The second test came that same afternoon. No rest. No reset. Just a ration bar, a mouthful of lukewarm water, and back to the yard.
Of the original hundred Tuners, seventeen were already gone. No announcements. No explanations. Just gone.
Eighty-three remained.
Kev stretched out an arm, groaning. "Are they doing this on purpose? Like, trying to kill us before lunch?"
"Definitely," Dane muttered, rubbing the side of his head. "The camp's way of saying welcome."
Mira rolled her sore shoulder, still feeling the backlash from her blast earlier. "At least we're still in it."
Raith stood quietly beside them. He wasn't sore—he was worried. Based on its name, this next test wasn't about brute strength or instinct. This one was something else. Something quieter.
Something that asked, "What are you worth in the long run?"
Elisa didn't speak, but her eyes kept drifting toward the scanning towers.
She was watching and thinking. Raith didn't know what was going through her head, but he was glad she was nearby.
At least, every time he wrecked his body, she would be there to heal him.
"Listen up," came the officer's voice again, cracking through the overhead speakers. "Second test—Force Potential. Final evaluation."
Everyone stiffened.
"The scanner will assess your body's affinity with your Force. You don't need to activate anything. Just stand still. Let the system read you."
He paused. "Grades go from F to S. Only C and above will pass. Anything less, you're out."
That landed hard. A few flinched. Others locked their jaws and held their breath.
Raith's gut twisted. After everything—awakening in Shatterveil, surviving the monster, passing the first test—they could still be thrown away like nothing.
"Why now?" Kev muttered. "Shouldn't they test this first?"
"Because potential's useless if your body breaks," Dane replied. "The first test weeds out the ones who couldn't handle it."
It made a cruel kind of sense.
The scanners weren't flashy—just tall steel arches with a circular pad on the ground. Step in, wait for a green light to pass over, and the grade will be displayed on the screen.
A very quick process.
The line started moving. One by one, Tuners stepped in.
"C-grade. Pass."
"B-grade. Pass."
Another C. Another B.
Some looked relieved, others disappointed. One boy clutched his chest when he passed like he'd barely held it together.
Then an A-grade popped. Then another. Heads turned.
One of them was a girl with red-dyed hair who had scorched her panel earlier with a fire-based Force.
Another was a quiet boy who had used a barrier Force to shield himself mid-test—his output hadn't been flashy, but apparently, his potential ran deep.
Then, another one. A broad-shouldered, golden-haired guy. He had a fire-based Force, too.
People started whispering now. Hope crept back in. But so did the failures. And when they came, they came hard. Some dropped their heads. One argued. Didn't matter. Failure was a failure.
Then came the turn for Raith's group.
"Mira Salvatore."
Raith looked over as Mira stepped up. She walked steadily, but her fingers were curled just slightly tighter than usual.
She stepped into the scanner. Stood tall. The light beam scanned down her body.
Then—nothing.
Silence.
One officer blinked at the screen. Another leaned over.
"Hurry it up," someone whispered. "Announce the result."
And then, the first officer spoke.
"S-s-s... grade."
The yard rippled.
"What?!"
"S?! No way. She's Outer Ward."
"That can't be right."
Mira walked back toward the group slowly, eyes wide.
"Did... I hear that, right?" she whispered.
Raith gave a small nod despite his disbelief. "You did."
S-grade was not something that people came across easily. Even in the history of the Haven Bastion, it was considered rare.
The others, too.
Kev exhaled hard. "Okay. Great. Now I feel sick."
His joke fell flat. He was clearly nervous now.
"Next. Kev," the officer called.
"Kev," Dane said, pushing him forward.
"Right, right—my turn."
He shuffled into the scanner, mumbling something under his breath. The beam scanned. Paused. Then beeped.
The officer felt overwhelmed by the task of announcing the result. His eyes widened in disbelief.
Another S-grade.
The officers started whispering again. Tension crackled in the air.
"That's two."
Kev came back, wide-eyed. "Did that thing break?"
Mira smirked. "Guess you're not just comic relief after all."
Next was Dane. He was calm and focused.
He stepped in. The light started scanning.
S-grade.
Three now.
Whispers turned into full conversations.
"What's happening with Camp 70?"
"Were they all in the group in Shatterveil?" Another officer asked.
Another officer ordered, "Call the technicians. The scanner must be broken."
They paused the test. Ran diagnostics. Scanned a few officers to verify. No anomalies.
"This is weird." Nobody could accept it just like that.
Still, the test needed to proceed.
Then it was Raith's turn.
He stepped forward. The scanner flared and flickered.
The light stayed longer than usual.
Officers leaned closer. "What now?"
The screen blinked.
"The screen is blinking like it wants to go higher than S?"
"Higher than S? Bullshit."
"But then, is this… supposed to happen?" someone whispered.
"Log it," the senior officer said, tapping fast. "Mark him as a High Anomaly. We'll review it later."
After the result was announced, Raith stepped out, breathing hard.
Kev gave him a look. "What just happened?"
Raith shook his head. "Not sure."
To make things harder or easier for the officers, after a few more tests, the results were normal. Some passed and some failed.
"Does it mean we've four S-graded Tuners in our camp?"
"I can't say for sure. There are five people that Miss Ivara asked us to pay attention to."
"I see. Then, should we call her first?"
The other officers nodded. They, too, were curious about this.
"Elisa Neris."
Hearing her name was called, Elisa stepped forward.
No hesitation. Just silence. The officers looked even more tense now.
The pulse took longer but shorter than Raith's. Then, it paused as if there was a ripple in the machine.
And then the result blinked onto the screen. Another S-grade.
"Another High Anomaly," an officer confirmed. "What is actually... happening?"
Elisa returned to the group.
"You're full of surprise," Dane said with a smile.
Elisa blinked. That was her only response.
The test moved on. A few more A's. Some B's. No more S's. And nothing drew as much attention.
By the end, seventy Tuners remained.
The officer in charge stepped up. "Force Potential test complete. Seventy candidates remain."
His gaze passed over Raith's group.
"All results will be reviewed. S and A grades flagged for tracking."
He paused.
"You're done for today but you're required to wait here for a while."
No clapping. No congratulations.
Just a quiet, heavy pause.
Raith didn't say anything. Neither did the others.
Something had changed. And they all knew it.
The Bastion didn't expect much from late awakeners.
But now?
Now, Camp 70 has reasons to be noticed.
And someone, somewhere, was going to open up a new journey for them.