Chapter 103: Marking talents for Extraction Ethan was looking at those teachers. After the five of them reached near the crowd, the stronger one said, "I am Chris Aronson, the head of the recruiting team. I am an SS-rank hunter. These are Maria, Jenny, Romaro, and Cyrus. We five will conduct the test." "You already know the rules, but I’ll tell you briefly. At first, we will test your talent. Only the top 1000 in the ranking will get the chance to participate in the second phase. Let’s not waste any more time and start the test." Then he opened the gate of the Academy and ordered everyone to follow them inside. The parents of the children said goodbye to them, and everyone started following them inside. Ethan also started walking. Soon they reached the huge hall where thousands of students could easily fit. Chris pointed at the ten devices which were placed at the front side of the hall. He said, "Everyone will come forward in a group of ten and will place their hands on the device. It will show the name and the rank of the talent." Some students were really excited to show off their talents, as they already knew what they had awakened. The system of the Aetherion would show a personal panel for everyone like Ethan’s system. It showed them the basic stats of them and their talen,it’s rank etc. So, one by one, they started going forward as a team of ten members. They stood in front of the devices and placed their hands on them. There was a big screen in front of those devices, where the device numbers were written. It was there to show the results. Soon, ten new messages popped up on the screen: Device-1: Body Enhancing (A grade) Device-2: Thunder Manipulation (SS grade) Device-3: Shadow Walking (A grade) ... ... Device-10: Healing (S grade) The results were in front of everyone. There was a hushed sound among the students. An SS grade had appeared in the very first team? The boy with the buzz-cut hair, who had this talent, looked extremely smug. The corners of his mouth almost touched his ears. He had a face like saying,"Yes,praise me more." Ethan looked at them with disappointment. He didn’t need any of them. He just started waiting. Soon, batch after batch started going through the process. No talent above S rank appeared. But Ethan got interested in a particular talent. It was Necromancer. It was an S-grade talent. He left a soul mark on that boy. He would go searching for him later. Soon, another talent caught his eye: Shadow Control. It was an SS-grade talent. He also marked that girl. Soon, five hours passed. He found another person wothy of being marked by him. The talent was Summoning. It was an SSS-grade talent. That boy immediately created a sensation among everyone. He became a celebrity instantly. He also made some fans in the place. The girls started looking at him with admiration and fanaticism. Ethan nodded. Not bad. He also marked him. This time, it was the turn for Ethan, Saimon, Siri, and seven others. Ethan appeared in front of the device and placed his hand. This was for show. He had a deal with Aetherion beforehand. It would display a fake result. Soon, the ten results were out. As expected, his device showed an SSS-grade talent called Swordsmanship. This was the choice Ethan made to show infront of everyone. Ethan thought people would surely look at him with admiration and fanaticism as well, so he looked at them with a smug face. But when he looked back, he saw those students were not looking at him at all. They were looking at Siri. He was surprised. He had awakened an SSS-grade talent, you know. So he looked at the screen. He hadn’t looked earlier as he was sure of the result. But when he looked now, he saw the device of the girl was showing a result. Device-7: Devouring Body (Transcended Grade) Damn it. I knew something was wrong with this girl. She had a special physique. Even Saimon awakened an X-grade talent, which was- Illusion. So this pair of siblings probably had quite a background, Ethan thought. Soon, Chris came forward like a hurricane and took both Saimon and Siri with him as fast as possible. He didn’t even look at poor Ethan, who also wanted some attention. Ethan sighed. Probably everyone felt like this when they were compared to me back then. Ethan waited there for five more hours to see if anything special caught his eye. Thankfully, he found two more talents: Appraisal and Soul Sword. They were S and SS-grade talents respectively. Ethan would take their talents. He wasn’t some good guy. He would take what he needed. He would compensate them in some other way if possible. Soon, everyone’s turn was over. The top 1000 had already been decided. Everyone with B-grade talents and above was selected. The next round would be tomorrow. They were given the night to rest. He selected those five talents for a reason. He got some hints from the system. That’s why he chose them. Now in the world of the ancients. Ethan was looking at the naked back of the girl who was bathing, and she suddenly started singing. A soft and melodious voice entered Ethan’s mind. "Oh ho. A sound for hypnotism? Let’s see what you’re up to." So he let the power enter his mind, only to observe what result the perpetrator wanted. But the effect was only to attract him toward that girl. Nothing more. Ethan was speechless. Was this the doing of a lonely monster or something? The song went on for ten minutes straight. Probably it thought that was enough to hypnotize him. The girl started coming out from the water. Her figure was absolutely flawless. She turned toward Ethan, and their eyes met directly. She immediately covered her chest with her hands and shouted. Even the shout was seductive. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" She asked with horror in her eyes and face. "What a good illusion. Flawless acting," Ethan thought. "But what does it want? Why go through all this? Does it want to play with its prey?" Ethan also played along. "Don’t panic, miss. I am just a traveler who lost his way and came here by mistake. I mean no harm." But he had a lecherous look on his face. As soon as he showed that look, he immediately felt killing intent all around him. "So she is probably a ghost, and she wants to target those who desire intimacy with her," Ethan thought. He had some idea now. He purposefully showed that look to see the expression of the girl. The girl was a peak emperor-tier powerhouse. That’s for sure. Even stronger than Dragon. She said, "Please don’t do anything to me." She opened her chest as she started to beg, as if it was done by mistake. Then she immediately covered herself again with horror. Ethan sighed. "Well, I don’t want any more fun. She’ll probably try to have sex before the kill? Or simply suck me dry." So his eyes turned cold. He said in a calm voice, "Don’t you think it’s time to stop this cheap drama of yours? Why not come out in your real appearance?"