Chapter four
Before we go, what was the initial mana rank, current gift rank, and AI projection for your cap? I said
Kade responded
"F level mana, f level. So overall current grade is F and projected max at the C-B level.
TC responded
"For Kyle and me, both of us are the same. As well."
I burst out laughing.
"Now wonder he put us together. You guys have the literally perfect gift level to be decent but never seen. It's almost too perfect like all by design or something"
The three looked at each other with nervous looks
and started to laugh
I said
" The dean with the snobs of the 5 guilds only cares about projections. They never take the time to develop and see a person pass that projection. I knew a girl who was only an F overall take down a D level. That is why the GHS is so powerful. They take the scrap that turns into diamonds. But they have their own problems."
Out of nowhere Mr Clark popped in behind us and said
"Mr. Delgado is not wrong about his presumptions. I wouldn't go out as far as to say every projection is wrong or right. There are many factors such as the gift itself, mana level vs skill level, the universal skills, and the ones they create. There are about a hundred others too. Oh, the biggest factor is the person using said gift. They can have a really simple gift but use it to get a higher evaluation. As long as you meditate, work out, and give it your all those emotions will never tie you down."
As he finished talking to us the bell rang. He began to speak to the whole class
"Well, you little chicks you heard the bell. Scurry on home and I will see you tomorrow. Make sure to read the provided text on your tablets about team formations and composition. We will start tomorrow with running drills."
The newly formed teams began to walk towards the exit. I was slightly ahead of the other three and I turned and asked
"What time is y'all lunch?"
Kade said
"Sadly after first class. Who the heck eats at 10:00 for an hour? The first class is literally just 2:00 hours long."
I just laugh "They do that because of the number of kids at this school."
Ezra said, "We have the same lunch time."
"Great!" I blurted out embarrassingly
"We should start eating together.. if y'all would like. You know for team bonding"
Ezra burst out laughing
"Of course we would! We are a team now. We dine together we die together!"
Kade said
"For sure bro minus the dying part. I will just run faster than you guys. Meet in front of the lunch room doors?"
I replied
"Yep see you all then."
I fist bumped all of them and turned to go down a different hall. I heard Ezra barking laughing and poking fun at Kade and said he was faster than him. I just chuckled.
I heard a smooth voice from behind me
"Don't think you are one of us just because you are on a team. You will never be one of us. Squibs should know their place and sit on the sidelines. "
Knowing who said it I didn't turn around. I said with a calm but assertive voice
"Luciano just because I can not shoot a beam out my ass or run like a hamster in a wheel at Mach speed doesn't mean I haven't put in any work. While I was on your so-called sideline I was studying and honing my skills. Don't worry about me oh all great and mighty gifted. With a gift or no gift, my team will leave you not knowing what passed you. Just know if I ever get a gift you won't ever be able to compete."
Luciano respond
"Big game coming from the loner squib"
I turned my body just enough for the corner of my eye to look at him and lifted my head to make him feel that I was looking down at him. I said.
"I'm not alone anymore."
I walked away knowing I had changed a little in such a short time. I just need to prove to myself that I can keep it up and back my words.
Dang, I just remembered to ask if they went to the data center to pick up their school-issued wrist watch. I hope not because I know a guy who can get us ones that can not be tracked and to hide us from the everyone.
AND
The rest of my day was pretty uneventful. I have only about four classes this semester. I went to the dangerous plants and animals class. That class is something else we go from herbology of a plant to the language of the oro. It's truly amazing what happened to Earth once mana entered…..well minus the oro. But the other species seem cool. My last class is a computer class with basic subjects as math, and language arts.
Bam!
I felt something bump into me during my daze. It was Oliver.
"What up mate? Where are you heading to?"
"Oh, it's you, Oliver! Yeah, I'm heading to the bus area. Are you taking the bus?" I responded
"Nah, my Ride is picking me up one the bus leaves."
"Ok, do you know where it is?" I said
"Not a clue mate. It must have been destiny that I found you. Lead the way!
I shook my head and pointed in the direction of the buses. As we were walking we started to talk about our day. He has the same set of classes as I do but just flipped-flopped times.
"So how were your first classes in America?"
" Same ole rubbish. A lot of baloney and snooty kids thinking they are hot stuff. Be real with me how do I stack up to the competition?" He said
"Honestly. It's hard to say. I know one ability of your abilities. If you don't mind me asking what are your mana levels and rank? I won't ask about your other abilities."
" oh man why is everyone here like that. I have two gifts. You know the first and creepily if I might add. My second is I can summon crystal shields that I can form and control any way I want."
"So what is your potential and current mana level and grade?"
"Potential as grade is S. Current mana C and current grade D. But I'm on the verge of C. Whatcha think? I'm probably the strongest in our grade and even the next." He said with a smirk of confidence.
"First thing is do not ever say that out loud again, unless to me and your team. People will use that information and set up plans to make you lose your rank or worse."
"Aww, you worry too much. I'm strong." He said this and his arms are barely getting bigger while flexing.
I shake my head and ask
"So how did your team make up go?"
"Uhhh not bad. It felt weird tho. It felt like we got trash people but not really. I got a basic fire Mage and two how do I put this… One controls socks and the other controls aluminum cans telepathically. And the one could steal your socks right off your feet. Like what's worse than the middle of your fight you lose your socks or get smacked with one. It's quite devious of a power. Haha, way to deflect my question. How do I stack up to the peasants of our grade?" He said with a crooked smile.
"Just because you are a prince saying peasants is still beyond Arrogant. Haha, but I would say the top three in our grade. But the next not so much"
He looked at me with a hint of questioning. He replied
"I know I'm not the strongest but why are you so sure I wouldn't stand against the next? "
Before I could answer Reinhold walked up behind us and responded.
"Because he knows who is ranked number one in that grade"
Oliver got startled and turned quickly to face Rein. The look in his eyes he could tell what he meant. He meant himself. The amount of mana coming from him would exceed his brother and sister. They were near B rank.
Rein looked at me and asked
"Are we still sparring later?"
I responded, "Of course."
He was about to respond when Oliver blurted.
"He is giftless how dare you try to…"
"Shut up Oliver. They obviously train without mana."
We all turned to see Ezra
Ezra then stares at me with an apologetic look.Oliver kinda just stood there in silence for a moment. Like a deer in headlights, He finally came to and realized who said his name.
"Oh it's Ezra! I was looking for you. How are we getting home?"
Ezra responded.
"We have a car waiting for us outside the gym."
Rein looked at both and asked
"How do you two know each other?"
They both turned and said sadly at the same time.
"Our dads"
Ezra then went on to explain more.
"Our fathers both being SS rank know each other. I have known this idiot and his evil twins for years. Our families are close to each other. This doofus did something stupid and put this burden on us to babysit him. I do not know how but my father owed his father a favor or something. Now I'm stuck with him for the time being. Luckily it's just until his father is not so mad that he can return to England.
I spoke up and asked
So are you going to tell us what you did to get the name of the banished prince?
Oliver chuckled grabbed the back of his neck and became instantly embarrassed. He began to say slowly.
"It's honestly really dumb but you guys know what GrubTube is?"
We all shook our heads yes
"Good he responded and continued. I really got into these guys called slideguys. They do all of the cool stuff around Europe. I loved their prank videos the best. So I started trying to do them. It started with small things like throwing whipped cream pies. Or setting plastic bags full of sauces under the toilet seat. You know funny stuff. I eventually got my brother and sister to join in on the fun. They did all that stuff to me. My sister got way too violent and basically beat me and stripped me in front of her friends. So I was out for revenge. So I waited until the right time to enact my plan. Every year my family holds a ball for the richest people in the country. It's a great time for my older brother and sister to meet people and make connections. Typical normal stuff that you have to do there. So I devised a plan to embarrass them both. I would rig up a painting to drop liquid chocolate onto them whenever they walked into our hall room. It was a hideous thing to have such a big painting above the door but it worked great for my plans. I also dropped feathers to go with the chocolate. My goodness you would never believe how hard it was to procure those feathers. Anyway, I added this part last minute. I had a few of the paintings in the hall drop a sign saying exposing their darkest secrets. I got into so much trouble for that. I had another part to that plan, but it failed. The part that failed was so bad that it brought my father to the point of banishing me. It's not the fact that I failed but it's what I lost. I snuck into our family secret vault and borrowed an S rank peace of fire basically what it is. After my father found out that I lost that he blew up. And now we're here."
I asked
"What would you need a S-rank fire tool for?"
He replied quickly with
"Fireworks. I had fireworks rigged right outside the mansion to go off at the same time as the feathers bug the fire tool was taken away by someone walking by. "
We were all staring at him with stunned expressions. He didn't need to activate his powers to read our minds.
"What an idiot"
As I stared at Oliver's face, he began to sink into despair and depression. He must have guessed what we thought He blurted out really quick.
"I have grown a lot since then. Being banished has matured me. I'm not so childish anymore"
His eyes glowed green. He began to read Jack and Ezra's minds
Jack's mind said
"Good and please stop reading my mind"
Ezra's mind said
"What a fucking idiot "
Oliver looked even more in a slump he didn't even look at Rein. His eyes dimmed and he held his head low.
I said to Oliver
"Well since you're in America we can show you around our little area. The region we are in used to be Colorado. I can show you some beautiful mountain ranges. Plus with us being the hub of trade you get about everything in our pop-up markets."
He responded with a genuine smile that crept from ear to ear
"I would love to. I should make the most of this experience."
I asked him
"Why weren't you on the bus with us this morning?"
The biggest grin I have ever seen came across his face. His pearly white teeth gleamed in the afternoon light.
"Haha, no offense why would I want to ride in a bus when Ezra has that good-looking sister? Amelia sword. Aww, what a beauty.."
Ezra chimed in quickly and said
"Alright alright put your chubb away. We all should go. Oliver, we have a car waiting for us out front. "
Oliver said
"Alright, see you later mate"
I said back
"See you later. Stay out of trouble "
Then rein and we walked away to our bus. As we stepped on the unsealed and cracked black pavement.
Rein speaks
"What is his power? He seems somewhat strong. "
I looked at him and stuck my index finger in the air and swirled it in a circle. He nodded and he activated his mana. He activated his wind element gift and created a barrier bubble around both of our heads. This allows us to talk and have no sound get out.
The reason why Rein is the strongest is not his naturally high amount of mana or his hard work ethic or that he is a Quadra elemental gifted user, it's the fact that he specialized. He focused on only two of his elements. We decided when we were younger to only practice in fire and wind. The reason was that it uses his precious time more efficiently. The true masters of the world are proficient in the simplest and basic things. Instead of being ok and a jack of all trades he is a master of one. An expert in that one field. People think the strongest is the one with the most abilities. They are wrong it's the one with a perfect understanding of it. As of now he has mastered his fire element and his wind element. He is slowly adding water for more versatility. But he is not neglecting his two main elements. We chose those two because they feed each other creating something more powerful and it felt natural for him.
I began to say
"His speciality is is, telepathic communications, and reading minds. he is a dual-gifted user with two rare S-level gifts. His family can also create invisible tangible shields are his skin. I want to assume he can also do this. But his words were "summon a shield outside his body". With a shield for defense and telepathic communications would make him a perfect tank. Depending on how he uses it he could be an insane damage dealer. It all depends on his mind. I was surprised he told me the limitations on one of his gifts. You always want to hide your true power. Especially from strangers. He is lucky it was me."
Rein looked at me with surprise and said
"It must be his lineage giving confidence or he is just oblivious to the real world. Either way, it's his family's fault. He is not wrong to trust you. You definitely should tell him not to share. Knowing you. You will probably analyze and tell him the different utilities of his abilities. Help him as much as you can. It only benefited you both. Plus his family will protect you when I'm not around."
I quipped quickly
"I don't need anyone's protection. Believe it or not, I can pack a punch."
Rein rubes the side of his face remembering their sparring sessions and responds
"Yes, you do for a squib but in all seriousness, you know what I mean. Come on let's go get on the bus. It's a far walk from the orphanage."
We both got on the bus. I headed to my normal seat in the back and rein sat alone in the front. We never sit together because it's too much of a hassle to hear the other gifted whine about it. As the bus began to move I started to stare out the window. I just drifted off into the nuisance of the white buildings. Disappearing and the new scenery of grey concrete buildings began to appear before my eyes with the occasional red brick buildings. After the invasion, the world's climate began to change. Our location near the Midwest area of the United States was dry and with small mountain ranges. Now it's like a tropical rainforest with mountain ranges that stretch from coast to coast. It's almost like the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains joined together. This created new mountains that are filled with wildlife and trees as tall as redwoods. It's crazy how this basically happened over a span of a few years. The demon planets organisms and plant life have taken over this world. We were all lucky that the plants and wildlife were edible and somewhat useful. The new plant life gave way to medical miracles such as deaging and what people call health potions. The organisms alongside the demons can be turned into weapons or their mana cores can help a gifted person become rich with mana. It's amazing how the government is starting to integrate mana crystals into buildings and things making…
The sound of tires screeching, and worn-out brakes filled my ears taking me away from my daydream. I realized it's my stop. I made my way to the front and stepped out away from the bus. I turned to Rein and said
I will be home soon. I have to report to the tutoring office since it's the first day back.
Rein just nodded and walked back to the orphanage. I then turned around on the concrete sidewalks and headed to the center. I hate how I have to go re-register each semester to be a tutor. Luckily our district center is near our orphanage. Our region of the New United States is the most populated. The way our city is set up is unique because The city is set up like a normal city. Compared to the other academy which is just a military base. With the normal city structure, it is the new capital of New America based solely on location. Each of the corporations has a high-rise and its own sectioned-off districts. There are also the new White House and government soldiers-only Sections. Then the rest are for civilians. This place is easily the center of all trade of New America even tho the free city of the stars is closer to the other academy. Good relations between the government and the rebel indigenous people really add to the variety of items
As I got closer to the shopping center where the tutoring office is, I noticed a slender figure with a perfectly tailored school uniform. The black cloth jacket and the tan skin-tight trousers that only accentuated her figure. It was Keira lionsheart. Her very unforgettable beauty with a perfect deep satin black hair with red fiery streaks creates a illusion that her hair is on fire. As I got closer to the girl standing by an outside pop up vendor selling jewelry. Something shined off the afternoon sun that dangled on her neck. My heart began to beat faster. It's not because of her beauty it's because of what was around her neck. I completely became fixated on the little silver locket that surrounded her perfect white skin. The locket just hovered over what any man would love to call his. I didn't care about that at the moment. That locket. God how long has it been since I have seen it? I feel the rage growing as the terrible memory of being choked by it as it was ripped off my neck. I walked up to her out of breath from heaving because I had the chance to see my family's face again. It is priceless. She slowly turns around her evergreen eyes are staring at me I assume it's my dashing good looks but let's be real.
I began to walk towards her. My eye was completely fixated on the necklace
"How dare you stare at my chest!"
That's all I heard as I felt the siring heat of a fireball formed in her hand. Her whole body began to tense up. Before she can throw her fireball. I said
"Please I'm sorry! I'm giftless! I'm giftless! Give me a second to explain."
Her body began to relax but not totally. She still had her ball of fire ready to attack her suspected Peeping Tom.
She began to yell
"Why should I even let a Vermon pervert like you to speak?"
I began to sweat profusely. I'm not nervous at all from a watermelon sized fireball ball but I am afraid of the military police even more. Ever since the invasion the military has been in charge. They have a policy of zero bullshit. No drugs, no crazy or loud commotion. They will not hesitate to through someone in jail and lose the key. They are notorious for beating the living shit out of a person under arrest. They put the fear of punishment right into your very core. Maybe that's why crime rates have dropped so much.
I responded quickly
"The locket! The locket is what I'm looking at. Now please quit yelling. You will get the police called."
She responded loudly and indifferently
"Why are you staring at my locket? So you're a perv and a thief ?"
I responded with more haste than my last response
"Shhhhhhh! Stop! I'm not either! That…. That locket. Where did you get it?"
She responded a little quieter this time
"My father gave it to me while he was on business in…."
I cut her off and said
"Near the border town of Mount washinton academy in what was Kentucky. Around 5 or 6 years ago?
She became flabbergasted and shook her head yes. She asked
"Are you a gifted? Wait that uniform. You go to the same school as me. Who are you and how did you know about the locket?"
I responded with a somber tone.
"At one time that locket was mine. That's neither here or there. I don't want the locket but perhaps you still have the picture inside of it?"
A swirl of emotions crossed her beautiful face. It sent my heart fluttering. She quickly regained her composure and said in a normal tone of voice.
"I'm sorry for causing you all this trouble but I have some good news. My father said the merchant he bought this from said it had magical properties. It instantly drew me in from the intricate flower to the magical abilities it may have. I have never once been able to open this locket before. So I presume that the picture is still inside."
She slid it off her slender neck and handed it to me. I grabbed it as gently as possible from her. It's taking everything in me to hold back my emotions in front of her. I gestured that we go sit at a wooden bench near by. My breathing became labored.
My word how long had it been since I last saw my family's faces? I sat there and stared at the locket, dumb founded that I saw it again. I began to say
" I haven't seen my mother's face since I was about three or four. I barely remember what her face looks like."
"Please take your time. I understand how you feel."
I slowly open it up. Kiera's eyes widen and she blurted
"No way I have never gotten it to open"
I at it opened so easily. Two circles lay on my lap and there were Four faces lying there staring at me back.
My mom, dad, brother, and I. I began to weep.
A dark purple smoke began to come out of both sides of the locket. Everything in the world became silent. The smoke grew bigger and shaped into a giant circle swallowed Keira and me.
"Damn it was a demon portal"
End of chapter four