The banner went up at dawn, stretched across the front of the patched-up warehouse:
"AquaPure Technologies – Open Call for Builders, Tinkerers, and Dreamers."
By mid-morning, the street outside was choked with people. Some wore faded college uniforms, others grease-stained shirts. Mechanics, out-of-work technicians, hobbyists lugging boxes of parts, even curious onlookers clutching homemade contraptions—they all came, drawn by the promise of jobs in the company that had beaten HydraCorp.
Inside, Rosa nearly dropped her clipboard at the sight. "Ay, Dios mio… this is half of Manila!"
Jericho grinned, leaning on a workbench. "Relax, Nanay. We just throw 'em some wires and see who cries first."
Maria swatted the back of his head. "Idiot. This is serious. One wrong hire and HydraCorp will have spies inside before we know it." She turned to Rafael, her voice sharp. "Boss, are you sure about this circus?"
Rafael stood by the doorway, calm as ever, watching the crowd with unreadable eyes. "We're not here to find résumés. We're here to find sparks. Let's begin."
---
The warehouse floor transformed into a proving ground. Tables were piled with scrap: motors, wires, cracked plastic shells, old radios, buckets of dirty water.
Maria clapped her hands. "Listen up! No interviews, no paperwork. You'll be tested. Fail fast, you go home. Pass, you stay. Clear?"
A nervous laugh rippled through the crowd.
"Challenge One!" Jericho shouted, holding up a busted electric fan. "Get this running. You've got thirty minutes. Use whatever's on the table. If it shocks you—sorry in advance."
The room exploded into motion.
Young men fought over wires. Mechanics tore the fan apart bare-handed. A thin girl with hair tied in a knot quietly bent two paperclips into makeshift connectors. Across the room, an older man whistled as he spliced rubber bands into gears.
Maria stalked the aisles like a hawk. "If it smokes, you're out! If it smells like barbecue, you're out!"
Laughter and curses echoed as sparks flew.
The Codex hummed quietly in Rafael's vision:
> "Candidate flagged: Lea Santos. Improvised rewiring efficiency 91%.
Candidate flagged: Carlo Mendoza. Applied filtration layering correctly under stress.
Candidate flagged: Pilar Reyes. Age 62. Solar engineering aptitude above baseline."
Rafael folded his arms, letting the chaos unfold. To his team, it looked like he was simply watching closely, memorizing details no one else cared about.
---
"Challenge Two!" Maria barked an hour later. "Clean water test. You get one basin of dirty water and one box of random junk. Make it safe to drink. Thirty minutes."
Groans filled the air. Some applicants muttered equations, others argued over charcoal and cloth. One self-proclaimed "engineer" built a wobbly tower that collapsed in brown sludge, drawing laughter.
Meanwhile, a skinny teen in slippers layered bamboo, sand, and cloth with quiet focus. His filter dripped clean water within minutes. Maria raised her brows, tasted it, and nodded.
"Not bad, kid."
The Codex flickered again in Rafael's sight:
> "Carlo Mendoza. Retention probability: 84%. Potential apprenticeship path unlocked."
---
By sundown, sweat, smoke, and tension filled the warehouse. Of the hundred-plus applicants, only a handful remained. Tired, dirty, but standing tall.
Rafael finally stepped forward, his voice carrying across the silence.
"You came here to prove yourselves. Most of you failed. That's fine—failure teaches. But the ones still standing… you're different. You didn't just build. You adapted. You refused to stop. That's what AquaPure needs."
He paused, letting the words sink in.
"I don't hire hands. I hire fire. If you want easy money, go elsewhere. If you want to build something that lasts—welcome."
For a moment, no one moved. Then, slowly, smiles spread. Fists rose. The chosen few let out a ragged cheer, echoed by Rafael's own crew.
Maria whispered to him as the noise swelled, "You look like you planned this whole thing down to the last spark."
Rafael's lips curved faintly. "Maybe I did."
The Codex pulsed silently in his vision:
> "Recruitment phase complete. High-value innovators secured. Next step: Prototype Development."