Military Academy

"Welcome to military academy! My name is Mr. Allard! I'm one of the instructors here at this academy!" spoke Mr. Allard into a microphone, broadcasting his voice to over two thousand new recruits. Mr. Allard was standing behind a podium with security personnel standing to his left and right. They were all standing in a very large room. Ren stood within the group of two thousand awaiting to receive instructions.

"To think I can't trust the military," sighed Ren. "I have to try and climb through the ranks as fast as possible while earning everyone's trust."

"As you know, before you can officially enter the military you must complete the course we have set up for you. After losing so many soldiers, we now have to make sure that when we send you out there, you can at least hold your own against the enemy," explained Mr. Allard. "We have set two objectives for you. The first is to complete and pass the course within one month. The second is to be ranked in the top five hundred at the end of that month. Your rank will be set once we determine your power level as an ability user with this power detector. Your rank is determined by how your power level compares to the other two thousand people here as well as those who have failed in the previous months. So in reality, you will be competing against another three thousand people besides the ones in this room. If you fail, you have as many opportunities to get into the top five hundred every month. You only have to complete the course once. You can also drop out at anytime."

"Another ranking system, this'll be interesting," grinned Ren.

"I'll explain the rules of how to climb the ranks once all your power levels have been determined." Mr. Allard waved for some of the people standing off to the side to come up on stage. The group of people ascending to the stage brought ten machines with a large glass ball on the top with them. "I'll be calling ten people up here at a time, in alphabetical order, to get your power level."

Mr. Allard called out ten names and those ten people approached the stage. The security personnel had all ten of them put one hand on the glass ball before them, and a number appeared on a screen below the glass ball.

"Now, if you would please take out your phones and access the app that we had you download earlier," requested Mr. Allard. "This app shows the current ranking within this academy. It already has the ranking from those who failed last month and these ten individuals who just had their power level read. It also provides a picture next to the name for clarification."

Ren pulled out his phone the AAA had given him and opened the app. Sure enough, it showed the current top five hundred and those below with their power level, name, and picture. He looked at the current leader, who was from last month and obviously failed to make it into the top five hundred. His power level was 5673.

Mr. Allard continued to call ten up at a time while Ren watched each receive their power level and ranking through the app. 2748 for one guy, 3421 for a girl, one man hollered in triumph as his level of 5004 got him into the top five hundred right away.

This went on for a while. Ren started to get bored as he looked around at the rest of the people still waiting to be called.

"...Lorraine Flanagan," announced Mr. Allard. Most of everyone began to shiver, holding themselves in order to get warm.

"Hey what's with everyone?" Ren asked the guy next to him.

"Can you not feel it? The temperature in here just plunged." he replied.

Ren breathed out and saw his breath in the air. "I guess it is cold," Ren admitted silently.

Ren watched as a girl with long white hair and cold blue eyes had stepped onto the stage. She looked to be a little taller than average for a woman and had a really appealing body.

"Now there's some eye candy," said the guy next to Ren. It looked to Ren like all the guys in the room were fighting for a chance to get a better view of her.

Ren, however, was more curious about her power level. Although Ren had trouble feeling physical elements, he could sense the lethal amount of power caged within her.

Ren watched as she put her hand up to the glass ball. The glass ball made a strange whirring sound, then stopped. Ren looked back down at the app to see what level popped up. Gasps came from just about everyone as they read the result. A staggering 8132!

Lorraine Flanagan's name shot up straight to rank one.

A little star popped up next to her name as well. Ren was perplexed, then clicked it to reveal some more information.

'Fourth highest power level ever recorded from a new recruit' read the message. People gasped in awe once again as others discovered this information.

No one received the same reaction as this continued. A few levels in the five and lower six thousands were received, but that was about all.

The names were beginning to get closer to Ren's new fake ID name. Ren wasn't really sure he liked the name Isabella came up with, but he was glad that it at least had the same initials as his real name.

Ren then realized that he was about to get a power level of zero because he doesn't have an ability! Ren was in somewhat of a pinch. The ability that Isabella come up with for him was super speed. Somehow, he had to get the glass ball to get a number to show up, even if it was just the number one.

Then, Ren had an idea. "It doesn't have to read a number at all," grinned Ren." Not if I do this just right.

Ren waited for his invitation to the stage.

"Ray Lynch!"