Endless Evolution: Last Star - Chapter 638

Chapter 638: The First Job

Monsters and Phantoms, the opposition between these two groups was well known to every common human as well as the fact that unlike monsters, each Phantom had an assistant – an Operator.

People became Operators for a variety of reasons, but most often it was heavily influenced by the family of the future student.

This was one of the reasons why most students at Operator Academy were unable to pass the final exam and become an Operator because as in any field, it took desire to succeed.

Wealthy parents realized that the chances of their child becoming a Phantom were slim, especially if none of them or their parents were Phantoms.

This was such families’ way of associating themselves with the Dead Lands. Sure, there was an easier and more accessible way for almost anyone to become a military personnel, but it was not as prestigious as the role of Operator and much more dangerous.

So, if to speak about ordinary people, most often children from wealthy families, who had large savings or successful businesses, entered the Operator Academy.

For them it was a good deal in case of success – their child would be connected with the Dead Lands, which in itself was already prestigious, would get the role of Operator, which was higher than many other roles and would be safe in the Citadel, unlike the military or Harvesters.

So, the situation was as follows – wealthy parents, not necessarily super rich, sent their children to the Operator Academy, and most of the students were not able to pass the exams, so they were expelled.

There were a lot of willing students, although most of them were children from wealthy families, but they were still much more numerous than the Phantoms.

Moreover, sometimes even perfect studies and a full desire to become an Operator were not enough to successfully graduate from Operator Academy.

It was all about available seats.

The government kept a close eye on how many Phantoms appeared on average each year and tried to train the appropriate number of Operators for them.

It was a cold, amoral calculation for the greatest accuracy and quality since it took into account the percentage of Phantoms that were likely to die after receiving their powers, as well as Operators that were probably going to be fired because they couldn’t handle the real job.

The government also kept in mind to keep some of the new Operators working for the military, so that they could pair up with a Phantom as they gained experience.

So every year, by government order, the exams and tests for the different years of training at the Operator Academy changed in difficulty to keep the number of students they needed.

The government couldn’t control how many Phantoms would show up, but with the Operators, they could do that trick, and they did.

It seemed to affect the quality of future Operators, but it didn’t. It never mattered how many Operators the government needed in a particular year, only the best of the best always got through.

It was not important whether 90% of the students got the maximum score or 80% or 70% because that was enough to move on to practice, where a whole other factor was involved because a new detail was emerging – Phantoms.

Silvana was an Operator, so she went the same way as all other Operators to get where she was now – slumbering in the White Cube in front of Adam.

But… What brought her to the Operator Academy?

Maybe Aton’s words? No, for Silvana it wasn’t a big enough blow to completely overhaul her life and it wasn’t in any way leading her to become an Operator.

“Hmm…”

Adam sitting on Silvana’s bed while she slept thoughtfully hummed.

“I’m sure it wasn’t very nice to hear your father say that, but I can’t judge Aton.”

Directing his gaze downward, Adam sighed heavily.

“I think most parents have some sort of preference, some want a girl more and some want a boy, just because.”

“More to the point…”

His eyes grew deeper.

“From what I’ve seen, Aton hasn’t limited Silvana with attention and care, he just wants an heir like everyone else. Well, it was just a big screw-up that Silvana heard that.”

Realizing that it was too soon before any significant changes were made, Adam waved his hand speeding up the memories.

The next two years passed as well as usual. For the first few weeks after that day, Silvana had a cold attitude towards her father, but things soon returned to normal.

Aton and Matra were confused but decided it was normal for a teenager.

When Silvana turned fourteen, she had the opportunity to do something she had been thinking about for some time – now she could earn money.

At another dinner, Silvana looked intently at Aton and Matra and declared:

“Mom, Dad, I want to get a part-time job, preferably a few hours on weekdays and full-time on weekends.”

Aton and Matra looked over at her, she had only recently turned 14 and she was already eager to start work.

With a happy face, Aton exclaimed, hitting the table on emotion:

“Hah, that’s my girl! Well, I could offer you a job in one of my workshops as an accountant, but… it takes a long time and I think you should start with something simple, right?” Aton glanced at Matra.

She realized what he was talking about and smiled kindly.

“I agree with your father. How about working as a waiter in our family restaurant? It would not only give you experience in the job, but also in the business, and you could meet quite a few interesting people.”

Silvana didn’t immediately reply, instead, she touched her chin mulling over Matra’s offer.

“Fine, but I have one condition – all tips go to me.”

In response, Matra only shrugged her shoulders.

“Sure, could it be any other way? I’m not such a cruel owner to take tips away from waiters.”

Silvana nodded deeply.

“Great, when can I start?”

Matra leaned on her cheek, smiling slightly.

“It’s a Friday, so how about tomorrow?”

Adam standing to the side grinned widely raising one eyebrow.

“Hmm? Silvana once worked as a waiter? Well… I used to pick up trash to sell, so even here I lost.”

Realizing this Adam scratched the back of his head awkwardly, but there was still curiosity in his eyes and a strange feeling filled his mind as if this particular part-time job changed Silvana a lot.