙̌̒̽̑̉ǹ̶̢̳͉̣̲̍̓̈́͘̚
“Uhhh…” escaped Logan’s mouth as he desperately tried to come up with an excuse.
Thankfully, his friend had his back.
“Of course, all Legionnaires’ Assessments are private and not to be spoken of without their consent.” Gregor stated, looking over the whole group.
He didn’t stop holding their gaze until a chorus of affirmatives rang out. Then he motioned for the next person in line to step up to Kavin. Amar, the last to go through Assessment, walked up to the overly enthusiastic man.