Chapter 184 - Aptitude Test

Two days later…

“Are you sure you’re okay? You can continue to rest if you want.” Bola watched as Ollie put on his old Seven Snakes armour, the left sleeve obviously missing and hanging loosely on the side.

“I’m fine. Need something else to do to get things off my mind. Plus, I can’t leech off you guys continuously.” Ollie replied as he checked himself in a cracked mirror, craning his neck to try to see his reflection.

They were now staying in a temporary housing, which was basically an abandoned factory who’s rooms had been now repurposed. Simple fabric panels divided the large space into sections, allowing the residents privacy, though snoring was still a terrible issue. Not that it affected Ollie’s nightmares anyway.

Ollie was now staying with Roca and Bola, while Ellie stayed with Alex’s two younger daughters nearby. Ollie could not bring himself to meet the daughters, knowing that he might very well just break down again.

He was surprised to find out that Roca was not planning to return home to the Culdao Peaks, instead staying behind to help in the reconstruction. “Wouldn’t your life be much better back where you belong?” Ollie asked.

“Stupid. Me belong here, I protect you.” Roca punched Ollie in the shoulder gently, grinning and baring his fangs.

“So… what job you’re going to do?” Bola mumbled as he stuffed his face with plain bread, already wearing his construction outfit.

“You two are working in construction, right? I’ll join you guys.”

“No offence, but uhm…” Bola scratched the back of his head slightly, his eyes glancing towards Ollie’s missing left arm. “Not sure you’re going to clear the requirements.”

“Then what else can I do?” Ollie sighed.

“Well, I got a bit of time before my shift. We can head to the mall and check the job listings, see what they have for you.”

The trio soon left their temporary accommodation, walking towards the outside of the abandoned factory where transport wagons were already waiting. A throng of workers filtered themselves into the various wagons, taking them all across the ten districts that the Seven Snakes now controlled.

Yet the districts were worth nothing if not rebuilt. Ollie could tell the main focus was reconstruction, specifically housing.

“If you really want to join us, it’s going to be loads of back breaking work!” Bola talked louder over the din of the wagon as it swerved to avoid yet another pothole. “We mostly clear debris now – the factory at the Culdao Peaks have a method to recycle the broken concrete into building materials.”

Ollie nodded as he looked at the buildings they passed. As they approached the mall, he could already see scaffolding and short cranes lifting personnel and material higher. He noticed that the walls and structures were not being built from scratch on the spot, but rather assembled together like a jigsaw, with arctech welders sealing them together, ensuring they didn’t fall apart. One of the apartments were already nearing completion, the outer scaffolding being removed.

“That’s the new construction method I was telling you about!” Bola pointed out. “I’m only in the debris cleaning crew, so I can’t tell you much about how it works, but it seems way faster.”

Ollie marvelled at the sight, with multiple crews working in tandem to assemble a building like they were assembling a tower of cards. He recalled how badly the original building had been damaged, and it only took six days of work to get a brand new five storey apartment going.

“Where are they getting the parts from?”

“We have handcrafters in another factory near the mall, they make all the parts there then ship it over via wagons. I heard they are working on a method to get a mobile crane going, so it might be even faster next time.”

The wagon soon stopped at the mall, the square in front extremely crowded as people looked for work. A dozen job boards were scattered around, surrounded by jostling people, Ollie unable to see above the heads to figure out which department it was.

“Construction jobs are all that way, right now they pay the highest and has the most number of jobs. But these job boards are for non-members.” Bola motioned to half of the job boards. “Seven Snakes members get priority in job selection, so you can pretty much pick anything you want. We can head in and talk directly to the vipers if you want? But we can take a bath first.”

Ollie nodded, following Bola into the hypermall, which had yet to return to its former glory. However, the bathhouse was fully functional, with thousands of residents coming everyday to use it. Luckily, there was a smaller but private bathroom just for Seven Snakes associates, allowing Ollie and Bola easy access.

“Unlike construction, the bathhouse jobs pay relatively little. You interested? There’s a few slots left.” Bola explained as they soaked in the hot water, the arctech engravings on the floor glowing slightly.

Ollie shook his head. “I want to find something meaningful.”

“Hey, I used to work here, you know. What are you implying?”

“Nothing.” Ollie grinned, before his face was hit right on by a splash of water from Bola.

“Eat this, fucker!” Bola laughed. The two boys played in the water for a bit, forgetting their roles for a moment in time. After they had finally tired themselves out, they dressed up and headed to another room, where the Seven Snakes associates were all hanging out in a large common room.

Ollie waved and shook hands with a few other members he recognized, small talking. There were a significant number of others he did not recognize, mostly having joined only after the war. Still, he could tell that many of the original associates that he knew had died, and he was far from being the only one with a missing limb.

In the common room, the job boards were less crowded, allowing Ollie and Bola to check each and every posting. “Here’s my job, still loads of slot, since the plan is to pretty much revamp everything. Though it’s going to be hard on your body.” Bola motioned to the construction job board, which was filled to the brim with Golden Snakes Construction recruiting advertisements.

Ollie was cognizant that even if he had two arms, he was considered physically weak, unlike Bola and Roca. No one could say Ollie was a weakling, but the facts were undeniable. Ollie did not think he could do such work with only one arm left.

“Or… you could work as a clerk under Keith? Handle all the business stuff and shit.” Bola pointed to another job board, prompting Ollie to walk over and check the posting.

Administrative Clerk: 200 rakels a day. Requires basic reading and writing skills. “Sounds boring. I don’t want to sit at a desk the whole day.”

“So you want a physical job?”

“… hmm let’s look around a bit more.”

“Maybe you can work as an arctech technician or even a designer?” Bola ran up to the engineering job board. “Look, there’s a posting here for newbies!”

Ollie was intrigued. Maybe if I learn arctech, I can create my own arm again. Ollie limped over to the board, looking at all the postings. There were plenty of factory jobs, but Ollie had his eyes on the designer role.

He was no stranger to arctech engravings – he himself had to learn how to repair it on the spot during combat situations. Ollie had already lost count of the time both him and Bola had to repair point defence systems hastily, or fix a damaged rifle engraving and so on.

Arctech Designer Intern: 100 rakels a day. Requires basic reading and writing skills. Aptitude test will be provided every day at noon. To work on projects as designated by Gordon or Reese.

“Eh, I’m not so sure about the test.” Ollie was a bit disheartened to see the test, wondering if any of his wartime experience would come into play. If the test was a university level test, Ollie would flunk it immediately.

“It’ll be fine, what do you have to lose? You repaired more engravings than anything during the last two months!” Bola slapped him on the back. “But if you really don’t want it, there’s a nursing job as well.”

“No, I’m good. I’ll take the test.”

“Alright, I’m going to relax here for a bit. Good luck man!”

Ollie followed the instructions on the posting and left Bola in the common room, heading towards another office in the mall where there was a few other applicants waiting for the aptitude test. They sat apart in something akin to an examination hall, many of them reading their notes or practicing their etching on stone.

One of the clerks in charge of the testing smiled genially at him from a table as Ollie approached. “Hey there, there’s still three hours to go before the aptitude test. If you want you can come back later.”

“What does the aptitude test consist of?”

“Wait a moment.” The clerk rummaged through a stack of paper on his desk, pulling out a document. “Here you go. If you can clear all three sections, you’re in. And here is a sample test. You can use it as a reference.”

“Is it hard?”

“Well, that depends. Failure rate is about 70%. While we are in a post-war recovery mode, we don’t have the resources to help everyone. Only those competent enough or attuned enough can become an arctech designer. Or you could just practice your butt off. Either way, you can try as many times as you want, not a problem.”

“Got it.” Ollie took the document, returning to an empty desk and plodding down on the stool, going through the different sections.

Ollie did not consider himself to book-smart: he could hardly read or write before joining the Seven Snakes, and even then his education was not the best. Yet, Ollie felt that this job would be the best for him, especially considering his missing arm that basically meant that any other role would be less than optimal.

Sure, he could be a medical nurse with just one arm, but it still pained him to see others suffering, and would probably make his nightmares worse. Maybe I’ll go all out into arctech design. Ollie planned to use this to distract himself as much as possible.

First Section: Arcia Etching. Given an etching diagram, the applicant must be able to replicate the etch exactly. Marks will be deducted for deviances or mistakes – two mistakes means failure.

Second Section: Arctech Theory. Twenty multiple choice questions will be given at random from a question bank, with the passing grade set at fifteen correct answers.

Third Section: Etching Improvement. Given an etching diagram, the applicant must point out all mistakes in the etching as well as provide an improved diagram.

Ollie’s face nearly blanched, especially at the second and third section, wondering what the hell he had signed up for. Maybe I can’t do this after all…

The first section would be easy enough, seeing as he had long been repairing based on provided etching diagrams. It was like tracing, and Ollie was confident most people could do it as long as their arms weren’t shaky.

The second section on the other hand, would be the death of Ollie. When he repaired engravings, he did it without actually considering the implications of what was happening. If he tried to think about what a specific trace did or what was it’s purpose, his mind simply drew up a blank.

The third section was just a compounding effect on the second section, further exacerbating Ollie’s lack of knowledge.

Ellie’s words to him at Alex’s grave resurfaced once again on his mind, causing Ollie to take a deep breath, mentally fortifying himself. I can do this. I can do this.

Ollie checked the sample exam paper, half afraid to look at the second section. He tested out copying the etching of the first diagram, the clerk providing him with a simple set of tools. His right arm proved to be firm and precise, Ollie focusing as though lives depended on it. That was always how it had been when they were fighting.

The moment he finished and moved onto the second section, his jaw nearly dropped. He flipped to the third section, his jaw dropping even further. “Uh… sir? Are you sure this is the correct sample exam?”

“Yes, why?” The clerk was confused, looking at Ollie’s slack jawed expression.

A surge of confidence welled in Ollie’s chest, a grin breaking out on his face while he checked the questions again. Too easy! Anyone who had worked on an arctech engraving before would know this!

The third section gave him even more hope, being a rifle engraving that had been poorly designed. Ollie had repaired more than enough of this to know what was right and what was wrong. He might not know the exact detailed reason, but he knew what happened if the mistakes were still allowed to remain.

Looks like being an arctech designer intern is within reach!