บท 23: Exam Completed
Upon reappearing, Dante was right where he felt he should be, which was on the couch he had been seated on when he disappeared. His entire body had left and returned, and he had 'safely' disconnected from the quantum network as he did.
In truth, there were so many ways in which this could have gone wrong, but what Beatrice said turned out to be true. Superpowers - or at least, Dante's Quantum Entanglement superpower - were not so short-sighted and limited in design.
That was extremely reassuring, and when he returned, he immediately logged back into the quantum network and reappeared within the special astral-like area where Xue Bing was looking at where he used to be with a blank expression.
Dante nodded to her when he returned. "Sorry for the delay. I'm done."
Xue Bing tilted her head towards Dante with visible confusion, as if she was seeing a rare specimen. "Your superpower is… logging out and logging back in?"
Dante was speechless. "No, it's quantum teleportation. My real body left the lounge area, you can check the cameras and records if you have any."
"Oh." Xue Bing said softly, but she didn't make any moves and continued staring at Dante silently.
Dante frowned deeply and sighed. "You literally just need to check, there's no way I can falsify something like this. Besides, I was recommended by the Portinari family, and you think they would risk ruining their reputation for this?"
Xue Bing remained where she stood with a soft smile, staring at Dante calmly. Dante's expression finally turned cold. "If there is a review section after this, I am going to make sure to leave a poor one and also report your misdeeds to administration."
"Hmm…" Xue Bing finally moved as she pondered while rubbing her chin and looking skyward.
Dante was speechless again. THAT was what made her react?
"Meh, too much of a risk…" She muttered as she hesitated and finally glanced toward Dante as if he was a bother.
She then opened a holographic screen in front of her and scrolled through some videos casually. Dante glanced at this Xue Bing woman silently, and his expression was not very pleasant.
He didn't know if all the superpowered persons had such interesting mindsets, but he felt that dealing with this one would unnecessarily increase his stress levels.
"I wonder if it's possible to apply for a new instructor after entering?" He muttered seriously.
Xue Bing, who was casually and lazily scrolling through, trembled and closed the holographic screen. Her platform dashed forward and came before Dante, shocking the fellow.
"Now, now, there's no need for that. As I said before, if you prove your value, you will be treated like a king by not just me, but everyone else."
She said this as amiably as possible and Dante took a step back as he glanced at her suspiciously. He looked her up and down then suddenly understood.
It seemed that there was a severe penalty for being 'rejected' by a member of the unique batch, so rather than suffer that fate, she simply changed her attitude.
What a personality this one had.
"Alright, I've verified your superpower. Not only did you teleport, but you completely left the range of the entire Eternal Academy and the nearby spatially-monitored galaxy. Not only that, you broke through the spatial blockade we created using the latest technology." Xue Bing spoke calmly at the beginning, but her voice became more solemn towards the end.
"After uploading your details to the central server, the rating for your ability is… SSS grade." Her voice caught at the end and Dante was at least sharp enough to realize that this was very good. Very, very good.
Xue Bing immediately bowed to Dante with a serious expression. "Mr. Dante, I am sorry for my earlier behavior. Due to the current structure of the academy and the nature of the competition for the Zero Gate, I am being very honest when I say that giving even basic respect to a pure human with superpowers requires a good reason."
"There are monsters in this academy that you cannot Fathom Dante, I promise you. Some have been born with SDI's in the triple digits and have the latest Bionics and Psionics that are hard for even some privileged races to acquire."
Dante's expressions hardened when he heard this and his heart became heavy. He knew that he was far behind the denizens of this universe, especially in a prestigious academy that gathered all the elite youths across the ENTIRE universe, but hot damn!
With his current SDI of 2 points, he might not even be able to react to the movements of any of them. He would be standing there one moment feeling special and the next, his head could have been blown off.
He wouldn't even know how he died.
"However, Dante, do not be disheartened. Despite what I told you, such students are mostly in the normal and elite batch, and they are not even qualified to receive a look from me when I walk by them, yet they have to bow in my presence."Xue Bing continued with a smile.
"It's because of the special power we have that is fully backed by quantum science and still retains elements of mysticism from the ancient era. These abilities transcend anything and everything in our current universe, whether money, power, fame, or even might."
"The reason is simple. Even in the case of you who is so genetically backward among our pure human race, we can raise your SDI in time to the triple digits with an infusion of resources and scientific methods. We can load you with the best Bionics refreshing from the military labs. We can also strap you with the best Psionics from the scientific institutes. Heck, we can even slap on the latest quantum AI chip into your brain."
"However one thing neither we, pure humans nor any other species can currently do is grant you superpowers. Even with the Zero Gate, superpower acquisition is not guaranteed for various reasons. A person who enters the Zero Gate and acquires a superpower, even if it is to float in the air for a few seconds, is of a status far superior to even the best non-superpower user."
"Even among superpowered users, there are also gaps based on the quality of a superpower. A superpowered person with an F-rated ability can step on anyone else without a superpower, but a person with an E-grade superpower can step on an F-grade superpower user and so on as the ranks rise."
Xue Bing hesitated. "You with SSS… it's not the highest Rank, but it's only one step below. As far as what we have registered, there are only about 500 people spread across the entire universe of a nearly uncountable number of living beings with the same rank of superpower as you."
"You are now the 1% within the 1%, and that's not even adding your status as a pure human. However, Dante, I have to absolutely remind you before you are admitted that this grading is temporary, and this is exclusive to you for now."
Xue Bing shrugged helplessly. "The reason is simple, we can't really measure the extent and upper limit of your power. However, from the lower limit alone, or what we can verify, is terrifying enough that you have been given this grading."
"What I am saying is that there is still room for improvement and that you can ascend higher if you display better abilities. However, if this is the extent of your power, or there is some misconception… keep it to yourself. It's for the best."
Dante had been quietly listening up to this point, but his eyes flashed when Xue Bing reached this point. Telling him there was room to improve made sense, but telling him to hide inconsistencies and flaws?
"Do you, as my instructor, receive some form of benefit if the student you teach in the Unique Batch has a high-ranking superpower?" Dante asked pointedly, though he already knew the answer.
Xue Bing only smiled.
Dante sighed internally and nodded. "Okay, so are we done?"
"That's right. You can log out and follow the procedures to complete your admission. You will be taken to your dorm and then begin orientation tomorrow. See you then." Xue Bing stated coolly as he turned and disappeared.
Dante watched her leave silently and then logged out as well. He opened his eyes on the couch and noticed that the others had stood up and were about to leave. Clearly, they were already done with their demonstrations and tests.
Dante also stood up and found a guide that was a female android gesturing to lead him to his room.
After moving to the teleporter, the guide sent the details of their destination to his AI chip and it automatically entered the coordinates into the teleporter as Dante stepped in, the man himself not even having to do anything conscious.
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