33 Testing the power

The following day Erik woke up knowing it would be a busy day. His training with Professor McAllister started the previous day, and he learned the training would be hard.

However, Erik didn't waste time and used the system to inject the military fighting style used in Frant, the Kyokar style. Essentially, he already knew what he had to do, the moves he had to perform to fight, how to move, and so on, but knowing them and being able to do them were two different matters.

Erik, as usual, checked his quests and accepted them. He then prepared breakfast and completed his first quest; it was that easy. After that, he prepared to go to school as Professor McAllister told him, and he left his house.

On his way to the train station, Erik saw many ambulances rushing somewhere or other. He wondered what happened for so many ambulances to go out at once. Erik saw a man walking before him, looking at the ambulances too.

"Excuse me!" Erik said. "Can you tell me what happened? Why are there so many ambulances?" he asked the man while watching the ambulances passing above him.

The stranger, a man in his fifties wearing glasses and a long coat, looked at Erik and replied, "The crystal cross gang assaulted a bank, and many civilians died in the attack."

"I see," Erik answered.

The crystal cross gang was a criminal organization dealing drugs, prostitution, extortion, and many others.

It was the most dangerous gang in New Alexandria, which the Military couldn't destroy as very powerful individuals belonged to it, and no one knew who the organization's leader was.

Erik saw some Crystal Cross Gang members when they came to Mister Fox's farm to extort his money. Such things often happened city; stopping people with powers wasn't simple, after all, especially if they once were in the army.

Erik thanked the old man and went toward the train station. After some time, he arrived at school. The place was deserted; no cars were flying, leaving, or picking up the kids. It was weird to see.

After reaching the school building, Erik found the entrance hall empty except for some students, Professors, and security guards. Looking around, he saw Professor McAllister, Principal Harris, and an unknown man walking toward him.

"Erik," Principal Harris said.

"Sir, good morning," Erik replied.

The Principal looked anxious as if he was afraid of something.

"This is Mr. Kite; he will come with us today," the Principal said.

Mr. Kite was a young man in his twenties, tall, thin, and wearing dark sunglasses. His skin was pale as snow, his hair black, and he looked very formal. He was dressed in military attire and looked at Erik like a zoo animal.

"Good Morning, sir," Erik greeted, shaking hands with him while Mr. Kite nodded.

"Excuse me, sir, why is this man here? What are we going to do?" Erik asked.

"We are going to test your power today," Principal Harris said.

"Today? I didn't know," Erik said with a slight tint of surprise.

Principal Harris looked nervous. Then he finally spoke: "We decided it at the last minute. It won't hurt, I promise you that. We just want to know how strong you are..."

Erik was already aware that something like that was bound to happen. Professor McAllister explained everything during their walk toward the testing room.

They walked toward a big red door on the school's first floor as they went. They quickly entered inside, and once they did, three men working on computers connected to screens showing different views appeared before them. Some of those were school workers, and some were even teachers.

Their job was to watch the tests and inform the Principal about the results. They also had a few cameras recording the whole thing from every angle.

The room was spacious; in front of the computers were some chairs for people to attend to, usually family members and guardians, but Erik was alone; of course, he had no one. In front of them was a small podium with a bluish-purple bead over a red velvet cushion on a small desk.

Principal Harris looked at Erik, "You must go over the podium and inject all the mana you can inside the bead," he said. "Just put your hand on it and channel mana, don't worry; it won't be painful. Just place both hands on the bead and let mana flow through you."

Erik nodded and took his jacket off, putting it on a chair. He then went to the podium and stood near the bead, waiting for the adults to tell him when to start. However, Principal Harris and Mr. Kite were talking between themselves, Harris always keeping a respectful tone toward the younger man.

Meanwhile, Erik felt the anxiety grow inside of him. This was when they would discover his rank was E. It wasn't a good increase in rank from an Awakening point of view, but such cases still happened.

Were they going to be disappointed? Maybe they hoped his brain crystal would have gotten more powerful or that his power was ranked higher on the Jorm scale; it was D ranked in that department, nothing too bad but not very good either, just average.

"You can start now, Erik," Principal Harris said over a microphone.

The young man looked at them and then at the bead; he closed his eyes and concentrated on the stone, letting his mana flow through his body and into the sphere.

Later on, the bead started emitting light, it started with a dim one, but the intensity increased until it illuminated Erik's face.

The young man saw Mister Kite's disappointed face. "They found out," he said to himself.

"Well... what does it say?" Erik asked.

"Your level is E on the Ferebitz scale," the Principal answered, looking at him. "If I'm not wrong, it was F previously, am I right?"

"Yes, sir, it looks like I jumped a rank!" He said, faking happiness and smiling.

<Be disappointed all you want, you bastards. You can't even imagine that I can increase my rank much more than this…> he thought.

"Yeah, congratulation," the Principal replied.

"Thank you," Erik said, faking a huge smile again.

Then Mister Kite and the Principal discussed other things related to the tests. You have to do another thing for us, Erik.

"What, sir?"

"Show us your new power, at full strength possibly," Mister Kite replied.

"All right."

Erik then took a pen from his backpack and injected mana into it. Slowly, a thin mana coating appeared around the object. After ten seconds, he stopped pumping mana into it and willed the mana to become sharper. Erik slashed at a nearby chair, separating it into two halves.

Mister Kite and Principal Harris were pleased by this demonstration of power. "Good," the stranger said.

"Is it?" Erik asked.

"Yes," Principal Harris said. Your power has been measured to be D ranked on the Jorm scale; it essentially means it is an excellent power and works well even with low mana levels."

Erik already knew all this; it was unknown only to them. He observed Mister Kite and Principal Harris talking again, and then the school head turned to look at him.

<Hopefully, the fact my Ferebitz rank is low will make them leave me alone during conscription.>

"You can go with Professor McAllister now."

"All right, sir."