Chapter 138 136 - Cause And Effect
Once the interview had concluded, the director of the show as well as Marcus thanked him again for his time and told him that if he ever was interested in appearing on the show again to just reach out. Milo and his friends then met up with him and were guided out of a back entrance to avoid the still raging crowd of students out in front of the practical training hall. Once they were out of the area, they all made their way to the Sim Room's lounge to talk.
"Are you sure this was the right move?" Mark asked.
Like Milo, Mark wasn't one to attempt to get into the spotlight. He enjoyed being able to work without any distractions which made him wonder whether Milo had made the right choice about getting into the limelight.
"It was a necessary step to make, word would've gotten out eventually, especially if I took part in the combat tournament at the end of year festival. It may have happened earlier than I expected but at least now I can start doing things earlier."
"What do you mean by things?" Chris then said.
"Since my name is out there now I can start building connections with some of the stronger guilds and within the association, plus I can start gathering leads on the Fellowship now," Milo responded.
"The Fellowship? Haven't you had enough of those guys?" Zach said.
Milo glanced at Krista, who nodded, before spilling the beans, "I have a feeling that the Fellowship is a lot more threatening than we think they are, during the attack on New York I fought against one of the cardinals, it was during my fight with him that I reawakened. Ever since fighting him and then them killing Corinna, I have to stop them, I want to destroy them before they can destroy the lives of anyone else. I still can't get the vision of purple flames burning people alive out of my head, I have to eliminate them before they can destroy our world."
Hearing that Milo had fought a cardinal, the rest of the group's eyes widened. "What happened to the cardinal? What number was it?" Chris finally asked. Mark was silent, hearing purple flames reminded him of the day his father was murdered. His hand tightened into a fist and his nails dug into his palm causing blood to drip.
"It was the 5th cardinal, his ability was to control these purple flames that would endlessly burn whatever they touched as long as he kept his ability active. After the fight I passed out but apparently I defeated him, he was found passed out near me and the Association took him into custody. That's all I know…" Milo purposefully left out the part about his ability disappearing. He didn't want his friends to be think the Fellowship could take their abilities too, plus it would be best if he didn't give any more leads that would result in them learning about the system.
Hearing more info about the man Milo faced, Mark began to sweat as an image from his past appeared in his mind. The purple flames, the 5th cardinal all of them brought back his memories of the destruction of Toronto. It was the 5th cardinal who had burned his home to the ground and who had killed his father. He felt a small amount of comfort knowing that the person responsible was now in prison, but Milo was right, the Fellowship needed to be destroyed and Mark made a vow to himself that he would do whatever he could to help.
Eventually the group fell into silence after hearing about Milo's experience with the cardinal. Up until now he had chosen to keep it a secret but since his reawakening was now about to be known by the world he figured there was no point in hiding his goal from his friends. "I think that in the long run, the interview will end up being a good thing so I'm not really worried about what sort of things will come out of it."
With this, the group decided to call it a day and went back to their rooms, it was back to classes the next day and they still had some homework they needed to finish. Milo himself was mentally exhausted, he had practiced his answers to the questions Marcus asked him, but still felt mentally drained from trying to make sure he wasn't boring for the show. Not only this, but he chose to let loose a bit with his ability when demonstrating, he felt there was no need to hold back and also took it as a chance to see just how much power he could put behind each element. Eventually he was snoring away and had no idea what kind of impact the interview would have on his life.
When Milo woke up, he went about his normal morning routine, he brushed his teeth, went to workout, showered, and ate some breakfast. Once he was done, he was on his way to class, a few people he passed said they had seen him on TV the night before. Milo had expected this much at least, but besides this things had been pretty tame compared to the crowds of reporters from the first few days after his reawakening had leaked. Girls were talking about him more and looking at him even more than before, guys would notice this and get jealous, giving him dirty looks. Overall, his reputation around the campus had gone up, very few people didn't know who he was.
On his way to his homeroom class, he got the first difference to his everyday life. While walking he saw a notification on his holo, it was a phone call from the director of the show he had appeared on the night before. According to the director they wanted to thank Milo for appearing again and even told him that they had record-setting viewers on the show. Hearing this caused Milo to do a double take, "was it really such a big deal that my interview had broken their record?" he thought to himself.
Following the call he had arrived at his class and took a seat with his friends.
"There you are, things have been crazy today, a bunch of people approached me on my way here, asking about you. The show must have gone crazy in the ratings department if people are coming to us about you," Zach said.
Milo smiled sheepishly, "I actually just got off the phone with the show's director, turns out it broke their viewer record…"
"Seriously?" Chris said, "You're gonna be famous bro, good luck with all the attention you'll be getting soon."
Class started soon after their conversation, they went over a few different things related to dungeons, and before Milo knew it, class had ended. Milo was called to the front of class by Headmaster O'Neil, so Milo went to the front.
"Hello Milo, just wanted to give you some news. We have received hundreds of messages of guilds wanting to meet with you since your interview aired last night, including messages from the Big 4, I thought you would be interested to hear about it. If you head to the mail collection room, you'll be able to view them all, along with this, the Association would like to retest you, considering you were determined to be a B ranked awakened when starting your internship, they want to find out where your abilities stand following your reawakening, if you would like you can take the test now, or we can schedule a time at a later date to take it," he said.
Milo thought about it for a bit and decided that now would be as a good a time as any to take the retest, so he informed Mr. O'Neil. Mr. O'Neil made a call, and soon a vehicle was waiting for him at the Academy's gates. He got in and was given a ride to the association headquarters. The towering building was the tallest on the artificial island.
When entering the lobby, Milo was surprised to see the association president Richard Brand. "Hello Milo, I saw your interview last night, and I must say your reawakening has given you an extremely versatile ability. To this day, I have never heard of anyone wielding all 6 elemental attributes like yourself," he said.
Milo had almost forgotten Mr. Brand's obsession with abilities. The GAA President escorted Milo personally to the testing area and continued to talk about the possibilities of Milo's ability. Once they arrived Milo went through the same test as before, he started with the combat portion and unlike his first time doing it he managed to clear all 5 stages, being able to use all 6 elements proved to give him an extreme level of versatility and it made the test much easier than before, the increase in his stats from levelling up had also given him a boost. Following the combat portion, Milo was guided to the room where the Magic Power measurement device was found.
Milo entered with President Brand and the person recording his results, the man recording the results gave Milo the instructions he had heard so many times before, he walked up to the machine and laid his hand on the crystal that would record his Magic Power, he then activated his ability to the extreme causing the crystal to glow brightly, brighter than it had ever done for Milo while taking the test. The number on the screen rose until it stopped at 139.
Seeing the number on the screen the man had to do a double take. Richard Brand simply grinned from ear to ear. The man giving the test immediately unclipped a radio from his belt, "S-sir, we have an X ranked Magic Power reading in test room 12, I repeat we have an X ranked Magic Power reading in test room 12."