CHAPTER 7: BATTLE SENSE

CHAPTER 7: BATTLE SENSE

"Haa!!"

Marko sprung back to life.

The first thing that greeted him was the ash box displayed over his head.

[YOU HAVE AWOKEN FROM SLEEP MODE]

[ESTIMATED TIME ASLEEP: 3 WEEKS, 5 DAYS, 2HRS, 19 SECONDS]

[ALL BODY FUNCTIONS HAVE BEEN RETURNED TO NORMAL]

[PLEASE RECHARGE]

"Huff! Huff!" Marko's ash hair had grown a bit. His face was dripping with sweat and a light headache stinging him by his temples. His eyes was weak as he glanced around the room, it was the physician house, the wind curtains whipped the air as wind blew in.

"What?" He looked down at himself. He was wearing a thin patients cloth. "Who changed me?"

He turned to the bedside where a collection of flowers sat on a tables with a note "GET WELL SOON! HERO!"

"Oh God! Mon is going to kill me for running out on her!" He ran his hand down his damp hair and sighed in exasperation. "System?"

[…]

"What are you…?"

[…]

Marko pushed himself up on the softy comfy bed. "As long as I can save the people I care about, it's fine. But taking out of my lifespan is harsh!"

He climbed out of the bed with his hand cleched to his stomach. "I better find something to eat before this hunger kills me!" He moved to the window and looked out to the the village standing tall and proud, he could hardly tell a fight went down there.

"Come to think of it how am I alive without having tasted anything I so long?" His mouth started to water at the thought of having hot tantalizing food running down his throat.

He moved to the door and prepared to exit the room when the door opened on the other end to reveal a nurse wearing her white uniform and carrying a small steel plate with some medical apparatus.

She looked about to be in her early twenties and having short brown hair and beautiful eyes.

Marko mustered his most confident smile and said. "Sup?!"

Out of fear and shock the nurse screamed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" The steel tray slipped out of her hand and clattered to the ground as she took to her heels and ran down the hall.

Marko was confused but his ever knocking hunger got the better of him. He stepped out of the room and turned left down the hall, the other nurses and patients all stared at him wide-eyed.

TAP!! TAP!!

Marko caught sight of two figures dressed in strange uniforms he had never seen before. A tall male and a female about his height. What caught his eye the more was the object in the girl's hand… a roasted corn cob.

Moved by hunger he made for it and reached out to grab it, that's was when his screen came on.

"What now?"

[YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED A GIFTED]

[POWER LEVEL MID]

"What?!" Marko blared.

SWOOSH!!

The dust cleared.

"How…?" Spoke a lovely female voice.

Her eyes were glassy and with a light blue glow, her lips pale, her skin brown and her hair a braided silver white.

She glanced back to see a cute boy around her age wearing a patients cloth and devouring her corn cob like a wild animal.

"Did that boy just take this from me without me noticing?" She said in a cold almost empty tone. "That const 30 coins from my savings."

The tall man next to her wearing the same uniform of silvery white jacket with red striped lines over black trousers.

"He's fast!" He remarked in an almost cheery tone. "To take something from you the academy's number 5 strongest he must be a mid rank gifted at least! That's rare coming from such a backwards village!"

"Do you think he's the one?" He further asked.

She hissed in disgust. "The one that killed the level 4 terror? Sure, it's him!"

Marko almost cried as he finished the corn cob still hungry for more when…

"SON!!" His mother screamed from behind accompanied by Shayla.

Marko smiled as he threw his arms around his mother. "Mom, I'm sorry for making you worry!"

His mother broke into a light sob. "You were asleep for three weeks, everyone was worried. How do you feel?"

Now that was a question Marko was happy to respond to. "Hungry. Very."

Shayla closed in on them and dropped her tired shoulders. "Still the same quirky Marko. Only stronger!"

Marko smiled. "Actually my strength is just to keep everyone I love safe!"

"Oh! Is that so?" The silver white hairs lady stamoed her foot on the ground. "So you are the so called hero gifted?"

Marko peered back at her almost enchanted by her beauty. "Um, who are you?"

Shayla tugged at him. "Try to be polite dimwit! They are from the Gifted Academy."

Marko looked perplexed. "Nope! Never heard of it!!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT!!!" Almost everyone screamed out, shaking the floors of the physician house.

Marko ran his hand down his head nervously.

"Hehe! Because I've only just become a gifted I never really put my head in all those nonsensical stuff!!"

"Nonsensical stuff?!" The silver haired girl laughed. "Why you little dimwit!!"

Shayla frowned. "Hey dummy, that's my line!"

"Do you know who I am?" The silver haired girl boomed. "I am Sylvia Crown! Ranked 5th on the Specialist. The strongest gifteds in the academy and in the world."

Marko yawned and asked. "Just do you want then…?"

"Our academy prioritizes itself in safeguarding as many people as we can by vanquishing terrors. To do that we must train as many gifteds as we can. We only recieved news of what happened here a week earlier. About a recently awakened defeating a rank 2 and 4 on the same night."

Marko took a step forward. "Get to the point."

Sylvia scoffed at him. "The academy wants to know whether it's true. And if it is we w--"

Marko cut her off with a wave. "It's not! Now shoo! I want to hug my mother some more."

Slyvia shooked her head dismissively. "Fight me, I want to know how strong you are!"

Marko sighed. "Let's make this quick."

Slyvia chuckled.

[USE OF TALENT HAS BEEN PARTIALLY INACTIVE TILL RECOVERY HAS BEEN COMPLETED]

Marko hissed. "Um lady, I change my mind. I'm starting to feel sick, you know I just got discharged and all!"

Sylvia had closed the distance between them and threw a sharp blow at him.

Marko gulped down as he shut his eyes to accept his fate. Shortly after everyone gasped in shock. Marko peeled his eyes open to find out her had actually caught her fist.

"How did I do that?" He asked.

[YOUR BODY HAS DEVELOPED THROUGH THE USE OF THE TALENT]

[YOU CAN NATURALLY USE BATTLE SENSE BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF DATA ACCUMULATED FROM BATTLES]

Marko could not help but smile as he did a back flip and touched the roof of the building. He landed on the ground unharmed. "Wow! Not bad!"

Sylvia scoffed yet again. "So he has peak strength and to be able to evade me like that…"

The man next to her smiled. "My name is Dexter Knox. Your gift is a marvel, such preciseness and power control."

The look of shock on their faces when Marko said it.

"What are you talking about…? I haven't even used my gift yet!!"

Sylvia shook from shock. "No way was that pure muscle strength. Then let's go again, I'll use my gift this time!"

"No!" The Dexter spoke. "Your power could destroy the village, you know that!"

Slyvia dropped her head in shame. "I'm sorry!"

Teresa stepped forward and faced the two gifteds. "Dexter, you've grown."

Dexter bowed his head to her. "Yes ma'am. I am now Rank 3 on the Specialist Force."

Marko glanced at the huge fella wearing a face cap hiding half his face. "Guess you knew him before I was born?"

Teresa did not reply his question and asked Dexter one of her own. "What are you here for!"

Dexter drew in a deep breath and spoke. "We of the Specialist Force of Terror Extermination were sent to recruit your son into the Gifted Academy. Order from the principal himself. Since we have confirmed his ability, he can be made into a fine gifted that will shake the future of humanity!"

Marko yawned again and said. "I'm not joining your club! I am staying here with my mother!"