"Alright, I am passing out the test results." Said the white-haired professor.
During the first lecture itself, Axel was faced with the results of a previous test. However, he was not too stressed. Studying was one of his strengths. His body was pathetically weak, mainly because he spent all his time in his room, studying for the upcoming tests, and making his own tests when no tests were upcoming. At least in this public high school, he would be considered the noble among peasants, at least in terms of studies.
Unfortunately, the federation did not put too much of their focus on people who were smart. Naturally, there were plenty of positions for people like Axel, who excelled in studies and nothing else. However, the top positions, including the spot of elders on the council, and the federation president, were occupied by those who excelled in communications, leadership, politics, as well as KI.
KI, was a power system that was discovered just after the establishment of the federation, where some humans began to grow rapidly in strength, speed and movement abilities, and had their senses raised drastically.
Why this energy existed was a mystery, even until Axel's death, but this energy started forming in the bodies of several martial artists and fighters by Federation Calendar Year 105.
Over time, more and more people began gaining such powers, and the federation began setting up a system, to identify, measure and rank the KI powers of individuals. Of course, not everyone had KI, but in theory, anyone could have it. There were no restrictions of lineage, or bloodline for someone to gain KI, but the offspring of known KI users were more likely to possess KI compared to those with normal parents.
KI was divided into several grades, with the lowest starting from Trainee, then going onto Warrior, Expert, and finally Master, with each grade having 10 ranks each. In the 2600 years of the federation's existence, there have only been 2 Master grade KI users, with the current president being the current most power KI user in the federation with a grade of Rank 7 Expert.
Axel, had not even unlocked KI, and compared to the few students who had in the class, despite his outstanding academics, he was considered a level lower, in both reputation and future prospects. But that was just how the world worked.
'98/100'
Seeing the familiar number on his paper, Axel did not know how to react. In this world where marks did not carry as much weight as KI, why was he working so hard to improve his grades?
'Alright, I'll first unlock my KI after returning home.' Axel thought to himself after coming to a decision.
There was still nearly a day left for the release of Evolution Online to be released to the public, and another 2 months before large financial firms begin investing into the game. His parents would also not return before another 3 months. In that time, Axel decided that he would focus on improving his physical body as well as KI.
After completing a day of school just like any normal day, Axel went home. Dan too did not waste his time, since this was a weekday, he still needed to return home, get changed, and report to the company for his 'internship'.
On the way, Axel picked up Lily as well.
"So, did you do what I told you to do with Cate?"
"Yes."
"And? Did something happen?"
"Nope. Absolutely nothing happened. She did not react when I told her no."
"I see. Just remember, if anything happens, the first thing you do is scream 'Help' and then run to your teacher. Nothing bad should happen. Then, call me. Remember, if you cannot do any of that, scream as loud as you can while running, Spark will definitely send over drones to assess the situation."
"Yes, yes. I remember brother! Come on! Let's go home already. I don't want to stand on the road just to talk with you. I'm hungry!"
Only then did Axel realise that he had stopped walking and was just casually having a conversation with Lily in the middle of the sidewalk.
"Alright."
The two reached home by 1600 hrs and after having some snacks; consisting of bread and butter, the siblings went to their respective rooms. Lily went to her room to begin studying, and Axel normally would have also done the same. But this time, Axel went to his room and began remembering.
He was remembering the feeling of acquiring KI after he reached Level 50 in the game.
This had become a hot topic of discussion when all those ordinary humans, including Axel, who had reached level 50 unlocked KI in their real bodies! It was clear that Spark and the federation had figured out some secrets behind KI, and had decided to use this game as a platform to convert all humans from normal humans into KI users, thereby allowing humans to reach a higher state of evolution. Since there were no side-effects of KI, no one could actually complain about anything.
Even those KI users who had unlocked the power before even entering the game got promoted anywhere between a rank unconditionally. Only Spark actually understood the exact science behind how the game improved the KI of players, but it did work, and by the time Axel died, even he, who was a weak stick figure in real life had become a Rank 3 Trainee by reaching level 160 in the game.
But since every 50 levels, which was accompanied by a profession change, unconditionally improved your KI rank, why not reach as high of a KI rank as possible before reaching level 50? Since the higher your rank, the harder and longer it would take to rank up!