Placing her hands on the testing machine, she could feel it vibrating against the palm of her hand, a sensation that wasn't exactly painful but wasn't all that pleasant either. She could feel the machine scanning her palms and while it calibrated, she wondered what percentage she would get.
Looking into the previous Kenneth— let's call her Kenneth 1.0's memories— it didn't seem like she was fully aware of her lineage. She was raised mostly by her father and only knew of her mother because of the stories her father would tell her.
He would go on to tell her that she came from a special family and she was incredibly gifted hence the reason why she couldn't stay to raise her. They had high expectations for her and these expectations didn't include raising a child. Although his wife had left him, her father never seemed sad or like he resented her. He would always tell her that her mother loved her more than anything and that it pained her to have to leave.
Kenneth could tell that Kenneth 1.0 didn't think too well of her, so she decided that she wouldn't care either. Unfortunately, her father passed away when she turned sixteen, and she was brought up by her aunt — her father's sister before being kicked out when she turned 18.
Having no other family, Kenneth 1.0 decided that she would at least attend the academy her father had told her so much about. His wish was for her to graduate from the academy and live a good life, and become a proper member of society.
Kenneth was aware of her father's race as an Empath, but she wasn't sure if the same could be said of her mother. She guessed that this test would allow her to find out. After a minute had passed, the calculation were completed, and her results were shown on the virtual screen. Xander grunted upon seeing the results.
He had a slight frown on his face which worried Kenneth a little.
Was something wrong? Was she actually not an Empath but actually a Human? Or worse, an alien?
"The results are as follow." Xander started to say.
"You are 70% Empath, and 30% Fera." He said with a serious expression on his face.
Kenneth knitted her eyebrows in confusion.
What the hell did that mean? Was her mother part Fera? And why did Xander look so worried? Was this a bad thing?
Seeing the confused expression on her face, Xander realized that he never explained what the results meant. He cleared his throat and reassured her nothing was wrong.
"It's just that in all my history of teaching, I've never come across an Empath that had such a high percentage of Fera in their blood. Usually Empaths are mixed with human blood and if they do have Fera blood in them, it's a small percentage." He explained.
"I see. So there's nothing physically wrong with me?"
"No, no cause for concern as of right now. I'm guessing from your reaction you weren't made aware of this?"
"No, I didn't know my mother but my father was 100% Empath so I always assumed I was the same."
"I see. Let's move on then. I'll now be testing your level." He said, trying to change the subject.
This time, instead of putting her hands on the machine, she was required to put her whole body instead. As she stood there, she could feel a bit of pain on the top of her head.
It was as if she was being pulled. It was uncomfortable but nothing she couldn't handle. She calmly waited for the assessment to be over.
The screen in front of her slowly changed colours. It went from light yellow, to a darker yellow, to green, then orange followed by blue. She was relieved to see that she had passed. Just when she thought the test was over, the colour blue changed to a darker blue and she could've sworn she saw the colour purple being displayed on the screen.
It would switch between dark blue to purple for quite some time before it finally landed on dark blue.
Kenneth was slightly disappointed that she didn't reach level purple. Purple was the highest level and it would've been nice if she had ranked the highest. The machine then turned off and Kenneth stepped off, turning to face instructor Xander.
The assessor had a look of shock on his face. He was in complete disbelief. He never expected her to reach such a high level. She was almost at level purple but that didn't matter. She was the first Empath to test so highly in the last 20 years. The last person to reach level purple was a student with Fera blood who was still studying in the school.
This was marvellous news and he could only imagine how happy the Headmaster would be when she found out.
Seeing as how he hadn't said anything for a while, Kenneth couldn't help but speak out.
"Is something wrong?"
Xander snapped out of his reverie and turned to face Kenneth properly for the first time. Kenneth could tell that he was both confused and happy despite his blank expression. Her ease at perceiving his emotions surprised her.
"Congratulations on passing the assessment miss Greywater." He then got up and gestured for her to follow him out of the tent.
"I'll be personally escorting you to the selection zone and i'll explain everything you need to know." He said, with a slight smile on his face.
Kenneth simply nodded her head. She was grateful that she'd passed and that he was willing to give her some clarifications. Just like Kenneth 1.0 she had limited knowledge about everything here.
"Most people who are above average reach the level green as an Empath," he started. "These people only make up a small percentage of Arden. The majority of people fall under level orange which is the level that is required to attend this school. You have surpassed those who are deemed talented and have reached genius level territory."
While he was explaining himself, he was also trying to gauge Kenneth's reactions. He couldn't tell what she was thinking at all since her face remained passive the whole time.
"Anyway, having high talent means having the ability to master multiple specialities. I won't go through too many details because you'll be learning this in your classes. All you need to know is that you've been blessed with great power and I can already tell you're destined to become a powerful Esper."
"Oh, I didn't know that was possible." She said honestly.
From what she could tell, people only had one specialty, very few had two.
"Yes it is. Not many people know this considering how most people simply don't have enough ability to be in the know. Having one speciality is already a feat itself." He said, giving her another smile.
"But don't worry. Our role is to guide you and instruct you to the best of our abilities. We will teach you how to control your power and how to reach your fullest potential. You'll also get to learn new techniques as well as skills to help you perform more efficiently."
As soon as he finished speaking, they made their way towards the station for the final registration.
He explained to her that today was the last day of recruitment and they would leave for the Academy tomorrow. Once her registration was complete, she was free to do whatever she wanted but had to make sure to come back at 9 AM to depart.
On the way there, Kenneth couldn't help but notice something in the corner of her eye. She saw a tall and well built man teaching one who looked to be the same age as him how to properly wield the sword.
To the untrained eye, his swordsmanship was superb, and you couldn't find a single flaw in his movements. He moved swiftly and gracefully. Kenneth had to admit that the man was skilled, but she could tell that a lot of his movements were unnecessary and over the top. Upon closer inspection, she didn't know why, but she could feel the swords feelings emanating from the blade.
She thought she might've been hallucinating and quickly drew her attention back to the front.
The young man sensing that he was being observed quickly turned to look at the spot Kenneth was in but found no one to be there. He frowned in confusion.
"Captain?" He heard his subordinate say.
"It's nothing. Go back to swinging your sword." He said in a stern voice.
The young man didn't wait to be commanded twice and went back to his training.