Once the five students heard their names, each one of them began making their way toward the sergeant, who was waiting for them in front of the crowd.
Apart from Byron and Davin, Alec looked to be the most nervous among anyone there. He would constantly look around him and couldn't stop fidgeting as he walked up the stage. Out of the boys in the group, Alec seemed to be one with the smallest body frame,
The other two members were girls, Kim and Silver. Silver as her name implies, had glittering silver hair and a tall figure.
Kim, on the other hand, was the type of girl whose beauty turned necks. Her proportion was perfect, not too big and not too small, and a long silky blonde with a magnificent hue.
The only problem was her facial. Even while walking through the gathering of people, she still kept it cold and expressionless. Not once did her expression change nor flinch in fear; rather, it stayed stiff, cold, and without expression. The awe on the faces of the other kids was lost on hers.
Their group soon stopped behind another group that was being transported to the testing area.
Byron walked around and greeted every one of the people in his group with a handshake and confident smile. Byron was very polite, so most of them accepted his greetings. All of them, except for Kim.
She merely stared at Byron's hand when he offered it to her before turning her gaze away after a second.
"Come on, you don't have to be like that, Kim. I thought our little quarrel ended just fine back then," Byron said as he withdrew his hand and walked back to his standing position.
Alec whispered to Byron's ear when he returned,
"I assume you still want a fight," Alec whispered.
"But a handshake wouldn't kill, would it? She should have just done as everyone did. Why claim rebelliousness?" Byron whispered back.
Looking around there, Alec could tell what the others were thinking. It was on their faces.
So instinctively, Alec moved away from Byron, hoping that others couldn't mistake the both of them as friends.
At last Alec and the others were called forward and were told to stand in a circle drawn with a white line on the ground. The space inside of it was wide enough to fit the five of them in.
Outside the lined space, a hooded man was standing nearby.
"Send them off now!" Linda ordered.
As soon as sergeant Linda gave the command, the hooded man planted both of his hands on the ground and the white circle started to light up, shining in a bright purple color.
"An ability to transport, huh," Byron said, leaning forward to speak to Alec's ear, much to the latter's discomfort. "What a rare ability it is."
The plain field faded from their sight and they were tossed into a whirlwind of colors.
The next moment the group found themselves in an outdoor area, this time an empty wasteland. There was no sign of life nor greeneries.
Looking closely, Alec saw two people before their group. A man and a woman stood in front of their group.
The man was with a hood while the woman wore thick clothing, covering most of her body except her face, making it impossible to tell what rank they possessed.
The woman held a tablet in her hand, busy thumbing through it, totally ignoring the group before her. This she continued till she was done. Once she had finished, she shifted her gaze to the students before her and began to speak.
"Hello, I'm Rita and I will be in charge of today's test. Once you're done with your tests, your scores will be put in this tablet and your scores will then be reflected on your wrist watches."
Alec noted that all of them except him, had confident looks on their faces.
"Now, who should go first? Oh, seems we got some previously leveled ones," Rita noted as her hand ran across her tablet screen. The information mentioned by the woman was all passed down from their previous school.
"Davin Hart, step forward."
Davin stepped out with a calm and reserved expression. With no flinch of nervousness in him.
Davin stood out from the group and Rita asked him.
"What is your ability?"
"Eh, I don't have an ability," Davin answered with no atom of fear in him.
The other four in the group including Rita were dumbstruck by what they heard.
With the kind of confidence Davin possessed while walking out, others had thought he was a strong ability user.
"Don't worry Davin," Rita said. "Here take this."
The hooded man standing beside Rita suddenly conjured a level 1-3 water ability book in his hand and held it out quietly. Rita took the book and handed it to Davin.
Davin paused for a while before replying,
"I'm sorry ma, but I refuse to collect this." Davin kindly refused.
Rita was shocked at this sudden outburst. A student has never rejected an ability book before.
"May I ask why you refuse to collect the book?" Rita couldn't help but ask.
"I have my reasons, ma and If you don't mind, let's continue with the test," Davin said with a smile.
Of all the people there, Alec was shocked the greatest.
"But you said you were strong. Hope you have good reasons for this," Alec muttered.
"Young man, I hope you know the implication of what you just did?" Rita asked with concealed anger in her voice.
"Yeah, I do," Davin answered confidently with a raised chin.
"If that's the case then you're done with the test."
Davin's eyes widened in shock when he heard that.
"W…What?!" Davin stuttered in bewilderment.
"Since the test is all about testing the level of your ability and you have none, you are done with the test."
"But I can still do the test with my strength alone," Davin said.
Though what Rita said about the test being for the level of one's ability was true, it still doesn't stop one from taking part in the test. She was just irritated with Davin's over display of confidence.
"You are a level 1 ability user," Rita informed as thumbed on the tablet once more and the next moment Davin's wristwatch turned on with a 1 sign displayed on it.
Davin gritted his teeth in anger and went back to stand with the others.
Rita went on and called on the others. Silver was the first person that was called after Davin.
Stepping out, Silvia stood in the center of the field waiting for the test to start.
"You are to dodge every attack by the target," Rita informed.
The test started immediately with five holographic drums popping up from the field. The drums shot fireballs at Silver while she went on to use her electrokinesis ability combined with her sword against the drums.
"What a good combo," Byron praised. "Though the electrokinesis ability is quite useless against these drums even when paired with sword strikes, it was still quite handy in normal fights."
After three or four strikes on the drums and no damage was made, Silver realized they were all holograms. Since her ability did not affect the targets, she started dodging the fireball as instructed by Rita at the start of the test. At the end of the test, she only managed to dodge 20 fireballs out of 30. Silver was also asked to undergo another test to determine her strength, which she did.
At the end of the test, Silver was awarded a level 3 ability user. Alec could tell she wasn't happy with the result of the test. She was red in face as she stomped back to the group.
Alec thought the test wasn't fair. Her ability level could have been more than 3 if the drum weren't all made to be holographic.
"Alec Phil, step forward," Rita ordered, looking at him.
Alec did as he was told.
"What is your ability?"