Rai was going to electrify the whole place.

Metaphorically, of course. He didn’t want to literally electrocute everything. That wouldn’t be very smart of him.

Rai made his way over to the examiner and analysts.

The examiner looked at her clipboard with a hint of confusion on her face.

“Wait... I think I’ve seen this name somewhere before... Rai?” She asked as she looked up at him.

“Yeah, that’s me. You’ve seen my name before?”

“Yep. I’m guessing that you’re the one that’s been making a name for himself with his lightning?”

“Uh, probably. I’m the only one I know who can use lightning so, I guess?”

“No. Way...”

The examiner nearly did a jig right then and there.

Now, while seeing an examiner dancing would’ve been a sight for all who were present to behold, she wisely prevented her her body from instinctively doing so. One only knows what kinds of gossip makes the rounds throughout Zenith these days. Especially the kind that would get tossed around by students.

“Um...” Rai tried to get the examiner’s attention.

“Ah, yes. Sorry. I lost myself for a moment. Would you like to do your evaluation out here or in the pocket dimension?”

“In the pocket dimension please!”

“Great! Follow me and the analysts and we’ll explain once we’re inside.”

Rai followed the examiner and analysts inside the pocket dimension.

Upon entering, Rai looked around, surprised, given how simple the room was. Plain white panels lined the walls, ceiling, and floor. An orb and dummy, like the ones outside, were here as well. Though, there was a scorch mark on the wall at the end of the room, which Rai assumed came from Feris.

The examiner settled the analysts in, then turned to Rai.

“Right, so we’ll start by having you pour your mana into that orb there. It’ll be like your entrance exam, so your mana will return to you in its entirety once it’s been analysed.”

“Ah... right... uh...”

“Is something wrong?”

“Well... I broke the orb at my entrance exam...”

“...”

“...”

“I see.” Her face was blank.

“... Yeah.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem... I think. This orb is many times stronger than the one used for your entrance exam so just give it a try. If it breaks before gathering data from your mana then we’ll use the top numbers as a default for your evaluation. It should still return your mana to you even if it breaks, so don’t worry about that.”

“Right, okay then.”

Rai walked to the orb.

He thought about how much mana to release for this kind of thing. Last time, Rai used 20% of his mana, which was the normal amount he’d let loose in any situation that required magic. Should I keep it at 20%? I don’t want to break the orb again... Fuck it. That’s what I use normally anyway, so it should be fine. 20% it is.

Rai placed his palm against the cool glass lining the orb.

What Rai didn’t know was that his mana had changed since the entrance exams. He could feel the weight and concentration of his mana improve over the last week given the drastic amount of improvement he’d gone through in such a short time.

He poured his mana into the orb.

The orb began to glow a soft blue.

Alright... it’s not cracking. We’re just under 50% of my released mana gone... Let’s see if it holds up.

The orb glowed brighter and brighter. The energy within it began swirling more and more excitedly as Rai’s mana siphoned into it.

The examiner watched as the numbers kept rising and rising, but somehow didn’t stop.

Rai was still going.

He could feel his mana channels slowly drain all of his mana out from his mana reserves.

Every. Last. Drop.

Rai was spent.

The orb spent about a whole minute analysing his mana as it shone with a viscerally energetic mana signature.

Rai’s mana returned to him in its entirety.

The orb cracked.

It split into two halves.

Rai could’ve sworn that he saw some kind of tiny light flutter out of the broken orb.

The examiner walked up behind Rai.

“Wow. It really did break. Honestly... even though it’s right there in front of me... it’s still have to believe.”

Rai turned to her.

“You seem a lot calmer than I expected.”

“Well, you see a lot of stuff in this line of work. And I’ve definitely seen worse.”

“I see. Sorry about that.”

“Just the nature of the job really.”

“... Yeah, I get you.” He didn’t get her.

“Well, we got the numbers, so we’ll have a replacement set up while we carry on your evaluation.”

“Alright. What do I do next?”

“I’ll ask some questions before we move on.” She brought up the clipboard and was ready to write on it, “Do you want to test all of your techniques or just a few of them?”

“Just a few of them please!”

“Do you have any enhancement type techniques?”

“Yep! It’s my main one.”

“Ah. In that case we’ll have to wait for the orb to be replaced. Do your techniques have names?”

“Only one of the ones I’m gonna use here does. It’s called Stormflow, my enhancement technique.”

The examiner wrote it down. “Okay, well, the orb is almost ready to go so just give it a couple minutes and then all you have to do is place your hand against it again while casting your enhancement technique.”

“Gotcha.”

“After that, you can use the training dummy for your other techniques.”

“Alright. I’ll wait for this then get on with it.”

Rai waited for the orb to get replaced by the assistants that came through the portal in a surprisingly timely manner.

Once the orb was replaced, he placed his hand against the new one.

Rai took a deep breath.

Stormflow.

Lightning surged through Rai’s mana channels. It imbued all of the muscles throughout Rai’s body. His mind and eyes were enhanced, and he could see everything at a much faster pace than normal.

The examiner’s jaw dropped as she looked at the numbers.

Rai spoke from where he was. His voice boomed like thunder throughout the room.

“What is it?”

“It’s... unique...”

She was still in shock. Rai was the first person to have a unique technique in all of Zenith.

Rai wanted to see for himself.

He zoomed behind the examiner and looked at the numbers over her shoulder.

“Yep. Definitely says unique.” He crackled.

“AAH! What the... don’t sneak up on people like that!”

“I didn’t sneak though. I just walked here.”

“Huh? How fast does that technique make you?”

“Depends on how much mana I like... allocate? Is that the right word? Depends on how much I allocate to it.”

“Wow... Well... it says here that Stormflow is unique because of two things. The way you use lightning to augment your body, and the... perception increase?! Wow.”

“Yeah, it’s great right? I really like it”

“Great might just be an understatement...”

“Anyway, I’ll go do the other stuff now.”

She had no more words to say. Rai had blown her away, alongside the rest of her analysts.

But he wasn’t done.

Rai withdrew Stormflow then went over to the training dummy. He wanted to use the same technique as before, when he helped relieve Sin’s pain. Something else was needed for this to work though.

Rai zipped back over to the examiner and analysts quickly.

“Hey.” They got spooked. “Can you guys stimulate that thing’s nerves? Actually... does it even have a nervous system?”

“It does, since it’s supposed to be an accurate representation of a person. We can stimulate its nerves but... actually at this point I’m not gonna question it. Sure. I’ll bump up its pain receptor value by 50 units, is that fine?”

“Dunno what the units are, but I think that’ll do.”

The examiner and analysts eyed Rai with curiosity. They had no idea what kind of technique he was about to use, and his request made even less sense to them. What made them all the more confused was that Rai, for some reason, was taking his top off.

The examiner didn’t hate it, but this was entirely unprofessional.

“Rai! You can’t take your top off here!”

“Huh? Oh. It’s so I don’t rip it.”

“... Rip it? How on Zenith would you rip your top by using a technique?!”

“Well I don’t want lightning to burst out of my back and rip my clothes, so I’ll just take my top off and leave it here for now.”

“... Well... we can’t have you ripping your top now, can we? Alright. Leave it here.”

“Thanks!”

Rai took off his Academy top and placed it on the table.

The majority of the analysts were amazed at how defined Rai’s body was. He was lean, and clearly had the body of a nimble fighter.

The examiner was just as amazed. More than as just a scientist, one could say.

Rai made his way over to the dummy.

He placed his right thumb on the dummy’s forehead, and his left index finger just above its chest. Rai sent the weakest trail of lightning he could muster into the dummy and located the dummy’s nervous system. He found where the pain receptors were.

“You should put up a shield!” He shouted out.

The examiner did so.

Rai siphoned its energy.

For an instant, he felt a good deal of pain. Then lightning began to spew out of his back.

The examiner stared blankly at the screen. What was more beautiful than the numbers was the pair of lightning wings that seemed to form out of Rai’s back.

They seemed eerily... draconic.

Rai withdrew the spell and fell on his butt.

He proceeded to stand back up and wipe the beads of sweat off of his forehead.

This action alone was very distracting to the examiner, who had grabbed Rai’s top to give back to him.

He walked back over to them.

“Uh. Can I have my top back please?”

“Oh! Yes, I was about to bring it to you.”

She handed it over to him.

Rai put his top back on.

“What tier was that one?” He asked.

“Unique again.”

“Good. That’s good... But I don’t think I have anything else to show. The others are probably only at legendary level.”

“That’s completely fine. Unless you really want to know their tiers for certain, then I would agree that there’s not much point in showing them here. You’re going to get more evaluations in the future if you continue to attend the Academy, so you’ll always have another chance.”

“Yeah, I think this will do for now. I don’t think I have more that would fit in the unique tier.”

Rai thought about his inferno cage and wind enhancements on his feet that he used to dash around in the air, but he knew that the highest tier they would reach was legendary. All he wanted right now was to be at the top of the ranks, and this would put him there comfortably. Will Sin have more than 2 unique ranks? I don’t feel like she will... if I count her mirror clones and her non-forbidden domain then... that’s it. That’s all she’s got right now. He let out a sigh of relief. I’m happy to draw with her. If it’s her up there with me then I’m perfectly happy with that outcome.

The examiner asked one more time.

“Just to confirm, that’s all?”

“Yep. Thank you all very much.” Rai said with a bow.

“Of course, it’s our job!” The examiner said as she bowed back at him.

Rai followed the examiner and analysts out of the pocket dimension.

He thanked them again and returned to his friends before his name popped up on the ranking board.

“Guys! Watch the board.” He shouted out to them as he arrived beside them.

Sin eyed him with a hint of suspicion. “You’re done already?”

“Yep! Go on, watch!” He said with extra flair, courtesy of Kallad’s indirect teachings.

They all looked at him funny, then turned their attention to the board.

It took a few moments, but Rai’s name appeared.

In bright red font.

At the top.

The sole holder of first place.

There was a number ‘2’ next to the star beside his name.

Rai was the first person in Zenith to have not 1, but 2 unique techniques.

The entire auditorium erupted.

The noise and shaking was incomparable to any of the previous eruptions.

Rai’s friends completely lost it. Sin leapt on him and hugged him so tight that all Rai wanted to do was hug her back with the same zest. But, given that everyone else did the exact same thing, Rai ended up flat on the floor at the bottom of the pile of his friends. Feris of course, simply leaned against the pile instead of actually joining on top of it.

The entire thing was a spectacle.

From where he laid on the ground, Rai felt the vibrations of the auditorium through the floor. The atmosphere was absolutely incredible. Students, and the teachers that finally showed up, were all clapping and cheering for him. Even Miss Lillia and Mary stood at the top of the auditorium alongside the other teachers and clapped for him. Joey was beside them too. The one person that was missing was the headmaster, Rodrick. But Rai figured that he was probably busy doing... whatever headmasters did.

Rai was rightfully proud of himself. Well, as proud as one could be with a pile of girls and a Tullian on top of them.

After they all got off of him, they enjoyed the celebration for a few moments more before Sin was called up.

They wished Sin the best of luck before she went to do her evaluation.

Rai pulled her back towards him as she was leaving. He held her close.

Sin felt Rai’s breath on her neck as he leaned in.

“Do your best.” Rai whispered.

He hugged her so very tight.

Sin embraced Rai’s caring embrace. She kissed his neck before letting go.

Rai smiled softly at her. When she blushes like this... it’s so cute.

Sin winked at him. “... I’ll be up there soon. Wait for me.” She whispered back.

The final evaluation was to begin.

Finally, it was Sin’s turn.