Absolutely Zero Talent!

Gray played with his new Badge… 

It was so shiny, had a neat cauldron pattern, and was also a little vampire. Every time he dripped blood on it, it would disappear in a flash… 

Drip! Drop! Drip! Drop! Drop! 

"Wow. This sure is fun. Aren't you one hungry little Badge? Yes, you are!" 

"T-Teacher, will you stop already?! The blood imprint was only for the initial Soul Binding! You're making me nauseous!"

He had recently done said Soul Imprint and an entirely new world had opened to him. This thing was like a Poked*x, but for Disciples! 

[Disciples: 98]

[Personal Disciples: 0] 

[Status: Tier 1 Teacher!] 

He could even click on the Disciple tab to get a full list of their names, see a preview of their faces/bios and there was even an option that seemed like a great invasion of privacy! 

[Send a Convocation Message to Student Zhang? Y/N] 

[Ding! Error! Only Available for Personal Disciples!] 

[Do you Wish to Promote Disciple Instead? Y/N] 

This was so nice; it worked just like a phone! Gray quickly navigated the menus to the utter stupefaction of student Zhang, who soon received a shocking offer. 

[Ding! Promoted to Personal Disciple. Accept?] 

"P-Personal Disciple, me?! Are you sure Teacher Gale? Personal Disciples are a really big deal and—" Or so he said, but he was already smashing accept!

Turns out students too had badges, just ones with VERY limited functions. But Zhang had barely accepted when the nightmare began… 

[You've been convoked by Teacher Gale!]

[You've been convoked by Teacher Gale!] 

[You've been convoked by Teacher Gale!] 

[You've been convoked by Teacher Gale!] 

"Sigh, I guess you've been convoked enough times. Now, show me how you usually train. Just act like I'm not even here!" Gray requested. 

"S-Sure…" 

That's when Fatty Zhang took something out of his robes. It was… a roasted ham?! But there was something strange about it. It was filled with… shiny mana stones?! 

Then he started chomping on it hard as if it were the most natural thing to do! 

Nom-nom-nom! With every bite, not only did his belly tremble, but it even started heaving up and down as if alive! What kind of crazy level-up technique was it? 

That's when Gray decided to give up on this method. Wouldn't it make him fat?! Still, as he gazed at that juicy roasted ham… 

"Hmmm, now that's an issue." 

"T-Teacher, am I doing something wrong?!" 

The poor student froze, fear creeping into his heart. 

"Nope. Just getting hungry. Anyway, I've decided you'll be my right-hand man! How about it, do you accept the job? If you do, we'll play a little game from now on…" 

"A game?! I'll do it, Teacher!" 

He didn't even hesitate. The last game had been so damn fun, after all! Besides, wouldn't this cement his position as the number one Disciple?! He waited expectantly. 

"Here's what we'll do. From now on, I'll play a regular student. Here's the scenario: I just arrived at the Academy and know NOTHING. You'll be in charge of guiding me!" 

"W-What?! What's the point of doing that, Teacher? Isn't that a little…" 

"Tch— Think! As my right-hand man, what will you be doing?" 

"Ah! Guiding my juniors! I understand, Teacher!" 

So this would be a test?! Or, at the very least, practice? Either way, he'd make a great impression on Teacher Gale. It was time to get serious! 

"Alright, follow me Teacher Gale, I know just the place to start!"

With this, Gray had just gotten himself a magic teacher. For a more realistic effect, he even adorned a regular robe, and pocketed his Teacher Badge. 

Thus, they went on a journey, one that brought them to a VERY crowded building… 

| Mana-Testing Facility! | 

It was a large building that was bursting with youngsters. They could be seen queuing up to enter pristine-looking white rooms. Seeing this, his guide cheered up: 

"This is the place! Here, they can tell you your affinities! The better the affinity and the easier the spells of that type are to master."

"Good, then let's get tested already! Let's see what we're dealing with!" 

"Ah, Teacher. I already know my affinity. I'm a Mana Devourer!"

"Alright, suit yourself…" 

The many lines? Gray skipped them all! He shamelessly started cutting, whistling all the while. What had happened to acting like a student?! But he had barely started that… 

"Hey, you! Yes, you, the line's back there!"

"Security! Someone's cutting again!" 

"Hey, newbie! There are rules here!" 

He turned toward the guys complaining, giving them a radiant smile.

"You're right, there are rules. But, the powerful are always revered. You guys wanna bet I can keep cutting without anyone daring to stop me?" 

"Scoff— You really think you can? Fine, I'll bet five obsidian coins that you can't!"

"Five? I'm gonna bet 10! I still remembered the last who tried…"

"Ten? That's a rookie bet! Gotta pump those numbers up: 20 Coins!" 

That's when security suddenly made a move! Out of nowhere, three mages erupted onto the scene. One with a dragon of water, one with light beams, and the last with glowing fists. 

They all locked onto their target and— instantly deflated like old balloons. He had just taken out… a Teacher's Badge?! This guy was actually Academy staff?! 

Gray shamelessly gave the youngsters a heroic look: 

"Wish me luck, guys. I'm going in!" Then he goddamn swaggered to the very front of the line, even winking at the traumatized students. There awaited an operator. 

"Ah, Teacher! Are you here to test your student's potential? Let me get a room ready for him ASAP! Also, should it be set to private or public?" 

"Private if you please." 

"Right away, Sir!" 

The operator happily keyed in all the settings. As for Gray's earlier mischief, he utterly ignored it. Then, he gestured toward Fatty Zhang. "You can go!" 

At this moment, the entire room was gawking at the duo. 

"His Teacher personally escorted him?" 

"He's probably gonna have an amazing result!" 

"I just hope they set it all to Public so we can watch." 

"Of course they will! Teachers all want their students to shine!" 

But then something strange happened. After the operator's "you can go," the student didn't move one bit. No, instead, it was the Teacher that went in?!

"Why's he testing his potential?!"

"Maybe he's just inspecting the equipment?"

"Who knows? It's actually set to private, so we can't see shit." 

They all sighed, just in time for a commotion to happen. The operator? He suddenly received a call, started to freak out, and then slammed the controls. 

That's when there was a change… 

— CLICK! — 

— CLICK! — 

— CLICK! — 

— CLICK! — 

Countless magical screens appeared, all showing the very same test room. Seeing this, Fatty Zhang cried out: "T-Teacher Gale?! WHY?!" 

Gray found himself in a white room, a huge dark sphere in the middle… 

"So I just gotta touch you all over, then we'll know if I'm a dragon amongst men or a deity amongst mortals. Hehe, here it goes. Show me the money!" 

As soon as he touched the sphere…. Absolutely nothing happened?! But then, after a couple of seconds, words suddenly appeared on top of it! It read… 

Soul Potential: NULL

Body Potential: NULL

Mana Potential: NULL

Special Affinity: NONE

"Sigh. Just as expected. Good thing this is private, hehe!" 

At this moment, the entire building turned silent. A teacher with no potential whatsoever? This was a HUGE scoop! Some were already grinning, notifying their friends! 

"Wait, does it mean he's not even a mage?!" 

"Holy shit, that new Teacher's royally screwed!"

"I wanna see who will dare become his student now!" 

That's when ALL eyes landed on Fatty Zhang. He was the one who had that trash as a teacher, right? In his place, they would have been so furious and distraught. 

But Zhang was no backstabbing bitch... 

"All of you, how can you judge? Are you teachers? Are you him? Then how can you be so sure?! For all we know, it's just the test malfunctioning!" He clamored. 

"Test malfunctioning?

"That's impossible!"

"Dumbass!" 

Over the years, never had it malfunctioned. Why would it suddenly start to do it now? They laughed coldly at the idiot. But they had barely started laughing when they suddenly froze. 

Inside the test room... 

"Good thing this is private, hehe! Ah, wait, there's more?" Gray suddenly noticed tons of runes showing up on the test sphere. Still, what the heck were those?! 

Also, why were they getting bigger?! In a matter of seconds, the runes exploded out of the sphere, invading the room! Their darkness was utterly vile, overwhelming, and went: 

የመጥፋት እርግማን

የ҉መ҉ጥ҉ፋ҉ት҉ ҉እ҉ር҉ግ҉ማ҉ን҉

የ̶҉̶መ̶҉̶ጥ̶҉̶ፋ̶҉̶ት̶҉̶ ̶҉̶እ̶҉̶ር̶҉̶ግ̶҉̶ማ̶҉̶ን̶҉̶

At that moment, Gray realized two things. This wasn't his power but the curse the Headmaster had mentioned. Two, he had truly and utterly fucked up. 

As for the crowd? They were completely speechless. What the fuck were they watching?! But before they could even guess, they felt IT! 

"RUNNNNN! It's gonna fucking blow up!" They rushed outside, all of them! Students, staff, and even passing teachers! In fact, they had barely evacuated the building that… 

— BOOM! SHATTER! SWOOSH! 

The entire roof exploded! Then, out of it came a torrent of gigantic dark runes, ones that swirled so powerfully that they created a tornado of negative energy! 

But that wasn't the worst. This thing seemed freaking alive as if this vile mana had sentience and was trying to corrupt the very world itself! Would the Academy be fine?! 

But just as they were freaking out, it disappeared like nothing had ever happened?! Then, a second later, the poor building walls finally crumbled, revealing what was inside. 

It was a lone Teacher, now awkwardly rubbing his head. 

"Eh, sorry about that, you all. It was a mistake…" 

"Excuse me, but WHAT THE FUCK?!"