There was an eerie quiet around me. A lot of the students seemed to be tense as though a large part of their future depended on the examination soon. They had all the same wristwatch tied to them that displayed their power levels as '???,' which they would stare at tensely from time to time. No one seemed to be even thinking of socializing.
I didn't like the stiff atmosphere of the field…
The first thing a youth was supposed to do upon entering a new class, instead of being tense, was to check out all the members of the opposite gender.
That is how every youth should be, right...?
So, I did exactly that, even though I wasn't too horny.
I took glances at the nearby girls one by one. A lot of them had pretty faces and were wearing the cute military academy sailor uniform, leaving me fairly satisfied. Many of them also had very toned and fit bodies with lack of any excess flab.
It seemed there were at least a few advantages of living in this society.
Even though I was 'totally' being sneaky with my glances, almost everyone I stared at took note.
Their hearts would skip a beat after seeing my face, until they would notice the rusty steel sword attached to my hip.
'He doesn't even have a beast artifact. He must be from a very poor family!' After realizing this fact, the many interested girls sighed in lamentation and then ignored my presence.
Wealth was often an accurate indicator of the average ability rank of a family. After all, it was almost impossible to be too poor if one had a decent ability at the very least.
Witnessing their reaction, I just lightly chuckled. 'Almost all these women are ability diggers!'
Don't get me wrong; I was not looking down at these women for being like that. I didn't think it was wrong at all to want a better ability and status for their future children.
Above all, I just respected people's freedom of choice.
"Bahahaha!"
A laughter resounded in my ear, and I took note of a good-looking man of average-height approach me.
He had spiky, brown hair and sharp eyes. He seemed to be of an Asian descent and carried an exquisite looking sabre around his waist.
"You're an amusing one, my friend. You're the only one with the balls to check out girls while everyone seems so tense." He moved his hand forward towards mine and said, "I'm Wang, nice to meet you!"
There was a very pleasant and warm smile on Wang's face, as though he was genuinely here to make friends.
"Hey, I'm Soren." I shook my hand with Wang's, thinking, 'Does he want something?'
The man's exquisite sabre itself looked expensive and better than what everyone else had. He probably came from a family with status and should have been arrogant rather than approach someone who seemed poor.
After inheriting my predecessor's memories, can one really blame me for questioning his motives?
At the end of the day, I wasn't really Soren and didn't feel the need to be so cautious.
"Nice to meet you, Soren! Hahaha, do you not feel tense about this ability exam at all? Are you so confident in your ability?"
Wang had a quizzical smile on his face as he assessed me.
"Look, being tense isn't going to help our abilities jump a rank in performance! Rather than wasting time thinking about the exam, why don't we scout the girls in our class or just hang out." I said, patting Wang's shoulder with a wide grin on my face.
I didn't feel the need to reveal information about my ability to him just yet.
At my words though, Wank broke into a loud laughter once again.
"As I thought… You're really amusing Soren! I can tell we'll be great friends!"
Soon we both got instantly familiar with each other and hung out pleasantly. We discussed a range of topics, but they weren't related to our ability or background.
In due time, more and more students registered and began to enter the field.
There was one person that entered who made all the male students swallow their saliva.
It was a beautiful, tall and slim young woman with long silver hair. She had purple-blue eyes and a cold but beautiful face. Even though her chest seemed small, she still looked like a fairy living on Earth to me. Even the most beautiful celebrities I knew back on Earth didn't seem to compare at that moment.
As I was blatantly staring at her, Wang grabbed hold of me and whispered directly into my ear.
"Soren… I know she's ridiculously beautiful… But it's best you don't stare too long…"
"Huh? Why…?"
At that instant, I noticed that some of the students in the courtyard near her were shivering, as though the weather was colder. They also seemed to be a little afraid of meeting their eyes with her.
"Sigh… You really don't know her…? Anyway, trust me on this bro, she is a bitch! Don't provoke he-"
Thud…!
All of a sudden, the military woman who I had pissed earlier took center stage. All the students paid her serious attention, afraid to miss any words.
"Looks like all of you have arrived… Now, I'm Corporal Elize Felton and will help conduct your first official ability test! Your scores will be reflected in your wrist watches, and it will be your lifeline in the future. They will determine the amount of resources you receive, access to special facilities, and many other things in the academy. Perform your best!"
A lot of the students gritted their teeth and clenched their fists. They had reviewed information before hand and knew that this moment was of utmost importance.
"Jake Davidson, Samantha Tirrell, Alexa Emano, Kim Woo-bin, and Soren… Come to the front, and take your test!"
The five of us quickly moved towards Elize. Most of us seemed to be fairly cool-headed, but the boy Jake seemed to be trembling uncontrollably.
Jake had a small built with an average face and black hair. His slouched posture and trembling body didn't help people put any confidence into him.
I guessed that the pressure of the situation must have been getting to him.
The first person Elize stared down was Jake. This seemingly made him even more nervous.
"Follow me to take your test!"
Shortly, Elize led Jake to an arena with a few crates lying around. There seemed to be dents and burn marks on them with small pieces of debris lying all over the place, probably made by participants in previous exams.
"Hit all the targets as soon as you see them!"
As soon as she said those words, a few metal balloons with a red dot kept popping up randomly at the field.
Jake would move clumsily to one balloon to another and try to punch the red dot. If he was lucky, a balloon would pop at a location close to him. That would give him enough time to get in a few hits; nevertheless, most balloons would move away before he could reach them.
The entire scene looked fairly pathetic. Some of the stronger but arrogant students watching the scene scoffed.
Soon the test was over, and Elize yelled, "Performance score: half star… take the next test! Make your strongest attack to the doll!"
In the next test, there was a metal doll placed in the middle of the platform with some machinery attached to it.
This time, Jake did something different. He raised his fist and, all of a sudden… it began to grow in size.
One could see that this was his ability: Big Fist…
But the more I saw the ability, the more disappointing it seemed.
His fist only grew about twice in size. With Jake's small stature, the ability seemed even more lackluster. As he used his ability for the first time, a
A letter began to flash on his watch. From "Power Level: ???", it changed to "Power level: F". The special wristwatch had the power to measure the activated mutated cells, allowing it to measure the potential of Jake's ability.
The wristwatch gave Jake's ability, Big-Fist, the F-rank. No wonder he could make his fist only twice as big.
Many students had a mocking smile on their faces as they witnessed this phenomenon on his watch.
Thud…!
The next moment, Jake crashed his fist into the metal doll.
The metal doll, in turn, seemed to make some noises and a number was displayed on its screen. Elise read the number and made a few calculations. Next, she yelled, "Test score: 1 star, take the next test!"
The final test consisted of Jake trying to dodge a few metal balls that were hurled towards him. They were being hurled faster and more spontaneously as each second went by.
In the end, Jake could only survive for less than half a minute.
The grand total score Jake received was a measly half a star for his entire performance. His wristband now displayed: (Ability level-F, Power level- Half Star)
Jake was, very rightfully so, dejected from his performance. He walked back while staring at his toes in sadness, as every other student seemed to move a few feet away from him.
Jake thought that his military school life would be different from before; however, reality crushed any hopes he may have had. This one test had made him into an outcast before his school life even started.
For the next examinee, the girl Alexa Emano was called.
She used her bow and arrow with considerable skill and seemed to perform fairly well in her tests. She had the D-rank ability, enhanced vision, which heavily helped with her performance.
Even though the girl seemed fairly strong and could duke it out with most C-class ability users, the examiner seemed to rate her scores entirely on the potential displayed by her ability.
Your combat skills and even Geno skills seemed to matter fairly little in this test. The girl was given a final ranking score of 2 stars, which was still in the higher end of D-rank ability user range for her age.
Alexa Emano wasn't completely satisfied, yet she could only accept the results with a rigid expression.
"Soren, come up here!"
It was finally my turn. Elise watched me go up to stage with her lips curled upwards. 'Let's see you suffer, kid… You'll regret not listening to me!'
The expression didn't remain in her face for too long though.
The very first thing I did was stimulate my ability the second the test was about to start.
The wristband flashed with an F… but then it slowly turned into a E. It kept moving up from a D and then to a C rank. Everyone, including me, paid attention to the letter on my wristwatch with wide eyes, waiting to see if it moved up again.
Right then, a notification flickered past my eyes. The very same moment, the letter on the wristwatch disappeared…
The watch would beep again and restart. It then showed letter C once more, but every time it did so, my system would flash with the same notification again and the letter 'C' would disappear.
To everyone watching the scene, it seemed that the Window FXP software used by the military wristwatch was bugging up.
Tsk… these buggers of the military obviously gave us buggy watches. Cheap bastards!
Much to my relief though, soon the watch's software simply froze and displayed the letter C at the end. It seemed this was the rating everyone would see at the end of the day.
I could clearly see how the system had interfered with the process. Although it was a little disappointing that I couldn't see the full potential of my ability, these were just how things were.
As my ability level was displayed, not many dared to look at me with disdain anymore. Though a C-rank ability wasn't enough for one to be someone noticeable, it was enough to live a comfortable life in the future.
Unlike the students who held neutral opinions about my C-rank ability, Elise was surprised.
'What the hell?! The bastard was clearly recorded as ability-less' Elise's eyes seemed to drop out of sockets as she examined me up and down once more.
Soon she calmed down and began forming a few thoughts in her mind, her face still a little flushed with embarrassment. 'Hmm, the boy must have been trying to tell me that he awakened earlier… Come to think of it, this boy is a very handsome…!'
Elise's eyes leered through me once more. She herself was a C-rank ability user and thought she was a good match for the man in front of her.
Even though there was a little age difference, it wasn't a big deal at all to humans who now had a lifespan of 150-200 years.
One was more likely to die to some beast rather than old age anyway.
Soon enough, Elise clenched her fists and decided to make up with me later and show me her 'charms.'
Meanwhile, I had long forgotten about the fact of having offended Elise earlier.
Upon the start of the test, I summoned arrows made of dark ice which fired at the metal balloons with red dots.
Boom… Boom…! One metal balloon after another was damaged.
To be extremely cautious, I made sure to strictly control the usage of my Geno force at a mere 40%.
I could only sincerely hope that my estimate was accurate, and my combat power matched what a normal C-ranked ability was capable of doing.
While I was trying to avoid any suspicion, my ability itself, as a matter of fact, made a lot of eyes turn towards me with full focus.
This was completely normal, since my ability seemed to be the first of its kind.
No one here had actually seen something like it before.
Every time a new ability was exposed, it would garner some attention no matter its rank. No one wanted to be caught off-guard against a strange ability after all.
"These ice attacks… These are same as the descendants of the noble Roland family…!"
"That's impossible! This guy's ice attacks clearly have a strange and ominous, dark aura!"
"Maybe… a mutation?"
A few people spouted their opinions, taking glances at the nearby beautiful, silver-haired woman, as though she would confirm their guesses.
The silver-haired woman also seemed to be watching the performance with a sharp glint in her eyes.
My senses picked up the increased attention from everyone in the hall. 'Why is everyone staring so intensely?! Did I fuck up and display too much power or am I just so handsome?!'
It was too late to adjust my power level accordingly, so I continued the test in the same fashion.
After the test was over, Elize cleared her throat and said, "Soren… Test score: 3 stars!"
There was a hint of pride on Elize's face, as though her own husband had received a good score.
Overall, achieving a power rank of 3 stars was extremely good for a C-rank ability user just entering the academy.
Very few at this age could evolve the power level of their C-rank ability to these many stars. They had to have abilities at the peak of C-rank potential at the very least.
Shortly, I repeated my performance for the second test. I conjured the largest ice spear I could muster with 40% power of my ability and launched it at the metal doll.
Once again, I was awarded with a 3-star score.
In the meantime, while I was preparing to face my final test, the mysterious middle-aged man from earlier had stop staring at his pad and glanced towards the stage.
Elize wasn't the only one surprised at my performance; he was taken aback too.
'The boy Soren… Why did his school not register his ability? Did he hide it? Even if he is a most talented genius to exist, he must have vigorously trained his C-grade ability for at least two years to achieve 3-star combat power… What was his motive in hiding this fact? Interesting!'
The next test continued in the same fashion. I was leisurely dodging the balls that were thrown at me with ease.
My body stats were high in the first place, allowing me to appropriately react to the slow-paced balls I would encounter.
At other times, I would conjure an ice shield or spear which would crash into the metal ball and block.
The dark cold ability, even at 40% power, was a fairly versatile one if nothing else.
In my mind, I had already decided that I would cowardly jump off the stage once my ice shields failed to block the metal balls which were quickly picking up pace.
As soon as I entered the third minute of the test, the metal balls were able to penetrate through most of my shield and almost hit me.
Slowly and steadily, I began to walk over to the edge of the arena to escape.
…
At the distance, the middle-aged man from earlier noticed me try to scurry outside the testing arena and frowned.
'I can see that this student's eyes are still able to easily react to these metal balls. Why is he leaving so hastily…? No, I must test him for good!'
The man swiped a few times onto the tablet he was holding until reaching a screen titled, "Arena Operations Control" He quickly adjusted a few settings in there and then stared back at the arena.
In the next moment, one of the metal balls that was being launched in the arena had its speed almost tripled.
…
While I was leaving the arena, from the corner of my eyes, I noticed a metal ball being launched at me with tremendous speed.
It was at such an insane speed that let alone my ice shield at 50%, even my ice shield at 100% power probably couldn't block the ball.
What in the actual hell was this? The difference between the speed of the ball at 3 minutes and 3 minute one second was enough to make me shed tears.
'This test is fucking rigged!' My heart yelled, as moisture formed at the end of my eyes.
The impending metal ball of death was closing in…