When Seth had finished changing, only Sheila was left in the training room. Slipstream had left, most likely to somewhere he could get his helmet fixed.

Sheila led Seth back to the main entrance where the two secretary ladies were, and then said to Seth. “Allow me to apologize for the lack of professionalism shown before. You will be contacted within the week on the results of your interview. Do you have any questions?”

“No questions,” answered Seth as he shook his head.

“Very well then. It was nice meeting you Seth. Have a pleasant day.” Sheila gave a short bow and went back through the doors that were for designated personnel.

As Seth was leaving, the same secretary he spoke to earlier gave him a smile and wave. He gave a small wave to her and exited the building. He was greeted by a setting sun. The whole building was enclosed and there were no windows in the rooms that he entered, which made the telling of the passage of time a bit difficult. He once again saw the same two guards at their post.

“Hey there boy. How the interview go?” The guard he spoke to earlier asked.

“I think I did pretty good for the interview.” Those were Seth’s honest thoughts. The first part was a bit of an interrogation, but he answered all the questions honestly. The rest was up to how much the interviewers like the answers.

Now that he thought about it even though it was called a interview, there was none of the normal interview questions such as what was his greatest strengths and weaknesses.

Seth had been honest throughout most of it, and Sheila hadn’t indicated any problems with his answers. Her face did make it hard to tell. Even when she was arguing with Slipstream, there was no changes in her face. The only thing that showed her annoyance was her voice grew a pitch higher than when she had been asking Seth question.

“Good, good. Sorry about stopping you before. You were carrying a weapon and it’s my job to stop suspicious people. I just have to ask though. Was it actually a wooden sword? As in the whole thing was made of wood? There wasn’t a metal or anything else in it? Why you bring it over in first place? What happen to it since you’re not carrying it anymore?”

The guard was asking quite a bit of questions, but Seth didn’t mind. He had been nice to Seth the whole time and was probably bored from stand guard all day. Probably not the most entertaining post. Seth decided to satisfy his curiosity. However the broken piece of wood in his backpack made his heart thinking about it. It had been his training partner for a number of years. “Yes, the sword was completely made of wood. They told me to bring it because there was going to be a test of my abilities. It broke during the test so I put the pieces in my bookbag.”

“I see. I see. You said you name was Seth? My name is Rick,” Rick offered a hand to Seth.

Seth shook his hand. It would be rude otherwise and Rick had been nice the whole time.

“Alright Seth, best be going now before it gets dark. If everything went as well as you said, then I suspect I’ll be seeing you again.”

“Alright then, bye!” Seth said as he began to walk away. He didn’t want to take up anymore guard’s time and it was going to get dark soon.

As Seth walked home, he was in quite the happy mood. The interview had been, overall, just an interview. There was no traps or anything else waiting for him, perhaps except for the second part with Slipstream.

Everyone in the Federation branch building that he talked to was friendly enough, save for Slipstream. Slipstream had been a jerk at first. However, after Seth was able to land a hit on Slipstream, his attitude had changed.

Seth couldn’t wait to tell his parents how the interview went. It was just that he needed to keep a few details hidden away. His parents would probably be horrified when they hear about the practical part.

It would be for the best if he just left that part out and only mention the questioning. He could just say he met Slipstream in passing. His dad would certainly be delighted in hearing that Seth had met a famous figure.

The less he said about actual combat, the better. His parents had no idea about his master, or Seth’s combat ability. Master preferred to keep it that way. The less people who knew about him the better.

Speaking about his Master, Seth would need to report back to him about what happened during the interview. He figure he could always report back the next day. Master would most likely analyze the whole thing down to the tiniest of details and then berate him on what he could have done better.

Then his Master would run the same scenario again and again in the mindscape until Seth’s performance was satisfactory.

The very thought just instantly killed Seth’s mood and his spirit hit rock bottom.