Reaching the fighting area, we see various machines and 3 scorecards on a hologram in the centre of the hall.
One is of endurance and stamina, the other one is of strength and power, and the last one is of agility and perception.
The power and strength scores on the scorecard are as follows:-
1.34,567,800. Lucy Farcel
2.29,875,322. Anonymous
3.6,435,031. Rudolph Virtue
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...
...
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100. 987,014. Ascart Leon.
The scores on the agility and perception are as follows:-
1. 0.003s. Anonymous
2. 0.009s Lucy Farcel
3. 0.05s Anonymous
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100. 0.045s Olivia Barn
The scores on the endurance and stamina are as follows:-
1. 50gravity 10s. Anonymous
2. 50 gravity 3s. Anonymous
3. 10gravity 2minutes. Lucy Farcel
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100. 5gravity 4 hours. Anonymous
"I'll go first," says Icelos(Chase) in an excited tone.
Then he proceeds to move towards the punching machine.
Corey is cheering him with all his might, attracting unnecessary attention.
Kaneto glares at him and he stops cheering but still had that *go smash that machine into pieces* expression.
Icelos touches a blue colour board on the punching machine's left side with his watch and moves back.
He mumbles something, closes his eyes, takes a deep breath then shifts in a proper position.
"All aura at one point...Hiyaaa," he shouts as he punches the machine.
The scorecard shows 47,345. Rank 3740.
"Would you like to show your result on the ranking board?" A voice comes from the machine giving the option of yes or no.
He looks a bit dejected with the score, then asks me with his eyes, what he should do?
I tell him to show and he does so.
I look around to find people with shocked faces.
Some could be heard whispering
"He is so young."
"Who is he?"
"Is the machine broken?"
"Should I ask him to join our party?"
"Let's wait for the other results."
Unaware of the commotion he caused, Icelos(Chase) moves to another machine.
His task this time is to run as fast as he can over 100m with a weight of 2Tons on him.
'No wonder the results are so low' I thought looking at the scoreboard.
Honestly, with how fast that supreme devil was it didn't fit for the highest score to be only 0.003s.
Chase moves to take his test.
He puts on 2 Ton with some difficulty, then he starts running...walking?...he finishes after a full 4minutes.
The timer shows 4minutes 37s...rank 2374?
Looking back at the scorecard it is the lowest score.
'Now that I think about it, is it really necessary to take all tests?' I thought looking at Kaneto who looks astonished.
'This guy...he wanted to make fun of Chase and break his overconfidence but looks like it backfired on him'
'Maybe there are lower weights available too' I thought
Chase who looks like he wants to go crawl in a hole somehow got up and starts to come back, but then he looks at my 'humble' smile and turns back after cursing once or twice. He then moves into the third machine and stands there. As time passed his face became more complicated, he looks like he is facing some pressure. After 15minutes he comes out all exhausted.
The timer shows: 5gravity 2minutes. Rank 769
This time people have their jaws open...some are even pinching themselves...while others are rubbing their eyes.
Icelos(Chase) comes back only to find the female staff and Kaneto look at him in astonishment.
"Shall we move to the next test?" I ask snapping them out of their stupor.
Phantesos(Corey) heals Icelos(Chase).
Chase is then asked to choose a weapon.
He chooses a sword as I asked him to.
Then a platinum rank adventurer was asked to assess Chase.
Chase moves towards the training area along with the adventurer.
"My name is Spencer. Platinum rank adventurer. Give it your best kid," Spencer speaks.
Icelos(Chase) nods at him and prepares to fight Spencer.
0.005s
Chase runs straight at Spencer and attacks him with a forward slash on his face.
'At least he is following what I said'
Spencer easily dodges his attack.
But then Icelos(Chase) increases his speed at least by 5 times.
0.006s
Chase follows with a barrage of upwards and downward slashes.
Spencer is astonished and smiling while dodging Icelos' attacks.
0.007s
Icelos then continues to slash without any basic pattern. Spencer starts to frown a bit.
'Well, that's the max he can do with only a week of training.'
0.007s
Spencer then catches the blade of the sword.
"Match over," speaks the referee.
"Is this the first time you fought with a sword?" Asks Spencer with a frown on his face.
"Yeah," replies Chase shrugging his shoulders.
"You pass based on your speed and power, your endurance and stamina are good too. But your proficiency in the sword is pathetic. Find a teacher or change the weapon. That's all," Spencer gave out the results of Chase as he lost interest in Chase.
'He assessed Icelos as overconfident because he used a weapon that he has no proficiency with. Maybe he thinks he is being looked down upon. Whatever the case be since Icelos passed it's all fine.'
The staff then asks a few more questions before leaving him alone.
He comes back with his assessment and updated information on his watch.
Name:Icelos Somnus
Attribute: water Aura
Strength and power: D grade
Agility and perception: D grade
Endurance and strength: C grade
Battle sense: E grade
Mana: 7
Aura: 490
As soon as he comes back a few more people surround us. They start asking questions altogether making him flustered. Then Kaneto comes in between them and stops them from approaching him. He then exudes a dangerous aura to intimidate them and make them leave.
...
Next is Phantasos(Corey)
He too follows the same pattern as Corey and does all the tasks but gets no rank in any of them as he was physically weak.
'Well, his main attribute is mana control'
Chase looks a bit worried about Corey.
Phantesos(Corey) then moves to another machine specifically for proficiency measurement.
He channels his mana and tries to fill the gap in the machines precisely.
The machine then shows the following result.
Mana attribute: Wood
Mana proficiency: 24%
Yup,
I asked him to choose wood over fire or water so as to create a difference between Corey and Phantasos. We have to hide our original attributes but we have to show our power.
After the battle with the demons, I asked(forced) him to do a few mana channelling exercises to increase his proficiency, which he did 16hours a day with minimum sleep over the last month. He already had talent so when added hard work we get that kind of proficiency.
...
People are astonished at his proficiency as it is quite difficult, even for an adult to reach that proficiency let alone a child.
He is then asked to fight a ruby ranked adventurer to assess him.
"Hey, cutie...don't go hard on this beautiful sister will you?" Asks a young girl, roughly 18 years. White hair that reached her shoulders, flat-chested and quite thin. Her height is average.
She wore a blue robe and a staff in her hand.
'If I am not wrong she is...' I mumble
"Lucy Farcel, one of the youngest mage to become an adventurer and fastest to become a ruby rank adventurer" Kaneto completes my sentence.
Corey looks confused a bit,
"um...are you lost?" He asks politely.
Her nerves twitched a bit.
But she still continues politely,
"I am a Ruby rank adventurer, Lucy Farcel. I am here to assess you."
"Are you sick?" He asks genuinely worried "Referee can you please help her to the infirmary." He says.
Looking at Corey, Chase speaks,
"I can't really say what led to this conclusion but what I do know is that he successfully pissed her off as she is fuming right now."
"That's it, you brat. Come at me, I am going to beat you up so hard that even your ancestors won't be able to recognize you." She says.
Corey looks back at us and I gesture him to continue.
He then sighs and shakes his head,
"Whatever happens, it is not my responsibility," he says.
'Don't worry Corey, I don't think you will be responsible.'
He then mumbles a chant and 3 trees start growing out around him in an area of a 5m radius. He then uses the branches of those trees to attack her.
She easily deflects those branches with a barrier,
" Today, I'll show you, to not underestimate anyone, no matter what condition he or she is in." She speaks as a purple fire starts revolving around her which then burns all the trees in an instant.
"Match over" speaks the referee.
"Huh?" Looking at Corey who is not responsible for anything is still confused at what happened.
"You fail. Grow up, that's your first lesson before trying again." She spoke before leaving.
Before he can speak anything the referee asks him to leave the area.
He comes back with an embarrassed face.
The staff members and others try to cheer him up but he still looked down.
"What made you think she was weak?" I ask him
"I don't know. Honestly, I wouldn't commit that kind of mistake. I am not an idiot. But why?..." He trailed off.
'Well, that was because you were already in her control the moment you looked in her eyes.' I thought
I once again look back at her, she is walking with
a sad face towards the hall area. She must have her own story too. It doesn't look like she has any malicious intent so it's probably fine.
...
Chase is given a silver rank.
I and Corey are given apprentice rank under Kaneto.
[Authors note:Wood rank We go back to our inn and reach our room. The only way to increase our rank right now is to defeat a higher rank adventurer one on one. So we have to get strong.