They didn't have to wait too long before all of the students arrived. And then it began.
Hashim hardly paid attention to the announcements. He listened with half an ear, assigning Toon to remember them and instruct him where relevant if it came to it before he found time to listen to it.
No, what interested Hashim and Jake were the people. Most sat incredibly still, and only those on the last three rows dared to act confident in front of the presenter.
Hashim asked Toon to play back the introduction, and sure enough, the speaker was the Academy's principal. He had introduced himself as Mr. Carmane, and said that the students called him Ricochet. Hashim started to listen.
He was announcing a biyearly start-of-term tournament to accurately measure the aptitude of each student against others. That could be interesting.
And then there were room assignments, basic rules, and other things such as the dress code, which was stupid, because the Academy had a uniform anyway. It was a dark blue bottom, long skirts for the girls and pants for the boys, and a white shirt for both genders. Quite simple, very bland.
That said, there was something about the uniform that intrigued Hashim. And that thing happened to be over each student's right breast.
There was a specific padded portion on each uniform for placing badges. Apparently, the sealing magic on one would burn if it got too close to someone's skin within the first few hours or so of it being attached, and the Academy wanted students to be able to display their achievements as soon as they could. It was just another part of the hierarchy, but it could easily serve an interesting purpose to Hashim. It was a simple, visible representation of power, in layman's terms. Toon would have something to say about it, but he was still focused on the speech.
Now, of course, Hashim's final goal was to be known on sight around the entire Academy, and eventually farther, but in the beginning it would do to be seen as powerful upon first impression, even if they didn't know his name or face yet. He could gather followers selected carefully to help spread his fame.
And aside from that, he could see at least a rough representation of where each student stood on the power scale by how many badges they had based on what year they were from. It wasn't perfect, but it would be able to help, even if just a little.
Hashim glanced around and did a quick count, still not moving his head from facing the stage. It seemed like the higher years on the second from the bottom row of benches had from seven to ten, the next row up had an average of five, the next row had around three, and in the next row up they had zero to two badges. He noticed that as you moved up the rows, the numbers of badges blended more and more, but it was pretty distinct that if you had more than two, you were in the bottom four rows. There was, of course, the odd one out. Across from Hashim, sitting in the very top row with a bubble of space around her, was a student with six badges, all symbolizing some form of combative victory. Toon made a note of her even before Hashim could ask him to, and then Hashim refocused on the principal.
The days to come would be interesting. But now there was the testing, arguably one of the most important activities of his life here at the Academy. If he had a strong ability, which he did, then he would instantly be catapulted to the upper echelons of the hierarchy, and if not, he would be shamed for attempting to join them by sitting in the very bottom row. It didn't matter if he should have known that students sat like that in the auditorium. His confidence, even approaching arrogance, had been put on display.
And all he could do was inflate his influence and esteem. Anything else would be failure and disgrace.
And Hashim had no intention of failure.
By the time that the introductory explanation was over, Mr. Carmane stepped down to the side of the stage, and a young girl stepped forward. She strode onto the stage, and following behind her was a gently floating mechanical monstrosity. Her ability appeared to be some form of telekinesis, and pretty strong, too.
Then Hashim noticed her eyes.
She may be small, but those sharp, shrewd eyes were not the eyes of a child. Contrary to Hashim's first impression, she appeared to be quite old. Then she wasn't just being used to move the heavy thing, as Hashim had assumed, she was the one in charge.
This realization was confirmed when she started calling names to come forward.
As each student approached, she handed them a pair of gauntlets covered in metal plates and hinges, likely some sort of measurement system. Hashim wondered just how it would measure Jake's ability. It depended if they were only being used for combat capability, but then again, they might just be overwhelmed.
Then his name was called.
As he approached her, Hashim started to hesitate slightly. His steps were steady, thanks to Jake, but something was strange. It seemed that she was surprised to see him in the bottom row. Maybe the teachers actually read the interesting records. If so, she would know about Xavier's ability, though not necessarily what it was.
Out of habit, Hashim activated his ability. But it wasn't just his anymore, it was Jake's too. And just like Toon had predicted, their minds were fused even further because of their entwined abilities.
The Hashim that took the gauntlets, then a piece of paper, feeling a small shock when he touched the woman's hand, was not the same Hashim that had approached her. He wasn't entirely different, but he was not the same.
He was Regus.
Regus didn't think too long on how he was created. He just moved on, following the instructions on the piece of paper like just another one of the livestock.
But he was not one of them. One day soon he would stand above them all. And that day was quickly approaching, he could see it with every step. He would not hide anymore. He was meant to rule, and rule he would.
Regus would be a king.
His instructions said he was to go to Group Fourteen on the field. There was no further explanation needed. There was only one field in the center of the Academy. And so everyone would see his majesty.
Regus approached the sign that said Group Fourteen. There were others here, but none of them were very strong except for three of them, scattered throughout. But weak people were not always useless. You could make something out of anyone. Group Fourteen was told to divide into smaller squads of five people, of which there would be ten.
Regus immediately approached one of the three strongest, and stood in front of him.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I want you in my group," Regus said confidently.
"And why should I let you in my group?" the boy said dismissively.
"Oh, you aren't. I'm letting you into my group."
Before the boy could protest, Regus activated his ability, and then reached forward and pulled the boy towards him. Without touching him. Then he grabbed the front of the boy's collar and lifted him up. The boy's face was shocked, and Regus's was still impassive. Such little expenditure of energy did not bother him. Besides, he could feel more energy flowing into him at that very moment.
Reasoning could get you into some places that force could not. But those places were few, and force was much more direct, and faster. Regus appreciated those aspects. Eventually the time would come for diplomacy. But not yet. It was remarkably easy to lift the boy with his ability. This telekinesis didn't need much energy to activate for such a small object.
"If I was asking you a question, then I would have been polite," Regus said slowly, his unwavering gaze fixed on the suspended boy's eyes. "Does this look polite to you?"
Terrified, the boy shook his head.
"You will join my group," Regus said firmly, then he dropped the boy. If he had played his cards right, then the boy would follow him when he went to get the others. And sure enough, the boy raised himself to his feet quickly, then followed as fast as he could.
The groups were supposed to be ranked by power level, and so Group Fourteen was the fourteenth strongest group there was. Not too bad, considering there were over twenty, but certainly not at the top.
Regus approached an already-formed group where they were missing one person.
"Sorry, you can't join us," one of the weaker ones said. "We don't have room for two."
She was smug. Regus didn't like smug weaklings. With a mental command and the flick of a finger, the girl was sent sprawling.
"I didn't come to join your pitiful group," Regus scoffed. "I came for her."
He pointed at the other girl in the group. She had purely red hair, and it didn't seem to be dyed. That could be because of her ability, but it could also just be rare genetics. He could tell she was at least fifth tier.
In the beginning, Regus had assumed that this was a school for the elite of the elite, and that was what it was advertised as. But there were more than one thousand students, and it seemed, from a rough count, that less than half of them had abilities that were sixth tier or above. He had even seen one girl whose ability was only third tier. Of course, those powerful students were the ones who interested Regus, not these cannon fodder, but this girl looked like she had a good head. Maybe she would be useful past when he discarded the rest of Group Fourteen.
Maybe not. But for now he just wanted to build up a decently powerful following. And to do that, he would choose from among the finest, whether they wanted him to or not.