Slowly opening the door, Alan emerged into another dimly lit hallway, his power armor’s invisibility field activated. These dull, metal hallways were starting to get a bit old, but Alan supposed he should get used to them. With Eve’s help, Alan easily avoided the hidden cameras and floor-plate traps, making it to the end of the hallway, the first checkpoint.

Alan noticed that he was able to move with much more ease and there was a sort of smoothness to his actions. Acts of balance felt simple, while steps felt more sure. Small details like an uneven place in the floor were noticeable without Eve’s help, demonstrating that the increase to his agility and perception attributes was having a definite effect.

Alan moved through a series of obstacle courses involving guards, hidden traps and walls. There were so many walls. Walls he had to scale, walls he had to crawl under, walls he had to hide next to, walls he had to avoid, walls he had to open up because of the hidden compartments inside, walls that weren’t walls at all but actually doors, walls that were just walls, blocking his way. Despite all the walls, Alan made good time, continually making his way deeper and deeper into this maze at a light jog.

After half an hour Eve had Alan find a safe spot, rest, and recharge the power armor’s energy. Then they resumed their journey through this labyrinth of walls. Alan proceeded with a smile on his face, sweat on his brow, leaping across ledges, vaulting over walls and dodging laser scans like a parkour artist. Still, many of these movements Alan had never practiced before, and it wasn’t before long that he accidentally tripped, misreading a move than Eve had instructed, positioning his foot in just the wrong way, landing off balance.

Before he could catch himself, Alan was falling backwards, and he landed on his back, moving through a line of lasers Eve had marked. He winced when he landed, more at the blaring horns that started playing in the background than the pain of the fall. Two spherical robot sentries emerged from hatches in the wall, actively scanning the entire room Alan was in.

With a desperate dash Alan tried to reach the nearest exit, but the sentries were simply moving too quickly, flying through the air above all the obstacles. Not even Eve could find a path out, but Alan still tried to make it to the exit. When it was obvious that the sentry would reach the exit before he would, Alan pulled out his laser blasters, and shot at both of the sentries simultaneously, but the moment the shots hit the examination ended.