A loud siren was currently blaring in the hanger that was being used as a testing area. This was to signal to all the ship members that they were about to make a jump into hyperspace.

The Imroosian officer stood in front of the other 9 before looking at the various mercenaries in front of him. Out of the 10 ships of mercenaries that they had brought over, only 29 made it through the first two tests.

'And this will be cut down to 15 if I am lucky. Most likely, we will only get 5 or 6 new members from these guys.'

Thinking about how his group would most likely be bringing in the fewest new members out of all the recruitment groups, Oro felt a headache. But when his eyes landed on Jax, he felt relaxed.

'I am not sure why but this guy is giving me a feeling similar to one of the commanders. He might just make this journey worth it. If he reaches the rank of officer or captain, I will definitely be rewarded for it.'

Thinking up to there, Oro calmed down. It did not matter if all the other groups brought back a large number of members. The big bosses were looking for quality over quantity. The Black Sun could recruit countless members from the various planets they influenced on, but recruiting someone talented was rare. Even though Oro had no proof, he trusted his instincts.

"Listen up, everyone! My name is Oro and I am one of the various captains of the Black Sun 7th division. I am the one currently in charge of sorting through the trash in this system to see if we find anything worth a damn.

In a few moments, we will be having you all go through 4 tests. The first test is an obstacle course. You must make it through the finish line within 3 minutes. This test should not be too difficult as long as you do not have 2 left feet and have been in battle a few times.

Then there are the shooting tests. Stationary target shooting and moving target shooting. You must hit 6 out of 10 shots in the stationary target test and at least 3 out of 10 in the moving target test.

The last test will be one on one combat with another recruit. The conditions for the test will be randomized. Who you fight, where you fight, what weapons you fight with, will all be picked out randomly from a list we have made.

This means that out of the 29 of you that stand before me, only 15 at most can join our ranks. That is only at most though. If you fail any of the tests, you will be joining those other guys and get dumped out of the trash shoot.

Any questions?" Oro asked. He looked at all the mercenaries with a sharp gaze. No one dared to breathe too loud let alone ask questions. Oro nodded before walking toward the obstacle course where mercenaries followed.

Jax stood at the front of the group along with two others that had stood out to the other officers. One was a human female that wore a helmet that completely covered her head. Holstered on her right hip was a blaster pistol with an intricate design resembling ones that nobles had.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The other was a large trandoshan. Out of all the recruits, he was the only one that carried a weapon large than a blaster pistol. It was actually a heavy blaster rifle. Although its quality was a bit inferior to that of the Black Sun guards, it was still a weapon that no one would want to deal with unless they had to.

The trio followed directly behind Oro with the other mercenaries on their tail until they stood in front of the obstacle course.

"Line up!" Oro commanded.

The others moved from behind the 3 in the lead and lined up across the starting line of the obstacle course. With the course being about 25 meters wide and 100 meters long, it was neither too long nor short. Everyone had to make it to one end and back while moving around the various obstacles and dodging the traps that had been set up.

Oro raised his hand before lowering it, signaling the start of the test. All the mercenaries moved as fast as they could but some had obvious advantages. Jax was one of them.

With his mobility, he was able to breeze through several traps without them triggering while effortlessly moving through the various obstacles. By the time he was halfway through his return trip, the person in 2nd place had still not even reached the end of the 100 meters.

All the officers and mercenaries saw how Jax moved and was impressed. It was not just his mobility itself, but also his reaction. Traps would come from random directions but it was as if Jax had eyes in the back of his head. He perfectly avoided the traps while doing the least amount of movement needed to dodge.

"Is he really a human?"

"Can't be. At least not a full-blooded or non-mutated one."

Jax heard the various comments about him but paid them no mind. Once he crossed the finish line, he did not wait for the others at the end but walked in front of the targets and waited to be told when he could begin the next test.

Oro felt pleased that his hunch did not seem off and wanted to see if Jax's shooting skills maxed his physical abilities but he had to treat everyone fairly. So for the next 2 and a half minutes, Oro watched all the other mercenaries cross the finish line. Some came through effortlessly, others out of breath but unharmed, and some came through sporting injuries. But no matter what, all of them had made it through.

This and the shooting tests were actually pretty easy. Anyone who was a mercenary had to be able to pass these tests not only if they wanted to make it in the Black Sun but if they wanted to survive in the Outer Rim. Without some basic skills such as these, they were sure to die.

These tests were not meant to weed out the weak but to filter out the strong. All those that showed a high amount of potential would have special attention placed on them. Even though Jax stole the show, the human female called Enel and the trandoshan called Zork both stood out in their own way.

In the next round, the same 3 also made it to the top 3 positions but in the reverse position. Each of the targets had a humanoid figure with targets in their heads and chests. Enel was able to get all bullseyes on during both tests in both the chest and head. Zork came in second. Even though he had gotten all bullseye as well, Zork was only able to do it in the chest and stationary head while his moving head targets were only 7 out of 10.

Jax was the weakest member of the trio in this test. In the stationary target test, he got bullseyes for all 10 targets in the chest and head areas. For the moving target, Jax only got 7 out of 10 for the chest target and 3 out of 10 for the head.

This was due to Jax having killed people and gaining their skills. While he could replicate what the mercenaries he killed could do, their skills were limited. If he wanted to have skills that were on par with 2 true veterans, Jax would need to put in the effort or kill someone and absorb their memory.

Oro was a bit disappointed that Jax did not do as well as the other two but when he thought about it, he realized that a person could not be skilled at everything. And even if Jax was not the best, his skills were still superior to most Black Sun common members and could even rival officers.

None of the mercenaries failed this test as well. Seeing this, Oro knew that the final test was the only real one. This would separate the best from the ones beneath them. 29 guards walked out from behind Oro and passed each of the mercenaries a playing card with a number.

"This is the last test. You each have a card with a number on it. The person who has the same number as you will be who you fight. Whoever has number zero will get a free pass and automatically become one of our members. As for what method you will use when fighting and where you fight, that will be determined at random. Turn it over and announce your number from left to right."

Each of the mercenaries announced their number. Enel, Zork, and Jax each got the number zero. Even though the tests were supposed to be fair, Oro was not willing to risk potential captains or even commanders. These were his tests so he could do with the rules as he pleased.

Jax, Enel, and Zork had been led away to their temporary dorms while the rest of the mercenaries were put through the last test. At the end of the day, the Black Sun gained 13 recruits and 3 new officer candidates.