Shattered Pride

[Umbrian High School]

Ender finally arrived at his high school, which had a big sign right at the entrance. It was as big as a university campus though it only held middle school and high school students.

Next to the entrance different kinds of vehicles were stopping, and then later a rich boy or girl would come out. After all, the Umbrian High School was located in Rook City, one of the ten most luxurious cities in the world.

Not only that, it was the most popular High School as well. Students from here would usually end up as high-ranked BB officers at a really young age. But what exactly is the Black Blobs Federation?

Ignoring its name, the BB Federation is in charge of all different Humanycs around the world. Their job is to stop any criminals from committing a grievous offense.

After all, Humanycs had supernatural powers, so how could a mere human stop someone who is running at the speed of sound?

Not only that, but they would also take part in different intergalactic missions, ranging from mere scouting to fighting for a planet's property.

Some of these missions also involved trying to get a better relationship with other planets, even other races!

Every year, the BB foundation would make an admission exam so that they could recruit new members. This was the most important event on Earth.

The last one was held one month ago, meaning that Ender had eleven more months to train.

'I hope I can reach a significant amount of strength by then...'

Entering, he was greeted by a big garden with a paved path. To its side, some sculptures could be seen, representing the best graduates that managed to get a high position inside the BB Federation.

If one continued the path further, he would find a big silver-colored building, representing the main academic infrastructure.

One could also find other smaller buildings for specific subjects, especially for Science when experiments had to be done, and Elemental Knowledge when special training had to be conducted.

While Ender was daydreaming, a tall kid was getting closer and closer to him. Once he was right behind him, he grabbed Ender by the hair and threw him toward a bench, which hit Ender on the left rib.

"Hgnn.." Ender moaned in pain while clutching his ribs.

"So weak you can't even handle that. Now, remember what I told you yesterday?" The curly black-haired kid crouched. When Ender recognized him his eyes widened in terror, which made the boy smile.

"I told you, that if you ever decided to come again to this high school, I would beat you up until you remain a vegetable for life." He said while lifting his fist and punching Ender in the face. His nose started bleeding.

[-3 HP // 17/20 HP]

"You even had the balls to inscribe yourself in the admission exam? What are you, fucking delusional?" He said while spitting at him.

'Damn... I need to get out of here.' Ender tried to get up but the boy kicked him in the stomach which made him drop again.

[-5 HP // 12/20 HP]

There were people concerned about the fight, but once they knew who was getting beaten up, they continued walking and chatting casually.

It wasn't something new of course, they were used to seeing Ender getting kicked on a daily basis.

Just as the boy wanted to punch him in the face, a teacher appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the boy by the hand, "Derreck, that's enough. Next time I will make sure to get you suspended." He said with a deep voice.

Derreck turned around, and when he saw who was grabbing him, he clicked his tongue and forcefully removed himself from that grip. Then he started walking again towards the main building.

The teacher, on the other hand, helped Ender to get back on his feet.

"Thanks, Mr. Dan." He said while cleaning the blood off his nose. Mr. Dan gave Ender a napkin and a red pill for healing.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this every time... what an unlucky time to be born, to be honest." He said fixing his suit.

"Has any time been good to be born Mr. Dan?" Ender said while grabbing his backpack. He took the red pill and stored it inside his spatial bracelet, filling it up.

Mr. Dan looked at Ender and gave a quick chuckle, "I guess not, I'll see you later." Then he suddenly dashed out of place. Still, Ender was smiling toward where he went.

That teacher was the only person in the entire High School that Ender respected because of one thing, he couldn't care less about manipulations.

Mr. Dan was 1.83 meters tall and sported light grey hair and a thick beard. He had a really muscular body that resembled the sheer strength he had. After all, he taught Elemental Knowledge.

He became a teacher after he purposely left the BB Federation from whatever high-ranked position. No one knows why would he reject such an important position but it'll remain a mystery forever.

'I can't thank this person enough...' Just as Ender wanted to continue walking, he noticed a red hologram.

[Hidden Task: Defend yourself from the aggressor. HP must not decrease past 15HP: 12/15 HP (Failed)

Punishment: None.]

Ender gulped the instant he saw Hidden Task, and he felt cold sweat running down his forehead when he saw [Failed]. Luckily, no punishment was enforced, so he could sigh in relief.

'The system really doesn't want me to be a weak person...'

...

The first three classes and recess went overall fine. Ender went towards the lower canteen to get free food, even if it wasn't much.

He received a carton of milk, salad, and two slices of bread, from which he stored one for Casper. Right now, he was going towards the gym for Elemental Knowledge.

Elemental Knowledge was the exact same as the old subject P.E, the difference was that it now focused on the Humanyc Manipulations and how to use the full extent of it.

He was the first one to arrive at the gigantic warehouse where the gym was, and saw Mr. Dan preparing a special robot that Ender has never seen.

Naturally, he asked what it was, to which Mr. Dan answered, "You'll see."

He was a little confused at first, but as people started arriving, he paid less attention to it and went towards one of the side benches.

Once everybody from his class arrived, he got secluded to the edge of the last bench.

Mr. Dan gave him a worried look but there was nothing he could do about it. He then gave two loud claps as the bell rang, and started today's lesson.

"Listen up everybody! As you know, I've been teaching you how to reach the 75%. I estimated that one month ago that most of you were around 53% and I know that every single one of you is already older than sixteen years.

That means that you are ready to go past 75% and higher! I gave you 2 weeks and a carefully planned training program to successfully achieve this feat. I will be calling you one by one, if you managed to break through the 75% barrier you will pass this test.

However, if someone has not managed to do so, I will subtract one entire point from your first term grade."

Everybody held their breaths as this last part was never specified everywhere. A red-haired boy raised his hand and said, "Sorry Mr. Dan, but isn't it overkill to subtract an entire point?"

The teacher look at the boy and said, "Tell me, Lucian, do you wish to pass the BB admission exam? I suppose you do... so how the fuck are you going to get accepted if you haven't been able to get past something as simple as 75%, huh?!"

Lucian got startled by Mr. Dan's reaction and quickly lowered his hand in shame while receiving some laughs from the other classmates.

What Mr. Dan was saying has to do with Manipulation Empowerment.

When you gain a Manipulation, simply put, its 'veins' are not distributed around your entire body, only in the most important part of your body, the brain.

From there, you need to distribute it around and gain 100% for maximum efficiency. But it didn't end there.

Once you reach it, another bigger and denser vein appeared and you must distribute it again, getting to 200%. This is said that it continues forever, and the most powerful Humanyc on Earth has around 1527%.

"I will be starting now, raise your hand when you hear your name and come here. Lucia Adams!"

A black-haired, short girl stood up while raising her hand and walked towards Mr. Dan, "Please insert your hand there, you will feel a slight pinch." The girl did as instructed and after some seconds, the robot said,

"Lucia Adams! Current Percentage: 76%!"

Lucia smiled as everybody including Mr. Dan clapped for her. The teacher said some inspiring words to the girl and called out the next person. A tall green-haired boy.

"Aaron Babel! Current Percentage: 78%!"

Mr. Dan continued calling people. Most of them already got past 75%, some even reaching up to 82%! But life couldn't be perfect...

"Zack Modric! Current Percentage: 68%!"

Everyone went silent and Mr. Dan asked, "Zack, did you follow the guide I gave you? It's funny you know, even if you did the bare minimum while following said guide, you still get to exactly 75%..."

The boy started sweating and shaking while trying to say something, "No, don't say anything, get back to your seat. The perfect grade is already lost for you."

"Sheesh, I can't believe he was lazy enough to do that..."

"He really wants to become like that weak boy."

"I'm not talking to him again until he reaches 75%."

The boy kept his head low while receiving all sorts of demotivating comments. Mr. Dan instead continued calling people until he got to a specific one.

"Ender Rialto!"

Just as Ender started getting up from his seat while raising his hand, somebody started speaking, "Hey Mr. Dan, why don't you just skip that weak? I bet he is still below 50%, hahaha."

Everybody started laughing at that comment as they usually do, which made Ender sit again while lowering his hand. Mr. Dan gave two big claps and said, "I'm sorry Derreck, but Ender is still part of this class, so you better behave because you may get suspended soon. Ender please, come here."

Ender started walking quickly toward the robot under the pressure of all his classmates' gazes. He put his hand inside and felt a slight pinch in all five of his fingers. Then,

"Ender Rialto! Current percentage: 75%!"

"... what?" He muttered in disbelief. He glanced toward Mr. Dan who had the same expression as his. He slowly retrieved his hand but Mr. Dan quickly said, "Do it again..." Ender nodded and did it again.

"Ender Rialto! Current percentage: 75%!"

"Oh my... I'm sorry for this Ender, but I truly never believed you could reach it because of your limitations..." Mr. Dan chuckled while putting his hand on Ender's shoulder and muttered, "Looks like you still have a chance..."

Ender smiled in return and went back towards the bench with a big smile on his face. On the other hand, all of his classmates were looking at him, confused. Some of them had their mouths wide open while others were angry about it.

Specially Derreck. He clenched his fists while slightly trembling and all sorts of thoughts started appearing in his mind, 'Wasn't he just a weakling? How did he even... he is just 2% short from surpassing me!'

Derreck suddenly snapped his head towards Ender and looked at him with rage. When he saw that Ender didn't even glance at him, he felt his blood boiling up. He felt his long-built pride was falling apart.