Bab 13: C13: Exorcist Ranks
Junior Exorcist
Senior Exorcist
Expert Exorcist
Elite Exorcist
Special Exorcist
The Sage
These were the exorcist rankings. Every student here could be considered a Junior Exorcist. Once we create our ability and master it somewhat then we can become a Senior Exorcist.
Senior Exorcist was the rank where most people stayed at. To become an Expert Exorcist there was an exam involved, which not a lot could pass. Also, the exam was a death sentence for many.
Elite Exorcist was someone who had proven his talents and could likely take a high-class demon one-on-one. Which was considered monstrous for a human to be able to do.
Elite Exorcist was a stage I needed to get within a year or two at most. Though the more it approached the two-year mark the more dangerous it would be.
"You did good and showed your guts out there," Mr Fort came and put a hand on my shoulder as encouragement. That hand also had a white glove in it. "You get eighty out of a hundred points for ingenuity and effort. Also, another ten points will be added because of taking initiative. Showing the exorcist spirit of how despite how many physical advantages demons might have over us, we would still win in the end."
My score was 90/100. But things like that didn't matter. I was still waiting for any attacks to come. During the fight, I tried to show as little of my abilities as possible. But I wasn't skilled enough to hide certain factors like how my main weapon was a sword and I don't have a familiar despite being a beast master.
It didn't take long for more low-class demons to show themselves. Two-headed snakes, floating heads, only two shoes walking on their own.
This place lived up to its name as the Haunted Forest. Some students attempted to go out, but by now there was more than one low-class demon outside the barrier. They weren't skilled to handle a battle on two fronts like that. I wasn't that skilled either.
Amongst the scared students, there was one who stood out. Anika, the silver-haired girl. The so-called heroine of the shonen manga. Of course, as the heroine, she was quite special.
She put her hand just outside of the protective line, and multiple demons swarmed toward her. Wanting to rip her arm off, and drink the delicious human blood.
But what they instead got was laser beam-like blasts to the head. Her precision was out of this world. Each shot was a headshot. Her talent as a Blaster was something that almost made me jealous.
She had a big smile on her face and seemed to be living in a high. Mr Fort went and pulled her back. "Careful. I told you before not to assume every low class demon out there isn't intelligent. If there was a beast like Miss Rana's frog, who can extend her tongue and grab into your arm. You would have been pulled away and ripped apart by the demons. Even we as teachers wouldn't have been able to do anything fast enough to save you…"
Mr Fort continued explaining to her the consequences for a while. She nodded along but seemed absentminded while looking at her arm. If this was a Manga, there would be a thought bubble showing what she was thinking. But here I had no idea what she might be contemplating.
I didn't let my mind wander for too long about what others were doing and instead concentrated on other things.
"My score is ninety-five," my thoughts were interrupted by the sudden soft voice from nearby. The source of the said voice was of course Anika. She had a frown on her face. "I can already shoot beams as a Blaster. Yet you haven't even got a familiar as a Beast Tamer. Seems like the difference between 60% and 88% talent is quite big."
I looked her in the eyes. What the hell was this about? Was she trying to bully me? I'm quite a bit older than her, and bullying after middle school was lame. I had almost forgotten how annoying Anika used to be at the start of the novel.
But responding to this would just add more trouble. Anika was a tsundere. But I wasn't the protagonist, so she would be just plain rude to me.
Tsunderes were like Yanderes, quite entertaining in Manga. But annoying and potentially dangerous to deal with in real life.
"Hey! Did you hear me?!" She bellowed, putting her hands on her hips.
"Sorry, did you say something?" I pulled a Kakashi. "I didn't hear what you said."
"You were looking straight at me!" She gnarled, clenching her fists.
Was she about to try and punch? Because I'm not the main character. In a shounen manga, it was quite common for the main character to take a beating from a girl. It was a gag for comedic effect. But I won't allow myself to take damage before the attack starts. Her arms were thin, but she had awakened Ord so her punches were probably stronger than those of a pro boxer. "Yes. But I was looking at you and not listening. It's like how sometimes people look at a tree or ground in a trance and think."
Her eyes blazed with violent thoughts. "Did you just call me worthless dirt, and useless like a tree?"
No, I didn't. Do you think everyone is vile like you and sends snide comments with insults hidden in them?
That's what I wanted to tell her. But I needed to conserve energy. Getting into a fight with her would injure both of us, no matter the outcome. Which was bad for everyone involved. I had to look at the bigger picture.
Despite being on edge and ready to lash out at anything, I forced a smile. "Ah, no I didn't mean it like that. Who would call a cute girl like you anything bad? I just wanted you to explain what you said. I would love to hear it."
What's she going to do next?
Explaining your insults, or saying them again because the 'victim' didn't hear them. That would be lame as hell if she did that.
Also, I don't care too much about my reputation amongst a soon-to-be-dead group of kids. So while I wouldn't say I checkmated her. By chess terms, I had forked her. She was going to be on the losing side no matter what she chose. So she had to try and play the next move where she would lose the least. But she would still lose.
What does losing the least from this confrontation mean to her? I don't know. I didn't even bother to know. There were a thousand problems in my mind and this interaction wasn't one of them.
Anika clenched her teeth, and her face flushed before she stormed off.
Some of the students looked at me. I wouldn't be surprised if she had bullied some of them too.
Fuck, I need something to occupy my mind. Waiting for the enemy to show up was nerve-wracking. It felt like every little thing could be dangerous. In the Manga, such details would just be skipped over.
On the corner of my eye. I saw Mr Fort teaching a nervous female student. She was plain looking, with dark hair and brown eyes, and a bit chubby.
Her Ord was gushing wildly out of her as she had a concentrated look in her eyes. Small wisps of her Ord manifested into her hands but they scattered not long after.
Anika of course takes this chance to go and play her role as the mean girl. Telling her something. I couldn't hear her that well from here due to the growls of demons from outside the protective barrier.
Mr Fort waved Anika off with a frown, and she didn't challenge the teacher's authority. She still had a smile on her face while walking away.
From what I remember the chubby girl wasn't in the Manga. So it's safe to assume she died here. Though I do remember from the tests that she had a 62% Blaster.
Quite good. But her nervousness was creating some performance anxiety. In cases like these anxiety was harder to overcome and probably more dangerous than not having talent at all. Because in cases of anxiety, an exorcist could manifest an ability without even meaning to. That's dangerous for both the user and everyone around her.
Though for someone like that to manifest a special ability they would need to be both talented, and also have a lot of Ord. She checked all the boxes. Better keep an eye on her just in case.
I decided to approach her a bit to try and hear what Mr Fort was telling her.
"Take a deep breath, and keep calm. Don't worry about what others say. You're talented and with so much Ord, your potential is high," Mr Ford said.
He wasn't necessarily wrong. Because talent might show how fast one would grow. It didn't necessarily mean that their potential was high. That race might be fast but was only a hundred-meter sprint while some other people might walk slowly but their race was a marathon.
Usually, the potential for a Blaster was determined by Ord, since with it one could make more dangerous abilities.
Just as I was about to walk away. Suddenly a hand was on my shoulder. It was Mr Ford… When did he move from the plain girl to me in an instant?
"Did you want to talk about something?" He asked with a smile on his face and looked like his usual confident self. "You seem nervous. Something bothering you?"
Now that I looked closer, there was a certain edge to his eyes I might have missed before.
Shit! Did the nervousness make me look suspicious?
**
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