A young boy with white hair around the age of 14 is sitting in a room with a few dozen other kids his age, he has a serious look on his pale face as he listens to a lecture… Or not. He is dozing off while another kid sitting just behind snickers quietly at him.
"Hehe, the teacher's gonna be mad again. This is what? The 4th time this week? And it's not even Thursday yet. He might beat his record this week, what do you guys think?" One of the kids smiles as he whispers this to the others.
"I don't know, but I think we should wake him up before the teacher does get mad again… Besides it's not polite to laugh at him just because he's sleeping, you know" A shy-looking girl says this while slightly blushing.
Another girl shakes her head with a face of exasperation. "It is 'rude' for him to sleep during class in the first place! He always sleeps in class! I don't even understand how someone can sleep this much and still get good grades." The girl is annoyed by the continuous act of sleeping through classes.
The shy girl flinches away when the bluenette yells and looks even redder than before and whispers "Lisa, you shouldn't yell in class the teacher might get mad at-". Before she could finish the teacher turned his head away from the board and towards them while calling out to them.
"Alice, Lisa, and Erin. Would you please explain what is so interesting that you would talk about that rather than paying attention to my lecture on the process needed to examine your acquired abilities and see if you have any inborn talents? And Isaac Knight wake UP!"
The white-haired boy now known as Isaac shot up from his seat and shouted in surprise "AH! WHAT, WHO, Where…" *snore* *snore* and then fell asleep while standing…
The young boy named Erin, who was laughing at Isaac before, is now slightly baffled. "Whoa, did he just fall asleep while standing!"
*click*
He now had his phone out and took a few pictures as he said, "I didn't know it was possible to do that. I wonder if this is his innate ability, heh."
He managed to take a few more pictures before a small hand shot out and pulled his phone onto the desk. "Erin… I don't think it's ok to take a picture of someone without their permission." Alice said with a firm expression on her face framed by light blond hair flowing freely.
"Alright class, settle down", the teacher walked over to Isaac picked up a book and lifted it high up *Slam*, and drops it onto Isaac's desk. Isaacs' purple eyes snap open and the teacher suddenly feels a chill run down his spine, as though an extremely sharp knife was running along his neck. As the teacher looks into Isaacs' cold eyes, he seems to turn a few shades whiter as his breathing stops for a moment.
The feeling disappears as quickly as it came when Isaac starts to get an apologetic smile on his face. "Sorry Mr. Exxin, hehe, looks like I fell asleep again" Color slowly returns to the teachers' face as Isaac says this and the teacher puts a forceful smile on his face in return. As he smiles he looks around the room, the students stop any whispers to their friends.
"It's alright Isaac, just... don't let this happen from now on, ok? You're going into high school in just a month. " The teacher sighed, not knowing what it was that he saw in his student's eyes at that moment. He also did not know why it had stopped his breath, but he put it off as his imagination. Though he was terrified at the time he had already stopped thinking about it. The teacher slowly walked back to his podium. "Now that I'm sure that I have everyone's rapt attention, let's get back to business." He speaks every word clearly and deliberately, testing the students to make sure they were all finally listening.
"Now as you all know, a little over 100 years ago in XXXX, humanity discovered what we believe to be a highly advanced prehistoric civilization. The amazing thing about what we found was that all the technology found there at the time was thousands of years ahead of what we had and even still we're making advancements based on what we found." The teacher starts his lecture, enjoying talking about this topic, while his students do not share his sentiments. The teacher continued after a brief pause, "The greatest discovery within the ruins of this prosperous ancient civilization, was an inactive 'but' functional portal device. Something thought to be only theoretically possible at the time by many quantum theorists. But there it was, a near impossibility, an anomaly, something that shouldn't exist in a civilization long gone."
Some students were perking up as they were finally getting somewhere interesting in the teacher's lecture. "The scientists were enraptured by this discovery, with the best scientists from around the world coming to study this ancient technology. They were all racing to discover its secrets. A few years later and after a ton of testing, they discovered a parallel world, later named Draco Mundi, within the portal after they activated it. They sent in scouts armed with the most advanced military technology at the time to see what was going on. They came back just a short time later with half the scout team decimated, the ones who did survive had changed for the better becoming either stronger, faster, or smarter than before. They later discovered these changes were brought on by a type of radiation, that was in the air of the parallel world, that was named DxC-000."
There were three kinds of students in the class right now. The ones actively looking through notes and listening were in group 1, about 20% of the class were in this group. Group 2 had those with even the faintest amount of interest in the topic, they were barely listening to most of the lecture other than when the portal was finally mentioned, a little more than 60% were like this. Finally, group 3 had the ones who were on the verge of falling asleep with less than 20% being in this group of students.
The teacher upon seeing those who were in groups 2 and 3 just sighed "Haahh, I'll speed this up since it's mostly a review so listen closely, everyone. After discovering this unique radiation they delved into more research, reverse engineered the portal, and built multiple copies. As time passed civilians had begun getting stronger and smarter, the government then discovered that while the portals were opened DxC-000, or the more popularly named 'Dexem', had been passing through into the world after bypassing all the radiation safety systems they had. Thanks to this the populace had become naturally stronger than years prior. Scientists developed ways to detect Dexem and some of its effects. Not much time passed before more and more portals were made and the populace came to know of the portals. By the time the portals came to be known, the parallel world had been explored. It was there that crystals named industrite, also known to you kids as skill crystals, were found after they had killed a weaker monster-like creature. These crystals are believed to form within only 3 or 4 out of a hundred monsters. Each species has a skill crystal unique to them and we believe that the monsters would be able to use the crystals of other species if they had adequate self-awareness. Scientists once more had a goal in front of them and they were not going to let it pass them up."
The teacher pauses and takes a short sip of water before continuing. "Ten years had passed before they could determine what crystals gave what abilities, and at the time they finished developing the device that could detect the skills people had they discovered that some children were being born with skills and powers innate to them, aptly called innate powers. As discovered recently, each person has a limited amount of skills they can get. We call this the imperium terminus or ability limit. About 30 years ago a holographic wrist chip implant was made for more people to find out their innate abilities, imperium terminus, and record any skills they might get via industrite. This technology was to be available to anyone before their first year of high school. For you kids, that means you are getting that implant today, as I have told you multiple times. We will head to the gymnasium for the implants in about ten minutes."
The teacher looks around the room, glimpsing at everybody once."This next part is important, so pay attention even if you already know it. After you get the implant you must select at least 2 classes and 2 electives to take for the remaining 3 years of high school. First is the combat class, or CC, where you will be taught to fight both monsters and humans alike. In this class, you will head to Draco Mundi at the end of your first year to gain more experience in fighting monsters, to go you must sign a contract that says the school is not responsible for your deaths in the case that you pull a stupid stunt and disobey instructions."
All the students were finally intrigued by the previously boring lecture, they were all looking forward to the courses they would soon be choosing. After taking another sip of water the teacher continues "This class has an emphasis on gaining the skills to fight both monsters and humans. The next class you can choose is a tactician combat class or TCC. In this class, you will learn how to plan and eliminate unnecessary variables in those plans to achieve maximum efficiency. There will be small group competitions in this class to give you the experience needed to utilize people and resources in your environment. You will learn to fight in teams and utilize the skill set of your opponents to your advantage. This class will also go to Draco Mundi under the same conditions as CC."
The students start to converse again, Lisa with fiery red hair turns to Erin and smiles "I am joining CC, what're you going to join Erin?"
Erin smirks as he answers "Obviously it has to be CC, what else would I choose haha. I'm going to be the strongest!"
Lisa blushes as she starts to reprimand them but is unable to as the teacher beats her to it "Settle down class, if we keep going at this rate we won't be able to finish before the selection begins." The class becomes quiet again, and the lecture starts anew. "The third class is a scout class, in this class, you will learn to identify monster types, observe monsters for weak points, and identify industrites. At the end of the first year in SC, you will pair up with one of the other classes and assist them in their fights by identifying weaknesses and scouting ahead. You'll also learn to identify tracks and markings made by monsters in the wilderness to show territory. Finally, the last class is the advanced education which you are required to take. Hopefully, you realize this class will be taking you into more advanced topics of science, history, English, and math studies. "
"There will be several electives you can choose from, they are listed in your pamphlets. I trust that each of you has taken your future seriously, read through them, and selected those which you feel will best suit you and your interests." Mr. Exxin says with a smile on his face that did not reach his eyes.
"What is important to remember is that you will be tested monthly on your knowledge and skill retainment. If you are below the standard in any class other than advanced education, you will be removed from that class. So make sure you work hard in your selected courses." As Mr. Exxin finishes, he notices that he finally has everyone's complete attention.
"Okay. Now that we have finished the short lesson, I will now be taking you to the test center. Now that you have finished your primary education, you will be receiving your wrist chip implants. The installation of these chips is a relatively quick and painless process." The class was now getting excited, with Mr. Exxin letting their chatter go on for a bit, before calming them back down.
"As you all probably know, this chip you are getting is a Holographic Chip Implant or the HoCI. It can scan and show you your inborn talent, ability limit, as well as the abilities you get from the ability crystals." He informs them once more of what they are getting implanted in their wrists.
"Now, even though we call it a holographic chip, it is not actually a holograph. It links up with your nervous system and displays the screen directly in your mind. So no one else can spy on your screen unless you give them permission. You do not need to give permission to the school to see it if you do not want to, it is up to you. It depends on your abilities from here on. If you can keep up with whatever classes you select then you will be fine. If you fall too far behind then you will be flunked out. You get three chances so don't waste them." Some of the students look a bit nervous at the prospect of being kicked out of a class, but most are just excited.
Mr. Exxim looks at the clock and sighs. "Alright, it is time to go everyone. We will start heading over in order. Stay calm and don't push and shove. Let's have this class look professional, okay? Let's go."
The class stands and starts lining up, quietly murmuring amongst themselves. They are all getting excited to see if they have an innate ability.
Among them stand Isaac, standing with others, but not talking with them. Nearly everyone seems to just avoid looking at him, and he is just standing silently.
Eventually the class starts on its way to gym, ready and almost bursting with excitement for the HoCI.