The Over-Break System

Cynrik's patience was draining fast, and each minute the instructors took discussing his Status was agonizing. As time ticked by, Cynrik unknowingly began anxiously tapping his foot and drumming his fingers on his forearm.

[Hey, how many Stat and Skill points do you have in reserve?] Seeing how his brother seemed ready to blow his lid, Brance pinched Cynrik's side and tried diverting his attention. To his dismay, he only received an angsty grunt in reply, so Brance continued to badger his older brother until he finally spun around and smacked his forehead.

[WHY ARE YOU BEING SO DAMN ANNOYING? FUCK.]

[Sigh…look, no one told you to be all grumpy, our stats are out there now, but at least it's not all bad. Sure, the application revealed more of our secrets than we wanted, but look on the bright side; at least we didn't get attacked instantly.] Brance said, smiling sheepishly.

[OI, OI, BRANCIE, ARE YOU TRYINA GET US KILLED? Why would you throw up a death flag now of all times?] Cynrik immediately went from grumpy and angry to flustered in no time at all.

[Hehe, my bad, I just wanted to cheer you up a bit.] Brance scratched his cheek and cast a glance over the franticly babbling instructors.

[How long do you reckon it'll take before those three come back to their senses.]

[Not a clue. I'm more worried about this SS-Rank classification. It was bad enough that you got S-Rank, but now my dumb ass seems to have stumbled into the elite of the elite. The only upside is that we can guarantee all the Academies will want us, so we need to consider choosing a different one seriously.] Biting the inside of his cheek in thought, Cynrik continued.

[The only Academy out of the question is Renson Military; other than that, if the benefits are good enough, I guess we could put up with whatever bullshit we have to face.] Looking away from the instructor trio, Cynrik sat down on the floor and pulled out one of his assassin's tools. Deciding it was better to be productive, as he spoke with Brance in the mind link, Cynrik started making minor adjustments to the ejection mechanism. He noticed that as his Stats got higher, the blade seemed to eject slower. Of course, this was just a case of perspective, though, still, he figured it would be better to make the hidden blade extend a little faster.

[What is our bottom line Cyn, are we going to request anything in particular?] Brance thought for a moment before sitting down beside his brother and watching him work.

[Honestly, we really only need a couple of things. The biggest of which is Tier-2 Evo stones. I also wouldn't mind picking up some Affinity Orbs for Gabby and Benny; them being locked into a single Element will get annoying down the line. OH SHIT, GABBY, AND BENNY! How the fuck did I forget about them, damn it.] Realizing something, Cynrik stashed his weapon away and hopped to his feet.

"OI, instructors, I have a question."

Cynrik's voice caused the three mumbling adults to stop and slow pan turn in his direction.

"Cough, Yes, Young Cy...I mean, Ivar? What is it you need?" As usual, it was Professor Hues who took the lead.

"Can you explain the Applicant Ranking thing to me? You three have been talking amongst yourselves for a few minutes now and practically ignoring us, so it's the least you can do." Cynrik didn't hide the disdain in his voice as he mockingly glared at the three adults who seemed flustered by his provocations.

"Yes, of course. The Academy Applicant Ranking is how we determine a child's growth rate. While many factors determine the actual rank, some of the key points are the age to Tier ratio and the number of Affinities. The program will take everything into account and assign a ranking classification which we use to place children with others with similar abilities properly."

"Basically, you segregate them based on whether or not they are strong at a young age. So let me guess, things like Gravity Resistance, body Tempering, and Hidden Stats such as Killing Intent or Will Power also play a big part." Cynrik countered after hearing the brief summary of Rankings.

"Precisely, this is best shown in the case of you and Young Björn; although you have near-identical mirror Stats, you were assigned a higher rank thanks to the combination of your Will Power and the additional Fusion Skills."

"I see; well then, continue talking amongst yourselves; I've clearly got nothing better to do than sitting on my ass and twiddle my thumbs."

SMACK

"OW!"

"CYNRIK AYKE JETLENSR, YOU BEHAVE IN FRONT OF THE BOARD MEMBERS OR, SO HELP ME, I WILL CUT YOUR DESSERT FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR!"

"EEP, yes, Mother, sorry, Mother." Cynrik quickly straightened his back and bowed to the instructors leaving them dumbfounded by his sudden change of attitude.

It was clear to them that Cynrik was the unruly and rude type when he lost his temper, and as instructors who had taught thousands of children just like him in the past, they were willing to let it go based solely on his SS-Rank classification. However, seeing how quickly the boy changed his tune the moment Cinyah raised her voice, they were conflicted about how to move forward.

"Hum hum, it isn't a big deal, Mrs. Jetlensr; kids will be kids. But unfortunately, he is right; we got sidetracked and were negligent in our duty. You two come here so we can give you both the assigned tokens for the Academy Selections." Professor Hues cleared his throat a couple of times before waving the children over to his side.

Reacting swiftly to his words, Cynrik and Brance kicked off the ground and appeared next to the man, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

Sensing the two boys' anticipation building, Professor Hues swiftly pulled two USB-sized dongles from his inventory and showed them to Cynrik and Brance before explaining their use.

"Just like during the Exam, to proceed further, you need to have one of these devices installed into your Watcet. This gold one is for you, Young Björn; please hold up your Watcet for me so I can install it."

As usual, Brance complied obediently, holding up his wrist, exposing the port on the side of his device.

Pleased by how polite the boy was, Professor Hues plugged in the small USB-like device making it ring out with a chime sound. Five seconds later, the display of Brance's Watcet flashed in a multitude of colors before powering down and showing a loading bar.

"It will take approximately 30 minutes for the program to receive your application and update it appropriately. Once it is done, you will be good to go. Oh, fair warning, when the update is complete, your Watcet will change colors to the same shade of gold as the token, signifying your S-Rank classification." Professor Hues promptly released Brance's wrist before looking at Cynrik with a concerned expression.

"Young Ivar, your Token is Platinum. Similar to how the gold token represents an S-Rank applicant, the Platinum represents SS-Rank." Catching the unwilling Cynrik's arm, Professor Hues plugged in the token, powering down his Watcet and booting up the update and application transfer.

"With that, your screening process is complete. In two days, you will receive a notification with the time you are required to arrive at the meeting location. On top of that, you will have a holographic minimap which will lead you to the area you can go to meet up with all the Academy Recruiters."

"One last thing before we go, don't be caught off guard if all those idiotic recruiters rush forward to greet you. Their goal is only to convince you to sign a contract with them to join their Academy."

Leaving that parting statement, the three instructors thanked Cinyah for her hospitality and left. The sudden change in pace threw off Cynrik and Brance as it hadn't even been 15 minutes since Cynrik finished his application.

[What now?] Standing in the training room Brance looked up at the ceiling at a loss for what to do.

[Well, aside from a little physical exercise, there isn't much we can do to prepare. But, honestly, we should drop off all our gear with Jessup and have him upgrade everything to Tier-2 for us. Plus, we should probably go ahead and use our cultivation skills. It has been several years, after all.] Placing his hands behind his head, Cynrik casually walked over to the fighting ring and hopped in.

[OH, I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT OUR CULTIVATION SKILLS!] Seeing that Cynrik was about to swing his sword around for a while, Brance ran off to get some cushions so that when night fell, he would at least be comfortable while using his Cultivation Skill.

Cynrik chuckled as he watched Brance disappear into the house. It would take him a while to locate the cushions, so he equipped his Kodachi and closed his eyes.

'A brawler like Hues was too familiar for me; he relied mainly on his combat experience during our fight. Thinking back to Brance's fight, how would I have handled Kein.'

Cynrik stood in place with his palms resting on the hilts of his swords and imagined Kein standing opposite of him.

'Based on how quickly Kein moved, I estimate his AGI Stat was at the minimum 600 points. Meaning he was at his slowest, two times faster than me. Even using [Mana Sight], I could only catch a blur of Mana particles moving around the ring. Without it, I couldn't see him at all.'

Unsheathing his Kodachi, Cynrik exhaled slowly and began shadow sparring the imaginary Kein in his head.

When Brance returned 15 minutes later with the cushions in hand, he was amazed to see Cynrik gracefully moving around the ring. He could tell what his older brother was doing with a single glance, so Brance decided to place down the two cushions and watch his brother train.

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