Chapter 4: Chapter 4: The Struggle for Direct Admission Spots
Liam stood in place, his head lowered, ignoring the accusatory stares around him, as if he were immersed in his own world. He was deeply focused on feeling out the new power he had just acquired—Ice Age.
An SSS-level power was simply too overwhelming. Even without any training or development, the sensation it gave Liam was far beyond anything his Energy Chains could provide.
At the moment of successful replication, he felt as though he had gained the power to control everything!
No wonder people in powerful positions often act the way they do— the intoxicating feeling of power is indeed terrifying.
As Liam was lost in the sensation of his newfound power, a voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Nice move, brother. Mind if we get acquainted?"
Liam looked up to see a tall man with red hair and dressed in black standing beside him, extending his hand toward him.
In the previous tests, this man had shown the most destructive ability and had the highest talent level. He was confident that, no matter who was chosen in the end, he would definitely be one of the recipients of the guaranteed admission slots.
So, unlike the others, he had no issues with Liam.
In his view, having high talent meant you had strength; getting by with low talent meant you had connections. Either way, it was worth making friends.
After all, having more friends opens more doors. To him, it didn't matter if things were fair or not; the world was inherently unfair.
Liam recognized this man. He had been eyeing him for quite some time while sitting in the audience earlier.
Before learning about Sophia's powers, Liam had wanted to replicate this man's abilities.
During the past seven days, Liam's method for attempting to replicate various superpowers was simple—get close to people and shake hands with them.
So, seeing the outstretched hand in front of him, Liam instinctively reached out and gave it a light shake, not thinking much, and reflexively said,
"Sure, today's chance is used up. We'll continue tomorrow."
Red-haired man: ?
For a few seconds, the man's face turned to one of utter confusion.
What was this guy talking about?
What did he mean by "today's chance"?
Could there be something wrong with him?
After a few seconds of awkwardness, the red-haired man awkwardly withdrew his hand and took a step back.
Alright, this guy is someone I, the red-haired one, cannot comprehend!
Meanwhile, the other candidates vying for the guaranteed slots were also watching Liam's actions.
Seeing the red-haired man get rebuffed, a girl among them furrowed her brow, her purple eyes filled with even more complexity.
Her name was Lila, and unlike the red-haired man, she was the weakest among the five other candidates aside from Liam.
While the others had A-level talents, hers was only B-level, and she had been kept in the selection pool because her ability was a variant.
From the start, she had looked at Liam with hostility, knowing that if Liam were really guaranteed admission, it would certainly be at her expense!
As a girl who had always been pampered and adored, she had never faced such a difficult situation before.
She had always been the star of the show, and though she was familiar with using connections, she had never experienced someone else stealing her opportunity!
Even this exam site had been arranged by her father, who had assured her that only four people here were stronger than she was, giving her a great chance at guaranteed admission. After smoothing out all sorts of connections, she had the opportunity to take the exam here.
But who could have expected someone with even stronger connections to show up, someone who was directly linked to the examiner?!
And with such a useless power, no less!
This must be some sort of joke, right? Even if you're using connections, at least make it look plausible!
She was unwilling to accept it, and the more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became, gritting her teeth as she racked her brain for a solution.
Soon, the entire afternoon had passed, and after the last candidate finished their test, no one else joined the selection area.
The guaranteed admission area now held only the original six people.
A large group of candidates prepared to leave, some happy, some disappointed.
Sophia, having already adjusted her emotions, walked up to the six and began to speak:
"You all..."
However, before she could finish, another voice interrupted her.
Lila stepped forward, moving in front of the six, bowed to Sophia, and spoke loudly:
"Excuse me, examiner. I have something to say about the guaranteed admission slots."
Upon hearing this, all the candidates who had been leaving suddenly stopped and turned their curious gazes toward the central platform.
Their instincts told them something interesting was about to happen.
Seeing the crowd pause, Lila realized she had no other choice. This was the only plan she could think of.
This was her goal—to block the examiner's decision while everyone was still around, and to implement her plan in front of everyone.
Whether she offended someone was secondary; securing a guaranteed admission slot was what mattered most.
"Earlier, you mentioned that there are five guaranteed admission slots for this exam."
"Based on talent levels, Liam and I have the lowest among the six of us."
"So, I believe that to meet the purpose of the assessment, the final slot should be decided between the two of us."
"Therefore, in the interest of fairness, I suggest we arrange a duel between Liam and me to determine the final slot."
Lila's voice was calm, and her tone was polite, but her pointed mention of "fairness" clearly conveyed her intentions.
As soon as she finished speaking, the young people below immediately became excited, quickly surrounding the central platform, and started jeering.
Hearing this, Sophia realized her actions had been misunderstood.
She had no intention of giving Liam a guaranteed slot. She knew that an E-level talent could never meet the requirements for guaranteed admission.
The reason she had Liam stand there was simply to make it easier to talk to him after the exam.
She was thinking of offering him some resources within her capacity, hoping he could at least enter the academy as an ordinary student.
After all, there were cases of low-level talents defying the odds through hard work.
However, it was clear that Lila had misunderstood, leading to the current situation.
But young people loved a spectacle, and Lila's words had already caused the scene to spiral out of control. Whistles and boos erupted, and even the supervising teachers around couldn't manage the situation.
"Good call, girl."
"Superpowers are ultimately about real combat. Let them fight it out!"
"Test his skills! Crush him!"
"Hey! Do you dare accept? Don't just stand there with your head down, looking scared!"
"If you're too scared to fight, just get off the stage!"
Listening to the commotion below, Sophia furrowed her brows, feeling a pang of guilt.
Because she hadn't explained things clearly in advance, it had led to this misunderstanding, undoubtedly causing Liam unnecessary trouble.
The voices from the crowd were clearly full of dissatisfaction with Liam, even though he had done nothing wrong. This criticism was entirely undeserved.
For a moment, Sophia felt her face flush with heat, even too embarrassed to look at Liam.
But as she was considering how to resolve this mess, a lazy voice broke the silence, causing Sophia to look up in surprise.
"I don't mind. So, are we fighting now?"
Liam stood to the side, looking entirely indifferent as he spoke.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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