Everyone froze while looking at Eram and the girl. She yelped as Mark continued.
" I am one of the few Rank-8 explorers, as well as a talent scout this year."
Looking around at the frozen kids, he sighed.
"I know none of you noticed me, but that is what my core does. Please don't be afraid."
"Sir, that was amazing. Are you one of the strongest people in the world?"
Eram looked at him with awe. He was grateful for being recognized after noticing him, but even still, he only noticed him by chance.
Mark gave a small smile. His oddly youthful appearance glowing.
"I appreciate the flattery, it was nothing more than a mere parlor trick, and to your next question, yes. Your name?"
"My name is Eram Shibo"
He began to sweat as all of the students glared at him. Eram had a sparkle in his eyes after Mark glared at the other students, many of which, hung their heads in shame.
" Well, it's nice to meet you Eram, you passed. Tomorrow will be going to a high school of your choice, though I still want to see what else your core can do, so you will still participate in the test."
After his greeting, he looked back at the girl.
" You passed as well. With all of that being said any questions?"
Many kids yelled, red faced.
"Wait, what? We didn't get an hour to practice, what do you mean?"
Other statements similar to that were also spoken. The students were frantic.
The man looked at all of the students and coldly declared.
"Life doesn't wait on you to get ready. You, at the front of the class, please show me what you can do."
The student glared at him with his mouth agape, and moped up to the front of the class. He slumped at the podium, raising both hands. All of the utensils on the desks started to float up.
A student exclaimed.
"Hey i feel a few pounds lighter!"
"Amazing! This is the type of ability that the Grand Academies need! What's your name boy?"
Mark squealed, similar to that of a child getting candy.
The boy looked shocked.
" I am Gunther sir. Wha…What do I... do now?"
He said stuttering, as he could feel the glares from his fellow classmates reached his back.
"You can sit down thank you. Everyone who passes will stay with me after class, just state your name, use your ability, and I will tell you whether or not you pass. Next."
Mark sighed while pointing at the student behind him.
The girl behind Gunther got up with a smirk. She Strutted up too the front, declared her name while making a weird noise.
"Hmph, My name is Shelly, I'm amazing."
She proceeded to groan, causing a little wisp of fire the size of a basket ball to appear, with some students giving it a quick glance.
" Sorry you failed, you'll need government assistance to make your core useful. All it does, is make people want to glance at it. Like I said, sorry"
The girls color drained from her face, she then fell to her knees crying, then passed out.
Mark felt bad so he gave the class a short explanation to try to ease some nerves.
" Guys, please don't give up even if you fail. There is always a way to get an education, whether it be from a government program, or a private one. I don't want you to get killed because I passed you."
He looked at the class with a regretful face, then he pointed at the next student who cursed under her breath. She up and moved to the class like a robot.
" My name is Rebeka, here is my core ability."
She opened her mouth and made a void in her mouth, anyone who looked at it immediately grabbed their head and groaned.
Mark smiled and serenely spoke.
" Pass next."
He pointed at the next student who then failed. His ability being able to make tiny sparkles of light in the air.
The next also failed, with the ability to make himself slightly float in the air.
" Sorry failed, next."
Many students came up to the podium and tried their best but didn't pass.
Of the first half of the 30 students only six passed, the rest that failed, were crying.
Eram got up looking around knowing that when he got back, there would only be one more person before him. Eram approached the girl who passed in the beginning.
"What's your ability?"
She looked back thinking rubbing her head.
"Well I'm not too sure how to describe it. When I think hard I can make a sphere that protects me."
"Sounds cool, mind if I see how strong it is?"
He asked with a sparkle in his eyes.
She nodded and proceeded to make the protective sphere around her. After receiving the nod Eram had stuck his whole arm in. The light shimmered and his arm fell off, with the slicing of flesh resounding.
"Agh!"
Eram's gripped his arm tightly, falling down onto his knees.
The girl started to tear up, staring at his arm. She started to hyperventilate, turning around to run.
" I'm so sorry I..I.. didn't mean to."
Eram bent over and picked his arm up. Most of the blood that came out of his arm crawled back up and went back in. Flexing his fingers , he started to talk.
" No I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking clearly. That burned and I would like to not experience that again. By the way I can heal."
He stood back up, while moving his arm around. After moving it up and down after a bit he said one last thing with a smirk.
"I'm, amazing."
The girl looked at him with the goofiest and dumbfounded expression she had ever made in her life. She turned around and left.
Eram watched her leave and thought to himself.
'Damn that shit burned. It felt like my arm was on fire.'
A moment later, after rubbing his arm, he headed back towards the class.
"When is this bathroom break going to be over, It's already been 15 minutes?"
One student from the latter half of the class said while he was yawning. Some other students who already failed were agreeing with him, yawning to show their boredom.
Mr. Longly looked around at the gloomy students, and stood up on his desk. He gazed atop his thrown and declared.
" Give Mark a little bit, he is making a call to his higher-ups letting them know of the already outstanding results..."
He was about to continue when the first girl who had failed interrupted.
"How is there a lot of talent. Most of us are going to fail anyway, aren't we?"
She whispered with her head on the desk, still sobbing a little.
"Unfortunately, that is always the case. The schools have too accept students who will benefit the most from going there, such as Eram, who might be able to become grade-9."
Hearing that, a lot of students groaned.
Everyone looked at the creaking door as Mark walked in with a sly smile on his face.
" Looks like we get a bonus this year Longly."