The Superpower Test
Percy woke up and stretched with a look of satisfaction on his face, for it had been ages since he had a good night sleep without the same nightmare haunting his dream. Percy promptly left the med bay and headed outside towards the parade square.
At the parade square, about 100 youths dressed in green military uniforms can be seen standing neatly in rows, chatting amongst themselves happily. Percy stood out like a sore thumb as he is still wearing his civilian attire, Charlotte noticed Percy and ran towards him with her superspeed.
"Hey Percy, glad to see you are alright! You had me worried, I could not visit you yesterday as the med bay did not allow visitors." Charlotte grinned from ear to ear, "You are so lucky to have been knocked out the whole day yesterday! The principle's speech lasted for 3 whole hours and he almost bore me to death! "
At this moment, Leo marched into parade square flanked by 2 other soldiers carrying a huge mechanical machine. The crowd immediately quiet down and stand in attention in fear of drawing the ire of Leo. "Attention recruits! As you all know, today we will test your superpowers or the lack thereof to sort you into different classes. This machine I brought here is the Superpower Assessment Machine, which will analyze and accurately display your superpower on the screen."
Leo pointed at a slender, sly looking young man with greasy hair standing in the front row and instructed him to come forward and touch the slightly glowing orb in the middle of the machine.
The young man came forward and touched the slightly glowing orb and words start to fill the digital screen.
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Name: Ryker Barnett
Superpower: None
Class Assigned: Normal Class
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Ryker looked at the screen with slumped shoulders, noting that he did not unlock his superpower and whined, "Sir… Is there another chance for me to undergo the ceremony? The ceremony was interrupted midway! It is not fair for me!"
Leo glanced at Ryker with a hint of annoyance in his razor-sharp eyes and then continued to address the crowd, "There will be another chance after this test for those that did not collapse during the ceremony yesterday. For the rest of you, you have wasted this chance, work hard, and earn some merits for another opportunity!"
Percy mentally noted that as he collapsed yesterday during the ceremony, he would not have another chance to undergo the ceremony.
[Host, it seems like merits are an important currency of this region. New quest issued.]
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[Quest] Help the System!
Earn enough merits to redeem for another spiritual stairway opportunity to allow the System to recharge its power core.
Requirement: Recharge the System.
Reward: Unlock more of the System's function.
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Percy acknowledged the message and thought that unlocking more of the System's function will probably be beneficial to him. As his first quest's reward is already a Grade F Superpower!
After Ryker's test, Leo continued and instructed the youths to come up to the machine one by one. About 30 minutes later, over 50 youths had been tested, but there were no standouts amongst them. Many of these youth were tested as a non-superpowered being, and for those that did possess a superpower, they are F Grade, which is fairly common.
By this time, there is a hint of disappointment on Leo's face as he fears that this year's recruit may not be up to snuff and hope that there will at least be some talents amongst them.
And then, Charlotte was pointed out by Leo as the next test participant, and when she laid her hands on the glowing orb in the machine, the initially dim light emitted from the glowing orb increased in strength and became brighter. Words start to fill the screen and displayed.
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Name: Charlotte Ashland
Superpower: Grade D Superspeed
Class Assigned: Special Class
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"OMG, WE HIT THE JACKPOT!" Leo screamed in a slightly higher pitch as he broke into a small celebratory dance, after a short moment of being impervious to the world, he finally remembered where he was and realized that any image of strength he portrayed thus far probably evaporated into thin air. "Ahem… Let us forget about that, shall we? Who is more important here is Charlotte! Grade D Superpower at the age of 18 is unheard of in Arsenal City! Even after decades of training, I have only just made the breakthrough into a Grade C Superpowered being!"
At this moment, the crowd breaks into a commotion, but whether are they discussing over Leo's celebratory dance or Charlotte's surprising talents remain a mystery only they will know.
Charlotte triumphally grinned towards Percy with her hands on her hips, Percy waved back at her with a smile, happy for his friend's success.
After putting on a calm façade, Leo rummages through his pocket for a phone and called the principle, informing the principle about Charlotte and then signalled the nearby soldiers to bring Charlotte to the principle's office.
Finally returning his attention to the youths, Leo commanded for attention, "Recruits! This is not the fish market where you gossip! We still have people to test!"
The crowd quieted down, and the testing resumed. After another 30 minutes or so, it is finally Percy's turn to be tested, he is the last one to be tested. As Percy proceed to touch the glowing orb, a look of expectation can be seen on Leo's face.
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Name: Percy Turner
Superpower: None
Class Assigned: Normal Class
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Leo stared at the screen with wide eyes, unable to believe what he saw, after all, Percy was the one who caused the commotion yesterday, he should have made some gains. However, the person in question remained calm, as he already expected it from his interaction with the System and promptly return to the crowd.
Only after a short but long minute, did Leo regained his senses and peeled his eyes away from the screen, wondering if there was another reason for the spiritual stairway's malfunction yesterday, which could explain why Percy is still alive after seemingly absorbing a large amount of spiritual energy at one go.
After convincing himself that his new theory is correct, Leo continued, "Now that we have finished testing everybody, we should proceed to our first theory lesson. However, since some of you were interrupted yesterday during the ceremony, they will return to the Spiritual Stairway for another chance. For the rest of you, you can take a break, we will resume the lesson after lunch. Dismiss!"