- Before Returning to h -

  "You o be a Red Ranger," Nico expined. "You don't have to make this decision now."

  Oliver was thoughtful, sidering whether this was the path he wao take. However, listening to what Nico had to say wouldn't hurt.

  "However, if you seek to bee a Ranger, don't be like me or many others who join with naive ideas—thinking they'll be heroes and defend good with good," the Ranger ented. "Being a Ranger will require you to be equal parts good and evil."

  "I got it," the boy replied.

  "You think you uand," Nico expined. "But when politics, the sehe NEA, or even the boy who got you suspended screws you ain, what will you do?"

  Oliver pondered.

  "Exactly. You've been aced, taught, and traio behave—to py by the rules," the Ranger expined. "However, in a battle, and even more s a war, there are no rules."

  "Most evil happens when good men don’t know how to py by evil rules."

  --

  --

  "I think I know who caused the i during the exam," Isabe began to speak.

  "What?!" An nearly shouted. "How?"

  "It was kind of by act. I was in one of the trees of the First Battalion," the girl began to expin.

  "In a tree?" An couldn't help but ask.

  "That's beside the point." She shot a judgmental look at him. "What matters is that I overheard two boys, whom I believe are from the Sed Battalion. I didn't catch their full names, but as far as I remember, one was named Damian, and the other—"

  Isabe paused for a moment, trying to recall, but she couldn't remember hearing the sed boy's name.

  "The other one, I don't know. But they were talking about how you had returo the Academy and that they had spread the false information," the girl expined.

  "But did they mention anything about causing the i?" Oliver asked.

  "ly. However, afterward, I looked into him a bit more. Damian is one of the Nemos—moreover, one of the heirs," Isabe expined.

  However, Oliver looked at the two without uanding.

  "Was I supposed to get something from that?" the boy asked.

  "The Nemo’s, they have some kind of Boon that allows trol over creatures," An expined. "However, he was iigated. His power would only allow him to trol one Crabit, not aire herd."

  "Ah!" Oliver uood Isabe's reasoning. "But what would he gain by screwing me over?"

  The three spent some time thinking but didn't reach a clusion.

  "But—but is it possible he didn't iet you specifically?" Isabe asked.

  "What do you mean?" An inquired.

  "What if he never meant to hit Oliver at all," Isabe expined.

  "I heard ohat ‘Any suffitly advanced inpetence is indistinguishable from malice,’" Oliver ented, almost ughing. "What was his standing in the ranks before the i?"

  "Wait. You think he caused the i because he was in a bad ranking?" An asked incredulously.

  "How o see your faith in humanity,” Oliver ented.

  “Maybe it was all an exaggeration. I remember the end of the exam—it was extremely petitive, with Crabits dyi and right. But what if he just wao increase their o have better ces? Just a hypothesis, but instead, he brought aire herd?" Oliver suggested. "He didn't o trol the whole herd; maybe he could just force a few to cause fusion."

  "Some other Boons fit as possible suspects, but his was undoubtedly the main one. Given the ce to throw someone uhe bus, he pushes Oliver and frees himself from the iigation," Isabe added. "Besides, he's just a nameless piece of trash that no one will care about."

  "Hey! Words hurt," Oliver said, pretending to be hurt.

  "Makes sense," An ented. "But what do we do with this? Do we take it to the Major or a Captain?"

  "No way. They'll sweep it uhe rug," Oliver replied. "No, this is a problem I want to solve myself. At the very least, I have to repay him in kind."

  "What are you pnning?" Isabe asked.

  "Just a superficial pn. But it will require a lot of improvisation," Oliver expined. "However, for now, let's focus on our exam."

  Isabe smmed the table in front of them. "The exam! Do you guys already have a group?"

  "I thought you already did. Didn't Astrid team up with you?" An asked.

  "No! She betrayed me. She had promised her House that she would help other members who were underperf," Isabe expined.

  "Great! You join our team," Oliver said.

  "Really?!" The girl smiled at the possibility of taking the exam with them. "Then we just o think of one more person."

  "Do you guys have any ideas? Oliver has a reputation so bad that nobody from the Sed Battalion wants to join," An ented.

  "Our team is already full," Oliver expined. "I invited Katherio join."

  "WHAT?!" Isabe shouted, looking at him. "We're going to have a princess on our team?"

  She seemed to tremble as she said that.

  "Do you realize the responsibility?" she asked.

  "Are you kidding me?" He shot her a disapproving look.

  "Hehe. I fot," Isabe smiled.

  "We just o rest. Tomorrow's going to be a long day," An ented before they said their goodbyes auro the dorms.

  --

  --

  The day, none of the boys o use the Gauo wake up; the entire base was too noisy for them to keep sleeping. Unlike field exercises, where only part of the recruits participated, the exam would include all the students at the base this time.

  Given that each battalion had around two thousand recruits, it was expected that at least a thousand groups would head out for the exam, leaving only the soldiers and some captains at the facilities.

  | els| Exam1Group [4] [Private]||| Exam1Group| [OliverKR] Added [KathSaysH to the Group| [OliverKR] An and I are already going to the teleport building.| [BelRedFanGirl] I'm at the cafeteria; I should arrive at the building in a few minutes| [KathSaysH Affirmative.|

  "Affirmative? What the hell kind of answer is that?" Oliver read Katherine's response several times befiving up, trying to uand what was happening in her head.

  As An and Oliver approached the building, they could see a kilometer-long liretg out with hundreds of groups waiting for their turn to be transported.

  "This is going to take a while," An ented in a defeated voice.

  Oliver could only nod. Both sat on the ground while they waited for time to pass. Shortly after, they spotted the two girls approag, eaing from a different dire.

  "Finally, we're all here," An said.

  "Guys, this is Katherine. Katherihis is An and Isabe," Oliver took the opportunity to introduce her to the rest of the team.

  "o meet you!" Katherine greeted them.

  "Great. Now es the hard part," Oliver expined.

  The three looked at him, irely uanding.

  "I uand the reason for keeping our powers secret, especially if our powers are unknown. However, during an exam, it would be impossible to coordinate our bat or reaissahout knowing what each of us is capable of," he expined.

  They uood what he meant; for many there, a Boon was something very personal, and sharing it with a stranger felt like exposing yourself. Knowing they would have reservations about starting, Oliver decided to take the initiative.

  "Alright. I'll start with myself since I'm bringing this up," Oliver said. "I still don't kly what my Boon is focused on. However, it seems to be reted to my eyes." He pointed out the color differeween them.

  Katheriiced for the first time that they had different colors and that he seemed taller.

  'Did he evolve? Was it his first time?' She assessed the boy's growth rate.

  "My boon allows me to see an oppo's ways of attacks and defenses, whether they're humans or creatures. However, it only works with Pawn-level oppos," he finished expining.

  "If it weren't for the level limit, that would be extremely overpowered," An ented. "Alright, since you shared, I'll expin mioo, especially si could be a problem."

  "My Boon allows me to create, trol, and amplify gravitational fields," he said.

  "as the rea from the other three.

  "But! But! It es a lot of Energy, and I 't differentiate between allies and enemies," An added.

  Katheri more at ease after An's disclosure because she uood that his power was extremely rare, and even so, he was willing to share it with everyone.

  "Mine is strange," Katherine began. "I trol blood—not others', just my own." She quickly summoned her sword and made a small cut oip of her fio demonstrate.

  A drop of blood emerged from her finger but soon started spinning, sometimes moving up and dowween her fingers.

  "But the main thing is that I alter some properties of my blood. One example is its hardness." As she finished speaking, the drop of blood hardened into a spike.

  "Ah!" Oliver finally uood the girl's powers.

  "However, it's a bit obvious. Although it doesn't e muergy, it does e my blood," Katherine cluded.

  "Hmm, mine isn't simple to expiher. I don't even know the limits clearly," Isabe began. "I accelerate myself. That's it."

  "Huh?" An made a sound of fusion.

  "No, literally, that's it. I alter my body's acceleration using Energy and Stamina. So, for example, I fly." Isabe began to use her powers.

  However, it didn't quite look like flying. She resembled a yo-yo, rising a few meters and then starting to fall, only to rise again.

  "Another use is to increase the impact of a punch." She demonstrated that her punches were beiremely fast.

  "However, there are several problems with it. It's not a simple power to use; I o be very focused. So, I often 't use it in an emergency or when I'm startled, " Isabe expined.

  "Very well!" Oliver thahem.

  "Now we o decide who will be responsible fhting and who will handle reaissance."

  GCLopes