As Professor Mc Allister left the room, Principal Harris went to his desk and picked up the phone. He rapidly went through his contacts and selected a specific number. There was no answer at first, but after two or three rings on the other end of the line, a voice someone said: "Luis, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Leia, you are lovely as ever, am I right?" said Principal Harris in a low tone.
"Stop wasting my time Luis. What do you want?" Leia answered irritably.
"Something happened," Principal Harris said. "What, you got hemorrhoids?" she said.
There was an instant pause before Principal Harris replied: "No." Then, more quietly, he said: "An awakener appeared at school" he paused again.
"Are you messing with me?" the old woman asked.
"Do you think I would joke about something like that?" Principal Harris asked in irritation.
She sighed wearily. "When?" she asked.
"Today, but apparently, he awoke yesterday."
A long silence ensued until, finally, Leia spoke up: "So who's this guy?"
"It is an F-ranked student, unfortunately. We have not tested his power yet, but he should have also received a boost to his brain crystal power."
"An F-ranked is still better than nothing," the woman replied.
"I agree," said the principal. "But there are some problems; it appears that the student wasn't able to progress much in establishing neural links. I put him under one of my teachers' care, but I don't know what he will be able to achieve before he comes to your school," Principal Harris said, sighing.
"Don't talk like this is my problem too, Luis. It was you who failed to notice the kid," Principal Christensen replied.
"Maybe, but it will be yours if you don't train him properly before he joins the militaries."
"Don't worry, the military school will make a man out of him. Did you already call the office to tell them about him?" Principal Christensen asked.
"I'm going to do it after our conversation ends."
"Ah, so I was the first one you told?"
"The whole school already knows about him."
There followed another momentary pause. "Good for you," she said sarcastically. "Now go ahead and get off the phone with me. I'll send someone down tomorrow morning to assess him." She hung up without waiting for a reply from her old friend.
Principal Harris frowned slightly, then shook his head. He was worried about the situation, but perhaps things might turn out all right anyway.
After that, he picked up his phone again; this time, he called another person. The phone rang, and after a while, Principal Harris said, "Good morning sir; there is news for you."
***
Erik ended his work at the farm at almost seventeen, and the young man had to start heading back to school if he wanted to arrive on time.
Professor Mc Allister wasn't known to be one of the most tolerant people, and he didn't want to upset him on the first day of his training.
So Erik started walking back along the same route that led him to the train station. It didn't take him a lot before reaching the place and boarding the train back to the western district. Once he arrived, he walked toward the school premises and arrived in front of the school's main gate, which was massive.
Erik never saw it closed since it was already open by the time he arrived at school; there weren't many students around either, just some of them performing extracurricular activities.
There were probably people at the gym, the library, or the garden at the back of the school, training their power and testing their limits. Not everyone was as diligent as these students, who usually were the best of the school.
Erik expected some particular people to be here at this hour, including Nathaniel Mc Connell and Anderson Worthington, the top guys at school.
They would probably be here with their clique of friends, who were in a different league compared to people like Erik, but still not at Nathaniel's and Anderson's levels.
Erik walked through the small open gate on the side of the bigger one. He was surprised to see two people coming towards him: A tall, muscular boy wearing the blue and white school uniform, which he immediately recognized as Anderson, and a girl with short red hair wearing glasses and carrying a briefcase.
How could Erik not recognize the girl? She was Amber Joyce, the school goddess. She was beautiful as hell, with a perfect body and a nice face. But unlike other girls, she looked like a real lady and behaved accordingly.
Most of the boys liked her because of her beauty, others because she was not only powerful but also smart enough to have the best grades in the whole school. These features made her very popular among the school's male population as Anderson was for the female one.
Anderson looked at Erik as if he was a bug, then turned away without saying anything, leaving the girl alone in front of the young man.
"You should be Erik Romano," The young girl said.
"Yes, I am," Erik replied.
"A pleasure to meet you, rumors about your awakening spread around the school. Should I guess this is the reason why you are here?" Amber said.
"I guess so. I'm only doing what the principal told me to do."
"Well, let's go inside; we can discuss everything later. Professor Mc Allister hates people who are late."
"All right."
Once they entered the building, the door closed behind them, and the lights came on automatically. They walked through the school's courtyard, seeing here and there people training or reading some books.
According to what Professor Mc Allister said, the trio reached the gym where Erik was supposed to come. Anderson remained silent for the whole trip. Erik suspected he didn't like him very much, but he was grateful because, during the morning, he came to his aid.
When they finally got there, several people were present besides the teacher, and the three of them all placed in a row in front of the teacher.
They were all top students at school, and they were all Amber's, Nathaniel's, and Anderson's friends. When the doors opened, Professor McAllister stepped out from his position and greeted the new student.
"Welcome, Mr. Romano. Please join the others."
Erik, Anderson, and Amber all stood in the row and waited for their teacher to start their training.
"Since there is a new member among us, I decided to make you all spar today while I start teaching the basics of hand-to-hand combat to our newest addition."
The students didn't reply, but Erik noticed they didn't take the news happily. He smiled apologetically, but the other students ignored him.
"You guys, pick a random partner and start your training. Erik, come with me," Professor McAllister said.
He brought him far from the other students where they could train without risking injuring Erik and where he couldn't bother them. Once settled down, the professor started talking again.
"As you know, each person has his own way of using power, even though some of them are similar. But before developing any power, usually, a good soldier must train his or her body. For this reason, all the top students have to learn some basic techniques to defend themselves.
This will prove beneficial as you increase your neural links because you will become a weapon capable of killing without even using your power.
From what I heard, you can now make things sharper since you were able to cut through Logan Reid's chest like butter with a tray. So, learning hand-to-hand will become particularly useful with your power."
The teacher paused for a bit and then said to the young man. "I will show you some moves, and I want you to repeat them as much as possible."
"Understood."