Chapter 75: Break it Down

  I was immediately greeted by one of the lab assistants.

  “Cadel Ren, yes?”

  “That’s me.”

  “Excellent, you’re right on time. I take it that you wouldn’t be needing an Abizium suit?”

  I shook my head. Some espers who could potentially harm themselves with their own Ability were given the option to wear one of those suits, but I wouldn’t be requiring such aid.

  “Okay, please follow me,” the assistant instructed.

  I followed him into a spacious, dimly lit room. The walls were reinforced with Abizium panels, and behind a partition, several Boobots were stationed. A long, transparent panel allowed a team of observers to watch from high above. It looked like Ms Reina and the two professors were still on their way upstairs, since I didn’t catch any sight of any of them.

  “Please wait here while we get things ready.”

  About a minute or two later, the lights suddenly flashed on. I glanced up to see the familiar faces behind the force field.

  “Right then,” Dr Connor’s voice crackled through a hidden speaker in the room. “We shall now commence the reassessment of your rank. Please state your name, school and Ability to kick off the proceedings.”

  Usually, one of the assistants would be communicating with the person being evaluated, but I guess this was a special case.

  “Cadel Ren from Waning Crescent Institute. Energy manipulation,” I stated.

  “Can I confirm with you that you’re currently a 4-Star?”

  “Yes, that’s right.” While I had maintained the guise of a 2-Star at school, my true Rank on record was that of a 4-Star.

  “Understood. Our objective today is to evaluate if you’re fit for a Rank promotion. Please let us know how you would like to showcase your Ability, and we’ll see if we can offer any assistance to your request.”

  “Honestly, you can just send all the Boobots back there at me. Set them all to maximum difficulty.”

  “Roger that. Activate all the Boobots in the test chamber please. Set them to the highest difficulty as he requested.”

  There was a low buzz as the Boobots whirred to life. They slowly shuffled their way out of their partition and surrounded me. I counted there to be ten of them in total.

  For reference, a single maximum difficulty Boobot was enough to make even a 5-Star like Scarlette sweat, as she had shown during our practice sessions at the Colosso Dome’s gym. Their reflexes, strength and speed were greatly enhanced, and they could land some pretty solid hits if you weren’t careful.

  They were also made of an Abizium alloy, made to be especially esper resistant. They were extremely durable against heat and blunt forces.

  On the other hand, ten was a little on the low side for me. I would’ve preferred fifty, maybe even a hundred, to properly demonstrate my abilities. Not like it was much of an issue though.

  The battle commenced. Instead of going after me one by one like what you would see in some movies, all ten of them charged after me at once. Instantly, I absorbed all of their kinetic energy, freezing them in place.

  As I contemplated if I was allowed to destroy these bots, Dr Connor’s voice came over the speaker again. “Feel free to do as you like. The chamber is your playground.”

  I decided to put on a show for them. For half of the Boobots, I manipulated the electrical energy inside them, forcing them to short-circuit. I then overloaded their systems, causing them to explode.

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  For the other half, I used the remainder of my absorbed energy to send them blasting off. They hurtled through the air, slamming into the wall with such force that the room trembled.

  Unfortunately, my powers only got stronger the more energy there was for me to absorb, and there wasn’t really an intense energy source here in the room with me.

  I looked up at the observation gallery. The professors and assistants stared at me expectantly.

  “Do you have anything else to offer?” Dr Connor asked.

  “Without a strong energy source, there isn’t much for me to do,” I replied. Well, technically, I guess I could—

  “I see. Not to worry, the chamber has functions that enable us to test more defensive espers as well.”

  On cue, a panel on the wall opened. A large machine gun slid out, aiming directly at me.

  “The gun isn’t filled with real bullets, but they do still hurt if they hit your bare skin. What setting would you like to try?”

  “The highest, please.”

  “Understood, get ready. Would you like the grenade launchers as well? These ones are real, but they won’t blow your arm off or anything. Usually, you’re required to wear an Abizium suit for this, but I don’t suppose you’ll need it.”

  More panels on the wall slid open, revealing an entire row of machine guns and grenade launchers. This feature was probably what they used to test the endurance of 4, 5 or even 6-Star defensive espers, if they even existed.

  I gave them a thumbs-up to signal that I was ready.

  A few seconds later, all the guns began firing. However, the moment they entered the energy absorption field around me, which I had just activated, they simply stalled and dropped to the floor beside me. The grenades exploded a few inches from my face, clouding the room with smoke.

  Perfect. I could feel my body start to glow with all the kinetic, heat and sound energy the bullets were feeding me.

  The guns continued firing for about half a minute before they stopped. Once they did, I waited for the smoke to clear before walking to the closest wall.

  “Is there anything behind this wall?” I asked.

  “It’s another test chamber, which is currently not in use. That said, there’s no way you can punch a hole in—”

  I swung at the wall with as much force as I could muster.

  A section of the wall blasted open, revealing the other test chamber he had just mentioned. The sound was so loud, I was sure people in the Administration Tower would’ve heard it as well. To protect my hearing, I had absorbed the sound of the impact.

  My observers’ mouths fell open. A few of them began rapidly typing into their computer.

  “That’s… impressive, Cadel. Is there anything else you would like to show us?”

  Eh, might as well.

  I absorbed all the electrical energy in my surroundings, going as far as I could reach. I haven’t actually tried something that before, but this was the perfect opportunity.

  In an instant, the room plunged into darkness. Meanwhile, an overwhelming rush of energy flowed into my body. Damn, with this much energy, I must’ve robbed the entire building of its electricity. Probably the buildings around us as well.

  I then absorbed the heat energy in the room. The temperature plummeted, as if someone had turned on an enormous freezer.

  Left in the freezing cold and pitch darkness, Dr Connor spoke up. “Alright, that’s enough. You’ve proven your point.” I realised that I was hearing his normal voice this time.

  Right, I had disabled the speaker system. Not only that, but the force field protecting the viewing gallery had been disabled as well, which was why the professor was able to communicate directly with me.

  With the amount of energy that was in my body right now, I could probably threaten the entire building to collapse on itself. But perhaps that was pushing things a little too far.

  Gradually, I released the energy, restoring electricity to the appliances and systems around me. The room also warmed up again.

  “I declare the reassessment session to be over,” Dr Connor commanded before I could try anything else that was funny. “Thank you, Cadel. Please exit by the door on your right and await further instructions.”

  I gave a gentle bow in acknowledgement and proceeded to exit the chamber. Hopefully, I hadn’t overdone things, but then again, there was only so much I could do in there. It would’ve been better if I could’ve requested them to send a bullet train crashing into me at full speed, but that obviously wasn’t very realistic.

  I waited by the exit until Ms Reina appeared. “That was uh… certainly a performance!” she breathed. “The professors will take a while finalising the results of your evaluation and handling all the official documents. In the meantime, they said you were free to leave.”

  “They won’t be sending us back?”

  “Yeah.”

  Well that was certainly unexpected.

  “I suppose I have to find my own way around then,” I said.

  “I’m afraid so. I apologise for the inconvenience. To be honest, I was kept in the dark as well…”

  “You’re gonna be staying here for a while more, right?”

  “Yes, as your teacher, I have to assist with the documentation. Anyway, there should be a shuttle bus from the city that goes back to the school. I think there’s one after lunchtime.”

  “Alright, I’ll head off now then. See you.”

  After bidding goodbye to Ms Reina, I took the lift back up to the ground level and exited the premises. I was curious to hear my evaluation, and hopefully I didn’t get penalised for busting a hole in the reinforced wall.

  “Guess I should take this time to explore the city,” I mumbled to myself as stepped onto the bustling streets.

  The Value of Zero, a LitRPG isekai fantasy which I've always wanted to try writing. It currently already has 40+ chapters written in the backlog, so I'd appreciate it if you could give it some love and support! Once again, thank you all for being on this journey with me, and I assure you that this is not the last you've seen of Broke But Broken!