Cale was sitting on a chair in the facility, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. His mind was empty right now.
He couldn't help feeling as if the life he wanted to protect was slipping away from him day by day. There was a sadness in his heart that he could not understand.
Half an hour ago, after Fredrich's bewilderment, which did not suit him at all, they had taken Cale's temperature with a different machine and asked him to wait outside. He was due to come in soon for a blood test.
Cale had seen in the system window, after fighting the man with the scarred face and when Heatcliff had called him, that his rank had risen beyond its limits.
Yet he didn't feel happy. He felt like his life was just these two years and this experience of facing death again had made him realize something.
He was powerless.
He thought he was getting stronger, but Cale was weak. He was weak in every sense. Weak in rank, weak physically, weak in the use of mana and aura, weak with nothing to protect him.
Even if Cale kept a low profile for now, he knew that the elite families would keep an eye on him after seeing his power and even if they could not prove that he was using chaos energy.
Now Cale had to make a decision. Either he could show his power to the world and become a public spectacle, or he could once again retreat from the spotlight and live a quiet life.
Cale now knew that the latter was not possible. A quiet life was a remote possibility in the circumstances. He had a lot to learn about himself.
He had to learn about chaos experiments. He had to show those who were hunting him that he was the hunter. He had to learn why, even though Cale was part of the chaos experiments, only he could use them. Was it really, as Heatchliff had said, because of his skill? He couldn't help doubting it. He didn't fully trust Heatchliff either.
Why was he helping him?
He had to be sure that no one would trample him underfoot, because that was the way of the world. It was a terrible place where the powerful ruled and dominated and corrupted and enslaved the powerless.
The rich lived in opulence while somewhere the poor were sacrificed so that they could live in comfort. Seven months ago he had experienced it himself.
He covered his right hand with his left. He was still wearing his black gloves. Cale resented the blackness of his hand a little.
For the first time since he came here, he wondered why all this had happened to him. He felt that he would suffocate under the intensity of the emotions awakening in him.
Pain, sadness, hatred and anger were his most intense emotions. He also felt a deep sadness that could break his heart.
When he came out of the machine for the test, these sudden emotions made him nauseous and made him vomit in the sink.
Ever since that moment, he felt as if he would be swallowed up by these suddenly awakened feelings. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.
This was not the time to get caught up in emotions, he thought. Cale could feel the storm coming that would engulf everyone. He also knew that when the time came, nothing would ever be the same again.
So he had to pull himself together and prepare. A difficult path awaited him. The path he had chosen and would walk was never easy, but it would not be this difficult.
"Mr. Rayne," he heard Fredrich's voice calling his name and saw him approaching him.
"There will be a blood test, please follow me."
Fredrich went ahead again and Cale followed behind him. Together they entered a large laboratory where they were greeted by a doctor in a white coat.
"Please sit here," the woman said, indicating the patient's chair.
As he settled into the seat and unfolded his arm, Cale hoped that what he had done before coming here would work. After he came out of the machine to measure his mana density, body composition and so on, Cale had to find a way to make sure they didn't find chaos energy in the blood test.
The way Cale tried was a way that no one had ever tried before and, frankly, didn't need to. Cale already knew that they would find out from the results of the machine that he couldn't use mana. But chaos energy was a different story.
Cale extracted all of the chaos energy circulating in the mana meridians and trapped it in the chaos core. Even though the machine detected the chaos energy like an aura, it had to leave no trace as it would be detected in the blood test.
Even though his head hurt like it was going to explode from doing this, he believed it would be worth it. He watched with empty eyes as she pricked his arm with a needle and filled the tube with his blood.
"Get well soon," he thanked the smiling woman and put a small round bandage on his arm to stop the blood from flowing.
"The results will be out in half an hour. If you want, you can wait downstairs in the café." He nodded to Fredrich and left the lab.
He came to the café Fredrich had mentioned, got a cup of filter coffee and sat down by the window. The place was spacious with high ceilings and a full wall of glass, so he could see outside easily.
It was ten o'clock in the morning and he was overwhelmed from being stuck here for hours. When he took a sip of the strong coffee in front of him, his headache continued because he still hadn't released the chaos energy.
Outside he saw the reporters camped outside the facility, some of them harassing the agents there with their questions.
Cale didn't even need to listen to know what their questions were. They all wanted the same thing. They wanted to know about Cale's ability and whether he was really fighting chaos energy.
Throughout history, no one had ever been able to deal with chaos energy. Even the famous hero Hugo Yu was a great example. He was very strong, yet he could not prevent his death because of chaos energy.
He drank his coffee and watched the snow falling from the clouds covering the sky. Slowly he began to release the energy fluctuating in the chaos core into his body. As he released it, his headache diminished.
By the time it was over, he had finished his coffee and Fredrich had taken him back to another room to show him the results.
"Yes, Mr. Rayne, your results are in. While we were unable to determine your ability level, the other tests ran smoothly. Your level is D+. We discovered that you are unable to use mana, but instead have a high use of aura." Just as he thought, Cale had caused the machine to perceive chaos energy as aura.
This was probably because the chaos energy he had purified resembled aura.
"We confirmed this in your blood test and found no evidence of chaos energy."
"Am I free to go?"
"Yes, you can go. The results of this investigation and the case are public, so you will soon receive an email with the details. Thank you for your cooperation and have a good day, Mr. Rayne."
Cale nodded, his shoulders slumping in relief as he headed for the exit.
***
After Fredrich saw Cale leave the room, he tapped his earpiece and informed the other side.
"Sir, the results are in. Student, Cale Rayne's level is D+."
Fredrich heard the authoritative voice that filled his ear after the murmurs in his ear.
"You said his ability cannot be determined, right?"
"...Yes."
"There's a possibility that his ranking is S or higher," Fredrich paused.
"Are you talking about SS class?"
"It could be even higher than that," Fredrich gasped.
Even the S level was very rare, and anything higher than the SS rank would have put them in the same category as the elite families now.
Because the SSS level was difficult to achieve and took many years, these eleven families were highly respected. It was based on a sixteen-year-old teenager who could compete in every sense with the people in power.
Fredrich was sure that the world would be shaken by this news. He hoped things would not be too difficult for someone as talented as Cale.
"Put in the report that he has the potential to go to S level and above."
"... Sir, is that really appropriate?"
Fredrich was pleased that a new gem had emerged, but worried about the backlash if things were rushed and later proved wrong.
After all, hunters who reached S level were called geniuses. There were at most twenty-six S levels in the human world, while the SS level hunter was half that number. SSS hunters were eleven as far as we know. But if you count the Black Panther, there were twelve SSS level hunters.
On top of that, it was the first time that a group trying to spread chaos energy had attacked so openly, and the Union suspected that their leaders were SSS level hunters. But this information was hidden from the public.
"Yes, it's fine. I'm sure of the assessment. Go ahead as I said."
"If you don't mind my asking, how can you be so sure?" he heard a laugh from the other side.
"It has always been proven that people who reach D+ at sixteen are at S level or above. I am sure this one is the same."
"I understand, I will do as you say."
"Keep an eye on that student. Let me know if you find out anything else about him."
"Yes, sir."
-Click!
Fredrich took off his glasses, rubbed his face and sighed. He laughed heartily and looked at Cale's profile in the open hologram in front of him.
"What a monster I've found..." he said, smiling with a twinkle in his eye.
***
After Cale left the room, he walked through a few corridors under the gaze and got into the elevator. He took his cell phone out of his pocket. He put on his headphones and turned on the news videos.
He watched the videos he had seen briefly in Fredrich's memories. He was relieved to see that there was nothing to make them suspect him. He turned on a news channel and saw a conversation between two hunters analyzing his videos.
Sarah, an A level hunter with her blonde hair in a bun, and Lewis, a very handsome A level hunter with pink hair, were talking animatedly in the studio.
-... I would say that's quite an impressive talent, Sarah. Never before in history has there been such power.
Lewis was repeatedly showing Cale being played on the screen as some of Cale's attacks disappeared before they reached him.
-Lewis seems to have confirmed this at the Union. According to reports, Cale Rayne's ability is based on the law of push and pull.
Cale was surprised that the Union had released the information on such short notice, and surprised that the two hunters were the first to report it.
"... Scary," he shuddered.
-That would make him the first hunter to manipulate space.
Cale couldn't help frowning at the excitement in Lewis's voice and the gleam in his eyes. But there was nothing to do. Everyone had found out. He wouldn't have to hold back.
-I look forward to seeing what he does in the future. I hear the guilds are already trying to recruit him. What do you think the elite families will think?
-I don't know what their attitude will be, but if I were them, I wouldn't miss such a talent.
When Lewis laughed, Cale didn't listen any longer and looked at the comments below the video.
@rabbit: Oh my god! He's so cool!
@worldsaver: I wonder how it was not discovered until now.
@bb: He has so many wounds. I pray for his well-being.
@trasher: They make too much of it. As if he has done too much... He has always been beaten by the way.
@fjs: Take your bad comments and get out of fucking here!
@nice: I swear if you were in his shoes you'd get the hell out of there in an instant but I can't prove it lol
@seawolf: If you know so much, you should have fought that bastard!
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.
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When the elevator stopped, Cale got out. He could hear the voices of the reporters outside. He also saw the leading hunters of some guilds looking at him in the corridor, and among them were hunters from elite families.
When he saw them approaching him, he immediately went to a side door.
"I wouldn't open that door if I were you," a man's voice said, but it was too late, because the moment Cale opened it, he was like a rabbit in headlights under the flashbulbs.
"Mr. Rayne, is it true you've joined the Union?"
"You are the first hunter in history to manipulate space. Can you share your feelings with us?"
"Mr. Rayne, please look here! The whole world is watching you right now!"
"Mr. Rayne, what do you plan to do next?"
"Is it true that you will join the elite families?"
Cale regained his composure in the face of so many questions.
"Let's go, we'll take you home," he looked at the voice out of the corner of his eye. It was the SS level hunter Christian Numero, the Head of the Tiger Fang Guild.
When he suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight and stood far away from the reporters, the reporters turned around in shock.
Christian and the hunters with him froze and stared at where Cale was. Cale's calm demeanor did not go unnoticed. They didn't expect a sixteen-year-old to be so calm and cool.
Anyone else would have either flaunted his talent or panicked in front of so many people.
"It's okay," he said and disappeared again.
"Huh?"
"What was that?"
While the reporters were bewildered and questioning the incident, the hunters who witnessed the incident outside the Union's gate had different feelings. Some were amazed, others jealous.
"I felt no mana from him," Christian muttered.
"A move like that... I'm already very curious about him," grinned another SS level hunter, Celina Bohem, Head of the Blue Dragon Guild.
That day the whole world learned about Cale Rayne's ability and was shocked that he was an ever-growing hunter with no limits.
This news, which mobilized not only the human race but also other races, was the beginning of a new era. It was the harbinger and the beginning of what was to come.
Cale Rayne was the beginning and the end of everything.