CHAPTER 14: XOC Stats Update (1)

As Alex watched on the rocks and stones flew away in different directions.

I had seen this happen many times so I wasn't really interested in that. Soon what I was really interested in began happening.

I looked ahead and saw the ebony man appear out of the center of the explosion and began to fly away in a different direction. But what really interested me was what he was the blindingly bright pearl he was holding in his hand. Even from where I was hundreds of meters away I could feel the energy that was radiating from it.

Then as I looked on the man put the pearl in his mouth, and moments later swallowed it. And for the first time since I appeared here the stoic expression on the man's face disappeared and he began smiling widely.

Suddenly my vision began dimming and I felt sleepy. 'It's like this every time.' With that last thought my eyes closed, and the last thing I saw before I fell asleep was the ebony man's smile as he flew into the distance.

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My eyelids shot open and I stared up at the ceiling. I then sighed heavily and sat up on bed.

'When will this stop? It's like this every time I sleep. Some days I even forget when these dreams began, it's like I've always had them.'

Alex had started having these strange dreams of the ebony man about two years ago. Back then the man had been red in color instead of the ebony he is now.

The first time it had happened he had been close to death and what saved him was that dream. After that time every time he slept he dreamt about that man, at first the man hadn't been destroying those objects, instead he had been absorbing the energy and heat of a star.

Those dreams had caused Alex a lot of sleepless nights until eventually he couldn't sleep because of the stress of having those strange dreams. It was soon after this that he started taking diom.

At first he had taken it to help him focus when he refined Hani in the night since he thought that if he couldn't sleep he might as well get ahead in the refining of his Hani, and it worked, Alex was now making a lot of progress refining. But soon after Alex noticed that the drug started doing something it wasn't supposed to be doing. It was making him energized, and not just like he was full of energy, it was more than that.

But it didn't end there, soon instead of the feeling of being energized it changed to one of happiness and joy, basically it felt euphoric. It was then that Alex noticed a surprising effect of diom, after the feeling of euphoria passed he was left feeling weary and exhausted.

After he noticed this effect something occurred to Alex, what if he took diom to force himself to sleep? At this point Alex had forgotten the reason he took diom in the first place, but well the plan worked, whenever Alex wanted to sleep he took diom and after he euphoria passed he was able to sleep.

Alex knew he was starting to get addicted so he decided to take diom every three days which meant he would only sleep once every three days.

It was hard now that Alex was starting to get addicted but he was able to stick to his schedule of taking diom, at least that was until the day he and Alistair's carriage was robbed. So in total he hadn't slept in five days.

Alistair got off the bed and began stretching out his body, but since he woke up he had felt something was wrong, like he was forgetting something important.

As he walked toward the bathroom he casually glanced at his XOC and looked away before suddenly he stopped right in his tracks and checked again.

"TWELVE TWENTY!" Shouted Alex in shock, he then hurriedly rushed into the bathroom. "That's what I was forgetting, the sun seemed higher up than usual."

Alex then hurriedly prepared himself before he ran out his front door in a record time of eight minutes.

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I was sitting on a crowded green field listening to the students around me laughing when I heard a voice speak from behind me.

"You're looking well rested today."

I turned and saw Alistair standing there with Agustin directly behind him.

I lay down on the lawn and looked at them through slightly open eyes.

"Got so much rest that I overslept and I thought I missed the first lesson."

Alistair sighed and shook his head. "Lucky for you, we are not having any lessons today."

I grinned and gave a content smile. "I know. I remember that we are having our monthly stat tests soon after I hopped on the train."

I then turned to Agustin.

"How did your studying go?"

"Huh," Said Agustin in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

I gave Alistair a look before I turned back to Agustin. "You know, you said that you couldn't make that delivery with Alistair and I because you had to study."

A look of understanding appeared on Agustin's face before he looked away quickly.

"Oh that," Said Agustin. "Yeah it went well, I think I'm now all cut up in my history class."

Every time Agustin lied he looked away from the person he was lying to, but even though I knew he was lying about studying I decided to ignore it and move on to something else. 

"Have you two had your stats updated?"

Alistair nodded his head. 

"Agustin hasn't but I have."

I gave Alistair a mocking look and began to smile. "Any improvement since last month?"

Alistair shook his head and gave me a mock grave look. "Sadly not much, I'm still as weak as ever. In fact my class ranking may drop below two hundred and fifty this time."

Alistair then tapped his XOC then turned his hand towards me so I could see what was on the screen.

ALISTAIR BROWN - Fourteen years old

Hani Refining Completion: 27%

Acceleration: 15m/s

Average Distance Covered Per Hour: 53km/h

Punch Strength - Force Strength: 52/100

Reaction Time: 54/100

Max Carry Capacity: 64kg

I whistled and shook my head. "You barely got any stronger this past month, and you get offended when Agustin calls you a skinny glasses boy."

Agustin shook his head. "It's a shame you're so weak."

Alistair laughed at the jambs we were through good-naturedly.

*BEEP*

Suddenly a message appeared on the screen on my XOC.

'Time for stat update. Head to the testing center.'

Alistair nodded his head at my XOC. "Time for you to go?"

"Yeah." I replied.

I then got off the grass and after dusting my clothes headed for a white building that was at the end of the field.

As I walked toward the building I could feel the eyes of multiple people following me, like they were assessing me and calculating how much of a threat I was.

Freestone has a ranking of its students called the Class Rankings and based on how high a student ranks in their Class Rankings their treatment here in Freestone can greatly increase or decrease. For example the house that I live in is one that is only available to students that rank from hundred to two hundred in their classes ranking. But students like Alistair that are below that mark live in congested fifteen story buildings which have thirty students living on one floor, and each floor only has one bathroom and one toilet.

There are also many more benefits that come with having a higher Class Ranking such as a greater amount of points than a lower ranked student receives every month, cheap or free med bay trips, and free transportation around the academy.

So these rankings are a very important matter and are taken very seriously by all students.

Soon Alex reached the end of the field, and stopping at the door of the white building he took a deep breath before he entered.

The inside of the building was just as white as the outside, the only differences being the equipment that filled the building, the students using them, and the instructors who were observing the students taking the tests.

Almost as soon as I walked inside an instructor walked out to me.

"Are you Alex Shampa?" Asked the instructor.

As soon as I nodded my head in confirmation the instructor turned around and walked away, then using her finger she beckoned me to follow her.