21 Combat Power Grading

Kael looked at every face in the room to see if they were serious. Marcellus and Yahiko were standing on the left side by the window. Ivanna and Davidson were seated on the chairs by the wall and the Martin was doing god knows what hovering around the monitors and randomly checking Kael's body.

"So you are saying that everyone in this room belongs to the same clan and I'm the god?"

He was also trying hard not to look at Ivanna so he would uncomfortably switch glances between the other four but not her. On the other hand, her eyes were fixated on him. His personality differed a lot from what she was expecting. The voice she heard for the first time seemed commanding and strong, desperate but resolute. Those encounters made her think of him as someone with a strong personality but the person before her at the moment was not meeting her expectations. Although he would seem unusually calm at times he seemed fidgety, unsure and very lost most of the time. On top of that, he would not even look at her.

"We have checked thoroughly and it is definitely you Mr Kael," Davidson attested from his seat.

"But I don't feel any different, shouldn't I feel something if I awakened?" Kael questioned.

"It may take some time for you to be able to channel it, but you do have an aura within you. You were subconsciously using it when you were in the comatose state."

Kael was not certain how he felt about being awakened as a god. It was normal to feel excited about awakening powers and being a superhuman but for Kael, It merely remained as something the world was going crazy about except for him. For someone who wanted to be a superhero like every other kid in their childhood, It was bizarre that he had turned into someone who was unable to find excitement in this new phenomenon. The ecstasy that came with having super strength and being able to surpass the physical limits as a human did not appeal to him anymore. He knew his situation very well and wanted to be like everybody else but he could not help it.

On the other hand, He wanted to scream for being in the same room with Ivanna.

"I need to perform a few more tests on you so I need you to come with me," Martin stood by the door ready to leave.

"So I can move around now?" Kael asked with one foot on the floor before getting out of bed.

"You are good enough to fight a bull," Martin smirked.

Davidson wasn't quite convinced because what martin mentioned earlier was still bugging him.

"Mr Martin, about those conditions that you mentioned-"

"Yes, that's what the test is for, I will let you guys know when I'm done." Martin immediately replied hinting that he was really curious as well.

Everyone else including Kael stared at Davidson not knowing what he meant.

"Meanwhile, why don't you lot get a CPG test? I'm sure some of you are going to shock the world, particularly you miss Ivanna." Martin suggested.

"What's that?" Marcellus asked.

"Being a registered Awakened has its perks. There are now Awakened specific jobs that you can do to earn money. You can get hired as security personnel or there might be specific demand for other awakened people with unique abilities. Your CPG gives your potential value or in the real world that's what determines your worth."

"Yeah but what exactly is it?" Marcellus hated the new terms as always.

"The grading test was originally meant to assess capabilities for task force candidates but it was made available for all the registered awakened to give them a licence based on their level. It stands for combat power grading and basically is a generic assessment of the basic superhuman aspects of an awakened."

"The tier system they mentioned back in the dome, is that what it is?" Yahiko was still wondering about what the tier system meant the whole time.

"Correct, you are graded into one of 7 tiers based on your capabilities as an Awakened. Even if you do not want to work or enter the task force, You should get yourself graded to see where you stand against the other awakened all around the world." Martin smiled at the two boys.

"Then what about him?" Marcellus pointed at Kael who had just realized that he was walking around shirtless in front of Ivanna now that the bandages were removed. He seemed to be in a panic and was looking around in hopes of finding something to cover himself with.

"He will need to master using his aura before taking a test that measures the capabilities of an Awakened, Young Marcellus," Davidson reminded Marcellus.

"Makes sense." Marcellus backed down after realizing the obvious.

"Well then, Mr Kael you follow me," Martin instructed and left the room.

Kael followed him awkwardly not knowing what to say anymore but was stopped at the door by Ivanna.

"You," She was still gazing at him the same way she had been the entire time.

"Yeah?" Kael nervously looked at her and then glanced away then again met her eyes to not seem rude.

"Do you not remember talking to me?"

He wondered what she was talking about because it was his first time meeting her and they had barely talked. He had no idea about all the things that happened while he was unconscious.

"I don't quite understand, This is my first time meeting you in person," He answered what he knew but wanted to know the reason behind that question. Ivanna nodded her head and disengaged the conversation to make way for him.

"So he doesn't remember." Ivanna watched him follow Martin until he disappeared into the hallway.

"Miss Ivanna," Davidson got up from his seat and fixed his tie as he threw a concerned look at her, "Didn't you find it strange earlier?"

Ivanna raised her eyebrows not quite sure what he was talking about. Marcellus and Yahiko got curious as well.

"I mean when he asked about his attacker earlier," Davidson added.

"I heard that it was quite a brutal case of assault. A normal person who was thrown off a very high altitude and beaten to near-death condition by a mad man with superhuman powers. Even soldiers who are trained for these situations develop trauma after facing gruesome battles. And yet, it's not even like he does not remember, he remembers everything that happened to him but the first thing he talked about when we mentioned that event; He asked if his attacker was okay. it was completely one-sided and there was not a chance he could have fought back. And yet, He just calmly asked if the guy who beat him like that was okay"

"Is he delusional or something?" Marcellus joked.

Ivanna did not say anything but heavily sighed after looking thoughtful for quite a long time.

*********

"Three different tests will be conducted as you pass through the consecutive rooms," An announcement was being made throughout the large hall. There were about thirty people in the room all lined up in front of a large door.

After submitting their registration card to the reception desk outside, all the candidates were provided with a transparent electronic smart card that had a blue line at one of its longer edges. The blue line had circuits printed on it that you could see if you looked carefully.

"Where did they run off to now?" Davidson said looking around for the two boys. They got separated at the desk outside. Davidson and Ivanna were the last on the queue while Marcellus and Yahiko had already sneaked into the sixth and seventh positions.

"We are probably A tiers right?" Marcellus turned back to face Yahiko.

"That's the same tier as that ice guy, I doubt we are at his level right now," Yahiko said a bit annoyed at the truth himself.

"Damn it, I hate the tier system already," Marcellus sighed.

"You can always get better idiot, it's not like he was that strong right from the start either," Yahiko said authoritatively.

"Next," The man on the door said in a loud voice.

It was Marcellus's turn to enter. He peeked behind the queue and found Davidson staring right at him. He had a stern look on his face. Ivanna was right behind him with her scarf covering her face. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts but Marcellus assumed she would have the same look on her face as Davidson if she was looking at him. The two boys acting like children and the other two worrying like adults was becoming quite the norm for their group.

Marcellus waved at Davidson and smiled. Davidson nodded in return signalling him to move ahead.

Marcellus entered into a fairly large room that had a silver-coloured large conical object placed upside down in the middle of the room. Next to that object, two people who went before him were standing as if waiting for something to happen. On the side opposite to the door that he entered from was another door and just before that lied another machine that looked like a refrigerator. On one side two ladies in blue uniforms were seated in front of a computer.

"Your card please," one of the ladies said.

Marcellus walked towards the desk and handed her the transparent card he had received earlier. The lady took it and placed it in a scanner and his name popped up on the display.

"Mr Marcellus, please wait for your turn," The other lady who looked younger than the one who took his card smiled at him. she was over-polite because of his good looks and Marcellus was aware of that.

"Wait for what exactly?" Marcellus asked the lady with a flirtatious smile.

"This room is for measuring your overall fusion technique. The first machine over there measures the impact it receives and the second one measures the hardness you can achieve and we combine the two scores to calculate a generic score for your fusion."

"Umm, what?" Marcellus scratched his head.

"Please wait for a moment, you will see it soon," The lady said holding her laugh.

The boy closer to that conical object moved even closer and stopped. He took a deep breath and channelled his aura. A yellowish aura engulfed his palm and he flicked at the centre of the cone. The cone made a damped gong sound at the impact that slowly died down and around its circumference, a green light started flashing.

"Please move on to the next device," The lady said.

"Shouldn't we be punching with full power to accurately measure our force?" Marcellus raised his question to the ladies.

"We would be bidding goodbye to the New york city if a high-level god is allowed to use their full fusion strike," The older lady said while typing on her keyboard, "this test gives us the general idea of how strong their full-fledged attack would be. That means the score obtained by using this test is close to accurate assessment of their full power."

The next guy in line went for the finger flick and the first guy was already done with the second device as well.

"Please take your card," The older lady said with a card in her hand.

"What's my score?" The boy asked.

"3.1," The lady said with a smile.

The other person was just done with the first machine. After hearing the lady he looked a bit shocked," 3.1?" He looked at the guy with the card in his hand from head to toe, "That's a C tier score, You were an angel?"

"Yeah and I practised like crazy for four months to become this good," he said with a smile.

"Well, best of luck to you guys," he moved on to the next room.

Yahiko was allowed to enter as soon as he left the room. He entered with the same lost expression on his face as Marcellus.

"Mr Marcellus, your turn." The younger lady pointed towards the first device.

As Marcellus stood next to the device Yahiko carefully observed him because he was too shy to ask the ladies what he was supposed to do.

"Remember to apply fusion only at your palms." The younger lady reminded him.

When Marcellus initially channelled his aura, the two ladies could not take their eyes off of him. They had never seen a pure black aura before. Marcellus still had not learned to focus aura at a single point instantly. He had to channel the aura to his entire body and then gradually focus it on the smaller focal point.

When he flicked at the device it made a sound larger than the two guys earlier and slowly damped away.

"Wow this thing sure can take a hit," Marcellus said being amazed at the durability of the device.

"Of course, It is made with the most powerful Visco-elastic polymer you can find on the planet after all. The excess shock it receives is then transported to the sea with the help of pipelines made with the same material in a way that the force does not get spread to this building. This device can even withstand flicks from the S tiers."

The lady then instructed Marcellus to move on to the next machine and Yahiko to the first one. On closer look, the second machine looked like an ATM machine. At the centre was a small compartment with a rectangular plate.

"Make your palm as hard you can with fusion and place it on the plate facing upwards." The lady said in a louder voice so Marcellus could hear her from the other side of the room.

Marcellus did what she said accordingly and waited for something to happen while a mini display on the machine showed "Initializing Tier 1 drill"

Marcellus could see a drill the size of a pencil descend from the opening at the top side of the compartment he had placed his arms in. As it headed straight towards his palm Marcellus gulped and said in loud voice," Umm excuse me, is this supposed to happen?"

Yahiko saw it too and his face changed colour. The raging demon of Tokyo was actually afraid of needles and the drill was reminding him of one.

"It's programmed to stop right at the end of your epidermis layer so if you feel any pain at all it would be imaginary," The younger lady said with a smirk.

"Okay lady, I'm trusting you here," Marcellus said as the drill tried to keep his composure.

"Tier 1 drill failed to penetrate"

Marcellus heavily exhaled but his relief did not last long as the screen changed its text, "initializing Tier 2 drill"

"Umm, Ladies?"

"That was the drill made of softest substance. A drill that has a higher Mohs hardness scale will be used next and so on until it can penetrate your fusion,"

"I don't understand what you mean but it better not hurt," Marcellus turned back to focus on the drill.

"Tier 2 drill failed to penetrate"

"Initializing Tier 3 drill"

"Tier 3 drill failed to penetrate"

"Initializing Tier 4 drill"

The next drill had a tip that was a bit darker in colour compared to the previous ones. As it headed towards his palm Marcellus clenched his teeth and closed one of his eyes. The anxiety had made the approach seem much slower than it would have been. Marcellus watched the tip getting closer and closer with his breath held hostage.

BAM!

Marcellus felt like his heart jumped out of his chest. He looked around him to find out where the sound came from. It was coming from the first machine. Yahiko had just flicked at it and the sound was the loudest of the three who had just used the machine after Marcellus had entered. The ladies were so focused on Marcellus they had not looked at Yahiko until now. The magnitude of sound they heard was rare. Only about one candidate per thousand would be able to produce such a large sound.

"Oh my, He is quite good looking as well and what the hell was that? could he be a high B tier angel?" The younger lady thought eyeing Yahiko.

"Tier 5 drill successfully penetrated through,"

The screen showed as Marcellus looked back at it after feeling a slight sting on his palm.

"Could your timing be any worse?" Marcellus shouted at Yahiko.

Yahiko smirked at him and signalled him to move away as it was his turn on the second machine.

Marcellus moved away with an annoyed look on his face and went straight to the ladies.

"So how did I do?"

"Wow, a 3.9. technically it's still a C tier fusion but many B tier angles have a fusion score close to it. We are getting a lot of angels today." The lady said handing him the card.

"C tier?" Marcellus was quite disappointed to hear that and the annoyance was showing on his face.

"3.0 to 3.9 falls under C tier, yes but B tier starts at 4.0 so I'd say you almost made it to B tier," The lady said trying to console Marcellus, "Besides This is only for your fusion. Your tier is an aggregate of all three tests so if you do good on others you could easily land at B tier,"

"B Tier does not sound so good either," Marcellus almost seemed like a kid unsatisfied with his present.

"Tier 6 drill successfully penetrate through"

Yahiko moved away from the machine with a horrid look on his face. He tried not to show his fears to Marcellus but it did not help. however, Marcellus was in no position to make fun of him as he had his own share of drill induced anxiety a few moments ago.

"What the hell?" The older lady said after looking at her monitor and then at Yahiko.

"What?" The younger one asked.

"Come see this,"

The younger lady stretched from her seat to take a look at the monitor, her eyes widened as soon as she laid her eyes on it. Then she looked up at the guy walking towards them.

" 4.9? Seriously which clan are you guys from?"

Marcellus looked at Yahiko with a hint of annoyance on his face. He always knew that Yahiko was one step ahead of him at fusion but now that it was laid out in numbers, he felt even worse.

"Is this really your first assessment? both of you?" The younger lady asked.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Marcellus asked curiously.

"Do you remember the guy who scored 3.1 earlier?" She asked and got a nod from Marcellus," This was his third test, he started with a 1.8. Even Einar Johansson who is an A tier started with a 3.4 and gradually increased his fusion tier to A with a score of 5.2 after training for five months And yet, here you are scoring 3.9 and 4.9 on your first assessment. How hard have you trained and where did you train? I am curious" the lady said in a single breath.

"I trained for 3 days," Marcellus said nonchalantly.

"I beat up some guys and got better at it," Yahiko said in the same tone.

The two ladies just stared at them in utter disbelief.