Chapter 147: Not Bad At All!
This boy was Henry Ford, and he was a C Rank awakener and one of the most promising students to ever graduate from Core City! Since most of the people who awakened Gifts were still young teenagers, they were always taken to Core City to learn how to properly use their Gifts before they would then go back into society and decide if they wanted to continue on as superhumans or go back to school and finish their education.
Every teenager that was coming for the assessment had gone to Core City, and they had all decided that they weren’t going to go back to school. Instead, they would join a guild and start diving into Gates immediately. After making that decision, they were mandated to go through the assessments so that both the government, as well as other guilds, would know their true power level. It was the results of this assessment that would either make or break your dream to dive into Gates. If you did poorly here, then it was unlikely that any guild would come to recruit you, but if you did well, then you would be sought out like a precious diamond!
And Henry was determined to stand out today. Henry came from a family of overachievers. His brother was one of the scientists who discovered how to extract energy from Magical Crystals. His sister was the first non-superhuman to enter a Gate with a team of researchers. His mother was a model who had featured in every major beauty and fashion magazine, and his father was the chief financial officer of a Fortune 500 company on Wall Street.
The family always took care of Henry and made sure he never lacked anything. They bought Henry every toy, car, phone, or vacation ticket that he wanted just to make him happy, but Henry always felt like something was missing from his perfect life. He wanted more! Something that he could brag about accomplishing all on his own! Who cares if he already had everything money could buy!? He deserved more than that!
And now that he was a superhuman, Henry was determined to finally get everything he wanted. He wasn’t just going to stand out in this assessment, he was going to absolutely dominate everyone else! After passing the assessment, he would work his way up into the Enforcers before finally becoming the Director of the SMD! He was determined to be the very best! Nothing else would be enough as far as he’s concerned!
’I’m going to overshadow that Jason no matter what!’
Henry’s eyes narrowed as he thought about Jason. There was no way he was going to allow that bastard to take the spotlight away from him. When Henry heard about Jason awakening as an A Rank, he had been stunned into silence! It made no sense at all for a superhuman to awaken at such a level. But there was no doubt that it was true! Henry immediately knew that the reporters and guild recruiters would flock toward Jason once they saw him, but Henry didn’t care. All Henry had to do was show that he had more potential than Jason. Jason might have awakened as an A Rank, but it didn’t matter if Jason’s growth was slow.
If Henry worked hard enough, he was sure he could surpass Jason eventually!
Vroom!
The sound of another vehicle arriving on the scene drew attention, and Henry turned around to see an immaculate Rolls Royce parking in the space their bus had just left. The Rolls Royce was pure white and it looked even fancier than the one Henry’s father sometimes went to work in. Who the hell was this!? Henry knew that Jason wasn’t rich enough to even afford a Rolls Royce, so there was no way it was him!
The reporters were equally curious about who was inside the car, and they turned their cameras to point at the person coming down only for their shock to increase when they saw the chubby boy coming out of the car!
Darren took off his sunglasses while posing like the protagonist of a cheesy action movie and looked around at all the people casting their gaze his way. He raised his hand to wave at them all with a wide smile on his face and a perverted glint shone in his eyes when they landed on the body of the blogger who was wearing the cat ears!
’72-38-60. Not bad. Not bad at all!’
Darren’s lips spread into a perverted grin and the female blogger put her hands over her chest when she saw him looking at her like that! His gaze was so intense that it almost felt like he was trying to strip her with his eyes!
Darren finally seemed to snap out of his shock as he turned around and grabbed a large bag that a butler handed to him. Darren thanked the man and then bent to speak to his father through the window.
"I’ll make you proud, Dad. I promise."
Darren’s father smiled.
"See that you do that. And say hello to Jason Marc on my behalf. It’s unfortunate I won’t be able to meet him, but please tell him that my invitation for a meal is still open."
Darren nodded and watched the Rolls Royce drive away. Darren turned back to the other teenagers standing there and grinned at the girls excitedly. Darren couldn’t believe he was here right now! He was actually going to become a real superhuman!
Over the past few years since Darren got back from Core City, there had been a serious debate between him and his parents about whether or not he should become a proper superhuman and dive into gates. Darren had always wanted to become a diver so that he would use his Gifts and grow properly, but his parents were terrified for him and forbade him from going into a Gate. His father wasn’t very vocal about it and tried to reason with Darren and make him see sense, but Darren’s mother was very vocal and adamant that there was no way she would ever allow her only son to go into a Gate and get himself killed!
But after what happened with Jared and the humiliation that his parents saw on the internet, his father realized that Darren was going to be looked down on his entire life if Darren didn’t grow stronger. Darren had already joined the world of superhumans simply by awakening a Gift, so he had no choice but to grow stronger so people wouldn’t try to walk over him! So his father finally changed his mind and told Darren that he could go for the assessment in order to become a superhuman—and that was how Darren ended up coming here.
It was all thanks to Jason and the situation that happened with Jared earlier! Darren was just finding more and more reasons to be grateful to the boss!
’But where’s the boss? I thought he’d be here already. Doesn’t he know the assessment starts soon?’
"Everyone, please come this way."
A woman’s voice spoke up from the entrance to the SMD building and dragged people’s attention to her. This woman was one of the SMD agents who was assigned to oversee the assessment. She was wearing a well-fitted skirt suit that showed off her figure, and she smiled at the teenagers as they all looked up at her.
"My name is Naomi and I’ll be in charge of your assessment today. I hope you keep in mind that this is more than a test. It is an opportunity as well as a chance for you to show the world what you are made of. Today, you will become more than what you once were. You will become—"
VROOM!
The woman was suddenly cut off by the loud sound of a motorcycle heading towards the building!