The woman recorded something on her tablet. Layla joined Peter and Quinn in the square.
"Erin Heley, step forward." The blonde-haired girl stepped forward. "What is your Ability?"
"Ice." Erin replied coldly. Once again, the woman recorded something down on her tablet. As Erin stepped into the square, the next name was called.
"Vorden Blade, step forward." The woman called. Smiling, Vorden stepped forward. "What is your Ability?" Vorden scratched the back of his head.
"It's an Original Ability." He replied. The woman glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow. The two exchanged glances for a moment. Eventually, she began to write on her tablet.
"Vorden Blade." She muttered to herself, as she wrote. "'Original' Ability." The look on her face looked as if that answer alone was a personal insult. Finally, the woman's gaze shifted to Tsukuru.
"W-What is your Ability?" She asked in an anxious tone. Tsukuru looked at her.
"It's…" Tsukuru's eyes glanced around, trying to figure out what to say. Finally, his eyes landed on Vorden. "It's also an Original Ability." He replied, nervously. Hearing this, the woman just stared at him with a deadpan look that screamed "bullshit".
There were only two Hikikos left in existence, himself and Sergeant Shizuka. So just where would he have learned an ORIGINAL Ability from? The woman was just about to call him out on it, when a sudden thought came to her. She instantly remembered who exactly this boy was. And more importantly who his sister was.
A cold sweat ran down her back, as her fear of Hikiko Shizuka's wrath for her 'harassing her little brother' forced her to hold her tongue. She gulped.
"Hikiko Tsukuru. 'Original' Ability." She replied, typing down the same information she had put down for Vorden. When Tsukuru met the others in the square, Sergeant Krow turned to the man in the hood.
"Send them off!" He yelled. The hooded man put his hands on the ground. Instantly, the square began to light up bright purple.
"A teleportation Ability, huh?" Vorden muttered, leaning in closer to Quinn. "That's rare." The sudden closeness seemed to make Quinn nervous, but Vorden seemed not to notice. The plain fields turned into a whirlwind of color.
Instantly, the group found themself in a desolate wasteland. Tsukuru looked around, noting that the wasteland seemed to go on forever. In front of them was a middle-aged woman in a white lab coat who appeared to be emotionally void. Her face bore no expression, and she held a tablet like the last woman, holding it like a clipboard. Her dark hair was in a tight bun with not even a strand out of place.
She was simply there to direct and observe.
"My name is Susan, and I will be in charge of your assessment today." She looked down at her tablet. "My job is to make sure the correct Ability Level is displayed on your watches after you have demonstrated your strength. Quinn Talen, follow me." Susan replied.
Quinn was led farther into the wasteland. There were huge craters in the ground, as well as burn marks in the ground.
"Ah, looks like we got a Sunshield in our year." Tsukuru muttered, causing the others to glance at him. The Sunshield Family was a member of the "Big Four" families, known for their Fire Ability.
"Please destroy the targets as quickly as possible." Susan replied. "The test will begin as soon as you start." Instantly, five targets popped out of the ground at random locations. They were metal, with red dots in the center.
The group watched as Quinn ran up to the targets one-by-one with his fists. Afterwards, there were two more tests. First, Quinn was instructed to hit a machine that looked like a metal drum. The drum vibrated when Quinn hit it. It produced an electronic beep, and soon, the number "5" appeared on a digital screen.
"Strength, 5." Susan announced, recording it on the tablet. The final test involved a circular machine with holes on its front. Once the test started, the machine began firing out holographic spikes at Quinn, and he was ordered to avoid being hit as long as possible. As time went by, the spikes came out faster and faster at an incremental rate.
Eventually, Quinn got tired, and got tagged by a spike.
"Agility, 5." Susan announced, recording it on the tablet. "Quinn Talen, you are a Level 1 Ability User." Quinn clenched his fists, and went back to the others. "Layla Munrow, you are next." Layla stepped forward into the wasteland.
Five targets shot out of the ground. In response, Layla loaded five arrows into her bow, and shot them all at once. The group watched as the arrows all shot off in different directions, zeroing on a different target like guided missiles.
"Good combo." Vorden praised. "Despite Telekinesis being viewed as a 'weak' Ability, it's quite useful when paired with a weapon like that." Tsukuru glanced over at him.
"Yeah, well people have always preferred flashy abilities." He replied, waving his hand in dismissal. "Support skills are always looked down on and disregarded. Everyone wants the flashy Elemental powers." He glanced over at Erin, who scoffed at him, feeling personally attacked.
Layla hit all five targets simultaneously, completing the test. During the strength test, Layla attempted to use her Telekinesis to boost her kinetic force, making her fist move faster. However, she still only managed to score an "8". In the last test, however, Layla did quite badly. She attempted to use her Telekinesis on the spikes.
However, because they were holograms, it had no effect. Tsukuru subconsciously slapped his forehead in second-hand embarrassment as she almost got hit by the very first salvo, only being saved by her reflexes. In the end, she got the same score as Quinn.
"Layla Munrow, Level 2 Ability User." Susan announced, recording the results. As soon as she did, the screen on Layla's watch flickered to life, displaying a "2". "Erin Heyley." Susan called. Erin walked up and stood in the testing area, waiting for the test to start.
When the five targets shot up, she instantly created an ice spear in her hand, and chucked it at the first target; hitting it dead-on. She repeated this four more times, until all five targets were hit. In the next test, Erin formed ice in her hand, and then shot out a column of ice towards the metal drum. The drum rang out louder, and the number began climbing rapidly; not stopping until it displayed "50".
"Damn." Vorden muttered. "No wonder she was so confident." Tsukuru smirked.
"So, what was that about 'I would have kicked her ass if she wasn't such a pretty girl'?" He retorted. Vorden either didn't hear him (which was unlikely), or was ignoring his statement. In the final test, Erin was instructed to not use her Ice Ability, and just dodge. She put on an impressive display, getting farther in the Agility test than either Quinn or Layla, but eventually, the spikes got too fast for her to keep up.
"Impressive." Susan beamed. "Erin Heley, you are the third first-year student with an Ability Level of 5." Tsukuru leaned over to Vorden.
"Bet those other two are Originals." He whispered. Erin started to walk back to the group, her face emotionless and unimpressed, as if she expected this result.
"Vorden Blade." Susan called.
"Alright, time to show you what I got." Vorden beamed towards Quinn, though Quinn seemed not to notice. "Wish me luck!" What happened next shocked the whole group. Vorden proceeded to copy Erin's performance perfectly. He copied her move-for-move in every single test.
"See?" Vorden said, pointing to the number "5" on his watch. "Told you I was strong!" Seeing as how he was the only one left, Tsukuru began to walk forwards. He waved his hand behind him.
"Alright, looks like I'm up!" As the five targets shot up from the ground, Tsukuru looked down at his hand. The System's voice rang in his head.
[Skill Video Creation activated.]
Instantly, the sound of electric interference echoed through the wasteland. Everyone watched in amazement as hard-light, light-blue rectangular pixels began to appear in his hand. Back in the group, Vorden leaned forward.
"Wow, I've never seen THAT Ability before!" He said excitedly. The pixels clustered together into the shape of a dagger that was almost the length of a shortsword. There was a bright flash of light that temporarily blinded everyone in the wasteland. When it faded, Tsukuru was holding a real dagger.
Length-wise, the "dagger" was probably the length of Vorden's bicep down to his fingertips, with a broad blade that was just as wide. It was unlike any weapon any of the people watching had ever seen, and looked like it was pulled right out of a fictional action series. Tsukuru looked down at it, and grinned. Once again, the System's voice rang in his head.
[-1 MC. MC: 19/20]
He twirled it in his hand before gripping it tight in a reverse-grip. He then looked towards the targets. As he did, the System's vector appeared in his vision, and locked in on the closest target. The vector turned red.
'This thing has an AUTO-LOCKING feature?!' Tsukuru thought, ecstatic. 'That's awesome!' His mouth twisted into a manic grin, as he threw the dagger like a spear. It hit the target dead-on, like Erin's Ice Spears.
Tsukuru repeated this four more times. For the Strength test, Tsukuru ran towards the drum. As he did so, the pixels reappeared in front of his fist, accompanied by the electrical interference noise. This time, the pixels formed a pair of sturdy brass knuckles, except they were clearly made out of a black steel. Back with the group, Layla stared at the brass knuckle now around Tsukuru's fist in shock.
"Is…Is that a glathrium knuckle?" Layla asked, dumbfounded. The glathrium knuckles collided with the machine. The machine beeped, and the number "13" was shown.
"Strength, 13." Susan announced, recording the result. Tsukuru looked down at the glathrium brass knuckle in his hand. The System's vector appeared on top of it, with a line extending out to the left, before going up to a square with a close-view image of it.
Text appeared below the square.
[Glathrium Knuckle
Equipment
A brass knuckle composed of pure glathrium that increases the damage of physical blows.
+2 Damage]
He tapped his hand on the edge of the corner of the glathrium knuckle, closest to his skin, and imagined putting it in the System's Inventory. Instantly, a System screen appeared in front of him.
[Would you like to place Glathrium Knuckle in the System's Inventory?
[Yes] [No] ]
Tsukuru thought 'yes', and the group watched in amazement, as the glathrium knuckle began to break down into translucent, light-blue pixels. The pixel then began to quickly fade away. Even Susan pulled her glasses down an inch at the sight, Tsukuru's Ability piquing her interest. During the Agility Test, Tsukuru lasted longer than Quinn and Layla, but not as long as Erin.
"Agility, 10." Susan announced, recording the result. As she did, Tsukuru's watch flickered to life. "Hihiko Tsukuru, Ability Level 1.3."