Universal Power System

The entire auditorium fell silent as the last words said by Brigadier Jones were the real deal. This was what made the whole thing a test in the first place.

The same two guys that carried the table up on stage were now carrying a trunk and placed it on the table. They again bowed their heads before leaving the stage once more.

Brigadier Jones opened the two locks on the trunk and opened the lid. He reached his hand inside and pulled out a small semi-smooth spherical-looking crystal. He raised his arm up in the air so that everyone could see what he was holding.

"For those of you who know, and those that don't, this is a power crystal." The Brigadier announced.

The whole crowd of students instantly became quite interested in the crystal and their eyes became glued to the crystal. Some of them had heard of this special resource which was used to create Power weapons and armor while some had only heard myths.

Mako was one of the latter as he had only heard myths and conspiracy theories about how these weapons were created, but he later learned from the system about the actual truth.

Nobody had actually seen one in person and were quite intrigued about the thing that created their weapons.

"A Power crystal is found inside every beast that has the ability to manipulate mana to use abilities. Once the beast is slain, we extract the crystal from their bodies and use them for a variety of different things that you will learn in military school. We have the same grading of beasts as we have for weapons and items."

"For example, This crystal in my hand is a Medium Tier crystal and it came from this beast." The Brigadier announced and pointed toward the big screen behind him.

The image on the screen changed from displaying the island to a red-colored chimpanzee but its color was not the only thing odd as instead of a single tail, it had 3 tails and the ends were pointy instead of round.

The screen then started to display a wide variety of different beasts. They were in all sizes and colors, some were big while others were small, and some resembled animals on earth while others looked completely alien.

The list went on for around three minutes and Brigadier Jones kept quiet throughout the entire thing. Once the slideshow of different beasts was over, the Brigadier then turned back toward the students.

"All of the beasts that you just saw have occupied the island and will fight to protect their domain. They range from Low-Tier to High-Tier and each has different characteristics and instincts. You have been provided with a manual in your backpacks with information about all the existing beasts on the island so that you don't go in completely blind."

"Remember, if you manage to slay a beast; never eat its meat. Beasts that are able to use abilities have different mutations which make their blood turn blue. The meat is poisonous and nothing on the island can help you if you get poisoned."

"Secondly, also make sure to harvest the crystal of any beast you slay. The military will not take away any of the crystals that you are able to collect during the test and you will be allowed to keep them. You will learn a lot more about Power crystals and beasts when you are admitted into the military school, so save your questions for your homeroom teacher."

"In addition to that, any loot you obtain from a loot crate or any other source, you are allowed to keep as they will all aid you more in the future."

After explaining all the points to the participants, the screen turned off and the Brigadier had a smile on his face.

"From this day forth, you all have been given the rank of cadet. I hope to see you all grow into powerful individuals who far surpass even me and become capable of defending our home against any threat and bringing peace to the world."

"You may all leave the auditorium and head toward the dining hall where you will be served your breakfast. You all must be hungry after traveling for almost 18 hours. Once you are finished with your breakfast, the instructors will lead you toward the plane which you will board and use to reach the island at around noon "Brigadier Jones said as he concluded his speech and left the stage.

The weird aura that was suppressing everyone was lifted and the crowd of students instantly started to chatter amongst each other regarding the things that Brigadier Jones spoke of. It was hard to make out what anyone was saying and Mako was just trying to get a hold of Bill in the chaos.

The man with the loud voice came back on stage and used his loud voice again to get everyone's attention. He started announcing the directions to the dining hall and ordering the cadets to start heading there.

Mako was happy to leave the area as the sound was becoming a bit too much. He grabbed Bill by his arm and basically dragged him out of the giant auditorium through a large crowd of cadets. They arrived at the dining hall early and were able to take a seat in a secluded corner of the dining hall.

The dining hall had a large buffet with a self-serve system where the cadets had to fill up their plates themselves with what they wanted to eat. Mako and Bill took a strategic approach as they filled up two to three plates each with mostly protein and fiber foods. They skipped the carbs as they would only fill their stomach without giving any real nutrition.

They loaded up as much as they thought they could eat and took their seat so that they won't have to get up again. While eating, Mako and Bill discussed several main points related to the Brigadier's speech as they were trying to come up with a strategy on how to pass the test, and not only pass it but rather ace it.

They knew that they couldn't just use Bill's Earth ability to create a shelter and cower away in it until the 15 days were over. They had to participate in battles so that they would receive a good score and on top of that, the Brigadier also said that anything they find on the island they could keep so they had to try their best to loot as many crates as possible and hunt as many beasts as possible so that they would have a lot of resources to work with when they go to military school.

Mako pulled out a map of the island from his backpack and started to look at potential spots where they could go and set up camp. If they were going to survive 15 days on the island they had to have a main base on the island; somewhere they could retreat to if things went south.

Calculating the number of calories they were consuming, Mako predicted that they could fight at peak strength for two to three days max without any food, given that they don't run into any big fights during that time. It was crucial for them to figure out all their basic needs in the next two days so that won't have to worry about it and focus on earning the most points.

In the end, Mako came up with three possible locations. Each had a source of fresh water nearby and was relatively close to the shore which meant that no string beasts would be around those areas. Each area had a tablet close by so that they could easily get information and all three areas were in specific locations where there were only a limited number of ways for going in and out; handy for setting traps.

The only problem now was that Mako had no idea where they would land on the island and how the military was going to spread them out. He couldn't really know for sure what the military's plan was about this so he decided to cross that bridge when he comes to it.

Both boys were so absorbed in the delicious food and their strategies that they didn't even notice how much time had flown by and how crowded the dining room had become.

Soon the instructors arrived and announced that all cadets must report back to their original bus in ten minutes and from there they will lead them to where they were going to board the plane.

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[60 minutes later]

Everyone had boarded the plane which was humongous in size and painted black all over. Each wing had 4 engines underneath it and these were far more advanced turbine engines that could produce a lot more thrust than the generic engines of the olden era. Soon the plane departed from the air base and they quickly reached cruising altitude and were on their way to the island.

Halfway through the flight, military personnel started walking down the aisle carrying a very long trolly and handing everyone a small circular disk. They eventually reached Mako and handed him the device as well.

Mako asked the man what was this for, to which the man replied that this was a retractable glider and that Mako had to use this to safely land on the island once he jumped out of the plane.

"Oh, okay... Wait? WHAT! DID YOU SAY JUMP!?" Mako exclaimed after receiving this shocking piece of information.

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