Chapter 4 : the test of abilities
Kabita made a gesture to the masked man. He understood immediately and, with a wave of his hand, made a skill book appear out of thin air.
Whoosh—
Kabita took the book from him and handed it to Dev.
"Take this book and study it well. For now, I am assigning you a temporary rank of Level 1."
"Is this… for me? Thank you," Dev asked in amazement, his voice trembling slightly.
Kabita nodded. Dev clutched the book tight and walked away. Then, it was my turn.
"What is your skill?" she asked.
I glanced at the tablet she was holding.
"Don't you already have my information in there? Are you taking me for a fool, or do you consider yourself one?" I asked jokingly.
Hearing such a direct retort, her face flushed with anger. The masked man standing next to her tried his best to suppress a laugh.
Pfft—
However, the moment Kabita glared at him, he instantly went silent, straightening his posture.
Cough, cough, cough.
He cleared his throat awkwardly to cover it up. Kabita turned back to me, trying to brush off the embarrassment.
"Yes, I know that. I was just asking formally," she snapped. "Do you want a skill book? It is provided for free by the Soldier Academy."
"No," I shook my head instantly. "I don't need it. I think I'll pass."
Hearing such a clean refusal, she stood there stunned for a few seconds. It was the first time in her life she had met a boy who bluntly refused a free gift from the Academy.
Kabita couldn't quite understand the
situation. "Wait a moment. I will be right back." She walked a fair distance away and tapped her smartwatch to contact her senior.
"Sir, there is a brat named Aditya. He has a sharp tongue and just refused to take the skill book. What should be done with him?" Kabita reported, her voice filled with complaint.
"There is no need to force him," a mysterious voice replied from the other side. "Let him take the exam."
"Understood."
While Kabita walked back, the mysterious man on the other end reviewed Aditya's bio-data. The file clearly stated he was not a skill user.
'But to have that kind of attitude…' the man thought to himself. 'That kind of arrogance belongs either to a genius or a complete idiot who doesn't fear anything. Now, let's see which one this boy, Aditya, really is.'
...
Kabita returned, looking at me with a slightly cold expression. Hmm, even without taking the skill book, you can still take the exam," she said.
"Alright, I'm ready," I replied
"Come with me."
Kabita led me a little further away. We arrived at an area where the ground was scorched with burn marks, and several straw dummies lay destroyed on the floor.
"Destroy the targets as fast as you can," she ordered in an irritable tone. She was clearly still angry with me.
As soon as she finished speaking, three iron targets rose up from the ground.
Clank— Clank— Clank—
I moved. I decided to use 100% of my current power.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
I destroyed the three iron targets one by one with raw physical force.
"Strength 52," she muttered, slightly surprised, and noted it down on her tablet.
After that came the second test.
Three machines positioned in different directions surrounded me. Their purpose was to fire iron nails at high speed. My goal was to dodge them without getting hit.
Whirrrr—
The machines activated. Swish! Swish! Ping!
Iron nails flew through the air. This test continued for ten minutes. I moved fluidly, dodging every single projectile with ease. Just like the strength test,
I was only using half of my agility. Additionally, my vampire eyesight made the high-speed nails look much slower, helping me see their trajectory clearly.
"Agility 52," Kabita said, stunned once again.'Where did this boy come from?' she wondered. 'He doesn't belong to any big family, yet he has this much power? Well, it's not my problem. I'm just recording the data. The higher-ups will decide the rest.'
"Level 5.2 ," she announced. "Aditya, that is your level. You are the third person here to achieve this rank."
I nodded and stepped to the side.Next was Barsha's turn. She stepped forward confidently. She was the only student here who carried a weapon.
I turned to the boy standing beside me and asked, "Jeevan, can you tell me what that bow is made of?"
He turned toward me, a look of mild surprise on his face. "Oh, it's you, Aditya. I didn't expect you to be so curious. By the way, this is actually common knowledge. You really don't know?"
I shook my head. From Aditya's memories, I knew that weapons were now made from the bones of beasts, but where exactly those beasts came from was a mystery to the original owner.
"After the war between Humans and Primals ended, humanity advanced its technology significantly," Jeevan explained. "They also discovered the Primals' alien portals.
Through these portals, humans began traveling to other planets. That's where they found these beasts. The rule is simple: the more powerful the beast,
the more powerful the weapon you can craft from it. Barsha's weapon is made from one of those beasts."
I nodded, absorbing the information.
Barsha stepped forward. She reached over her shoulder, pulled out three arrows, and notched them all onto the bowstring at once.
Creak—
The string tightened.
Twang! She released all three arrows simultaneously. Immediately, she used her skill—Telekinesis—to control their trajectory in mid-air, guiding them with precision.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
All three arrows hit their targets perfectly.
"Now, the next test begins," Kabita announced.
The second phase started. The objective was to dodge the incoming projectiles. Barsha stood her ground,
intending to use her telekinesis to stop the nails in mid-air just like she had done with the arrows.
Whirrrr—
The machines fired. Barsha extended her hand, focusing her mind to halt them.
Swish! However, the projectiles passed right through her mental barrier. She hadn't realized that for this test,
the nails were holograms designed to test physical reaction speed, not telekinetic force. Because of this, she failed to dodge.
Buzz—
"Level 2. Strength 18, Agility 18," Kabita announced Barsha's results.
Barsha clenched her fists and stormed back to the team, her face flushed with anger.
The result clearly didn't match her expectations. I could understand her frustration. Based on her combat skills and telekinesis, she could easily defeat a Level 3 or even a Level 4 opponent.
But because the system graded her purely on the specific parameters of the test, she received a low score.
Next, it was Gayatri's turn. She stepped forward gracefully. Channeling her power, she condensed moisture in the air.
Crack— Crackle!
Sharp spikes of ice formed instantly. With a wave of her hand, she launched them at the targets, destroying them completely.
For the agility test, she didn't just run. She created a layer of ice on the ground and slid across it with incredible speed, proving her mobility.
Whoosh—
"Wow," Kabita muttered, looking at Gayatri with a hint of amazement. "Gayatri, you are the fourth person to achieve Level 5."
She quickly noted it down.
Watching this, I began to understand the military's power system. They didn't assign stats based solely on physical strength; they heavily weighed how much control a user had over their element.
It wasn't necessary to have high physical stats if your elemental control was at a Level 5 standard.
Finally, it was Jeevan's turn. He walked up to the testing area. To everyone's shock—except mine—he did exactly what Gayatri had done.
Crackle! He summoned ice spikes and slid across the ground, mirroring her moves perfectly to achieve a Level 5 ranking.
I wasn't surprised.
I had noticed it earlier on the bus. When Jeevan had touched Gayatri's arm, I realized back then that his ability allowed him to copy others.
Jeevan walked back to his spot next to me.
"Jeevan," I whispered, "You are from an Origin Family, aren't you?"
He froze for a second, looking at me in shock. "How did you figure that out so quickly?"
"I knew it the moment you touched Gayatri," I replied, exposing his secret. "I realized then that you had copied her power."
He gave a wry smile but didn't deny it.
"The exam process is complete," Kabita said, turning to the masked man. "You can take them back to the Academy now."
The masked man nodded. He knelt and placed his palm on the scorched earth.
Hummm—
A glowing array appeared beneath our feet.
Zap! In an instant, the four of us and the instructor vanished, teleported back to the Academy.