"Let me go over what you should expect while we are on the move…"
The Extra Academy, a one of a kind educational institution built to produce the world's strongest Extras. By helping the awakened realize the full potential of their ability, the Academy hoped to one day extinguish the constant state of alert caused by the random emergence of Gates.
"Aside from having the brains, there are three important aspects that an aspiring Extra needs to be strong in."
Naturally, the more dedicated they were to that task, the fewer the numbers that could be included in their education program. As such, only a select number would be chosen everywhere and the criteria to judge them were as straightforward as they could be.
"The Physical Aspect, Exos Ratings, and most importantly, the awakened abilities!"
After being confirmed to possess a higher degree of intelligence, Special Class students had their requirements lowered, but the number of tests remained the same.
"Being confident in all three aspects might be hard, but full marks aren't required in each and every test. It's the compound results of these three tests that truly decide your fate."
It was hard to ask a high school student to achieve a perfect record on every single test. However, from achieving a great singular result and up to being adequately decent in all three, one only needed to be eventually judged as useful to be accepted!
"In a sense, it's more like a test of tactical worth. By losing the option to pick the one aspect you are confident in, undiscovered talents can always be revealed."
As simple as it sounded, the way that Exos affected humans wasn't a mainstream process. While humans improved overall, the energy wave's versatility made it so everyone changed a slight bit differently. Just like every person would have a special ability unique to him once he awakened, their developmental aspects were also different.
Several men could go to the same gym and follow the same training routine, yet still produce different results depending on their body type and food diet, and so was the case when it came to human evolution…
For example, while the majority of humans possessed the base ability to emit Exos, some people with special body types would lose the ability to actively use it. In return, however, the strength of their bodies, their Physical Aspect, would be boosted in compensation.
"In addition, each test will have its own Excellence mark, by achieving that in any of the tests you can directly qualify regardless of the other results."
In this way, Physical Aspect Extras were a special case. Not required to awaken a special ability, they were directly considered Awakened once their physical prowess reached a certain threshold!
"The Excellence mark itself isn't a necessity. In the end, as long as you can go above the hidden 'pass' threshold in all three aspects, you would similarly qualify!"
Compared to hitting the Excellence mark, being of the balanced type was still much more achievable…
"Last but not least, remember that your most important card is your awakened ability, anything is possible as long as your specialty proves useful!"
'I can only bet on this.' Listening to Link's explanation, Chrome fully understood the silver lining in his words. He was bound to fail in one of the three aspects, but he still had a chance to turn the tables around!
Aside from extreme cases, the true gauge of an Awakened was still the ability that they wielded, and while the current output of [Basic Lightning] wasn't that extreme, Chrome believed in its high efficiency that produced terrifying damage with energy consumption that's relatively lower than usual.
"That being said, overconfidence in said abilities and neglecting the other two aspects isn't advised. Regardless of your defining point, balance is still the key. I wish you all good luck," Link ended his little speech with one last piece of advice before returning back to his seat. After passing on the details to them, it was their turn from now to take charge of their life.
'Improving my Exos ratings can easily be done with time, but… I will have to look into the Physical Aspect once the test concludes.'
Taking the Teacher's words seriously, Chrome assessed his only stagnant aspect. Both of his abilities could be eventually improved using the scroll's modification, but his stats couldn't be modified despite being recorded in the scroll. With the chance to qualify in mind, he was taking notes on his future course of action if such a future came to pass.
Despite the admission examination being this early, the actual admission didn't happen until 2 months later at the normal start of the semester. If he were to find a method that suited him, getting in shape before then was completely possible!
'Speaking of which…' As assisted progress popped up in Chrome's mind, his thoughts wandered through Alter Chrome's memories, looking from behind the window as he matched it with this reality.
'It's not evidently apparent, but it's there.'
The structures and sign marks that he recognized still looked familiar to the ones in his reality. Nevertheless, one change was particularly associated with everything he saw, and that difference happened to be none other than technology!
Without pondering too much on it, Chrome knew that these changes were just the after-effects of the Awakening Day by referring to his counterpart's memories. Supernatural abilities appeared, but that wasn't everything. Most humans were also able to observe a visible growth in their Exos rating that made a large part of them even more energetic and produced than usual.
Thanks to the increase in everything, humanity was able to experience a fast-forwarding effect in their scientific progress and the research of the energy known as Exos, with the Awakening pill as one of their first successful products, a whole new branch of technology named 'Exo Tech' had long started since then...
With the miraculous effects of Exos, everyone scrambled to find a way to use it as an energy source to power advanced machinery that consumed too much fuel to be maintained.
The appearance of Exo Tech around the world simply revolutionized everything. Although it wasn't everywhere due to the minimal time that passed since the Awakening Day, there were a few small details that Chrome could easily notice.
Most importantly, the main focus of that scientific breakthrough was still weaponry and methods of destruction as humanity wanted to arm itself to the teeth against the danger invading their 'peaceful' plant. Without a doubt, this parallel reality's transition into Sci-Fi was still in its baby steps. Even then, this much was already commendable considering that there was no time difference between both realities!
'Let's just clear my mind for now.' Standing at the edge between absolute stress and endless casual floating, Chrome pushed away all thoughts as he focused everything on the task at hand. Anything could wait until this fateful day came to an end…