Sylvia

There was an important reason that I assigned the most points to my agility stat.

Even though increased intelligence or strength could directly translate to higher attack power, I still thought agility was the most important.

Why?

For the simple reason, I was afraid of death…

Having a slightly faster reaction to a dangerous situation could mean the difference between life and death.

This situation was one of those moments that seemed to prove my decision correct…

Boom…!

The speeding ball, which had passed through all the dark-ice barriers like they didn't exist, made a booming noise as it crashed.

It seemed to have blasted a crate into smithereens and set out a huge cloud of dust too.

The students being witness to the destruction on the stage gulped nervously, wondering if the examinee had been smashed to death from the metal ball attack too.

They even secretly swore to themselves that they would not attempt to cross the three-minute mark when it was their turn to be on stage.

Finally, when the dust cleared, everyone saw me with a foot outside the stage with my whole body sweating with fear. My heart rate was up a few notches from the adrenaline still running course through my body.

This was close… very close….

If my reaction speed had only been a bit off, my Vanishing Steps would not have been activated successfully in time.

My agility stats had saved me without a doubt…

I began to thank my dear system in the earnest. Additionally, I didn't forget to spout all kinds of curses in my mind towards this exam.

Did they really expect a C-rank not to die from that attack? My opinion on the cruelty of the military academy once again strengthened.

"Cough… cough… T-Test cleared… Score: 3 stars… Final Ranking: 3 stars!"

Elize's words had caused everyone to return to reality, and three stars displayed at my wristwatch at the same time.

Soon after, murmurs were being heard across the entire field.

"T-The hell was that attack?! It was clearly impossible to dodge or block it!"

"How did Soren avoid it then?"

"He clearly was already jumping out from the arena and got lucky…! Yes, that must be it."

Every student thought that it must have been complete luck I was able to avoid the attack, except for two students.

One of them was the silver-haired girl as she pondered to herself with complete seriousness, 'Could I have reacted to it and dodged that?'

The other was Wang who had a pensive expressive expression of his own. 'The way he talks, his ability, and even his skills are strange… What an interesting man!'

Meanwhile, the mysterious middle-aged man had a contemplative look on his face.

He had aligned his body in position with the arena, as he was ready to interfere earlier if the situation called for it. He was actually surprised that he wasn't needed, since he mistakenly increased the speed of the metal ball more than he wanted.

"Great reflexes and interesting Geno skill… Hehehe… I'll be looking forward to what this boy has to offer in the future." The man muttered, seemingly very satisfied of his actions.

…

The next few people my batch quickly finished their exams and received their ranks. The highest in the batch apart from me was also a C-rank, but his power level was a mere 2 star.

In a few minutes, I had joined Wang once again and continued our conversation.

"Wow, Soren…! That dodge at the end was crazy! I wonder how you did that…"

I chuckled a little and then lifted my chin up with pride. "It was all luck, my friend… Handsome people like me are born lucky. Don't worry… As long as you focus on the way you dress and groom, you may also receive similar luck!"

Wang's lips pinched together from my comments. "How am I less handsome than you?"

"Bahaha! You basically lack the confidence, brother!"

"You mean narcissism?!"

We continued to joke with each other as the day continued without pause. It also didn't seem like Wang had changed his attitude towards me after seeing my rank.

We both keenly discussed the abilities that were being displayed by the examinees.

Surprisingly, Wang's insight on the topic were much greater than I expected. I would pause all my words to hear his explanations from time to time.

Soon there were only a few batches of students left who were yet to take the exam. The highest ranked people to walk up the stage were two B-rankers so far.

Both of them achieved a 3-star rating which was the exact same as mine.

Finally, the one everyone was focusing on walked up to the stage. It was the girl with the silver hair that had the most presence.

Since Wang knew I had no idea who she was, he began to speak a few words to me.

"That's Sylvia from the noble Roland family. She's known as one of the strongest people in our generation… You may not know her, but her families' ability seems similar to yours! You sure you two aren't related?"

At Wang's words, my pupils had dilated in concentration. I couldn't wait to see her performance.

Every student turned their focus towards the arena where Sylvia had stepped.

It was then her wristwatch began to beep until it settled on a letter.

A lot of people watching the phenomena swallowed loudly, even though they already knew her rank from the newspapers.

It was the infamous letter 'S' which was displayed on Sylvia's wristwatch…

The S-rank was given to all abilities which had a power level beyond A rank. They were all strong abilities whose exact potential couldn't be accurately gauged by the technology employed today. Hence, it was the highest rank once can receive.

What grabbed my attention the most was not Sylvia's rank, but how her ability was essentially the same as mine.

It seemed she had the ability of cold manipulation, as she would form ice spears and ice barriers to tackle the tests.

The only difference between her ability and mine was that my ice had a darkish color in it.

'Does all my ability have over hers is that it looks cooler?' I thought with a wry smile on my face.

Of course, the power she was displaying was turned up a few notches from what I had displayed. It was actually about the same as if I had decided to go all out.

At the end of the test, Elize announced an impressive 4 and a half stars combat power for Sylvia.

Sylvia wiped down the sweat on her forehead and walked down elegantly from the arena. I still was once again mesmerized by her beauty and stared at her.

Wang smiled wryly at my reaction and then tried to grab my attention.

"Brother… It's best if you don't stare too much… Besides, she's kind of flat-chested anyway…" Wang whispered, making sure that his voice only entered my ears.

I immediately shook my head.

"Even if she's flat-chested, it could actually help her be more agile in combat! Besides that, I think the size of her chest is perfect for her, and she is hell of a cute girl!"

… At that moment, the entire arena became a little quieter.

My words were actually spoken only softly, but the enhanced senses of every student here picked them up. This was bad habit of mine, since my transmigrated self still wasn't able to perform volume control in front of these genetically advanced humans.

Hearing my comments, the males were unable to resist and sneaked a glance at Sylvia's chest

Many of them nodded in approval at my comments. The members of the flat-chest society had their eyes shining, but they didn't dare look at Sylvia longer than necessary.

One could see that the girl was red and had her chin trembling with embarrassment and anger. Who would want to further provoke a S-rank user…?

Sylvia felt the disgusting leers of everyone at her chest, and she glared at the source of the trouble. Looking at the man, her anger intensified as he dared to act innocently and also seemed to be staring at her chest.

"Lowly pervert, you dare?!"

Instantly, the temperature plummeted a few degrees around the field. Sylvia waved her hand and a massive dragon-shaped ice sculpture was launched towards me.

Wang wanted to push me out of the way, be he was caught off-guard by the suppressive atmosphere of the attack. Frost was developing on his body.

I, on the other hand, was able to summon a large, dark ice barrier.

Right after, I grabbed hold of Wang by the shoulder and was prepared to jump away from the scene as soon as the dragon shattered my barrier.

Boom…!

The gigantic dragon sculpture crashed into the thin barrier; however, the scenery everyone expected did not occur.

Everyone watched the clash of powers with their brows raised in a little surprise.

The dark-ice barrier was only about half-way broken, while the dragon sculpture had stopped in its place completely.

One of the more interesting point was that it was being slowly absorbed by the thin dark barrier and shrinking rapidly.

It was as if the dark barrier had the ability to turn everything into nothingness.

The middle-aged sergeant stroked the end of his mustache in contemplation. 'That's the rare darkness ability! The annoying ability that could drain the opponent's stamina and even abilties…'

Not only him, everyone else had guessed that the phenomena had something to do with the ominous color of the ice.

Sylvia stood still as she also assessed the power of darkness with interest and her lips curled downwards into a frown.… 'Who is this man…? Why does he have an ability similar to ours but fused with the power of darkness?'

Just as she was making conjectures in her mind, a few words were spoken from my side.

"Sylvia… Let's stop this unnecessary fight, right? You can ask anyone here… My words were totally meant as a compliment!" My head turned towards a nearby girl with an average figure, "Hey, you! I was only complementing Sylvia's chest earlier, right? She shouldn't be offended for this huh…"

"U-Uh…"

The girl I asked had her eyes turn moist from the question. 'I am only a D-rank; why the hell are you involving me with your problems?!'

She wanted to say something that offended neither of the parties or at least not Sylvia, but no words came from her mouth.

There was just too much pressure on her with every class-member waiting for her response.

Fortunately for her, Sylvia had already been triggered.

Hearing the culprit still discussing about her chest in public without any remorse, traces of anger once again appeared on Sylvia's face.

"Let's see if your darkness power can block this, shameless fiend!"

This time, five huge dragon sculptures were launched towards me.

As the dangerous attack was heading towards me, I just smirked lightly.

'Hahaha! All I wanted was to have some fun today upon entering school… You didn't need to take this so seriously eh!'

With enough time on my hand due to my immense reaction speed, I decided to create a barrier and them jump away towards the instructors.

Let me see if this noble still dared to attack me along with them…

Before I could do so though, I noticed a peculiar reaction from Wang who was standing by my side. The frost covering his body had completely vanished, and his eyed flashed intensely.

Just when the ice sculptures were about to reach me, Crash- all five of them were quickly sunk in the ground and were unable to move further.

Wang took this opportunity to jump in front of me and looked towards Sylvia. One could notice that the wristwatch on his arm was now showing the letter "A".

"Long time no see Sylvia! I can see that the members of the Roland family are still prone to being crazy!"

Wang spoke to Sylvia with familiarity, and I could hear a few murmurs coming in from the crowd.

"I know that ability! That's the gravity field from the Feng family!"

"Wow! So, it's true that their ability can control the gravity of any objects that enter their field!"

"Also, I heard Feng family is rivals with the Roland family! Hehehe… This is going to be a good show to watch!"

The murmurs didn't escape me, and a whole new opinion about Wang formed in my mind.

Was this man playing me earlier by not mentioning his immense background?

Still, to me it seemed like Wang was flashy but not arrogant like every other person with a good ability I had seen.

In the meantime, Sylvia's face had further distorted.

"No wonder… Everything makes sense now! This fiend was actually associated with the descendent of the shameless Feng family! I will make sure to discipline you in place of your family!"

A mini snowstorm started to form in the arena. The mist surrounding Sylvia thickened further and further. Even the dragon ice sculptures that were suppressed by Wang's gravity began to rise to the ground.

'Damn, why did I have to fight with her of all people on my first day?!'

With a sad smile on his face, Wang turned his glance back at me and said, "Brother, I told you the bitch is crazy, right? You should have listened to me…!"

For some reason, Wang's sad face did make me feel a little bad. I also can't say that Wang didn't have a valid point there.

"All of you maggots!" Right then, Elize's voice resounded in everyone's ears. "End this ruckus, now! No one else makes a move!"

Wang's grip on his katana relaxed, and the wrinkles on his face reduced. It looked like he had narrowly avoided a disaster.

Sylvia's face showed a conflicted expression as she pondered on whether she should let go of her attack. Elize took note of it and yelled, "If you all don't stop now, I will declare a failure for all your test scores!"

Finally, after a few threats, Sylvia's powers receded. With a snort, she headed towards an empty area of the field and sat there.

Despite Sylvia being disrespectful to the Corporal, Elize didn't mind it much.

For a little fear that she would offend a future big-shot with a S-rank power, Elize didn't bother flaunting her authority too much.

At the end, maybe my senses were playing tricks on me, Elize gave me a glance full of care and asked, "I hope you're fine, right?"

"Um… yes…?"

"Good!"

Soon the final group of exam participants had their abilities assessed. Wang had received 4 star combat potential, which he seemed satisfied with.

The day was finally over, and we all began heading towards the dorms.