Rai, Sin, and Feris all looked at each other. There was a silence between them for a moment. The tension between them grew as the students in the audience ruptured the auditorium upon hearing the announcement.

“... Who’s going first?” Rai broke the silence.

Sin looked at Feris.

Rai also looked at Feris.

Feris growled. “Fine! Dumbfucks like you should see how it’s done first! I’ll top the charts, then you’ll see who’s the best out of all of us! Tch!”

Sin stared at him, deadpan. “Uh huh. Go on then. Show us all up.”

“Yeah yeah I’m going, don’t get your panties in a twist!”

Rai stopped Sin from decking Feris right then and there.

Feris made his way past them all to the stairs. To his surprise, they all wished him luck. Fuckin’ idiots... luck doesn’t mean anything here. They should know that already.

He wondered what kind of techniques to show off. If any of them were unique, then he could use one and just be done with it... but there was no way for Feris to know if any of his techniques would match that criteria or not since the tier was so new.

Above all, he didn’t want to let the people he saw as weaklings think he was any less than them. That wouldn’t do, since he was obviously their king. It was only natural that peasants should obey their king.

The examiner noticed him, and she made her way over with her clipboard in hand.

“Are you Feris, no family name?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t care that he had no family name.

“Would you like to do your evaluation out here or in the pocket dimension?”

“Pocket dimension.”

“Very good.” The examiner wrote it down on her clipboard.

She gestured for Feris to follow her and the analysts through.

Feris still didn’t know how he wanted to handle this.

The examiner did as she did for all of the previous students.

“You can start by pouring your mana into the orb in the middle of the room. It’ll work just like your entrance exam, so your mana will return to you once it’s been analysed.”

Feris left her with a grunt of acknowledgement as he trudged his way over to the orb.

He poured his mana in and waited for it to return to him. Once it did, he went back to the examiner.

She was surprised at how smooth this evaluation was going, considering how long and different each of the recent ones were. Maybe this Feris was a ‘no nonsense’ kind of person.

“Would you like to evaluate all of your techniques or just specific ones? Either is fine with us.”

“Specific ones.”

“Great! Do they have names? It’s fine if they don’t, or if you don’t want them recorded here.”

“Yep. But I don’t want them recorded.”

“That’s fine. Do you have any enhancement type techniques?”

“Yep.”

“Alright, you can start by using your enhancement technique or techniques while holding your hand against the orb.”

“Great. On it.”

Feris walked up to the orb and did as the examiner said. He entered his Feral state. His hair flared up into a bright red wildfire. Feris’s nails quickly took on the shape of flaming clawtips. This form was basic, but it was powerful in Feris’s hands. He also didn’t care to use its later evolutions, lest he give away his secret trump cards. Feris didn’t think that the later stages of his Feral state would count as separate techniques either. Though, the later evolutions were unique to him, so maybe... Nah. Not worth giving them away to these clowns. Ma always said not to trust fuckers in suits.

The data received by the examiner and analysts represented the Feral state’s power very well. As Feris withdrew his Feral state and made his way back, the examiner pointed at the dummy.

“You can use the rest of your techniques on the training dummy whenever you’re ready.”

“Alright.” He said as he was still walking back to them.

Feris took a little detour on his path and made his way over to the training dummy.

He annoyed himself by thinking about Rai and Sin. Those two probably have something up their pissant sleeves! Ah fuck it. I’ll just pull out as many legendaries as I feel like then. Feral state and anything else here will probably do just fine. Argh! It’s so fucking annoying that I have to go before them though! Next time they’re going first, I swear on Raphael’s non-existent hairline!

Feris began by casting telekinesis on the dummy.

It didn’t budge, but the data still went through.

He then cast a technique on the dummy that was taught to him by the headmaster. It was one that the headmaster had apparently used a lot in his past, so he taught it to Feris since he thought it would be useful. Though, Feris hated the idea behind this technique. But as much as Feris didn’t like it, it was a legendary technique that would help him out here.

Crawl

The dummy didn’t visibly react, but the data went through.

The examiner didn’t understand why, but the dummy registered the spell as legendary, even though there wasn’t a single change in its vitals. Even telekinesis had some effect on the dummy. But after this technique... it was supposedly completely fine.

She called Feris over.

“That last technique you used... what does it do? The dummy registered it as legendary, but none of the dummy’s vitals changed.”

“Pfft! You’re kidding me right? Aren’t you scientists?! Clearly the data you’re getting isn’t saying anything about the dummy’s brainwaves, is it?”

“Huh? Brain waves? The dummy doesn’t have any, so how could it...” It dawned upon her, “... Oh... I see. That spell affects brainwaves, and even though the dummy replicates a person’s brainwaves, it doesn’t have any markers that would show up in the data... that’s interesting.”

“Fantastic. Can I go back and cast more shit now?”

“... Yes... Of course.”

Feris, once again, trudged his way back to the training dummy. The previous spell that he’d used was designed to slow down a person’s perception, so that they couldn’t register what was happening around them. It was absurdly effective, but Feris hated it all the same. It felt like a dirty trick to him, more than a utility spell.

But, Feris had to move past that now.

He aimed his palm at the dummy. Feris grinned slightly as he allowed the burning heat of a pure fire attributed mana to build up in his fingertips.

It all coalesced into a single, purified, concentrated beam that shot out from his palm, straight into the dummy’s head.

The beam pierced it and made it all the way to the white panelled wall on the other side of the room, leaving behind a crazy scorch mark.

Fortunately, the data transmitted just fine.

Feris took a moment to count. That’s four now... Eh, I’ll just do one more and end it there. No point in using the rest of them if those two are gonna end up with uniques. Fuck, maybe I should’ve used the later evolutions of Feral state... Ah well. As long as it’s enough for first place right now then it’ll do. What’s a good final technique to use then? Hmm...

He pondered for a little while.

Then it hit him.

Feris walked back over to the analysts and examiner.

“Hey. The next technique isn’t a combat one. You guys will need to watch it.”

The examiner gestured for them to get up and observe.

Feris moved back and pointed at a spot on the ground beside him.

“I’m gonna teleport from here to there, alright?”

The analysts jaws dropped at his words.

A student? Teleporting?! They’d never seen it before from a first year at the Academy.

The examiner truly believed that the top-end of this cohort of students was one of the strongest she’d ever seen in her time as technique examiner.

“Right. You’re all watching right? I don’t wanna have to cast this twice.” Feris said condescendingly.

They nodded.

Feris smirked. He snapped his fingers.

From where he once stood, to where he stands, Feris teleported. There were no fancy flaming particles or anything like that. It was just a simple, clean, and efficient teleport.

The analysts rushed back to the examiner.

She was in shock herself. From her own knowledge, teleporting wasn’t even possible at any tier below legendary.

This was absolutely incredible!

The examiner called Feris over.

“Is... Is that all the techniques you have to show us?”

“That depends on how many of them you consider to be legendary.”

“... All five of them are legendary.”

Feris placed his arms behind his head and started to relax.

“Then, that’s all I have to show you. Thanks science clowns. I’ll see you around.”

He left the portal.

The examiners and analysts were blown away. Completely.

A silent storm had come through, wreaked havoc, and then just left on its own accord.

Feris strolled out of the portal and made his way over to the stairs.

The students in the audience were asking him how his evaluation went, since he came out before the examiner and analysts. Feris replied in the exact way that anyone who knew him would’ve expected him to.

He flipped them all off.

“Fuck off. I don’t talk to weaklings.”

The crowd wasn’t happy.

They started booing him.

Feris almost couldn’t stop himself from laughing.

After making his way back to his friends, they looked at him with concern.

Rai in particular was very curious.

“Feris...”

“Yes dingbat?”

“Why are our classmates booing you?”

“Cuz I pissed ‘em off.”

“Right. Well, that makes sense, since you’re a very annoying person... how’d your evaluation go?”

“Fuck you. I could’ve done a lot more, but I just did what I had to for first place.”

“Huh? Really? You’re that strong?” Rai was confused. He clearly didn’t realise just how much Feris had in his arsenal.

“Yes, male princess! I really am that strong!”

The ranking board changed.

All of Feris’s friends looked through it.

His name was at the very top. The sole holder of first place.

‘Feris’ was written in bright gold characters, and there was a number ‘5’ next to the star beside his name.

He grinned at them all.

“Told you.”

They all stared at him.

Feris rolled his eyes. Here we go. This is where they start yelling at me and getting mad and throwing hands-

They cheered so loudly that Feris nearly went deaf.

Huh.

Rai and Tullian lifted Feris up and paraded him around.

The fuck is this?

The girls all started cheering his name, “Feris! Feris! Feris!”

What on Zenith is happening here?!

The students in the general audience booed even louder, but Feris’s friends somehow outmatched them. To him at least.

Feris had no idea how to react.

Rai and Tullian put him down.

They all smiled at him and pat him on the back. He heard a bunch of phrases like ‘good job Feris’ and ‘well done Feris’ from them. He also saw multiple looks of happiness and joy... for him.

Feris was definitely not used to this.

“Alright shut the fuck up and go do yours now dingbat and Princess knickers! I don’t wanna wait for your slowpoke asses all day!”

Sin stared at him, deadpan, again. “You’ve already waited all day, dumbass. Look, it’s evening now.” She pointed up.

As he looked up, Feris saw the twin suns relatively low in the sky. He hadn’t even noticed.

“Oh... I see... Well hurry the fuck up anyways!”

They all giggled at him.

Rai placed a hand on Feris’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I’ll show you how it’s done.”

“Whatever.” Feris sat back down.

Sin stopped Rai for a moment. She held his arm as she whispered to him.

“Don’t hold back.”

“Yeah. I know. Watch. I’ll be the first one with a unique technique up there.”

“That’s what I love to hear.” She stopped whispering, “Good luck!”

The rest of Rai’s friends wished him luck as well.

He looked back at them before making his way to the stairs.

With electricity crackling in his eyes, Rai grinned at them.

“Thanks. Watch me win this whole thing.” Rai’s voice boomed throughout the whole stadium.

The crowd reacted with cheers and whoops. They couldn’t wait to see what Rai could pull out, given all that he’d accomplished at the Academy so far.

This wasn’t a competition, but Rai treated it as such.

Now, it was his turn.

And he wouldn’t hold back.