The week passed by in a flash and it was now time to start preparing for the Team Exam. Meeting up with Wan at the inn, the trio began to discuss their plans for the next few months. Sitting around at the same wooden table as the last time, the trio stared at a blank notepad sitting in the center of the table. Besides the note pad, there was a plate of sliced apples lined up neatly in the center of the plate. Twirling a pen in his hand, Drew and Wan waited for Elias to begin the meeting. 

"So I guess I will begin the meeting on our plan for the next few months," Elias said tapping the notepad. "We have two main objectives for the Team Exam: Reach at least High F-Class before the Exam begins and to pass the written portion exam." 

"Wan do you know how to expand your Otrio Core without using genetic regiments?" Drew asked, knowing that both Elias and himself knew while clicking the pen. 

"Yeah," she nodded placing her hands one on top of the other. "my parents taught me. Siren's are able to absorb Otrio faster than some Races due to our unique bloodline so the technique I learned is only meant for Sirens." 

"That doesn't matter but at least we have one thing figured out," Elias said as Drew crossed it off the list he began to make on the notepad. 

"I forgot the ask the last time but what are your guys' Races?" Wan asked pointing at Elias and Drew. "There are some races that have a humanoid form which is why I'm asking. Additionally, if we know each other's Races, we might have a Bloodline Ability that could help in the exam."  

Elias pointed to himself. 

"I'm human. More specifically, I'm what they call European on Earth."

"I'm an Avian," Drew responded shortly.

"That's cool!" Wan exclaimed with excitement in her eyes. "I've only met on Avian and she was of Sparrow descent." 

Drew smiled at her.

"I'm from Nightengale descent. My dark green hair kind of gives it away."

"Wow!" She awed as she stared at Drew with curiosity. 

"I had the exact same reaction when he told me that as well." Elias chuckled. 

"It may seem cool and all but my Bloodline Ability is useless in this case plus it takes up too much Otrio to cast," Drew said bluntly. 

"What is it?" 

"[Shapeshift] but I can only change my hair and eye color." 

"That's neat but it's as you said. It's not very handy in these cases." Wan nodded. "How about you, El?" 

"Since when did I get a nickname?" Elias asked. "Alright, mine is [Polarity]. I can pull things which are made out of metal closer or away from me but I can't destroy things like M*gneto." 

Suddenly, a thought erupted in Drew's mind. 

"You have the most useful Ability out of all of us! Since we're up against robots which are simulated as Genetic Warriors, couldn't you pull those robots towards us and hit it against [Aegis] to destroy them. "  

"You're a genius Drew but question is, can [Aegis] handle the impact?" Elias shouted before his voice dropped two octaves. 

"Not as of now even if I reinforced it with my Otrio but once I break through to High F-Class, maybe I could. I still need to test the limits of my Ability. What about you Wan?" 

"I have two. The first one is [Song of the Sirens] it's a D-Class Mental Attack Ability. In short, I can create illusions in one's mind using a song the only problem with it is that it only works on those who's Class is the same or below my own. The other one is connected to my Otrio Attribute, [Water World], it's an E-Class Domain Ability that increases ally recovery by 20% in water terrains but only 10% on regular land terrains." 

"That's pretty good." Elias nodded looking pleased with our Abilities. "We can definitely pass the second part of the exam with these Abilities. now, the written part, how good are you guys at studying? Tell me your ranks from Compulsory Education." 

"I'm okay at studying, I don't have a subject I'm particularly good at," Wan spoke then turned to Drew, "I ranked flat in the middle of my class. Around 500. You?" 

"I was in the 200s during Compulsory Education. Specifically, 264. My specialty is Sciences and History. I'm terrible at Language Arts." 

"Dude that's really good for the fact that you were an orphan." Elias looked at Drew in astonishment. 

"You have no idea how much I struggled to get there." Drew scoffed. 

"Okay, I guess I'm the winner here." Elias smirked leaning against the chair with his corpulent body, "I was ranked 193. My specialty is Mathematics and Language Arts. I'm okay at History but I suck in the Sciences." 

"You're forgetting that these ranks are relative to whichever school we went to," Drew remarked.

"Oh, if that's the case," Wan interjected taking a bit out of an apple slice,  "I went to Magnolia Private Academy which had a student population of 1000." 

"I also went there," Elias said with a hint of surprise. "I was in Class B." 

"I was in Class D." Wan smiled. 

"Shucks," Drew spat, "I didn't go there. I went to Kraus Central Academy which had a student population of 3000." 

Elias sighed. "I guess I lose. You win Drew." 

"KCA! How?" Wan exclaimed. 

"I went there on a scholarship. The orphanage I was at forced us to go there since it was the closest school to the orphanage. We had to take a scholarship exam because the owner of the orphanage was a cheapskate. It was either you went to school or you didn't. In the end, there were only four orphans who got it and I was one of them." 

"You could have been at Star right now if you applied for a scholarship! Why didn't you?" Elias asked.

"I didn't have enough Otrio to apply for a scholarship. I had to reach Low-F Class to apply but before that could happen, my guardian died and you get what happened next." Drew replied.   

"Anyways, we can help each other. I'm pretty confident that Drew and I can pass the written exam but Wan." 

"I get it," Wan frowned, "I need to try a harder." 

"Have you considered making flashcards?" Drew asked. 

Wan's eyes grew big as if she'd gotten some sort of revelation. 

"No, I haven't but I'll try that with History. I could also start doing more practice problems to bring up my Mathematics and Science scores. Language Arts will be the hardest."

"It's okay," Elias reassured. "If you can gain a better understanding of those subjects, you'll have a better chance of passing. Drew and I will help you if you've got any questions." 

"Thanks a lot." Wan smiled at Elias whose face was twitching. Drew sighed. Elias was terrible at hiding his emotions. Interrupting the couple's moment, Drew placed to notepad down with the half-completed list of things to do on the table.

"Now that we have studying sorted out, should we do some practice test simulations online to prep ourselves for the exam conditions?" 

"Yeah," Elias replied breaking away eye contact from Wan, "there are tons of them online so we should take one every week. Do Mondays sound good?"

"Works for me." Drew nodded twirling the pen in his hand. 

"Agreed." Wan clicked her teeth. 

"Now we should think about physical training," Elias said slamming his arm on the table. "Does everyone have their Intergalactic License?" 

>>>

An Intergalactic License is a permit that allows a Genetic Warrior to go out and take on missions requested by the public. These missions are accessible to all Genetic Warriors as long as they have an Intergalactic License but, of course, there are some restrictions regarding missions. First, a Warrior cannot take on a mission higher than their own level but they can take on missions lower than their own level and each level has a mission quota. For F-Class Warriors like the trio, the quota is four missions a month. F-Class 'missions' include garbage pick up, volunteer work, advertising, or exterminating smaller Genetic Beast on the outskirts of the city.

Besides being a permit for 'missions', an Intergalactic License gives access to Genetic Warriors certain commodities for free or at a discount such as transportation, training resources, and information. For F-Class Warriors, they are granted free access to the training rooms/dojos meaning that they can use the facilities for free as long as they have their License. Unfortunately, they are not granted access to any Combat Manuals until they enter a military academy or become E-Class Warriors.            

>>>

"Yeah." Drew nodded, "it just came in the mail yesterday." 

"Yes. I got mine a couple months ago." Wan said holding up her License, a small silver card with a blue-chip embedded in one corner. 

"Great! This will make things a lot easier. We can head to the dojo down the street and train there." 

"You mean Grandpa Frey's Dojo? The old man doesn't even seem to move a muscle. No one has been to that dojo in years because it's so run down." Wan chuckled. 

>>>

Grandpa Frey is an elderly man in his seventies who runs the only dojo on Glass Road. Legend has it that he hasn't left his rocking chair sitting outside the rundown dojo in twenty years after all his students left him. 

>>>

"Even so, he still has his Dojo and not many people use it so it makes it the perfect training spot for us," Elias said. 

"You mean no one uses it." Wan pointed out thrusting an apple slice at Elias.

"I don't mind," Drew said. "As long as we have a place where we can train freely, that's all that matters." 

"I even have a training regiment for us!" Elias says opening a screen on his communication device. 

Drew and Wan move over the screen and look at the workout. After a few seconds, they started to bawl their eyes out. Drew was dying of laughter, banging his fist on the wooden table, while Wan was trying no to laugh. 

"I'm serious," Elias said with a straight face. 

This made it even funnier. Drew couldn't take it anymore as he began to roll on the floor. Wan, on the other hand, was snorting from the ludicrousness of the plan. Meanwhile, Elias still maintained his cool as a cucumber straight-ass face.  

Here was the plan: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run. Every. Day. 

"You gotta be kidding me!" Drew cried. 

"I'm dead serious!" Elias retorted. 

"Have you been watching too much anime?" Wan wheezed. 

Elias was flushed. His face became red like a tomato. 

"No, I don't even watch anime!" 

"Dude, the line's six thousand years old." Drew laughed. 

"Even so," Elias stuttered trying to recover from this minor embarrassment, "it's the workout that matters. I bet you that none of us can run 10 kilometers as of now." 

Halting his laughter, Drew agreed with the statement. "I can barely run five with my current stamina." 

Wan, still laughing forced out an "I can...ah...run three." 

"How bad is your stamina Wan?" 

"Hey!" She sassed, "Casters like myself aren't built for heavy physical activity unlike you two." 

"But Elias," Drew interrupted, "you seriously need to lose weight. You're supposed to be a Gunslinger." 

"I know!" Elias snapped, "At least my stamina is still better than Wan's in this state."

"I felt that you know." Wan spat crossing her arms. 

Drew laughed. Despite all the bickering, he could tell that their trio was bonding well with each other. 

"How about you Drew? Aren't you supposed to be a Scout? You're supposed to be faster than me at running." Elias mocked. 

That flipped a switch in Drew. 

"How dare you-" Drew rolled his arm getting ready to punch Elias. 

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Elias apologized clasping his hands together before Drew could make contact with his face. 

"Now boys," Wan interrupted, "let's be real and all admit we're physically weak." 

Elias and Drew pouted. 

"Fair enough." They sighed. 

"I guess we're done here for the day," Elias said. "Let's meet up at the dojo every day from now on. Don't forget to bring the exam materials since we're also going to study there. Every Monday from then on, we'll take a mock exam. Every Saturday, we'll take on one mission, and Sundays will be our rest days. Tuesdays through Fridays we will review exam materials and test out team strategies. Sounds good?"   

"No problems here," Drew smirked. 

"Same." Wan nodded in agreement. 

"I guess you'll be team captain then." Drew said, "you seemed to got this planned out really well." 

"Sure," Elias replied giving him a thumbs up. 

"What should we call our team?" Wan asked. 

"Glass Road," Drew answered quickly. " Team Glass Road. We all live here so we should represent our home." 

"That's right!" Elias grinned placing his fist in the center of the table. Drew and Wan followed. "And we shall make them proud!" 

"Alright!" The trio yelled from the inside of the inn. 

The formation of this little team on this very day and on this very road would spark the beginning of a new chapter in Intergalactic History.