Chapter 39 - The Test

Aaron watched as people were seperated into groups of five. There would be about forty groups, considering the amount of students that were in the auditorium, but he was unsure of how many there were, past the two hundred mark. His vision as a child was limited, due to his height. The only reason he gave the number two hundred a try was because of the sheer number of people he could see.

He was put into a group with a tall, skinny male, a tall, wide male, and two girls. Aaron didn't really pay any attention to the girls. This was a trait he carried over from his first life. He was single, and just didn't really have any interest in them. If they were powerful here, however, they could be useful to practice against. Hhe wasn't interested in men either, but he wasn't gay, so it didn't matter.

He was instantly singled out as the strange one there. It was perfectly natural. Despite the fact that they didn't know his age, his height was definitely a noticeable factor. The people around him were above six feet tall, when he was only around three feet tall. He was like a little munchkin compared to them.

They were ushered out into the outdoor school grounds, where there were strange devices waiting. They appeared to be power testing devices, although Aaron wasn't able to verify that from a distance.

They walked over to the devices, and the machines appeared to be a large metal box, with a screen at the top, and a circular pad in the middle, presumably for punching.

They had their own instructor to show them how it was done. He introduced himself as Leon Harles.

"Welcome, students. I am Leon Harles, and I will be instructing you on how to use these machines. These are called 'Power Testers'. Very original name, I know, but that's besides the point. They do what their name implies. You hit the circular pad with all of your might, and then a number will appear on the screen. You can use your Ki Abilities to help you achieve your true power, just don't destroy the machines. The number that shows up will determine what rank you will be given. This rank is very important, as it will determine how you are treated by other students. This thing only measures how hard you can hit it, so anything that can hit it goes."

Aaron sighed a sigh of relief. He wouldn't be treated like shit, although that did somewhat disappoint him. He did kind of want to destroy some people's hopes by having them be defeated by a person with a much lower rank, but what can you do?

He put himself as the last in the line of the five students, the others excited to test out their strength. The first one up was one of the girls. Aaron noticed some features about her. She had blazing red hair, and was wearing expensive clothing. Someone from a prestigious family, perhaps? Her hands became coated in fire, as she slammed her fist into the pad. A number started counting up on the board, as it stopped on the number '3,338'.

"3,338? That's a D-Class Ranking."

Here is a quick overview on how the ranks were ordered. Since it was based on physical strength, they couldn't base it around Ki Levels, so they had to come up with a new scoring mechanism.

E-Rank: 0 - 1,200

D-Rank: 1,201 - 3,500

C-Rank: 3,501 - 7,670

B-Rank: 7,671 - 12,490

A-Rank: 12,491 - 18,920

S-Rank: 18,921 - 25,000

X-Rank: 25,001+

Aaron didn't want to be placed in a low rank, so he mentally prepared himself to not destroy the machine on accident, although, he didn't want to go too little, and get too little of a score, although he did reckon he'd need to try hard, because these machines were probably built around people having a high Ki Level already, and having their body improved.

The next person to go was the tall, broad male. His hands became coated in rock, as he felt a strong punch to the pad, as the numbers sped up to '3,682'

"3,682. That's quite the high score. You are a B-Rank."

The next two people went, with the girl using an ice spear, and getting an E-Rank, due to the ice spear breaking on impact, and giving a low score, and the boy used strange shadows to increase the strength of his punches, getting a B-Rank. The four of them looked at Aaron, who smiled under his mask. He pushed himself forward using his Boundless Gravitational Manipulation, dealing a devastating kick to the pad, as his leg was covered in the grey substance his robe made. The numbers went up on the machine, and, as he suspected, his score wasn't too high, probably due to the fact that he was still a child, and didn't have the same phsycial strength as a teenager. He got 1,502.

"That's insanely impressive, considering your age. That's a D-Rank."

One of the students put up their hand to ask a question, but they were silenced, as the instructor began to tell them what they were going to do next.

"Alright, due to the fact that school starts at eight am, you will have your own form rooms. You will share these with two other people of a random rank and power level, so you better hope you get some decent people to room with. Also, tomorrow, you will be given a watch, which will update every day, confirming your power level. They also have a GPS built in, so we can track you, should we need to. There is also a curfew, but that is at midnight, so just be in your dorms before that time. Now, go wait in the auditorium until your name is called."

Aaron sighed, as he began to walk back to the auditorium. At least he didn't get the lowest rank, although he didn't feel like he would be treated much differently to an E-Class individual. Age plays quite the prevalent factor in things.

Now, he just had to hope he wasn't told to share a dorm with two assholes.