Time Twister

"Applicant 11111, You have completed the first stage of the Magic test. Would you like to proceed on the next 2 stages? However, as they are experimental and may harm you physically and mentally, please know that completion of these stages would give you a set of rewards."

"The set of rewards would be the following: 3000 School Contribution Points and 10000 Etas for the second stage completed, 5000 School Contribution Points and 100,000 Etas for the final stage completed. At the same time, a recommendation for skipping grades would also be written."

Xander, upon seeing these conditions, hesitated momentarily and weighed the pros and cons of doing such a thing.

Pros. He would be ahead of the people who applied with him, probably cinching the 1st rank. At the same time, he would have school contribution points to use for the sake of internal purchases within the school. At the same time, he could graduate earlier, graduating within 2 years.

Cons. Issue on privacy. He can only say goodbye to privacy for his ident.i.ty once the results were out. After all, this last test was standardized per university in the world, except for a select few University which allowed modification in the testing. If he performed too well, his name could be broadcasted in the news. Interested parties would most likely mark him as a person of interest, meaning bothersome people would approach him without his consent. At the same time, the Etas given as a reward was quite low.

Xander had a feeling that the reason why the requested for him to undergo the remaining 2 stages is because there might be compet.i.tion between universities, and he would be used by Grand Hyatt University as some sort of promotional material to attract other talented students.

Xander didn"t like that, as the attention it would bring to him was too high for his current ident.i.ty. He wasn"t some stupid freshman who cared about attention and fame. He knew his limits and the benefits of being low-key.

After a while, he rejected the request and immediately left the VR, and the pod opened up. Of course, he before he left, he responded to why he declined.

"Are you joking? With that small amount of renumeration to the future troubles it would cause me? Stop making a joke."

Upon waking up, he went to the nearest proctor and asked for his results as well as submitting the necessary application forms.

He proceeded to the last test, which tested his knowledge on mathematics, physics and biotechnology, the science focus of Grand Hyatt University. This test was different from the first test Xander took, because the topics were solely these three, and the question format were focused on experiment design as well as concept understanding and applications. He had to complete the test within the time limit of 2 hours.

Within 1 hour, he completed all 3 tests and handed his information to the proctor as dictated. The proctor nodded approvingly and handed him a com-link lens that would show the results in 7 days, and whether he pa.s.ses or not.

Not caring about anyone, he left the school premises and headed home.

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Inside the campus" Office of Admission.

"I can"t believe it, he rejected the offer." said one of the persons in charge of the VR simulation test.

"Either he is an unambitious person who doesn"t care about fame and fortune, or a really shrewd one. He knew this would bring attention to him and maybe he didn"t like the attention?"

"Hmm, either way, I plan to submit a recommendation for him to enter the advanced track program. What do you guys think?" said one of the men, his face aged.

"Hmph, I don"t agree on this; how dare this insignificant person reject my offer?" Joseph replied, obviously disgruntled and held animosity towards Xander.

"Haha! Joseph, you should be more open minded. Do you know the background of his parents?" one of the older men in military attire spoke, his voice dry and sarcastic.

"Oh? General Simmons, it seems you know more of this prodigy"s background." one of the old men spoke.

"Hehe, it"s not simple, especially his mother"s case. First of, his father is working on a research with the funding from 5 different international conglomerates, all focused on physics field. His mother"s information, on the other hand, is considered restricted access that even for me, I can only see the partially redacted information, " General Simmons replied, his voice grim.

Everyone couldn"t help but gasp quietly. But it seemed that the general wasn"t done yet.

"In regards to this youngster, a magical phenomena occurred when he was born, and for the first 2 years, he had a rapid growth in terms of magical power. It seemed that he could control all the commonly available elements. When he was 4 years old, he was cited as a main co-author by the paper written by Therault. You know who Therault is don"t you? The one that postulated the idea of elemental hierarchies? According to the information I got from the government, more than half of the paper was written by that kid." General Simmons paused for a bit, letting the information sink it.

After a few seconds, he continued on.

"When he was aged 5, the researchers wanted to take him to the laboratory to explore more of the kid"s potential, but one word from his mother and the case was dropped. Mind you, these were senior researchers who have a higher rank than I do in the scheme of things in the government."

"According to my current sources and the hyperinterpolation of the data gleaned by the government, it is estimated that Xander, age 7, is already an Elite-ranked person, roughly around Elite-2. However, if we base it from the performance he just showed in the simulated magic test, his true strength should be above Elite-4."

General Simmons motioned one of the staff to come in, and show the video taken from the VR. It showed the moment Xander attacked for the first time.

He instructed the staff to play the video, frame by frame, in which the other members of the board saw what General Simmons was talking about.

2, 3, 4..., no is it 5? No, it"s greater than 5 spells...6, 7 spells maybe?

"Ok, to stop you from guessing, from the a.n.a.lysis done at the data produced by the VR by our technicians, there were 15 elemental signatures represented, and following the new optimizations we have added since the paper by Therault has been accepted as a universal law, out of those 15, 5 are the energy signatures for the 5-elements series; the remaining ones are secondary and tertiary elements derived from the series. 15 spells, gentlemen, 15 spells cast within a second."

Everyone was silent, even Joseph who was complaining was completely quiet. General Simmons then looked at Joseph, his look containing a bit of pity, and more of annoyance at his colleague.

"So it"s not that simple, Joseph, that he rejected your proposal. He just had a higher view of things. Remember what he said before he left? It"s obvious he weighed the pros and cons of doing the other 2 tests." continued Simmons, each revelation striking a drum at the hearts of the board. Even Joseph couldn"t help but sweat upon hearing this and realized what might have happened to him.

"... So there are no objections on putting him in the advanced cla.s.s? " said the old man beside General Simmons.

"....." Everyone was silent, as if tacitly agreeing to it. Joseph had no qualms either.

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Upon reaching home, Xander began to digest his experiences and continued to practice his Time and s.p.a.ce magic.

This continued for a few days until the com-link lens glowed and vibrated.

Xander stepped out of the time bubble and tapped at the lens, opening a hologram showing his results.

Applicant Number: 11111

Applicant Name: Xander Cloverfield

Results:

1st Test: Perfect, S+

2nd Test: Perfect, SSS+

3rd Test: Perfect, SS+

Mean average: Perfect, SS

Remarks: Recommended to the advanced track program.

Rank: 1st in the batch of test takers for the year 2057 nationwide, 2nd place worldwide.

Upon seeing the results, he sent a copy to his parents and went downstairs to eat. He was a bit surprised that he didn"t top the 1st place for both nationwide and worldwide college examinations, but this gave him a sense of excitement because it would seem that there were peers of his that can match him.

He reached the table and sat down on his chair, quietly waiting for the food. Although he was already an Elite, meaning he could forgo eating continuously, he still needed to eat at least once a week since his body is developing. Once he reaches Master rank, he could completely forgo eating, since his body would naturally absorb the elements in the surrounding as sustenance.

In a few minutes, the food was already ready, prepared by the in-house robot chef. He began to eat alone, as he was home alone, since both his parents were working. His father was in the research inst.i.tute and his mother at the R&D laboratory of the government. According to the hacked feeds and doc.u.ments he gleaned, they were developing a new biochemical compound to use for warfare. Some of the researcher friends that they introduced before to him were all there as well, engrossed in the data a.n.a.lysis and formulation process.

From what he can deduce based on their doc.u.ments and visual feed, the biochemical compound seems to have traces of the death element, as well as decay and disease element.