The helicopter landed, and the copilot motioned for them to wait inside until the blades spun down. That gave them time to see who was waiting for them, and it appeared to be a rather illustrious group of dignitaries from every branch of the government.
[Remember what I told you. You’re going to need a backbone here, firm but polite, or they’ll walk all over you and treat you like an unruly child.] Prince Corbin whispered to Karl.
Alice gave him a questioning look, wondering what he was talking to Karl about, but before she could ask, the Royal Rank mage stepped down from the helicopter and greeted the crowd.
“Ministers, Chief Researcher Davies, Generals, what brings such an illustrious group here today with their assistants?” Corbin asked as he walked toward the crowd.
Corbin had been seated next to Karl, who followed Alice out of the door, with Larry right beside him. As he turned, Karl could see that the staff were holding the others back, having everyone disembark by rank, so the Ascended would be at the back of the group.
When they reached the gathering, they held those ranks. Prince Corbin was in front, with Larry and Alice flanking Karl, and the others in behind.
Lotus and Tessa didn’t stay there long, and went to greet a High Priest in the crowd personally. That gave the teachers the opportunity to whisk Dana away along with Rose and Darryl, leaving just the four senior members to greet the politicians.
“Oh, have you found a promising junior to introduce to us today, Corbin?” One of the men asked.
“Who? Commander Karl? Yes, he is quite promising, but hardly a junior anymore, Ascended Minister Gerald.”
From the look on the young minister’s face, you would think that Corbin had slapped him. Karl guessed that bringing up the fact that he was Ascended was considered to be an insult, despite his position as a government Minister, which was among the highest of appointed positions.
“Oh, a young Commander, is he? I’m certain that we can find some suitable work for him.” The minister simpered in an unsightly display of sucking up that made Karl’s skin crawl.
“I will see where I can fit you into my schedule, Minister. Thank you for the offer.” Karl replied politely, and saw the split second where Corbin’s neutral look flickered to a smirk.
In his peripheral vision, Alice was doing a much worse job of hiding her amusement, while Larry was stone faced, simply standing there like a statue, perhaps hoping that they would forget he was present.
A man in a General’s uniform stepped up and shook Alice’s hand. “Agent, good to see you again, tell me, how is the Colonel?”
Alice gave him a genuine smile. “The last that I saw her, she was dealing with an incompetent forward operations base manager. She wasn’t in a good mood, but her health has been well.”
A rather fragile looking person in a vibrant peach-coloured suit stepped up, holding a clipboard. “Prince Corbin, would you like to sign up for one of the assistance groups? I have all the paperwork prepared for you, ready for signature.” They asked, with a tone of demand in their voice.
“No, thank you. I am quite busy with the Spellblade training program, you see.”
Karl was beginning to see what he meant. If you didn’t say no to them, they would monopolize every minute of your day with their pet projects, using your power and reputation to earn themselves bonuses at work.
Alice was relatively safe as a member of the Bureau, and Larry had Prince Corbin as a shield, but Karl would have been thrown to the wolves if anyone had known in advance that he had made the Commander Rank.
“Should we proceed to the official Commander Rank testing, Elite Karl?” A deep voice asked from behind him.
The voice was familiar, and Karl turned to find Tank, the Berserker training instructor, standing there with a smile on his face.
“That sounds good. It’s best to get the little formalities out of the way first.” Karl agreed.
Tank smiled as Karl made his escape, headed back toward the warrior training grounds.
“You don’t need a mage area, do you? I don’t know what you’ve been up to since you left here.” The big berserker asked.
“No, a warrior training area should be just fine.” Karl agreed.
He must have called ahead because they were already setting up the energy measuring equipment when the pair arrived.
“You know the routine, power up, no summoned creatures. Then activate your skill against the target and we will measure the energy output.” The instructor who was manning the station informed them in a dry tone.
At first, Karl thought that the man didn’t know or care who it was that had made Commander, then he realized that there were whole lines of students awaiting tests. It was exam week, and he just happened to be here for it. The examiner didn’t even look up as Karl grabbed the two-handed training sword and activated [Refreshing Lightning] and [Flame Body].
“Pass, low Commander.” The man informed them in the same bored tone.
“Respectfully, I haven’t even activated an attack skill yet.” Karl informed him.
That made the man look up and see the energy coated weapon still tip down against the ground. He gave an odd look for Karl being in armour, with a backpack on, instead of in school uniform, but didn’t comment on it before getting back to business.
“Oh, sorry. Please, proceed.”
Karl focused and added [Shred] to the ability stack, then realized he had gained new abilities from Remi. He could use her [Chain Lightning] which seemed as if it would go better with [Refreshing Lightning] than Shred did.
So, he switched and slammed an attack into the armoured plate.
“Pass, still technically low Commander energy, but the damage output is Mid-Commander.”
“Thank you, examiner.” Karl replied, then put the test weapon back.
Tank smirked and handed Karl a golden badge. “You can put those on your uniform when you change back. You will need a fresh set, by the way, as Commander Rank students wear the teacher’s business suit around the Academy, not the plain black school uniform. If you make it to Royal before you graduate, you get a cape.”
“Well, I’ll try to escape to my room and get changed. What time of day is it? It should be almost dinner, right?” Karl asked.
It had been daytime since they got out of the Portal, so he wasn’t entirely certain what time they started their day.
“It is almost five in the afternoon. We got the message that your team members were coming back just after lunch.”
Karl smiled. “Perfect, then I will be done changing just in time to eat.”
Tank shook his hand and looked toward one of the other testing areas. “I will go register your results, you go get changed, wandering around the school in armour and a backpack attracts attention.”
Karl made for the supply room, and found the halls of the dorm building curiously busy with gawking students. Sure, class would be out, but nobody hung out in the hallways like this. The rumours didn’t take long to reach his ears, that he was the next famous prodigy of the school. Reaching Commander in the first year, and that he was the reason all the government people were here for the exams.
Of course, that was unlikely to be true. They had gone straight to trying to wrangle Prince Corbin into deals when they arrived, but that didn’t change the students’ rumour mill.
“Hi, I’ll need a new uniform.” Karl greeted the older man at the counter.
“Wrecked one during exams, did you? No worries, I’ve got plenty.” He replied.
“Actually, I passed the Commander Rank test, so I need a change of uniform.” Karl replied, holding up the golden school badge.
“Oh, easy-peasy. They might be dusty, as I don’t go through many, but they’re always in stock.”
The old man took out two bags, then looked over Karl and changed them for two others.
“There you go, a new uniform plus a formal suit. These ones will bond once you wear them, so do take care of them, as they’ll cost you to replace. The daily wear uniform is black, and the other one is the formal white for official events.” The clerk explained.
“Thanks. I will see you again soon. I will need a few equipment pieces when I have a bit more time to talk.” Karl replied, with a subtle nod toward the students openly eavesdropping.
“Of course. See you soon.”
