A Lucky Save

Lin Fan gulped and stepped forward. He couldn't help but steal a glance at the ground, a pool of puke formed on it.

"Disgusted? Well, it's only right to be. But, if few spews of vomit and blood are able to stop you, then you won't go far," said Vrandum with his burrows furrowed.

The two burly men that were beside Vrandum showered Lin Fan with disdainful eyes. They could sense his nervousness and hesitation.

Just as Vrandum was about to order the two men to fetch the next prisoner, a knock was heard on the metallic entrance—which was surprising considering how thick it was— then came a second, then a third knock.

The entrance was pushed open and a middle-aged man in a butler's uniform strode in. He demonstrated himself with an elegant posture. He gave a bow and spoke, "Master Vrandum, I apologize for intruding. The old master asks for your presence,"

"Father is calling for me? I'll head there immediately!" said Vrandum, His grin long gone.

He turned his head and announced, "Today's course comes to an end. All who hadn't taken the course can re-apply for another slot at a later time."

In reality, the only one standing was Lin Fan and the two men, who were not overly concerned.

Vrandum sent them off, then left in a hurry with the butler.

As Lin Fan stood there alone and surrounded with blood and puke. He felt like a horror movie's character that had survived till the end. He gave a long happy sigh and thanked the saintly butler multiple times in his mind.

A thin man wearing a black robe strode in after Vrandum left. He took a look around the room and nodded lightly. With a casual wave of his hand, a breeze came and carried all the waste on the floor and walls into a silver ring on his finger. Lin Fan wasn't sure if he was seeing correctly but he saw the man's face grimace as the waste entered the ring before returning to normal.

He turned his neck and said, "Disgusting, isn't it?"

Lin Fan nodded his head and gave the man a pitying look, "Must be."

"You are new here, right?" asked the black robed man.

Lin Fan nodded, "How do you tell?"

The man gave a light laugh and responded, "Your face; it says it all."

Surprised at the man's answer. Lin Fan couldn't help but chuckle a little. This man had helped him ease his mood fairly well.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's your ability? If it makes you feel any better, mine is wind control." said as he waved his hand and a breeze brushed by Lin Fan's face.

Feeling the wind brushing by his skin, he couldn't help but think that this was really cool.

Seeing the shine in Lin Fan's eyes, the man couldn't help but sigh deeply and said, "You may think that this is very powerful...or rather cool. But my ability is fairly useless."

This came as a surprise to Lin Fan. Wind, one of the five elements, is being degraded by this man?

He continued,"You see. Abilities has ranks. From one star till ten stars. Taking my ability—Wind Control for example. It's only a one star ability. A weak variant ability of the Wind element. A single element may have tens of thousands of variants, each falling in a different star ranking,"

The thin man looked at his palm as he started to gather wind. His wind became a breeze, then it became a gale as it tried to raise in intensity, to become a raging storm! But alas, like a caterpillar that died in it's cocoon; trying to evolve. It dispersed.

He sighed and said, "Don't get me wrong. There were countless geniuses that had been able to become great leaders relying on abilities such as mine. But, I don't have that kind of talent. I can only settle to be a little cleaner,"

His gloomy eyes slowly brightened as he laughed and said, "I apologize, friend! I made you listen to my unimportant gibberish,"

Lin Fan quickly responded, "Not at all! I really didn't know anything about abilities. You were such a great help!"

The man smiled and said, "That's good to know then, I am finally useful for once. Haha. You still didn't tell me, friend. What is your ability?"

Lin Fan rubbed his head as he answered, "I..I don't really know."

"Oh! You don't know? That means you hadn't taken the Assessment Test yet!"

Hearing the two words—Assessment Test— for the first time, Lin Fan nodded.

"I can take you to the Assessment Hall if you want." generously offered the man.

"That would be great!" quickly answered Lin Fan as a grateful smile appeared on his face.