Chapter 13
Mass Ignition
“The only reason honest people break the law is the hope of a better, easier, or faster way to the top; once you realize that, and how to help them move by you faster, you will always be able to make money.” – Teachings of Marcon
Trust.
It came down to trust.
Right now, everything that Arla did and said would be measured. From her perspective she was completely absolved of any crime, as she could not be linked to possessing any known illegal products. In fact, technically what she had created was legal. For all magic wielders were allowed to make power transmuters, that was the technical term for the ball of condensed Light Energy that Mr. Fortuna, AKA Dr. Hylinch had provided to Arla.
From that one orb, Arla had been able to see the beginning and end of time based on her current actions. Such power, such insight was invaluable and addictive, which was why Arla didn’t take up the ‘Cog on his little ploy, when he offered others.
No, creating the power orbs was fine, and encouraged. What was not okay was taking the orbs with massive surges of power and trying to pass that off as your own. That was where the law hammered down on people who passed themselves off as a power wielder that was greater than their own.
It was clear from their brief interaction with each other, that Dr. Hylinch was very much in favor of the alliance between them. Going so far as to demand Arla create no less than twenty Ignition infused power orbs, which she barely managed to finish before landing.
There was just one snag, in that Lyria Hylinch, the daughter, seemed to be apprehensive about the entire arrangement.
Worse, since she was already part of her active list of symbiotic relationships, Arla was unable to determine a few things.
Number of Symbiotic Relationships still Active: 893 / 1,122
First that number did not note if Arla would be able to gain experience and other benefits from users of her own version of condensed energy.
Second, without Lyria actually registering as an S-Ranked Healer, there would be no way for Arla to keep this business venture active.
Still, Arla had time. In the end, despite being late, they still managed to arrive with a few hours to spare before standard application processes began for the new semester. Arla would have thought this luck, had she not seen the completely relaxed way that Dr. Hylinch had seemed while they approached the training planet.
With so much time remaining, and Arla having mastered the process of condensing her Ignition energy into a tightly compact sphere, it was advised that the two groups disperse before signing in to register for what would be anywhere from two to six years of training. Six for Arla and two for Lyria.
The separation was perfect as it gave Arla time to fix her hair that had begun glowing from all over. The more she could feel her Cerusian system activating, the more the top of her head began to tingle. Going into the local commissary, Arla went in with her full helmet attached and got old school shoe polish, which would be needed for their planetary training. Going in, she made sure to buy at least two canisters of the material, one would be used for her actual boots. While the second one would be used to help her hair. She also got one brush.
Once the products were acquired, she went to the restroom, locked herself into a stall and then using the Cerusian rune for Blending with a subtle hint of Chameleon to her brush, which she then used to apply a thin coat of black boot polish, changing her hair color to all black.
The process was quick and seamless as Arla had years of forced practice at maintaining standard grooming habits.
There were times when Marcon would test her in the field, and if she got lax, or failed to apply a coating while on mission, she would be punished with extra training. Then again, often her rewards for accomplishing missions as stated was training.
This entire process took a matter of minutes, but during that time quite a few things happened.
First, Arla felt calmer. She felt like she could blend in, particularly if the girl, Lyria, was her roommate and on board with their scheme.
Second, there was enough time that she began feeling tiny pings happening within her mind.
Now when she focused, she felt that there was not one but two columns of Symbiotic Relationships active.
Number of Symbiotic Relationships still Active: 893 / 1,122 Temporary: Number of Symbiotic Relationships still Active: 1 / 1.
Then after a few seconds, the number of temporary symbiotic relationships began to rise rapidly.
Temporary: Number of Symbiotic Relationships still Active: 2 / 2.
Temporary: Number of Symbiotic Relationships still Active: 3 / 3.
Temporary: Number of Symbiotic Relationships still Active: 4 / 4.
…
Temporary: Number of Symbiotic Relationships still Active: 7 / 7.
Seeing the number of active but Temporary Symbiotic Relationships, Arla felt. Well she didn’t know how she felt, for that was a lot larger grouping than she originally thought possible. Yet, they were all there.
Judging by the numbers, it was clear that Dr. Hylinch had done his part in recruiting.
For a moment, Arla wondered how he got so many to join, but then Arla realized just how prestigious the Military Academy is, and how getting admitted with an S-Ranked evaluated talent put you at the elite of the elite when it came to selections, programs, fundings, gear, and most importantly training.
Arla herself could sign up as an S-Ranked individual, but instead chose to enter as just an A-Ranked individual instead. These were just as good, just as revered, but not harped upon as much as traditional S-Ranked candidates.
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The idea was that by going in as a just below maximum, her want to hide in the numbers would be slightly easier. She had long ago worked out that the greatest part about joining a military would be the ability to obtain anonymity through mass focus. With this, she would be able to hopefully blend into the crowd. With her training she had no doubt that she would be able to stand out from her peers, but life had taught her that this was not the best course of action.
Instead, laying low, getting into the exact top third of all classes, and keeping off the radar of other cadets would be her way of making it out unscathed.
There was of course the nuclear option. The option where she abandoned her false façade and crushed her enemies and fellow cadets to pulp.
But one never went nuclear, unless they were ready to deal with the permanently tingling skin left by radiation.
As she made her way to register, Arla felt the number of Temporary Symbiotic Relations go up a few more times.
Temporary: Number of Symbiotic Relationships still Active: 8 / 8.
…
Temporary: Number of Symbiotic Relationships still Active: 12 / 12.
Feeling the final number stop, Arla wondered what caused the sudden change.
It wasn’t until she was standing in line at the A-Ranked individuals, waiting to be checked in that she saw Lyria flanked by a gaggle of five males and seven females. All of whom were heading to the almost vacant S-Ranked line.
The numbers and now the newcomers’ presence proved one thing, that Arla could in fact feel the direction of people she had a symbiotic power-sharing relationship with. Just as usual this relationship appeared to be one sided, for while Arla could feel her connection to the gaggle of 12 new S-Ranked individuals coming her way, none of the 13 seemed to notice Arla.
Well, there was one, as Lyria who had been looking around for Arla smiled brightly when she made eye contact with her. Only to then frown as she looked and saw which line Arla had taken up registering with.
It looked like Lyria was about to say something to draw attention to Arla, when her friends began chatting animatedly amongst themselves.
“This is so great,” one girl exclaimed, apparently still reeling from the natural high of having her powers supercharged.
“I know right?” Another one of the girls called back, mirth and excitement filling her words.
“I am so ready for this,” one of the males spoke out.
From there, the conversation devolved into a myriad of jovial and barely contained excited comments.
“Do you think this is your personal gathering for a social club!” An Academy Drill Sergeant shot in, and immediately began commenting on the fellow cadets.
Hearing them, Arla kept her face blank as she just stared forward, waiting for the application lines to open for the day.
Finally, after a moment the Drill Sergeant left, clearly not wanting to go too hard into students who all claimed to be S-Ranked. Likely, it was best for the drill sergeant to let the process weed them out, then he would be able to interact with them accordingly. It was also apparent that the one Drill Sergeant would be no match for twelve super charged S-Ranked cadets if things got violent. This was why the Instructor seemed more than content to leave once the gaggle of S-Ranked individuals, once they calmed down.
There was silence for a moment, but then eventually the gaggle began speaking again, this time at a more hushed tone.
“Hey, why do you keep looking over there?” One girl asked bitterly.
Hearing the girl’s tone it was clear that she was the type who would start an argument when she was annoyed.
“Nothing,” a girl with a familiar voice replied.
Hearing her voice, it took all of Arla’s training and perseverance not to turn and look at the speaker. The reason why she didn’t turn her head was because she didn’t need to. For she knew who the girl over there was, just from the bond they shared.
It turned out that telling the difference from a real bond and a temporary bond was rather easy. One felt real and fully tangible, while the others felt like they were soft and pliable. For a moment, it felt as if Arla could snap the connection to the temporary symbiotes with just one good mental tug of her power.
She didn’t do this of course, nor did she practice, but she held the idea in mind for the moment that things went sideways.
“Oh, you like the dark-haired A-Ranker?” One of the girls shot out.
“I didn’t know you had a thing for girls? Had I known, I would have dropped Trave a while ago.” Another girl quipped.
“Hey,” a male, likely the noted Trave, cried out in faux distress.
“I don’t, it’s just that…” Lyria replied, her voice trailing off as she clearly didn’t know how to describe her reaction.
“I mean, I get it. Dark hair, bright blue eyes, and she’s clearly fit. If it wasn’t for her being an A-Ranker then she would likely be a perfect candidate for you.” The first teasing girl replied.
“Yeah, as an S-Ranker, we need to have much higher standards, maybe a title bearer at the very least,” another girl replied.
Hearing them, Arla almost smiled at the idea of who quickly they all seemed to acclimate to their new power levels. While Arla couldn’t tell what ranks their powers were before her boost was applied, she could tell that most had increased their rankings considerably with her infusion of her power.
“Hey you, A-Ranker,” the first mocking girl called out.
Hearing them, Arla looked ahead to see that there were still three people before she would be seen in her line. It was also clear that by the tone that for whatever reason she had been targeted by the group.
“You, with the dark hair,” the same girl called out.
It was clear from social dynamics that this girl was likely a self-appointed leader of the group. Likely due to the way she was more boisterous and seemingly jovial than the others.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Arla turned and looked. Knowing that her not focusing on the attention seeking woman would likely cause issues later on.
Arla turned, and simply nodded her head.
“Ohh.” The boys and girls called out as they gazed at Arla’s face.
“No wonder Lyria has been staring at her, she is gorgeous,” one of the males responded. As he spoke a few of the other power infused boys nodded in agreement at the comment.
Hearing their comment and seeing their reaction, Arla just pretended not to have heard anything, instead just locking gazes with the apparent instigator of this random event. It was clear that Arla had been called out due to the girls being bored, and therefore wanted to exert their newfound power derived confidence at someone deemed to be weaker than them. However, in this particular case, that power was directed at Arla.
“Oh wow, I take it back. I was going to say you weren’t good enough for my Lyria here, but after looking at you, I take it back.” The ringleader of this whole encounter began.
Hearing her, Arla could only nod her head in acknowledgement and turn forward wanting to end this conversation and defuse the entire situation as much as possible.
“You might be good enough for her, but you will have to pass our test first,” the ringleader continued.
Inwardly disgusted, Arla just focused her head forward and continued counting down the people before her.
“Hey, I’m talking to you,” the ringleader cried out.
Arla for her part went and did something that all people of mixed nationalities learned to do from an early age, that is look forward, pretend not to notice, and hope time somehow speeds up.
Time of course did not speed up, but that was fine as Arla could check to make sure that she was capable of blending in, at least here.
Finally, the person before Arla strode forward. With that, Arla moved forward and watched everything that was happening before her.
This was the final act needed to get the ringleader and her super powered cronies to stop harping at Arla. Their line too was moving, but with a total of fifteen S-Rankers, Lyria, her gaggle, and one actual S-Ranker their line moved along slowly.
It was also clear that their line being so disproportionate to years past was drawing the attention of faculty and staff. For many extra proctors were nearby. Evaluating them and seeing if they would pass muster.
Normally in cases where there were a lot of S-Rankers, finding out if there was power doping, which Lyria and her friends were now doing, was a relatively simple process. Finding power dopers usually focused on a group of people having one power up to a certain high ranking. This would have been the same thing had Lyria and her power-infused friends all come in with the same S-Ranked Precognitive ability as her father.
However, the standard testing mechanisms didn’t take into account someone like Arla being the power supplier, someone who could get anyone to raise their power to match her own the S-Rank ability level.
This was why all the S-Ranked cadets were scanned, evaluated, and finally taken over to be re-inspected by a different measuring tool.
Seeing their level of scrutiny, Arla was glad she chose to go in the smaller and more statistically likely A-Class line. Who while sporting a large gaggle of nine cadets, including herself, it was not as conspicuous as the grouping of fourteen total S-Ranked individuals.
Arla knew that the second tester would be used to check for a massive but unexplainable drop off in power rankings. This would have caught Lyria’s B-Ranked healing ability, had she not used an extra Ignition stone to power up her own healing ability.
That, or she would be flagged as having two powers, which would put her on a different kind of watchlist.
Hoping that the girl had done her part and taken the power crystal to be part of the group, Arla could only hope that she did the right thing. Which in this case would mean she took one of the orbs for herself.
“Next,” the A-Rank inspector called out, informing Arla that it was now her time to register.
Realizing that her worrying about the potential relationship with Lyria was a moot point, Arla centered herself, and strode forward, ready to hide her true strength while blending into the background of the Military Academy.
Moving forward, Arla uncovered her hand and placing it over the power determining sphere, waited, while her future was being calculated and presented.
Glow.
The sphere glowed brightly, but there was a limit to what this particular sphere could register.
Being the A-ranked line, Arla knew that the testing devices would only be able to test to the lowest extremes of A-Rank. Anything more would likely require a stronger apparatus.
“Oh wow, you are clearly an A-Ranker, though, I have to ask, would you want to try for S-Rank?” The receptionist asked.
Hearing that, Arla just shook her head, before subtly glancing to her left at the long line of S-Rankers. The line who had more than a few of the more brazen individuals staring at Arla.
Seeing them and their disposition, the receptionist responded, “yeah, I could see why you might want to avoid that crowd. Normally they aren’t like that.”
The inflection was clear, she had seen everything and realized that Arla might not want to be forced into more confrontations with that group.
“Well, you are an A-Ranker, that is guaranteed. And I believe we have your Attributes…” The woman trailed off, as she saw something that made her jaw go slack.
And like that, Arla realized that she might have a harder time hiding under the radar than expected.