18. Earth Or Fire

“You’re done.”

The words echoed in Ardan’s head as he trudged across the floor lobby. Apart from completely failing the fire test and embarrassing himself, he had gained useful information. Titles gave him benefits. That was definitely important. He wondered what other benefits ‘The First Hybrid’ gave him, apart from element resistance. Also, this meant that he didn’t need the safety equipment anymore.

For now, he walked beside Shiloh to the earth station, discussing the eventful last session.

“So what happened, anyways? All I saw was the fire growing larger and larger in your hands. How did you do that?” Shiloh asked.

“I’m not sure. I think it’s got something to do with the anger I felt. Did you feel it when you did your test?”

“Nope,” Shiloh said, shaking his head. “But I’ve heard rumors that when people have a strong affinity for elements, they feel their emotions when using them. For fire, that's anger and hatred, so that might be why you felt that way.”

Ardan nodded absentmindedly. “Maybe…”

“Hey! If that’s actually the case, it’s a good thing, right? It means you’re bound to be really good at fire.” He said, trying to reassure Ardan. “Anyways, you can’t do anything about it now. You know it’s time for earth, right? It’s my time to shine!”

Shiloh clung on to Ardan’s arm, and squeezed it affectionately, only reaching his shoulder height. Though they were in the front of the pack, Ardan still heard a rude comment being said from behind.

“Isn’t he that loser who failed the fire test?”

Ardan spun around, searching for the accuser. The boy who dobbed him in from earlier squinted, a wicked smile plastered on his face. Now that Ardan had a closer look, he wondered what the boy’s motive was. To make everyone miserable? He wasn’t the typical handsome jock bully he’d seen in movies. In fact, this boy was rather ugly looking with pimples decorating his face and an unusually pig shaped nose.

“What do you want?” He demanded.

Calming himself, Ardan took a deep breath and turned away. There was nothing he could say to defend himself. After all, he had failed the fire test.

A figure came up beside him. It was that girl from before. Elaine.

“Don’t worry, fire is a hard element. From what I saw, Myron over there didn’t do much better than you. Also, I think you’ve got more potential than him, anyways. You’re Ardan, right?” She chattered.

Ardan’s face was taut in confusion, so his words came out rigid. “Yes. I’m Ardan.” There wasn’t much else he could say.

“I’m Elaine. Nice to meet you.” She said it matter-of-factly, like she had done it a million times before.

“Ok. Nice to meet you too.” Ardan replied, still speaking stiffly.

“You must be Shiloh.” Elaine walked forward briskly and made eye contact with Shiloh, staring at him curiously.

“I must be indeed. Before you say it, nice to meet you.” He practically radiated happiness. “You were pretty impressive during the fire test, so kudos to you.”

“Thanks!” She blushed a little. “You were amazing too!”

Shiloh chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. “Nah, if you think that was good, wait till we get to earth. I’ll show you what’s really impressive.”

Elaine fell in step with Shiloh and smiled for the first time. “Looking forward to it! Do you know the third method of earth manipulation? I’ve always wanted…”

Ardan couldn’t help but grin at the two’s first interaction. Elaine was perfect for someone like Shiloh, who was an infinitely bubbling pit of positive energy. By this time, they had all arrived at the earth room. The door creaked open, revealing a strange sight.

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A burly man wearing a tight-fitting shirt lifted large pieces of rock up and down, while munching on what looked to be an extremely large piece of pizza. So far, the assessors all had their quirks. Leo’s strange emotions, the water representative’s chatty personality, and Lamont’s carelessness. Ardan had been beginning to wonder what the earth representative’s quirk would be, but now, he was not so sure that he wanted to know.

“Hello, students! I am Benny, your earth assessor! Pleasure to meet you all!” ‘Benny’ dropped the suspended rock and put down the slice of pizza on a dirty looking table, before wiping his greasy hands together in excitement. Ardan made a note to never shake the man’s hands.

Apart from his peculiar filthy habits, Benny’s boisterous personality wasn’t actually that quirky. He simply appeared to be an exceptionally zestful man. And dirty.

After running through the usual introductions and instructions, Benny told the group to get in a row aligning a rusty fence. Behind the fence was a makeshift arena, several large stones littered on the floor. The holes in the fence were incredibly tiny, apart from a single large gap in the door.

“Alright guys! Now you’ll be doing burst first, so stick your hand through the hole when you’re ready and I’ll hold out a rock for you to do your thing! The door is a protective device, to stop any particles of stone flying out and impaling you. If you’d like to keep your eyes, I suggest you look through the window here.” He tapped just at a transparent plastic window above the hole.

“Good luck! Also, please tell me your name once you’ve finished! Unfortunately…” He checked his watch. “I don’t think we’ll have the time for you all to have more than one turn. It’s getting late.”

Indeed it was getting late. Ardan quietly called out his daily requirements, wondering what today’s task would be. Lately, he had been speculating on what exactly leveling up would help with. Yes, he would potentially grow physically and non-physically stronger, but what was the point of that? In fact, what was the point of this entire game?

“Ardan… Are you zoning out again?” Shiloh nudged his arm.

Brought back from his thoughts, Ardan returned his attention to the quests screen in front of him.

Active Quests

Daily Requirements (9:25:11)

- 0/5km ran

Rewards: 580 EXP, 10§

Ugh, running again? I’m not in the mood for this… Ardan’s thought trailed off as he looked back up at the line. It was moving rather quickly, with exploding chunks of rocks raining down in the arena. Benny didn't seem to have any sort of recording unit or measurement. When a student did well, he simply nodded his head and murmured something that sounded like approval.

“Alright! Emo kid, you’re up!” Benny shouted, waving him over.

Emo kid… How in the world did I get that nickname? Adan raised an eyebrow before walking over to the door. It was probably due to his extensively long hair that draped across his face. Surprisingly, the door was made of a black, metal like material. It was uneven and scratched Ardan’s hand as he brushed past it. Thrusting his hand in the centre of the hole, he gripped a rock about the size of his hand. It was rough and felt strangely warm all over.

Since it would be so easy to manipulate, Ardan wanted to challenge himself. As soon as he activated element sense, he pushed all his energy into the stone. How long would it take him to explode it?

A few seconds passed. Nothing happened.

It didn’t… work? Isn’t this supposed to be easy?

He stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Then, he heard the boy from before, Myron, whispering loudly behind him. The words he said were not pleasant. At all.

Ardan gritted his teeth, fueling the anger into the stone, willing it to break apart.

Crack.

The rock trembled in his grip.

Just as Ardan was about to give up, the stone exploded, little pieces of it clattering against the window and door. He retracted his hand quickly, unpleased at the result. Shiloh, and most people before him had done it so much faster.

And then he frowned.

A little blue flame danced just above his palm for a second, then whiffed out in a small trail of smoke.

Fire? What’s fire doing here? He wondered, touching the spot where the flame had been just moments ago.

“Move it, ‘emo kid’.” Myron walked opposite him to the door, making sure to knock his shoulder roughly on the way.

Ignoring him, Ardan walked towards where Shiloh and Elaine were standing, close to the back. He forced himself to forget about what had happened before. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he had broken the rock, just as instructed. Speaking of which, why hadn’t he received a notification yet?

Normally, he would have received a notification telling him that he’d learnt a new skill. But this time, there was none. However, Ardan was too busy trying to ignore what had happened that he simply didn’t care. Just one more test, and the day would be over.