Now back to the present, as Quinn heard Jane ask him what was his ability. Quinn considered her entire question to be ridiculous. It was quite clear to him that Jane already knew he had no ability and had already had all the information on him from his previous school. They should know that he had never possessed any ability and that his financial status would never allow him to buy one. Yet he struggled to answer her question. Before coming to the military school Quinn had done a bit of research himself. Unlike Peter, he already knew that the military gave all students who had no ability their very own ability book. Everyone who had no ability book would receive a level 1 Earth ability book.
This way, all those students like Peter would suddenly become indebted to the military. Not only that, but the military also had a hold on nearly all of the Earth type ability books and the corresponding skill books. For a short example, if you ever wanted to increase your strength, you would have to stay loyal to the military, and in return they would give you more power. Before all of this Quinn had quite the secret that he needed to keep hidden from everyone. Quinn had been granted a system from his book, that he had to make up his mind to accept it. Even if he didn't join the military after two years, an Earth ability was handy to have. With it, one should be able to find quick employment since the Earth ability was very useful to have in construction.
Now this was exactly where the problem came in. Quinn already seemed to have an ability, which meant he was unable to learn a new one. The ability book they would give him would practically be useless. Since he had the system he was pretty sure he couldn't learn an ability book. He was also pretty sure they would keep tabs on every student they have given the ability book to, meaning that the teachers would expect him to use the earth ability in one of these days. Quinn took a deep breath and answered, "I don't have an ability." Just like before the hooded man standing beside Jane plucked out a book from thin air and handed her the book. Jane's eyes were cold and emotionless as he handed the book to Quinn. Quinn took the book from Jane, but suddenly a system screen appeared before him.
[Unable to learn this ability]
[Would you like to convert the book into 10 Exp?]
Quinn was really tempted to take the book and use it as a form of Exp but he knew there would be questions asked later on if he did. "I'm sorry, but I don't want it," Quinn said as he handed the book back to Jane. Ken, who was standing off in the distance with the rest of the group, wondered why did Quinn give the book back? Was it because he didn't need it? Well of course Quinn needed it "What is he doing?" Ken mumbled out in confusion. The mumble was just loud enough to catch Vorden's attention. Vorden walked up towards Ken and stood beside him "I don't know, man. That's very strange don't you think?" Vorden said puzzled by Quinn's denial of the ability book.
Jane looked at him with raised eyebrows, the first sign of her being able to actually display any sort of emotion. In her five years of working as an instructor, this was the first time someone who had no ability decided to reject the ability book. "Please give me one moment." Jane walked away from the group of students, "Quinn!!" Ken yelled out. "Why didn't you accept the ability book?" Ken asked as he started to approach Quinn. Quinn turned around to face Ken, "Well, I don't need one, besides after this test I want you to answer a question that I have alright?" he said in a hushed tone. As Ken heard this he slowly nodded his head, he turned around and started walking back towards the others. "Well what did he say?" Vorden asked quietly. "Well, he said he wanted to ask me a question after we complete our test, but I find that quite weird." Ken said.
A smile started to appear on Vorden's face. He couldn't help but think that Quinn would be quite interesting, especially since Ken and Quinn seem to share the last name yet they don't look alike at all. Once Jane was far away from the group of students, her hand went to her ear to activate the electronic piece inside. "A student by the name of Quinn Talen doesn't want to accept the ability book that I handed to him. I await instructions on how to deal with this student," Jane asked, speaking into her earpiece. "No need to force him. Just let him take the test and report back if he shows promise," the mysterious man on the other side instructed her.
****
As the man hung up, he couldn't help but think that this Quinn seemed like an interesting student. He began to check on the corresponding file, which left him puzzled. The student had no ability and according to their research, he also did not have any relations with the group of Pure either. "Let's see how long you can survive in this cruel world, Quinn," the man said to himself, as he leaned back into his seat. Jane adjusted her suit and headed back towards the group of students. "Apologies, for keeping you all waiting," Jane noted stiffly. Then she turned to Quinn. "Although you do not wish to accept the ability book, you're still required to take the test." Quinn found this to be quite the bizarre request. Was there really a need for him to take the test as someone who had no ability? It felt like the only reason they wanted Quinn to do the test was to humiliate him for refusing their 'help'. Making him feel weak and insignificant might lead him to approaching the military on his own and beg for the ability book that they were handing out.
"Please follow me." Jane took Quinn a little further out onto the field where Quinn started to notice that there were huge craters in the ground, burn marks, patches of the ground that was scorched and burned like there was some fire. This was all done during the previous testing of contestants. "Please proceed to destroy the targets in front of you as quickly as you can," Jane instructed him, "The test will begin immediately." As soon as Jane finished talking, five targets popped out of the ground at random locations around the wasteland. They were metal round targets with a red dot in the center. When Quinn tried looking for the targets, everything appeared like a blur in the distance. He noticed that his 'perfect' eyesight suddenly wasn't so perfect anymore.
Quinn had no choice but to slowly run-up to each of the targets and hit them with his fist one by one. Unsurprisingly, his time had ended up being incredibly slow. After that Jane asked him to complete two other tests. The second one was the Strength test. All he needed to do was punch into a huge drum-like machine. Quinn gave it his all and hit the drum as hard as he could. The drum vibrated and made a small sound eventually displaying a digital number in the center. "Strength 5," Jane announced and noted it down on her tablet. For the 3rd and final test, there was a big circular machine with many holes on its front. It hovered over the ground without touching it. Once the test started the machine fired holographic spikes at Quinn. All Quinn needed to do was to avoid being hit by the spikes for as long as he could.
The machine went up in levels and eventually got faster and shot out more spikes. It was a torturous process, and Quinn soon got tired of dodging and was hit. The machine whirred and ceased working. "Agility 5," Jane announced this time and once again noted it down. Quinn sighed internally, if only he could have taken these tests at night, he would have most likely doubled his scores. "Quinn Talen, your overall current power level is that of a level 1 ability user," Jane informed him. Quinn clenched his fist and walked back to stand with the others. "You gave it your best shot Quinn," Ken said as he gave Quinn a thumbs up. "Good job." "Thank you," Quinn muttered as he stood beside the others.