29 The Sophomores

"Who are you?" Aria's tone was icy as she stared down the three people in front of them.

[Name: Unknown]

[Aura: Dehydration (average)]

[Name: Unknown]

[Aura: Owl physiology (strong)]

There was a third, much smaller guy standing behind the two in front, but Rhys could not see him properly because the other two were pretty much blocking him from view.

Rhys quickly recognized the auras of the two guys in front. A few days ago, just after he had finished his initiation test, he had seen some guys sitting together in the seats outside the initiation venue. One guy with an owl physiology core and another with a dehydration core. He remembered them because of their crazy rare core abilities and high ratings by the system.

"You guys must be the new freshmen on the fourth floor." A tall, uncomfortably thin guy with a gaunt face stepped forward.

He was wearing the dark green version of their grey military uniforms. With a crooked smile on his face, he reached out his hand and placed it on the trunk of a tree. Rhys's eyes bulged as he watched the tree wither before his eyes. The dark brown bark quickly turned dull and began to crack and flake off, the luscious dark green leaves yellowed then greyed at the top of the tree.

All the moisture was being drained from the huge tree right before their eyes. A loud crack sounded from inside the dry tree trunk and the guy removed his hand, leaving the dehydrated tree alone incase it toppled over.

Rhys honestly felt a little envious after seeing the guy's dehydration ability in action. Although he knew his Energy Absorption skill work differently, it had a very similar result. The big difference was that this guy was able to cause a whole tree to die in a few seconds while Rhys was stuck on absorbing medium sized plants.

"My name is Cyril," the guy who dehydrated the entire tree grinned, obviously pleased by their startled reactions.

"And that's Chris." He gestured back towards the guy with the owl physiology core who was wearing a large green sweater that covered half his face.

"We are second years living on the third floor. And more importantly, we are your welcoming committee." He did not sound in the least bit welcoming though, especially not with that malicious smirk on his face.

"We've been here for days already, why didn't you welcome us then?" Aria raised an eyebrow as she stared at Cyril.

"It would have been a waste of our energy to throw you guys a welcome party if you all died during the first evaluation..." Chris chuckled darkly from behind Cyril.

There was an uncomfortable pang in Rhys's chest because Chris's words reminded him of the guy he killed in the second round. That goofy guy who made all his teammates laugh. The image of his severed neck was starting to poke Rhys's subconscious now that Rhys was not completely absorbed in fighting.

Rhys was suddenly torn away from his thoughts by a frantic voice.

"Please let me go, I just want to go inside!" A small whinny voice came from behind Chris. "Run you guys! don't let them catch you and do this to you..." He whimpered as he tried to make a run for it from behind Chris. Unfortunately, he was swiftly put in a headlock and pinned to Chris's waist.

The guy grunted as he tried to wrestle himself free, but he was no match for Chris.

That was when Rhys noticed that the smaller guy was standing in nothing but a pair of white boxers with little blue dinosaurs printed all over them. And someone had taken a red marker and written a large red 'F' across his chest.

[Aura Detection Used +5 Exp]

[Name: Unknown]

[Aura: Enhanced Senses (weak)]

Rhys noticed that the guy's light yellow aura was concentrated more thickly around his head.

Cyril and a Chris were obviously hazing the guy. Rhys had gone through something similar a few times in high school, so he was pretty familiar with this sight. He clenched his fists discovering some dormant anger and bloodlust still left in him from the tournament.

"You guys have just been graded so you are probably really tired right? So we won't make all of you go through the Glowry initiation." He licked his lips, feasting off of what he thought was fear in the freshman's eyes. In reality Connor was getting increasingly annoyed, Aria was thoroughly grossed out by them, and Rhys was wondering which of the two of them would go down easier.

"I'll say that..."He licked his lips. "Any of you who got A rank can skip out on the initiation!"

He guffawed thinking that all three of them would have to take part in his hazing ritual, because what were the chances that of all of three of them got A rank? Impossible! Chris only said that so he could watch the flicker of hope die from their naive eyes.

Rhys, Connor and Aria deadpanned at this anticlimactic announcement. They then nonchalantly walked forward ready to get back to there dorms.

"Hey! Where do you think you guys are going? I said only the A ranks among you three can go back, the rest have to stay down here with Archie and us." He pointed to the pathetic looking guy in dinosaur boxers.

"We heard you." Connor glared at Cyril, his aura spiking dangerously like he was just managing to hold back his electricity.

"We are all ranked as A students." Rhys confirmed before side stepping them and reaching for the door handle.

Cyril and Chris looked forward, completely dumbfounded by what they had heard. Did the three freshmen in front of them seriously all get A ranks?

"What?" Archie, the half naked guy spoke. "All three of you got A's?" His jaw dropped and his eyes were filled with unbridled pain. Rhys guessed that the huge red F written in his chest was meant to mark him as an F rank student. Cyril or Chris must have drawn it on him once they learned of his rank

Rhys nodded at him as Archie tried to shield the front of his boxers with his hands.

"Well, what about initiation then? I had a bunch of fun stuff planned to do with you guys." His cruel smile form before was replaced with a crestfallen look.

Rhys's eyes drifted over to a bag that was next to Cyril's feet. What looked like dog collars and leashes, as well as a carton of eggs were sticking out of the bag. What kind of 'initiation' was this guy planning?

Rhys had enough and was about to open the door when someone form the inside opened it instead.

"Oh my goodness, you're back already. I wanted to greet you guys when you came back but I lost track of time again." His smile was warm, gentle and genuine looking as he stood in the doorway.

This man wore a white lab coat and had long blonde hair tied up in a neat ponytail at the nape of his neck. His circular rimmed glasses framed blue eyes and Rhys had to admit that the guy was really handsome. Probably even better looking than Connor in his opinion.

That warm smile vanished when he caught a glimpse of Archie in his boxers.

"Cyril, Chris." He looked at them sternly. "I said no hazing."

"We're not hazing anyone sir, we're just having fun..." Cyril spouted.

"Give him back his clothes please." The man in the lab coat looked like a disappointed father trying to correct his kid's behaviour.

Cyril begrudgingly reached into his bag and retrieved some crumpled up grey military clothes which he tossed at Archie.

The man opened the door and looked sternly down at Chris and Cyril. The two of them got the message and and made their way inside leaving the four freshmen outside.

"I'm sorry about those two." He chuckled nervously. "They're good kids, it's just that Cyril is really big on seniority, and Chris just does whatever Cyril wants. So there's not much reasoning going on between those two heads."

The blonde man looked down at Archie who was hastily putting on his pants with an apologetic look.

"They might seem scary now but they are actually good kids."

"Yeah, sure." Archie huffed.

"My name is Killian Heisenberg. You may call me Professor, or Professor Killian. Whichever is more comfortable for you."

Rhys was impressed by this guy. He was not very old, late twenties at most but he was already a professor. On top of that, this Professor had a unique air around him. He somehow seemed refined and high class, but then again most scholars would seem like that in a place like the MCP.

[Aura Detection Used +5 Exp]

[Name: Killian Heisenberg]

[Combination Aura: 2 Auras detected]

[Auras: Enhanced Intelligence (average)

• Telekinesis (strong) ]

Rhys's heart burst in his chest at the unexpectedly unique aura around the Professor. The Professor had two auras which meant that he was infused with two different cores. Rhys had never met someone with two cores before. It wasn't uncommon in the other sectors and within the military but it was still Rhys's first time seeing something like this.

"Heisenberg..." Rhys regained his focus and looked at Aria who had just murmured the Professor's surname. She frowned as if struggling with something.

"Killian Heisenberg..." She looked up at the Professor with suspicious eyes. "That's not a name you'd hear in Sector 5."

Aria knew from experience that people in the higher districts had a habit of naming their children with longer names. It was a way of creating a class barrier without having to enforce anything. People in Sector 5 generally had shorter names with fewer syllables. Single or double syllable names like Max or Otis where normal. Whereas people in the wealthier districts had long first names and especially long surnames. Aria had visited Sector 1 a few times as she was shipped there to be worked on by some Eugenics doctors. From her time there she knew polysyllabic and more 'elegant' names like Theodore and Acantha were all the rage. That's why she knew 'Killian Heisenberg' was not a name you would see in Sector 5.

The Professor chuckled. "They told me you were quite sharp. You must be Aria."

She nodded in reply.

"You're correct Aria, I'm actually from Sector 1, District 4, to be exact."

Rhys looked at the Professor in a completely new light. Sector 1 was incredibly wealthy and glamorous compared to the other sectors, a place that was not under military control but under governmental jurisdiction. Of course District 20 was completely cut off from information about the better off districts but that didn't stop the rumours or odd pictures being leaked. Apparently their systems were different, their laws were different and judging from Professor Killian, their people were very different as well.

"So what is a Professor from Sector 1 doing in a Sector 5 Military college?" Rhys asked now more suspicious of the Professor.

The man paused for a moment and regarded Rhys calmly before speaking.

"I came for the Glowry dorm, for all of you to be specific. For a scientist like myself, I could not pass up the opportunity to work with such rare cores."

Aria stared straight at the Professor, she kept a straight face but her dark purple gas-like aura was rising and swelling dangerously. She looked like she was about to attack the Professor. "Are you saying you're here to do experiments on us?"

"No, nothing scary like that." He chuckled seeming unaware of Aria's hostility.

"Besides, the Eugenics teams have done enough experimentation and research on you, Aria. My particular fascination is with cores and their application. I want to study how each individual can utilise their cores to the full extent. Besides giving you guys a few blood tests and the odd infusion scan, I won't be dissecting you or doing anything so pervasive."

He nudged his glasses up his nose with a long finger and smiled gently down at the students. "You've probably already noticed that this residence hall is not like the others."

Rhys nodded. Glowry was pretty much at the opposite end of campus compared to all the other residence halls, moreover there were very few students living their. And from what he had seen all the students living in Glowry had exceptionally rare core abilities. Rhys paused as he suddenly remembered Archie.

He turned to look at the guy who's aura was fairly common: Enhanced senses. That core ability was less distributed then strengthening or elemental cores only because people found them really lame and did not want to infuse with them. Rhys thought the Glowry dorm was actually the military trying to keep all the dangerous students together, but his theory was off if Archie was living there too.

"I negotiated the creation of this dorm for my transfer here. I wanted all the students with cores and specific applications of their cores that weren't yet understood by science to be together, so that I could study them. Each if you, from the sophomores to the freshmen living in this dorm are exceptional in that your powers are not fully understood."

'Teacher, am I missing something about Archie? He is just has a normal Sense enhancement, so why is he in the Glowry dorm?'

['You'll have your answer when you figure out which of his senses has been enhanced. So look harder.']

It would be too obvious if Rhys just blatantly stared at him while the Professor was talking, so he reminded himself to spy on Archie when he had the time.

"The survival of the human race is dependent on how fast we can catch up to other races like the Xerserth. That's why my work and your cooperation is necessary. You Four in particular are crucial to this work."

Professor Killian spoke eloquently and convincingly, moreover his aura flowed calmly around him. He seemed trustworthy, however Rhys was not about to let his guard down. If the Professor would be studying him, he needed to be extra careful.

"Oh I'm sorry. You're probably very tired from the evaluation, and here I am giving a boring speech and making you stay outside like this. Please go inside and have rest. Your schedules and textbooks have been delivered to your dorm rooms. Let's also meet in the common room later for some ice-breakers. Let's say ten o'clock?"

He stepped out of the doorway and held the door open for them with that same smile.

Rhys stepped forward eager to go inside but suddenly a body collide with his.

Archie shouted and stumbled backwards onto the forest floor. Rhys frowned, yes they had bumped into each other but the impact wasn't enough to throw Archie to the floor like that.

Archie stared up at Rhys in shock, his eyes were wide and his mouth open. His lip quivered as he tried to speak. Everyone including the Professor stared down at him in confusion. Why was he so upset? What was wrong with him?

Archie breathed out shaky words as he stared up at Rhys.

"W-what are you?"