Raymond High
Training Hall
Raymond High was the best school of the city and the only reason Lucas could attend such a prestigious high school was partly because of his good academic scores and partly because his parents got neck deep in loans to provide him a good future. After all, Raymond High had the highest record of producing Psi-Warriors in the entire city for close to 200 years.
It had an incredibly rich history and there were quite a few Psi-Warriors among their graduates. It was even rumored that the mysterious founder of the school was still alive and was a powerful Psi-Warrior in the Luvian Galactic Force. Naturally, the resources at their disposal were nothing to scoff at. Even if they could not afford to give their students gene strengthening serums, they still provided expensive aptitude potions from time to time.
These potions had a very tiny amount of Psi-energy carefully mixed with some rare materials that could simulate a human body's aptitude for absorbing Psi-energy. Even if the effects were negligible, it still boosted your chances for a successful awaking.
Apart from that, the school was full of high-tech stuff from top to bottom. They even had some rare Luvian tech among their equipment. It was rumoured that the training hall used for Awakening was built using the later. It had the capability of conducting the Awakening process for a very large group in a short amount of time. The other less fortunate schools had to make do with Earth's snail like devices capable of conducting the process only one person at a time and it even took a long time to produce any result. The margin of error in the later was quite high as well.
Soon, Lucas and his classmates reached a domed like building which was big as a football field. There were already a lot of students and professors inside from other classes. Lucas was once again impressed while watching the silvery white exterior of the dome, especially the tiny little rune like circuits running along the entire structure.
The class soon joined the others and the whisperings among students started again. While Lucas and his friends teased each other about their embarrassing deaths in the game last night, a group of professional looking people brought in a huge circular device and started setting it up in front of the gathering.
"Seriously dude, how can you block that attack when you were supposed to dodge? We clearly discussed the strategy before the run man. I couldn't even collect my souls back! If it weren't for that..."
Suddenly, Chloe interrupted Peter mid-speech.
"Look, the Principal is here!"
With that, Lucas and his classmates stopped chatting and turned their heads. A group of people were walking inside, with a tall middle-aged man in the lead. He had dark brown hair and a pair of silver glasses. The most striking thing about him was the two deep scars running along his face. Rumour was it that the principal was once part of the Intergalactic Special Forces working for Earth Federation. Many people suspected that he was a Psi-Warrior, but it was inconclusive.
As the Principal walked to the front of the gathering, the murmurings and whispering gradually died down. Amidst pin drop silence and a very nervous atmosphere, the principal opened his mouth.
"It's been a while since I have seen all of you gathered together. Hmm, Kyte?"
Prof. Kyte, who was standing beside him, replied.
"Yes Sir?"
The principal asked while scanning the crowd.
"Any absentees?"
Prof. Kyte shook his head, which was expected. Nobody would miss this, even if the world was ending today.
The principal nodded and waved his hands towards the people working on the strange circular device. Within a few seconds, the person leading them nodded back and they all went away to stand at some distance.
The principal then turned towards us.
"All right. Even though chances are slim, I hope I would be fortunate enough to witness the birth of a Psi-Warrior today."
When he said that, Lucas noticed him eying a certain blue-haired girl.
*Beep* *Beep*
The circular device suddenly produced beeping noises. Following that, the principal and the professors walked back a little and just observed us. The open ceiling of the dome started shifting and eventually closed shut. The lights switched on and Lucas could see the rune like circuitry covering the building started faintly glowing.
The principal's voice, despite him standing far away, was clearly heard by everyone.
"Now, I want everyone to slowly relax and close your eyes. Calm your hearts and let your mind enter an ethereal state. Try to feel any changes taking place in your body. Do not break your concentration until you hear the beeping noise again."
Lucas could hear people nervously gulping and even his own heart felt heavy. Despite that, he took a deep breath and tried to imagine something to calm his mind.
He conjured an image of his Aunt's cat, Little Timothy.
"Heeey little fellow, come here! Oooh, do you like it here? *Scratch* *Scratch* How about here?" *Scratch *Scratch*
"Meooow!!"
"Haha, that's a good girl!"
Slowly, Lucas's heart calmed down and his mind relaxed.
While the students were relaxing, the circular device suddenly produced buzzing noises and huge waves of visible ripples emitted out in all directions. Those ripples soon passed through the bodies of the students.
At first, nothing happened. Then soon, under the expectant eyes of the Professors, the students started trembling slightly.
When the first ripple hit his body, Lucas could not feel anything. But as the 2nd and 3rd one came, he started feeling itchy all over his body. He strongly wanted to open his eyes and scratch the itch away, but he forced his mind to calm down and could only tremble helplessly.
But the itch started getting worse and Lucas could feel that he won't last much longer. He could hear a few yelps and screams around him, meaning some people had already reached their limits. Clearly, this was some sort of test or simulation and those who lost their self-control would fail.
A few more minutes passed, but for Lucas it felt like huge a*s hours.
"Sh*t! Sh*t! Ahhh, Calm down! Calm down! Uhhh….CAT! Remember Lt. Timothy's soft fur, those cute little eyes. Those….Ugh….Damn you cat!"
Lucas could hear more and more people groaning and moaning, but he soldiered on.
"Hold on! I have to hold on!"
Lucas knew this was his last chance. His family couldn't afford a private awakening in future and if he couldn't awaken now, his dreams of exploring the space and changing his parents' life will remain just that. Dreams.
While Lucas was gritting his teeth, he suddenly heard loud exclamations and screams.
"That! Look at that! She is glowing!"
"What? OMG! Holy Sh*t! What's happening?"
"Damn! I know! That's Awakening right?"
"What? You are kidding! Somebody actually awakened?"
"Look closely dimwit, she is Leila Atkinson! Atkinson! I would be more surprised if she didn't awaken."
"F*ck! You are right. So, what do you think? Will she awaken a talent? It has to be at least a unique one, right?"
"How would I know? *Sigh* Even though we had no chance, to see someone do it right in front of my eyes….Damn it!"
Hearing those voices, Lucas's emotions faltered for a second.
"She really did it!"