It was over a century ago that monsters from an entirely different dimension began appearing on Earth, and it was during these chaotic times that humans had begun to realize their potential to manipulate energy that was simply known as mana.
With it came powers beyond imagination, and the ability to fight for survival.
This was what the world was like, a constant battle for survival between the human race and these invaders, which were eventually given the name EVO. Extradimensional, Violent, and Opressive.
However, despite humanity having managed to cling to a dim hope, a month was all it took for that small light to disappear into the void. An invasion unlike any other struck the world, bringing forth complete ruin to everything as humanity knew it.
For someone like Kyuren, he had practically lived in that field of blood and iron. In the duration of that singular month of the constant hellscape, he felt as if he had experienced every single negative experience possible.
However...
"I won't experience that again."
At the current time, a certain young man who looked no older than fifteen could currently be seen standing together with many others his age. From the looks of things, they were all standing inside a large open room.
Aside from his apparent age, the male had somewhat pale skin and smooth straight black hair with silver streaks, that same silver tone was also shared with his rather sharp eyes. As for clothing, his attire right now could be described as sporty.
Consisting of a simple white and blue sports T-shirt, a pair of black shorts, and a pair of black running shoes. For Kyuren, simple clothes like this were always the most comfortable, and considering the nature of what he was doing right now, they were the perfect choice.
'Three years ago, huh?' Kyuren seemed to be a bit distracted in his thoughts as he blankly stared forward at the proceedings within the hall. 'To think that I'd actually be taking an entrance examination like this all over again. How nostalgic...'
Ever since he died in that hellscape, he had found himself back here to the time around when he first took the exam to get into the academy. More specifically, Kyuuseishu Academy. One of the most popular and high-end battle academies in all of Japan.
A battle academy was essentially a school whose purpose is to solely prepare and train its students to become future Saviors, warriors essentially that fight the invasions of the EVOs head-on. They were humanity's line of defense.
It had been a whole week since he had found himself back in this time, and he knew that it was an absolute miracle and a great opportunity. Only he himself knew what would occur in three years' time, so he sure as hell wasn't going to sit around.
He needed to get stronger!
Even if it was going to be him alone to try to face that ridiculously huge invasion, he wasn't going to go down without a fight. After all, he wouldn't at all expect anyone to believe him if he just straight up said that the world could potentially end in three years.
"Ryusei Kyuren, you're next!"
"Right!"
After hearing his name called, Kyuren immediately snapped out of his thoughts before walking forward toward where a large punching machine of sorts could be seen. Standing beside it was an examiner, the person who was basically writing down all of the results.
The first test during this examination procedure was the physical strength test, basically to gauge how strong the person was while enhanced with mana. For those who could manipulate mana, not only do they have supernatural powers, but also the ability to augment their physical bodies by coating themselves in mana.
"Whenever you're ready."
"Got it."
Even though Kyuren's body three years ago as well as his overall ability to manipulate mana was severely lacking compared to his future self, he had still retained his memories since being revived back in this time.
Naturally, Kyuren obviously put the knowledge he had to use. With his previous experiences, Kyuren knew how to train and manipulate his mana. Let it be through simply controlling it as a whole, or increasing it through deep meditation.
He still had a long way to go before he even reached his previous level, but that didn't matter right now, he was still far stronger already than he was usually back at this age. Back in his previous life in this world, he was your definition of average.
Until the doomsday event happened, he had power that was very average for someone his age. It was only during that month that he was forced to become stronger very quickly, even if it meant using extreme methods.
Honestly, he had to thank the invasion in a way, it was because it happened that he had learned things that he probably wouldn't have known in years. After all, to fight back, the more experienced Saviors had to pass down their knowledge and training to those who are, in one way or another, not prepared or experienced enough.
While he may have been average during this point in his life.
This time, however...
Reeling his fist back and getting into a stance to deliver a powerful strike, Kyuren narrowed his eyes as waves of mana seemed to circulate around his fist. The mana was very much visible as a glowing aura of dense blue light, causing vibrations in the air as he continued to charge.
'That control...' The examiner seemed to widen his eyes as he saw Kyuren's mana-infused fist. 'That level of control needed to focus that much mana into a single body part is at least belonging to a graduate of the academy. No, even graduates can't solely focus mana that well...'
Even if someone could manipulate and focus their mana into a single body part, there would always be a certain amount still spread across the rest of the body. However, the examiner could see that Kyuren had no other leakage of mana aside from his fist.
As far as he knew, the level of control needed for something like that was usually exhibited by those who have become officially licensed Saviors. To put that into perspective, people who have at the very least graduated from a battle academy.
For someone who was just entering their first year, it was unheard of...
Before the examiner could think of anything else, Kyuren had sent his fist driving straight into the machine. As soon as his fist struck, a large shockwave was sent through the area along with a massive gust of wind that caused the other applicants to stumble back.
It took some time, but the wind slowly dispersed along with any dust clouds that had formed from the force behind the punch. As the area cleared itself, Kyuren was soon revealed still standing calmly in front of the machine.
However, unlike before, the machine was now projecting a holographic screen above, displaying a sort of gauge that was transparent. They all watched as a green bar began filling up from the left and quickly approaching the right.
『Calculating』
『...』
『Result: B+』
As soon as the result appeared, no one said anything except turning to stare at Kyuren, who was just standing with a nonchalant expression on his face. While they were staring as if they were seeing a monster, Kyuren was having his own thoughts.
'That's a grade usually scored by third-years, not too bad I guess.' Kyuren crossed his arms over his chest as he stared up at the displayed result. 'I was hoping for more, but it's still quite good considering it's only been a week.'
He remembered that his first evaluation was C+, which was above average for first-year students. His strength and control were always his highest parameters. For him to score a grade as high as B+ as a first-year was unheard of really.
A grade from C to B might not sound like a lot, but even the difference between a B and B+ was very noticeable. The higher the grade gets, the more obvious the difference between the sub-grades, even more so between different grades.
Without saying anything, Kyuren made his way back over to the other applicants, all of whom could only stare at him as he did so. Kyuren didn't react to their stares, instead closing his eyes and began silently meditating while standing.
He had no interest in watching the results of the other possible students, so he might as well meditate while he waited. After overcoming the shock of Kyuren's results, the examination continued as usual, although in a bit more silence.
After the first test, four other tests were necessary.
Each of the tests determined the grade for each parameter, the grades essentially determine what ranking of power you were. On top of that, and these tests right now, they'd determine whether or not you'd make it into the academy.
The Strength test, the first test they did, determine how physically powerful they were. While it determined physical strength, it was also a way of determining the volume of mana the person had. There was no way of calculating the amount of mana one person had numerically, so a test of mana-augmented strength was the best alternative.
Of course, a person's natural physical strength did make the evaluation of the volume of mana a bit inaccurate, but it usually was never enough of a factor to make much of a difference.
Agility, another parameter they were evaluated on, was calculated based on how fast someone can run when augmented with mana. This was similar to the Strength where people with a similar volume of mana were usually always just as fast as one another.
Anyway, the next four tests were as follows:
➣ Test 2: Agility - [How fast a person can run when augmented with mana]
➣ Test 3: Control - [The ability and control one has over their own mana]
➣ Test 4: Offense - [How well one can do in combat in terms of offense]
➣ Test 5: Defense - [A person's endurance and ability to guard against attacks]
For the Agility test, they had to simply finish running five laps around a large field, which in total was equivalent to running a kilometer distance. Control was simple, you just needed to show to what extent you could manipulate your mana.
As for the test on Offense, the test had them fight against virtually simulated EVOs. The test was graded on your level of combat, your method of combat, and also how long you could last. After all, if a person could only fight for like a minute tops, that was enough for their offense to be considered garbage.
In other words, overall power was only one of the three main criteria for their grading in Offense.
Finally, the Defense test was about how well you could defend yourself against both a single and also waves of enemies. The three main criteria were how well you could defend, your method of defending, and how long you could defend.
It was essentially determined the same way as Offense.
In a sense, both the Offense and Defense exams were tests of skill and endurance.
After all of the tests were finished, they were each given a piece of paper that had written down the evaluation they each had with respect to their performance. However, none of the applicants were talking to each other about their results, their focus was entirely on one person.
Of course, that person was Kyuren.
He ignored all of the stares he got as he calmly looked over the sheet in his hand, his eyes staring down boredly as his pupils could be seen shifting from one side to the other as he skimmed over all the information.
Aside from the evaluations just completed here during these tests, there were also other parts of information that were obviously written down prior to the examination.
.
『Examination Report』
➣ Name: Ryusei Kyuren
➣ Exam Location: Venue 3
➣ Special Power: Hydrokinesis
-
➣ Strength: B+
➣ Agility: B
➣ Control: A
➣ Offense: A
➣ Defense: B
-
➣ Overall Evaluation: B-Class Savior