Levy looked at the large screen as the information of Aaron Russell appeared at the top of the leaderboard. He had a grade C fire-type affinity and a grade E mana body.
Levy knew those stats were average at best, as the main character, his stats were going to be nothing short of mind blowing. He wasn't a fan of the attention but there was hardly anything he could do about it.
Why did you kill the girl, a voice in his head asked.
He immediately knew who it was although he was surprised that he had woken up already.
You could've simply broken the door down, why did you kill her?
I didn't want to attract attention. Levy replied.
If he had simply used brute force to get out of the situation then he wouldn't just have potential, he would immediately become a sensitive variable. And that wasn't something he wanted, that type of attention will cause them to find out who he really was.
Then won't this defeat your purpose? Your element is already monstrous enough, you'll be in the spotlight immediately, they might even turn you into a lab rat.
Levy thought about his suggestion. What he said made sense, he was sure an instant of his element had never occurred before and that would indeed attract too much attention. What do you suggest then?
My element and Mana body are different from yours, why don't you let me take over the body and take the test.
Levy didn't like the idea, they had previously agreed on letting him use the body for a full week—it had hardly been a day. But he couldn't deny that his element would grab too much attention, that would put both of them in an unfavourable situation. So he had to oblige.
Besides, he wasn't even the original owner of the body so he didn't really have a choice here.
His real name was Ray and he had transmigrated into the body from Earth a few years ago. If it hadn't been for the fact that Levy had a condition that made his body too strong for Levy to control alone, he would most likely be dead now.
He had helped Levy as both of them took turns using the body to avoid a total burnout that could leave either of them unconscious. Their relationship had grown over the years as they had learned to co-exist.
Okay. Take over, Ray thought.
In the next instant Levy's eyes changed from blue to brown.
His demeanor also changed as a smile formed on his face and the creases on his forehead disappeared. But no one was paying enough attention to notice the changes.
The boy who had entered, Aaron Russell, came out and the door turned green. He didn't seem particularly happy as he walked towards the reception counter.
"Levy Orion."
The voice called.
Levy took in a deep breath and went into the lab. He was still a bit flustered from being inside for so long but he was quick to recover.
Upon entering the lab, the first thing he saw was a man wearing goggles and a white lab coat, his hair was begging for a comb and this creepy smile weirded Levy out.
Typical mad scientist, Ray thought to Levy.
Levy didn't reply, he had long gotten used to Ray's weird terminologies. Most of them had come from Earth—Ray's origin planet.
Logan ushered him to have his seat and gave him a blue pill. Levy took a glance at it and immediately recognized what it was—an inferior low grade mana pill.
"This would give you temporary mana, since you haven't awakened," Logan explained.
Levy could have already awakened on his own, but if he was found out that would bring nothing but trouble. So he decided against it. He would rather not take a pill as inferior as this—they were always full of impurities—but he had yet to awaken, so such a thing was necessary.
He swallowed it and felt the mana coursing through his veins.
"Place your hand in this." Logan gave him a bowl of liquid that he recognized as heaven's dew.
Levy looked at the bowl of heaven's dew beside him and placed his hand in it. Logan's eyes were wide-open and staring intensely, so as not to miss a single change in the bowl.
Levy couldn't figure out if he was just passionate about his job or he had formed some sort of interest for him.
The bowl's content started glowing. At first it was a low simmer of light whose intensity only increased from then on. It soon manifested into a bright white light, so bright that Levy had to look away.
"That's enough," Logan said, prompting Levy to pull out his hand.
The glow died in a moment, as if it was never there. Logan took the bowl of heaven's dew for inspection. Levy could hear him let out surprised exclamations while inspecting it.
He spoke into his walkie talkie then moved towards Levy who was seated and said, "Kid, you got some crazy talent. You have an S-rank light ability. It's been over three months since the last S rank, and that was just some shitty petrification ability."
Levy looked genuinely surprised. "That was S-rank?" He asked.
"Yeah boy, although I wouldn't lie, I thought you might unlock a conceptual element. But I guess an S-rank light ability is still spectacular.
"Now let's check out your mana body."
Levy was handed a large blue orb. "Focus the mana in your body into it. Feel it flowing out of you and into this orb," Logan said.
Levy closed his eyes and did as he was told, envisioning the energy leaving his body into the orb.
The blue orb glowed brightly and some seconds later changed to green.
Levy didn't notice this change and kept on focusing energy. The green glowed intensely then changed to yellow. Logan stared in awe, a good mana body was rarer than a great elemental ability. He knew Levy was talented, but the speed with which the colors changed was unprecedented. And it showed no sign of stopping.
The yellow turned into orange and became red the next second. The now red orb glowed but didn't change color. Logan let out a sigh of relief. An S-rank mana body would definitely start a war between cities.
Levy let out an exhausted sigh and opened his eyes. He turned to Logan and asked, "How did I do?"
"Good… you did good, kid."
Why does it feel like he's about to tear up
Logan took out his walkie talkie and said into it, " A+ Mana body."
"What?" The device hummed back.
"He has an A+ mana body."
There was silence before the voice said, "Noted."
Levy raised his brows, it seemed that his stats were ridiculously high. He wondered what would've happened if it was Ray taking the test. Ray was more talented than he was, he had since come to terms with that. Not only could Ray use his own body better than him, but he could also use his element even though he hadn't awakened, but at the cost of going unconscious for a few days. This was fine since Levy was always there to take over.
Ray's element wasn't something that should exist, and the first time Levy saw it in action he had been deeply shaken.
Although he doubted a bowl of heaven's dew could actually showcase the brilliance of Ray's element.
I'm just that awesome
Levy's eye twitched. He forgot that Ray could read his thoughts.
You should be happy that I found you, otherwise your life would be miserable. Imagine not being able to live a normal life because your body is too powerful, life must have been shitty for you.
Levy didn't have the strength to listen to him endless ranting so he mentally muted his.
Much better
After finishing things up with Logan he left the lab. His name was now at the top of the leaderboard, a sense of satisfaction washed over him.
He doubted anyone would get better stats than his. If anyone did it would either be Ariella or Scaron. He knew Ariella but had no relations with Scaron. The Church had sent the three of them here for entirely different purposes. He had no intention of getting to know Scaron more.
As he headed towards the counter. He could hear his name in almost every whisper. He wasn't used to being in the spotlight so he tried to avoid everyone's gaze as much as possible.
At the reception counter, he was given a watch and room keys that had his initials carved on them, L.O.
After fondling with the watch he figured its basic functions: he could use it to view the leaderboard and see his rank, it monitored his life signals, and also stored merit points which were required for any transactions.
According to the lady at the counter merit points would be shared depending on your placement on the leaderboard.
He was then led into another cabin, with rows of doors on both ends of its narrow pathway. It was similar to the first cabin but the doors here had initials carved onto their frame, not numbers.
Levy doubted there would be more tests before they got to the base, but he couldn't say for sure so he didn't let his guard down.
The room was cozy but he spotted mote than a few cameras here and there. They didn't bother.
Lying on the bed, he closed his eyes and contacted Ray but he was already sleeping. Seeing no reason, Levy didn't disturb him.
He fished out a Rubik's cube from the inner parts of his robe and completed the puzzle in a matter of seconds.
He then scattered the puzzle and rearranged it. This cycle continued until he got a notification on his watch that notified him of the points he had gotten from the test.
His eyes widened when he saw only 500 points. That was the price for second place.
He immediately checked the rankings to see who had surpassed him. To his surprise it wasn't even someone he knew.
His name was Kody Rugard. Levy was surprised, but he wasn't as conceited as Ray. He knew there were people out there who were better than him and he was willing to accept that.
What, however, put him on edge was Kody's element. It didn't even have a rank it was just a single word in bold. Anarchy