Freedom

Soldier!?

Class Promotions were quite rare due to the fact that the Class Assignments everybody received completely detected a person's actual worth; checking his skill set, intelligence, physical prowess, reactions and a lot of other advanced mumbo jumbo I never bothered to know. 

If I consider myself, I was the perfect candidate for a miner; dumb, durable and really desperate. I would've made a decent blacksmith a long time ago but I lacked the strength and the skill. But, due to the long hours of labor I had to endure at the mines and the hour long daily lectures about ores, I finally fulfilled the requirements to become a Blacksmith. Though Class Promotions were generally rare, they were quite common for us Miners. Being a Blacksmith required strength, durability and knowledge in craftsmanship, something that Miners gained in a few years or more. Being a Blacksmith required just as much work as being a Miner but at least you didn't have to go on long trips underground and the job paid much better.

The transporter took me to the Class Promotion station sooner than expected. I got off, feeling, after a long time, nervous. This feeling reminded me of my first day at my new school, a memory that felt like it was eons old. The security guards, fortunately humans, started scanning me and took my luggage, letting me through after checking my stuff for quite a while. The guard on the right shoved a large map towards me and I quietly took it. Their faces and bodies were covered heavily by intense gear, making their already tough look terrifying, but, trying my best to avoid eye contact, I ignored them and entered the castle-like building where I was to be tested.

The place was like one of the glorious houses people used to live in before the attack of the Oniyakmi; clean, furnished and cozy. The floor and the ceilings were painted in a calming shade of blue and the desks and the busy people running around reminded me of the school I used to go to, the interior really brought back memories of a time before everything went to crap. I continued forward, peeking at the map every once in a while until I finally found the office labelled 'Class Testing'. 

I entered and sat down on the chair besides an odd-looking machine with random lights flashing across its hardware. I looked around to see where I was to be tested. I had read of the Class Promotion procedures, it seemed quite like what I had to go through with my Class Assignment, but I could not see a Oniyak or Soldier to test me anywhere.

"Name?" the machine at the station suddenly buzzed to life, almost making me jump off my chair.

"Uh.. Lucifer Eyusha" a hoarse voice escaped my throat. It had been so long since I heard my voice, the mines weren't exactly a place for gossip.

"Current status?"

".. Miner."

The machine whirred all sorts of unworldly noises which made me fear that the thing was about to blow. After a few uncomfortable moments, the machine went silent and then suddenly started shaking vigorously. I stepped back, waiting to see what it would do now. Finally, the machine started transforming, parts of it going to the right and parts of it going to the left, to reveal a long, flat surface in its middle.

"Please lie down." the robotic voice spoke once again.

I hesitantly lay down. The book I read about Class Promotions didn't really specify if I was going to be tested by a living being or a machine so I supposed this was all part of the procedure. An arm-like contraption came out of the machine holding a cylinder-shaped object. Fears of being probed jabbed at me but, thankfully, the object turned out to be scanner as the contraption passed its rays over my unharmed body finally beeping to a stop.

"Skills recalculated. Promoted class: ..Soldier."

For a moment, I thought the machine had a humor feature built-in. A soldier? Me? The damn thing must be broken. Before I could say anything, though, the machine abruptly shut down. I snatched my bag from the ground, furious I had to waste so much time with a broken machine. I jogged past the hallways I had become somewhat familiarized with, towards the reception area I saw when I first entered the building.

"Oi! Big fella! What's up with the damn scanning machines round' ere?" I shouted to the blonde-haired man standing at the reception. "Your damn machine thinks I'm a soldier!"

He turned around, and stared through his spectacles at me, almost as if he was scanning me. He adjusted his glasses with his robotic cyborg arm that I had failed to notice at first, which took me quite by surprise.

"Our 'machines' are Oniyak-made detection technology, sir. If it says you're a soldier, you're a soldier." His condescending tone only added to my frustration. 

"Well, then, how do I get it changed?"

"... you can't."