The Lupine System

The Test

When Mike's vision returned, he gave a full-body shudder.

'Teleporting feels weird.' He thought as he tried to ignore how his stomach turned. It might have just been due to his increased perception, but he was able to feel the space around him warp quite clearly when they teleported. It was brief, but the feeling was unmistakable. If he had to put it into words, it was like his entire body got stretched across a vast distance before snapping back into place. Or perhaps it was the space that had done that, and he only got that feeling due to being the target...

He shook his head.

'Not something I will be able to make sense of after just one teleportation. It is a unique experience, though. Now then...' As soon as he appeared, he was immediately made aware of numerous gazes landing on him.

He and the man who was escorting him arrived in what looked like some sort of waiting room. It was somewhat spacious with white walls and marble floors. It had four walls, each having the symbol of the Eventide Academy.

There were seats against two of the walls opposite each other, and from what Mike could immediately guess, these were also prospective students with people escorting them, and when he realized that, he immediately felt very out of place.

The prospects had ages ranging from 15 to 18 from what he could see, and each of them was wearing silken clothes that looked quite expensive along with a multitude of accessories. Their appearances also varied greatly, from some having unique hair colors like Mike, to others having odd bodily extensions or traits. Like tails, additional pairs of eyes, strange markings on their bodies, etc.

The guide motioned for Mike to take one of the empty seats and sat next to him. The eyes of the prospects followed him, scrutinized his every movement, and the feeling he got from most of them was disapproval. What they didn't like? He had no idea. But if he was being honest, he wasn't inclined to care. However, he'd be lying if he said that it wasn't a bit disconcerting.

"His clothes look cheap."

"Is he from any of the families? He isn't wearing a crest."

"I've never seen him before."

"His movements are crude. Did he not receive any etiquette training?"

Then came the whispers.

His sensitive ears easily picked up the faint whispers of the various people in the room, and the one about a family crest caught his attention.

He gave a cursory glance and realized that—without exception—all the prospects had a crest of sorts on their clothes.

They all varied, but they still told of their positions as children from different families. He had no idea if any were from the Apex Families, though, as he didn't know what their crests looked like.

He looked to his guide to ask a question, but he paused as the man stared straight ahead with the 'Don't look at me, I don't want to talk' expression.

Signing inwardly, he leaned into his seat and closed his eyes. As soon as he did, he noticed the whispers got a bit louder, the prospects no doubt believing that his closing his eyes made him less aware of their whispering.

Most of it was unhelpful, but he did get bits and pieces of interesting information. The one that caught his attention the most was how one spoke of how 'this batch was filled with people who shouldn't be here'.

Things proceeded like this for roughly 15 minutes, with more prospects teleporting into the room before an odd sound caught his attention.

One should note that this room had no doors. The only feasible way to enter. At least, the only visibly feasible way to enter or leave was through the teleporters.

So Mike was certainly a bit surprised when an entrance seamlessly appeared on the wall on the far end of the room.

As soon as it opened, everyone looked at it curiously as a woman stepped out. She was of average height with green hair that looked more like vines while and hair of a similar color. Mike felt his face heat up a bit as he saw her.

'She's hot.' He thought as he took her in. Her skin was fair and her face was shaped quite well. She wore a simple suit that accentuated her figure greatly. It covered her well, but it was evident that she was quite the beauty.

"Ahem. Would Trent Nord and Mike please follow me?" She asked, and Mike blinked when he heard his name, his wayward thoughts quickly correcting themselves as he stood up.

He noticed another boy standing up as well. He was—unsurprisingly—taller than Mike, with well-built muscles and the most smug expression Mike had ever seen on a young person. It made him look kind of punchable...

As soon as they stood up, the woman turned and walked into the opening in the wall, the boys following after.

Once they were through, the 'door' closed behind them, and they found themselves in a long hallway that had the same white walls and marble floors as the waiting room.

Mike felt the boy, Trent, looking at him quite intensely, and was certain he wanted to say something, but he seemed to know that speaking in this setting would probably be inappropriate.

They walked for a while, passing numerous doors in the process. Finally, they arrived at one, and the woman turned to them again. Specifically, she turned to Trent.

"Your test will be conducted in there. You may enter." She said curtly. Trent simply nodded and faced the door. It slid open as soon as he did, and Mike caught a brief glimpse of a large, open chamber as Trent stepped in, then it closed.

She faced him, and Mike just shrugged, then the two of them kept walking.

Soon enough, they reached another door.

"This is where you will be tested." She gestured to the door. Mike nodded and faced it, and just like Trent, it slid open as soon as he did.

Without hesitating, he stepped inside.

The door slid closed behind him, and he took in the room.

It was a circular room around 30 meters in diameter. He looked around, but the room was bare. However, he knew he was being watched.

"Candidate Mike, please step into the center of the room." A voice suddenly sounded, and Mike tensed up briefly before he relaxed and obeyed. That must be the tester.

As soon as he did, the voice sounded again.

"Due to your ability to potentially have no records, we will perform extensive tests to see just what it may be capable of as a previously unrecorded ability. We shall begin shortly." The voice explained and Mike nodded. He'd known this much.

A second later, the voice spoke.

"Alright. Please manifest your ability." It asked.

'Alright. Let's get started.' Mike cracked his knuckles before taking a breath. A moment later, a blue mist surged from his pores. His clothes and hair fluttered a bit from this.

A few seconds later, the voice spoke again.

"Alright. If possible, can you increase the output?" Mike blinked at this.

He could increase the output. However, he never had since he got his ability as doing so might have caused some damage to the surrounding area, hence, whenever he manifested it, he also limited its output.

But now that he had the opportunity to let loose...

He took another breath, and he released the lid on his aura.

As soon as he did, the mist that had been moving around him somewhat gently suddenly surged.

His clothes and hair which had been fluttering gently suddenly began flapping as though they were being blown by a strong wind. Moreover, his eyes started glowing brightly.

'W-Whoa.' Mike exclaimed inwardly as he felt the boost. It was... a lot to say the least.

He didn't bother checking his stats, though, as he felt his energy draining quickly, and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep this state active for more than a few minutes.

Hence, he just stood still, and ten seconds later, the voice spoke again, sounding quite a bit more elated than before.

"Great, you may deactivate it now." Jearing this, Mike quickly deactivated his ability, the mist stopping a moment later. He exhaled as he felt a faint feeling of tiredness, but it quickly faded. Kudos to his passive skill.

"Okay. Now..."

What followed was a long series of tests that—quite frankly—were pretty tiring.

First, they made Mike do a bunch of sensory tests with and without his ability active. For his hearing, they made a sound play at average ranges, and they would gradually reduce the frequency while asking Mike how well he could hear the sound.

Mike had no idea how low the normal human could hear, but by the end of the test with just his normal hearing, the voice sounded quite baffled, so he guessed he did okay.

He did even better when he activated his ability as he was able to hear the sound even when it was reduced to almost nothing.

Next were visual tests, and this one was also pretty simple.

A plaque appeared in the center of the room with some words written on it. Just like with the auditory test, the plaque gradually shrank along with the words on it, and Mike was instructed to close one eye and repeat what the plaque said each time it shrank. Oh, and the words also changed each time, so he couldn't just cheese it by guessing.

Once more, he guessed he did great judging by the reaction of the voice, and again, the results were better once he used his ability to augment himself.

The same applied to his nose. A smell appeared in the room and it gradually got weaker and weaker until he couldn't sense it anymore.

Again, he did well on both fronts.

Once his senses were tested, he then performed a series of physical tests.

They tested his durability by making him put his arm between what looked like a hydraulic press that emerged from the ground.

Tested his speed by asking him to run from one side of the room to another with and without his ability. Tested his agility, perception to time, strength, reflexes, dexterity, and so on, with and without his ability.

By the time the tests ended, Mike was panting a little bit. He thanked his passive skill again for allowing him to recover as quickly as he did.

"Congratulations, Mike, you passed the test quite well." The voice spoke, sounding quite elated.

Mike exhaled and turned his head in a specific direction.

"So, I'm done?" He asked directly.

There was a brief silence, then the voice spoke.

"Indeed... an entrance will appear. You can move through it." It said, however, Mike noticed the tone was a bit... odd.

Shortly, the entrance opened, and he decided not to think about it as he went through.

Meanwhile, inside a control room, several personnel were looking at the holographic screen showing the room Mike had been in with strange expressions.

"Did... he noticed the camera?"