As the car parked outside of a tall, almost full glass-tinted building, the driver opened the back door, allowing Lyra to get off. Walking inside the building and passing through security to clarify her identification, she got into a room full of crowded people, some wearing luxurious armor while others were wearing ordinary clothes, but of course, she was wearing a casual outfit. She wore a sharp-black turtleneck, dark fitted pants, and silent boots. A tall, broad, middle-aged man appeared on the stage, and as soon as he touched the speaker, all eyes were on him.
"Attention, everyone. Welcome to Aetheris Earth Branch building No.2. This is one of the major branches of Aetheris, which is situated here on Earth, and we will be conducting various tests for you all to determine your power ranks and your abilities. Everyone will receive a number that will appear on their wristband, and the number that will be displayed on the screen means it will be your turn to get in. If you have any questions, please ask the staff members. Thank you."
"Hey, isn't that Garran Vale an S rank? What is he doing here?"
"Don't you know it is said this branch has a lot of high ranking members of society, even the president's last-born son?"
"Oh, is that him, Damian Holt? Isn't their family known for being lightning users? I guess it would make sense."
As she heard the whispers, Lyra turned her head slightly and saw a slender blonde boy with an eccentric smile, with eyes brimming with confidence
'Well, what do we have here, our typical golden boy? Now, all that's left is the goody two-shoes girl, and we will have ourselves one hell of a romcom. Wait, what do they call college romance these days…'
As she was pondering, someone grabbed her shoulder
'The Fuck..'
"Are you nervous?"
Turning around gently
"I guess a little bit." As she answered, she took a good look at this boy's face, jet black hair with pale purple eyes, and moderately taller than her.
'I never saw this face on the database, or did it change in the last minute. Come to think of it, I should memorize the faces here with the data database just to be sure.'
"My name is Eric, and who might you be if you don't mind making friends this early on?"
'Go fuck yourself'
"I'm sorry not to appear rude, but I would rather not. Would you excuse me for a moment?"…. Of course she wouldn't say directly at his face
"Completely understandable"
'Yah right!, this fucker knows me but I don't know him, this is a big problem.'
As she left, numbers began displaying on the board, and one by one, people started to go in. When it reached her turn, she entered the room to find it was quite spacious, contrary to the building schematics she saw.
'Spatial distortion ability, or is it something else ?. I hate going in blind, but it shouldn't change the outcome for the test.
"Miss Lyra, would you please step to the centre of the room around the black circle there?"
The sound looked like it came from everywhere and nowhere around the room. Lyra was somehow confused by this, but either way went toward the centre of the circle, and as soon as she stood there, the black circle lit up white.
'The test already began before entering the room, huh!, so this is just to determine the ranking of those to nurture with great potential and the lackeys who would act as just a stepping stone.'
"Please tell us what your ability is?"
"I could see what would happen as far as 1 minute"
After she said those words, the circle beneath her shone red
"Miss Lyra, we would appreciate your honesty in this matter, and rest assured, what happens in this room stays in this room."
'So this circle can detect lies, and here I was confident that I am the greatest liar of all time'
"We will ask you again, Miss Lyra, what is your ability?"
"I could predict future outcomes to at most 5 minutes"
As she said those words in another room containing various visual feeds around the building, Garran is seen at the centre of the room of the room with another woman with long scarlet hair.
"Incredible, I have never seen such an ability, I mean, the most we have seen are people with visions and are just classified as rank F since it can either be true or not, but a 100% sure occurrence of what will happen." The woman with the scarlet hair spoke excitedly next to Garran
"Still, it must have a downside. An ability like that would be helpful, but I bet it costs a lot of essence to support it, and that brings us to the next question."
As they watched the room through the camera, the operator could be heard again.
"How long could you keep this ability for?"
"About a few seconds."
After that answer the scarlet woman had a disappointed face, while Garran just sighed as if knowing he couldn't have his hopes up.
"Told you, Jany, although she would be placed at F rank depending on her combat ability though then she will be placed at E."
While Garran continued looking at the screen, he could see Lyra's face up close and see a small smile on her face.
'Most people would be embarrassed if they realized their ability is useless, but something about her eyes reminds me of someone.'
Back in the room, Lyra was standing still and seemed to have had a revelation about how the machine works.
'So the Resonance Truth Evaluation doesn't just measure the brain rate and heartbeat, it also measures the energetic resonance of an awakened's power. Although it is tricky to stabilize my essence because it demands a lot of focus.'
"Miss Lyra, do you have any combat experience?"
"Yes, I do."
"We will begin a small test with a small number of F-ranked beasts, and please keep in mind, even though they are not real, you should treat them as such."
"I understand."
The room started to glow a little, and small beasts, which appeared to be similar to raccoons with sharp spikes on their spines and iron claws, and their fur was green, was seen and there were three of them. After seeing the beasts, then a small blue light appeared on Lyra's ring and enveloped her body, and she was seen with tin plating on forearms and calves with a spin brace on her body and a half hood hanging in the back, and she had a revolver in her left hand and a rapier in her right.
BEEP*
As soon as the beep was heard the first leaped towards her and with only a small side step she dodged the attack and slashed the beast before dessapearing and the others followed this time attacking both at once which she also leapt towards the left one slashing it mid air and dodging the other one while it was preparing to balance itself for another leap attack a bullet was shot towards it.
BEEP*
"The test is concluded. Please proceed towards the next room, and your rank will be evaluated shortly."
After completion, Lyra's armour disappeared from the ring and headed to the next ring. In the observation room, a worker is seen giving Garran the report provided by the Resonance Test, and he contorted a little
"Are these reports true or is the system malfunctioning ?"Garran asked with a serious tone, causing Jane to take the report from his hands, and she appeared to be as confused as he was.
"Explain this?" Jane asked the man, who also appeared to be slightly worried
"Even we do not understand and we ran the system diagnostics the whole time since that anomaly started, after the reading of the energy spiked and knew she was telling a lie but after a few seconds it stabilized, almost too stable for any living thing, and even before that, her brain and heart rate were just as stable, even during combat."
"Wait, are you saying…"Jane said as her face became more shocked than before
"He is saying that the girl was in complete control. This girl was able to maintain not only her body conditions but the flow of her essence, heck, she has more control than even an A rank." Garran stopped himself as if remembering a painful memory and then said, "Call the headmistress now."
As Lyra left the room, she saw the other people who participated, and seeing as some were in disbelief while others were full of joy. She looked at her wristwatch and saw that her rank hadn't been classified yet, so she went on to find a place to sit.
'That was quite an experience if I say so myself. Am pretty sure I will get an E rank, so I might as well continue with the preparation.'
As she was leaving, she saw a familiar face waving at him with a pleasant smile on his face, and as she looked at him, she waved back and continued towards the car, seeing the driver.
'What an idiotic smile, Eric. Fine, I will play your game.'