The next five months were hectic for the trio. Each morning they would go through their planned out One P*nch man work out, which at first had felt like hell. Their lungs felt as though they were going to explode at any moment. But in a month's time, they adapted to it rather quickly. Elias was even keeping track of how much weight he lost for the duration of the time which was quite astonishing. Drew even managed to firm up, well not enough to get a six-pack, but enough to melt away the fat on his body and build some muscle. His features had also become more defined as time went on but the changes weren't as noticeable as Elias's. Wan, on the other hand, didn't change too much either physically but mentally, she seemed to have matured a bit. She's even become more capable at studying, getting more questions correct with every practice exam they did. 

By the second month, the trio had almost broken into High F-Class which was faster than they expected but they were stuck at a bottleneck. At this point, Drew had just completed learning the basics of Alchemy under Uncle Ryhard tutelage. Uncle Ryhard was amazed by his progress and told him he could begin learning how to make genetic medicines and regiments soon. Meanwhile, Elias began mapping out all the different strategies that the Trio could use during the exam. Sometimes, he doesn't even leave his room for the whole day but he was dedicated. During those days, Wan would come over and visit, dropping off snacks for Elias who was working nonstop. Drew understood that Elias took it upon himself to act as the trio's captain but he didn't need to shoulder all the burden. He and Wan had offered to help him on multiple occasions but he refused.  

Days passed and the third month came, Old Man Frey had finally moved out of his wooden rocking chair. His frail body looked like it was going to snap at any moment as if it were a twig. But the old man stood strong. It was strange at first when he first got out of his chair for the first time in years but it was even stranger that he even began to welcome the trio to the dojo and even gave them some second-hand weapons as a gift to use during the exam, insisting that they keep them without repayment. Despite them being second-hand, they looked as new as the day they were made. The Old Man must have kept really good care of them over the years but why did he give it to them? Perhaps he saw his former students reflected in the trio's actions. Either way, regardless of the reason, the trio finally had some good weapons without even spending a Kala. A couple of weeks later, the thugs barged into the dojo. Drew thought they were there to terrorize the trio but the reason completely shocked them. Prince was aware that the trio was going to take the Team Exam and thought of giving them some assistance. After all, they didn't have anyone else to practice their techniques on except on stationary dummies. Plus, any additional help would be useful. Being a Scout himself, Price took the liberty of helping Drew while Riush paired up with Elias and Kenneth with Wan. Despite his Otrio Core being destroyed, Prince was perfectly capable of keeping up with Drew. He was even impressed by Price's foundation. There were almost no flaws and Drew finally understood how Price was able to get a perfect score on the team exam. Price even threw him a few tricks on how to improve his swordplay. 

"You might want to get a shield to go along with that shortsword of yours. An electromagnetic one will do well." Price suggested throwing Drew a towel. "Your attacks are getting better but your defense is a mess for someone who possesses [Aegis]." 

"Thanks for the suggestion but I've been meaning to ask, why are you guys helping us?" 

Price gave Drew a cold shoulder but after getting to know Price, he realized that not just Price, but Riush and Kenneth, had a dream but that dream was cut short. After losing their dream, they saw the trio and that sparked that dream once again. They wanted them to carry that dream for them. That's why they wanted to help. 

"I get it," Drew scoffed, "it was obvious from the beginning." 

Drew walked over to Price who had his back facing him. Patting him on the shoulder, Price looked over at Drew. The tears welling in his eyes began to trickle down his face. 

"Kid," he sniffled the sound of snot coming out of his nose could be heard clearly in the spacious dojo, "you better make it into Star! You are carrying our hopes. No, the hopes of Glass Road. Make us proud." 

He had lost it. Thrusting his fist at Drew's chest. Drew knew that Price was passing on the torch. The torch the finish line they couldn't have reached. Grabbing his wrist, Drew pulled Price's fist into his chest. He had found another reason to get into Star.  

"Without fail," Drew replied in a determined voice.

"We will not fail!" Drew said his voice resounding over the dojo.  

Wiping away his tears, Price gave Drew a toothy grin. "Congrats. You have been upgraded from Kid to Green Bean. These next two months will be the worst months in your life to the point you will feel like you want to die, are you ready to take on that risk?" 

Looking at Price, Drew tossed his towel on the ground. "I've been ready." 

Weeks passed and it was the second week of the fourth month. Drew had become proficient at creating the most basic gene medicines, main pills for injuries. Auntie had taken a look at the quality of the pills every time he made a batch and like Uncle Ryhard, she was pleased. The crimson glow that bounced off the red bead-sized pill made it look like some kind of gem, a ruby.    

"You know," She smiled placing down her magnifying glass and putting the pill into a small porcelain bottle, "this quality of a pill would allow you to enter the facility as an intern researcher. It's a shame you only know how to make this one so far. " 

"I'm learning from Uncle how to make a liquid regiment. A spray kind using a plant-type Genetic Beast Core." Drew said disposing of the waste from the previous batch of pills into a bin. "It's harder to make than the pills. The heating process is much more sensitive than pills." 

Leaning against the work table, Auntie picked up the porcelain pill bottle and rubbed it between her hands. "Of course. That's the hardest part about Alchemy. Even if you knew the ingredients and the process on how to create the medicine, if you don't know how to execute the process, the medicine will always turn out to be a failure." 

Propping his elbow up on the work table, Drew looked up at Auntie. "I guess I just have to practice until I get it right." 

"That's the spirit. Keep up the good work. Who knows, after mandatory service, you could come and work at the medical facility." 

>>> 

 Mandatory Military Service is exactly how it sounds like. All people who are registered with a Genetic Ability and are above F-Class are required by Intergalactic Law to serve under the military for three years but there is one restriction, one has to be twenty-one or older. 

>>>

"We'll see about that," Drew smirked finishing cleaning up his workspace. 

"So, what are you going to do with the pills here?" Auntie asked staring at the bottle. 

"I'll keep them for now." Drew said taking the bottle from Auntie, "you never know if they'll come in handy or not." 

"Good thinking," Auntie nodded in agreement. "Once you get better, you could also consider selling your medicines."

"Will do."  

That very same night, Drew had broken into High F-Class. Elias had broken through a week ago while Wan had broken through the night before. The refreshing feeling of Otrio flowing through his veins, the feeling of his Core condensing, the feeling of being able to sense things within a hundred-meter radius, it was exhilarating. Drew felt as though his body had broken another shackle. Opening the program on his communication device, Drew had found that he could now move [Aegis] within a 50-meter radius at a speed of 100 kpm. Additionally, the size he could change it was now doubled from 200cm to 400cm. Furthermore, the casting time had gone down to one second. He also checked out his Bloodline Ability which he found out that he could now change his skin color with [Shapeshift]. Now, Drew needed to just figure out what his thrid Subsidiary Ability for [Aegis] was. Drew picked up the rubber ball from his desk as chucked it at the wall. As it ricocheted off the wall, Drew activated [Aegis]. The ball hit [Aegis] but what happened next, scared the living daylights out of Drew. The ball reflected off of [Aegis] at double the speed Drew threw it at and milliseconds later, the ball hit the wall and left a fist-sized indentation, the cement was crumbling off the wall. Hearing the loud noise created by the ball hitting the wall, Uncle Ryhard, Auntie, and Elias stormed out of their rooms and barged into Drew's. Drew stood, staring at the fist-sized indentation still processing what just happened while the others just glared at him then looked at the wall. 

Quickly, Drew snapped out of his shock and turned to the others who were staring at him in the same amount of shock. 

"I'm sorry about the wa-" Drew apologized scratching the back of his head.     

"Shut it," Elias interrupted with an annoyed face, flipping the switch on in Drew's room.

Uncle Ryhard looked at the indentation with a mixture of anger and astonishment. 

"What have you done?!" Uncle Ryhard screamed so loud that it nearly burst out Drew's eardrums.  

Suddenly Auntie, with her unkempt bedhead, had her jaw drop to the floor. "He's broken through to High F-Class! Forget about that wall! Drew's finally broken through!"

Uncle Ryhard, who was about to yell at Drew, too a look at Drew before speaking. Rethinking about what he was going to say, he looked at Drew and clapped his large hands together as a smile curled upon his face. 

"Congrats Drew!" He congratulated, completely ignoring the whole dent in the wall.  

Elias walked over to Drew and gave him a thumbs up. 

"Hehe," He snickered, "Mission accomplished." 

"Thanks," Drew chuckled before looking at the fist-sized indent. "So about the wall..." 

"It's fine!" Uncle Ryhard bellowed patting Drew on his back, making Drew almost lose his balance. "Breaking through is more important than a wall!"

"So, what's your new Subsidiary Ability?" Auntie asked completely ignoring the wall like the others. 

Drew opened the program and looked at the new line that had appeared under the Subsidiary Abilities category for [Aegis]. Reading the new line, Drew found his new Ability to be extremely useful. 

The fifth month had come and things were moving all according to plan. The trio had all reached High F-Class and were now able to perform new strategies that they couldn't before. Meanwhile, thugs had managed to repair the Otrio Cores that they had delayed doing for awhile. It took some effort and a week of sleepless nights but they managed to do it somehow. Repairing a shattered Otrio Core was very difficult to do. The chances of repairing it were less than ten percent as for the ninetieth percent of failure, the shattered Otrio Core could disappear into dust and all of a person's Abilities could disappear forever. That's why many people with shattered Otrio Cores don't take a leap of faith to try to repair it. It was too risky and it could leave them even worse than they were before. However, for people like Price, Riush, and Kenneth, they had already lost everything so there was nothing else for them to lose, and thus they took the gamble. What happened? Their gamble paid off. The team that dominated the Team Exams two years ago was back although not as strong as before, they had recovered from their setback.

Time passed and it was finally the day of the exam. Snow fell from the overcast sky. The leafless trees welcomed examinees as they passed through the gates. 

So I'm finally back. Drew thought as he watched the snowfall from the sky. Each snowflake melting the moment they made contact with his hand.

"It's the day." A voice said in front of the green hair teen. 

Drew sighed, watching his own breath dance in the cold air.  

"It's been almost six months." Wan grinned looking at Drew flipping back the longer of her two pigtails. "We've all changed. Especially you, Captain Elias." 

"Ha. Ha. Very funny Wan." Elias jeered. "We should line up. They're starting to allow people inside." 

The trio walked over to the Stadium, where the exam will be held. Walking amongst the other examinees, Drew noticed that they were attracting some unwanted attention. 

"Hey," A female examinee uttered in a low voice to her companion, "do you see that guy?"  

"Yeah, you mean the one with the orange hair? The one in front of that Siren and that Avian?"

"Yeah. He looks like he walked out of a fashion magazine." 

"Right!" 

"I wonder if he's a pop star? If so, maybe I could get his autograph." Another female onlooker whispered to her companion. 

Feeling uncomfortable from all the eyes looking at Elias, Drew snickered. 

"Oh, if only they knew," Wan muttered under her breath on the verge of bursting out in laughter.

"Psh," Drew chuckled, "if only they knew." 

Elias sighed. 

"Guys stop that. I know that my original weight is the joke of this group but please it's getting annoying." 

"K'ay." Drew and Wan whined as if they were toddlers. Of course, they weren't going to shut up.  

But thinking about it from an outsider's perspective, the current Elias did look like he jumped straight out of a magazine. His vibrant orange hair glowed despite there being no sun while his eyes shined as bright as ambers in a display case. He was 180 centimeters, a good five centimeters taller than Drew, which was considered perfect height, tall but not too tall. Together with his grey parka, black scarf, skinny jeans, black combat boots, along with his skinny yet muscular physique and handsome features, he didn't look like he was built for any sort of fighting or combat-related activity.  

"But Drew," Wan whispered in his ears, "I still don't understand why these thirsty h*es call him good looking?" 

Drew coughed then shrugged, "I don't know. Does he have some sort of charm that we don't know about?" 

"Not sure," Wan answered placing a finger over her lips, "I see nothing." 

"Me neither." 

"Will you guys stop it?" Elias said rolling his eyes.

"Nay!" 

Suddenly, the duo heard some knuckles cracking in front of them. A chill ran down their spine.  

"I will punch you guys once the exam is over. Be prepared." 

 If two bodies appear in front of Star's campus, may they rest in peace.