Psychic Overlord

"Guh!" Kaizer winced as he felt a spike of pain in his head but was surprised to find out that it wasn’t as terrible as he had expected.

Per his assumptions, the shattering of a psychic barrier should be akin to breaking the arms of a person who was blocking an oncoming attack with their palm. It should completely cripple that person and leave them in a forced recovery state for a while, but he was proven wrong.

Kaizer had always wondered about this and planned to ask when he enrolled, but seeing that this was a testing room, he decided to maintain his barrier till it shattered, since this would be the perfect environment to test this for himself, lest he entered a dangerous situation and was unable to go all out.

Now, he had his answer.

The dummy disappeared and was replaced by a white cube that was not made of any tangible materials that Kaizer could tell.

"Applicant Kaizer, please lift the cube as high as you can for as long as you can using telekinesis only."

Kaizer nodded and focused, enveloping the cube in the faint blue outline of his psychic power and lifting it up. His face changed quickly though, because this cube was far heavier than even their family’s Escalade, making him only able to lift it about 10 meters off the ground before his forehead began to throb.

Kaizer did his best and held it up for about 15 seconds before losing his mental grip on it and almost falling to his knees, his brain swimming in fatigue and murkiness due to overexertion.

"Telekinesis test complete. Applicant Kaizer was tested in three areas: maximum output, maximum tolerance, and maximum sustainability. In terms of maximum output, the applicant was able to exert a force of 4 million newtons, the equivalent of a speeding train. In terms of maximum tolerance, the applicant was able to endure 4 attacks per second at a million newtons per strike, equivalent to the power of a speeding SUV. In terms of maximum sustainability, the applicant was able to lift a 3,000kg cube up 10 meters for 15 seconds, equivalent to a fully matured hippopotamus."

The Testing Center AI voice read out Kaizer’s results, which the groggy young man paid attention to.

"Based on the above data and the General Guidelines to Esper Ability Ranking Criteria published by Leonardo Da Vinci, applicant Kaizer has been primarily granted an A rank for Telekinesis."

Only an A Rank? Kaizer was quite surprised because he felt his current ability was terrifying enough. Given enough time, he could upend an entire city on his own and beat back a small mechanized army into scrap. That was only enough to be graded as A?

...then what were those S-rank espers like? Could they shatter whole continents? How could the human body even bear such power?

"Applicant Kaizer, please be ready for the Telesthesia test. Before so, please walk to the terminal and receive a vial of Life Essence to help recover your fortitude." The AI voice prompted.

Kaizer pushed himself up and walked to the terminal, seeing a slot open revealing a vial containing a greenish liquid that looked like a mixture between soda and jelly. Opening it, Kaizer naturally gave it a sniff and was pleasantly surprised to find that it smelled like a mixture between apple juice and freshly ground leaves.

Downing it, he found that its taste was exactly like that, as if drinking 100% pure apple juice that had a tang of bitterness at the end, which blended into the aftertaste. As a brew, it even had some potential to be commercialized, but Kaizer’s face changed immediately as he felt a cool wave rush into his head, swirling over his brain.

Immediately, he felt like a tired person who had slept a lovely 8 hours or someone who drank cool water after a long run in the hot sun—extremely refreshed.

He understood that this product must have a special origin, because the ability to recover stamina like this would be all it took to grant a person a fatal advantage over a similarly skilled opponent.

"Applicant Kaizer, the Telesthesia test shall begin. Please state how many items you can detect within the room and share as many details as possible using only telesthesia." The AI voice issued a new set of instructions as hundreds of items of random types appeared within the room, spread part equidistantly by 5 meters each.

The items were not only on the ground but also floating in the air. Kaizer did not look around and did not need to because his domain was always active, so when the things appeared, he could detect them.

Now that the items were manifested and stationary, it was easy to scan them, so he quickly began to report what he could about all the items within range, not hiding his current 290-meter distance of perception in all directions, even going upwards.

Unfortunately, the room itself was not that large, being around 150 meters wide and 80 meters high, so this was the maximum recorded range. However, this seemed to be enough, as when Kaizer finished, the AI voice spoke.

"Applicant Kaizer, please repeat the same action in response to the change applied."

Kaizer realized that the previously stationary items began moving, swaying around like there was a strong wind blowing them about. Like this, it was hard for a person to use their eyes to tell what these quick-moving blurs were, much less someone using their other senses.

However, Kaizer was quite fine as he could even track the fast movements of Carla and Barnes when fighting them, so this was not a challenge. He reported the items once more, prompting the moving things to stop in place and shift one more time while shrinking greatly.

Each item now became the size of a marble regardless of its makeup.

"Applicant Kaizer, repeat the same action."

Kaizer raised an eyebrow, having to actually focus a bit on this one and scan deeper, but his recent training made this much easier than it otherwise would have been. With closed eyes, he reported the various items around and their positions quickly.

The items disappeared as the room regained its color, the terminal shining with rapid information.

"Telesthesia test complete. Applicant Kaizer was tested in three areas: general perception, mobile perception, and focused perception. In terms of general perception, the applicant was able to perfectly ascertain everything within the maximum range allocated in a short period of time. In terms of mobile perception, the applicant was once again able to sense everything within the range in a short time. In terms of focused perception, the applicant was—again—able to perfectly discern all in the range given within a quick moment."

Kaizer held his breath as he awaited the verdict.

"Based on the above data and the General Guidelines to Esper Ability Ranking Criteria published by Leonardo Da Vinci, applicant Kaizer has been primarily granted an S rank for Telesthesia."

Kaizer nodded with satisfaction, because he knew that his true domain size should have only been 100 meters for the rest of his life, which was already quite terrifying. However, its ability to increase was truly amazing, and being able to sense a 300-meter range with such detail was enough to make him seem omniscient to any attacker.

"After submitting your scores to the academy database, you have been temporarily granted an overall S- esper rank. Please head to the administration center to finalize your enrollment and your echelon assignment." The AI voice spoke finally before going silent.

Kaizer left the room without looking back, coming out to see that everyone was waiting for him. Incidentally, the results he just got were not broadcasted for everyone to ogle him, as that was his own private matter between him and the school.

"Damn, you took forever, dude!" Lisa complained while tapping her feet impatiently.

"Well, how was it?" Hector asked with gleaming eyes, wanting to know where he stood against this rich pretty boy.

"S- rank apparently." Kaizer answered simply, glancing at Rina curiously.

Rina made a victory gesture and grinned. "I got an S+!"

The expression on the faces of Hector and Lisa froze, their brains almost exploding within their craniums due to what they were hearing. Their mouths dropped because they realized that what they heard was actually not due to them hallucinating, and then their minds exploded again.

Hector stepped forward and grabbed Kaizer by the shoulder with bloodshot eyes. "Kaizer, bro, please tell me if you’re serious?"

"Isn’t there a way to check the database? If not, you can find out by coming with us when he returns for our final admission processes." Kaizer answered simply, understanding why Hector was shocked since he could literally see it in his mind.

Seeing Kaizer’s nonchalance and Rina’s smugness, Hector realized that it was very likely that this sibling duo were telling the truth. If that really was the case, then their academy was about to welcome a pair of monsters!