"What is your ability?" he asked
"None" Derek replied with a blank face.
Elton was surprised at his response, the headmaster had personally sent for him and asked him to enroll the new student and he didn't even possess an ability.
Had the headmaster forgotten so quickly what it was like for people without an ability in the school, he wondered.
'Just what is this deranged old man thinking' was all Elton could mutter.
Elton dropped the tab on a platform he had formed with his earth ability and brought out a digital watch and a stop watch to continue the test.
"Wear this on your wrist, it will serve as an indicator for your ability levels and your body vitals, it will also serve as a tracker."
Elton basically summarized the whole thing; he was not interested in explaining the details to Derek.
Derek collected the digital watch and scrutinized it all over before putting it on his wrist. It was a metallic chrome black watch.
On the screen of the watch there were many different numbers, most of which Derek could not understand but he wasn't bothered
When he put it on his wrist the watch began to whirr and produce rolling mechanical sounds
"You are going to run from here to the finish line once you hear the sound of the whistle" Elton had barely finished talking before the whistle went off.
Derek was still at the same spot for a few seconds before realizing that the whistle had gone off then he started to run.
"Reaction time, too slow" Elton muttered to himself while shaking his head. As Derek neared the finish line, Elton brought the stopwatch close to his face and stop.
Derek was panting like an animal in heat, it had taken him over twenty seconds to clear the hundred-meter dash and he could hardly catch his breath after such a short sprint
Elton could only wonder how hopeless he was, he had no abilities and he was not athletic at all. He was just a sitting goose in this school of predators
After a few more tests Elton concluded that he was at best a Rank F, if there was something lower than a Rank F, he might have settled for that.
Just as the beasts were ranked according to their threat levels, humans were also ranked according to their power levels. Going from the lowest, Rank F to the highest Rank A.
Only a few set of people have been rumored to go above Rank A, everyone in the Elite squad was rumored to have surpassed the Rank A which had earned them the name 'Elites'
The lowest Rank, F was given to those with little or no combat skill or ability, the Rank F was just as rare as the Elites, because in this world it was almost impossible to come across someone who lacked both combat skills and an ability.
It was easier to see a Rank E than a Rank F, after all most of the students were Rank E's.
Derek trailed slowly behind Elton mostly out of tiredness as they went to the Class block
"This is Derek Chase, a new transfer student and your new classmate for the rest of the semester" Elton introduced Derek as they entered the class.
The day went by in a blur as Derek was mostly uninterested in the class activities, he was quickly jolted out of his reverie when Chuck bumped at his desk
"Come on, let's go to weapons class"
Derek could only wonder what the hell he meant by weapons class. Most of the students had left the class before Chuck pulled Derek along with him.
Just outside along the corridor, a crew of four boys stood two at each side of the wall snickering and talking in hushed voices.
Chuck could sense trouble coming but he kept on walking and urged Derek to walk faster, they had almost passed the boys when one stuck out his leg tripping Derek
He landed face first on the hard floor and the boys began to laugh at their attempt at a prank
"Hey, watch it" Derek spat in anger
"Or what?" one of the boys glowered over Derek
"Let's just leave" Chuck urged Derek, pulling him by his sleeve. He knew there was only one way this was going to end and he was not ready to see it through
Derek was seething with rage as they walked the remaining distance to the weapons class but the rage vanished almost immediately when they got to the weapons class
He could almost feel the large room calling out to him
The room was quite spacious and there were a whole lot of interesting things to see in each corner
There was a stool at the far end of the room which was the first thing one could notice because it was a single stool in front of a wide spread mat.
The room was painted a warm red colour, making it easier to spot the main attraction of the room which were the different weapons
There were weapons of different shapes and sizes either hanging on the wall or sitting on a shelf, there were tonfas hanging on the wall just beside a quarterstaff
There was also a crossbow with a glowing rear end, all these looked pretty attractive and tempting but what really caught his eyes was none of these things
There was a silver chain whip sitting on the top rack of the shelf, Derek almost felt like he should grab it and make it his own
"You can have it after the class if you want it so much" it was almost as if the voice had read his mind, he turned to see the owner of the voice but it was only a young boy who looked just slightly older than the other students
Derek didn't give him much attention and wrote him off as someone trying to get him into trouble.
Just as Derek was about to look at the other interesting weapons in the room when he could see people gathered at the far end of the room.
He moved over to see what the commotion was, there were two students in the yellow area
"The guy on blue suddenly challenged this other guy to a duel using any weapon of their choice" Chuck explained suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
Derek didn't even bother turning back to acknowledge him, he even moved further so he could watch the duel clearly
After pushing his way to the front, Derek finally saw the two people that were going up against each other, it was the guy who had offered him the chain as if he was its owner and a random student.
The student had picked a sword, a real sword with metal blade while the Chain whip guy had taken a three-section staff.
Derek could not help but wonder if it was even legal for two students to battle each other with such dangerous weapon
There were already whispers going around because of the guy that picked the three-section staff mostly because it was a wooden weapon just like a staff only that this one separated at the joints.
Not like they were really concerned about him, since most of the students wanted to witness little of a blood bath
The student with the staff stood still, putting most of his weight on one leg, he was waiting for his opponent to come rushing in with his sword
But he was almost surprised he did no such thing, the student with the sword continued to circle his opponent.
Suddenly he rushed in, he had found an opening, he swung his sword and fast at his opponent aiming for his midriff.
Almost everyone was expecting to see a huge gash and lots of blood spilling on the floor, but the sword had stopped just before it touched his body.
His staff was already there shielding his body from the attack, the student with the sword immediately jumped back.
The staff user had not moved from his position, only the staff had moved, he flicked the staff and it separated into its three sections and held it back in his hand.
Derek almost didn't see him separate the staff and arrange it back in his hand, he moved like a veteran weapon user, only that he didn't move. Only his hands did
Derek looked up in time just to see the smirk on his face, he had created the opening and his opponent fell for it, Derek almost didn't understand what was happening but he kept on watching
The sword guy charged in again, this time with a series of weird footwork but his opponent was hardly bothered, he maintained his stance in the center of the area
When his sword was in range, he began swinging it wildly but purposefully, but guy with the staff made it look like it was too easy
He dodged the sword strokes like it was nothing, the next attack came from the top. The metal sword slashed down but he immediately sidestepped letting his arm loose in the process
Just before the sword hit the floor it came back up almost immediately going for the arm. For the first time the staff guy was surprised and almost got caught unawares.
But like a pro he spun his staff over to the other side and hit the sword at its side sending it to the floor
Feeling he had had enough fun for one day, he tackled specific points on his now unarmed opponents' leg and sent him to the floor
He held the staff over his head and forced him to submission.
Cheers went up all around the weapons room as his opponent said the words
"I quit"
Smiling the victor put his hand to his face and slowly removed his mask…