Slit!

Elder White ran the blade down my palm to no effect.

"Huh? Interesting! Just how strong is your skin??" Elder White's eyes widened in surprise.

"Let me do it, Elder." I offered.

She nodded and gave her blade to me. "Go ahead."

I took the blade and placed it vertically with its sharp point facing down. And then with a quick and powerful burst of strength, I pushed it into my skin and drew blood.

Drip.

The blood entered the gooey substance and the results immediately appeared on the hologram.

Immediately, a few startled voices screamed out.

"WHAAT???"

Attracted by their screams, the crowd turned to the hologram screen once more and a loud roar, much louder than before reverberated throughout the second peak.

Justin - 95

My jaw dropped when I saw my own score.

"Wasn't it 92 before? It must be the revival of the red energy! It increased my resonance once more!" I deduced.

"Ninety five." Elder White said softly. She was probably in shock or in awe, because she remained still for a few seconds.

I totally understood her shock. Even I was surprised by my own result, albeit for totally different reasons.

"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT THE MOMENT I LAID EYES ON HIM THAT HE WOULD BE THE HOPE OF OUR COUNTRY! THE PRIDE! THE JOY!!" Elder Liam shouted shamelessly as he jumped and whooped for joy!

A few of the elders were hugging each other, and some even had tears flowing down their faces.

Every single one of them had stopped everything they were doing and were in one way or another, expressing their joy. Every single one, except for Elder Harris of course. He looked like he just ate a pile of steaming hot crap.

I was totally dumbfounded by their exaggerated response.

I mean, I knew that 95 was an excellent score, but didn't Sherry just get 91 as well?

"What's with the over reaction?" I mumbled to myself.

Elder White must have heard my words clearly because she suddenly jerked up and turned to look at me.

"Ehm. Justin, well done. Very well done indeed. You did well coming to this entrance exam. Ah you must be wondering why all the Elders are so happy, right? Hahaha! Well. The reason is actually very simple. Uh.. Grand Elder Shella! How kind of you to join us. Young Justin here is just expressing his confusion over the Elders' extreme reaction over his results!" Elder White immediately dumped my case onto Grand Elder Shella's slender and beautiful shoulders.

"Justin. Congratulations on passing the Entrance Exam. Come, follow me and let me explain some important things to you." Grand Elder Shella smiled warmly at me and beckoned for me to follow her.

"Elder White, I'll be taking this young man from you now."

"Of course, Grand Elder. Please do as you will." Elder White hastily replied. Her face was full of surprise, joy and relief all mixed into one spectacular expression.

"Uh, what about Tes? Can she come with us? I don't want to leave her alone after everything that has happened." I immediately spoke up.historical

"Tes? Tes Tang of the Big Star Merchant group?" Grand Elder Shella turned around and frowned slightly.

Tes simply nodded at her.

"Fine, you can come along. But you'll have to wait for us in the auditorium. You're in the top thousand anyway." Grand Elder Shella easily agreed to my request and led us both to the edge of the peak.

Once there, a mind blowingly majestic and powerful looking white mecha appeared from somewhere below and hovered noiselessly before us. By the looks of its thick, resplendent armor, it was definitely a heavy mecha.

My eyes gleamed hungrily at the sight of such a powerful mecha! And with my red energy slowly recovering, I had the right to be hungry once more!

A hatch opened and Grand Elder Shella ushered us into her white mecha like a mother hen fussing over her kids.

"Make yourselves comfortable. My White Phoenix will bring us back to the main building very soon." Grand Elder Shella told us and motioned for us to sit down.

"This is a transport mecha?" I asked in bewilderment as I looked at the little room that we were in. There were two benches against the walls that would allow three adults to sit comfortably per bench.

"Of course not." Grand Elder Shella chuckled. "This is a full assault mecha. This compartment is for our spies and infiltrators to sit in while I ferry them behind enemy lines in complete stealth."

"A heavy stealth mecha." I nodded in appreciation of the many things that such a unique mecha can accomplish.

The reason why there weren't more heavy stealth mechas wasn't because they were ineffective. On the contrary, heavy stealth mechas are extremely effective. The reason why they were so scarce was simply because effectively putting such a big and deadly mecha into stealth is an extremely expensive endeavor.

Heavy stealths were limited to the rich, the powerful and the extremely skillful.

Grand Elder Shella's heavy stealth mecha and her extremely young age spoke volumes about her background, her value, and most importantly, her skill as a mecha pilot.

At that moment, however, before Grand Elder Shella could respond to me, Tes surprisingly spoke up.

"This is also the mecha that fought against the Black Flame back in World War 3." She looked straight at Grand Elder Shella as she said those words.

Grand Elder Shella met her gaze calmly with a hint of a smile on her lips.

I blinked at the strange sight of two girls, one very young and tender at ten years old, and another older but still young, and extremely powerful at an approximate eighteen years old, staring at each other without blinking.

"Uh.. Is that a statement or a question?" I asked Tes as I tried to break the awkward silence.

However, it was Grand Elder Shella who replied me.

"A statement, of course." She finally said with a smile. "Young Tes here, is the granddaughter of the famed hero who fought against the Black Flame back in World War 3, using this very mecha."