Blake stepped on the black belt of the treadmill and Kevin strapped a big metal ring with rollers on Blake's waist. He also tightened things with various straps.
'Even will these straps and metal ring strapped to me it doesn't feel obstructive at all. In fact it is giving me balance.' Blake thought.
Kevin somehow guessed what was going on in Blake's mind and said "Don't worry Blake, these all provisions are done only to make sure that you don't fall if you get tired and decide to suddenly stop running instead of slowly reducing your speed. None of these safety measures will affect your performance on the treadmill negatively."
Maria brought the big machine and place it beside the treadmill. She looked at Harold and asked, "Should I put the mana counter on his chest, Sir?"
Harold nodded and said "Yes do it, Maria. And I have heard that you are good at operating military-grade equipment and also a good nutritionist. Is that true?"
Hearing this Maria had a blank face and she quickly looked at Kevin who simply nodded. She then looked back and Harold and with a determined voice said "Yes sir."
Harold said "Good, then from now on Blake's and my two kids' diet will be decided by you for the next three months. And keep a record of all their tests as well. These mana counters are military grade but I had them specially ordered in such a way that their minimum is 5 and maximum is 10,000. They did cost more but it was worth it."
Maria had a bright smile when she heard all this. After marrying Kevin and leaving her academy job to come here with him. She thought she might never get to do the things she is good at. But seems like that's not the case here.
She quickly bowed 90 degrees and responded "Thank you, sir. I will make sure to give the best results. And its good that even after being military-grade, they can be used to measure mana of children who have just awakened."
Maria took out a 10cm diameter glass disc surrounded by a metal frame and stuck in on Blake's left chest. She then pressed a button on the disc and the glass disc glowed a little and the mana counter machine activated automatically. Numbers started getting displayed on the machine's screen.
Maria looked at Harold and said "First, let's take a reading for his baseline then we can compare it to the results we get with his everyday exercises." and Harold nodded to that.
'I planned to do the same thing but since Maria is a natural at stuff like this makes my work a lot easier.' Harold thought.
After looking at the screen for a few seconds she had a shocked expression on her face as she looked at Blake and then at Harold and said "Sir his heart rate and all are steady as if he is meditating which is rare but not impossible. But the thing that truly baffles me is that his mana counter reading is 1050. There must be a mistake right? Some one who has just awakened should have his reading close to 15. Some of high level clans who use various treasures like monster cores and crystals can get reading of 60-70 but 1050 is impossible. His body should have exploded due to so much excess mana."
Maria said all this in one breath. The only logical expression for all this would be the machine malfunctioning and nothing else made sense. She looked at Kevin who had the same shocked expression as her and then looked at Harold who had a neutral expression as if that's what he expected.
Harold looked at both of his employees and said "This test never happened alright?" and both of them nodded.
Harold then looked at Blake and said "Try thinking the smoke is dense but very scarce and light. Think it of being just powerless smoke."
Blake nodded at this and in front of Maria and Kevin the number on the machine started decreasing.
Maria looked at it and said "I-It's dropping 1050...900...680...500...340...200...110...75...40. How can someone control the mana in their body and its not like he sucked in more mana for higher number or leaked a large amount of mana to lower his number."
Harold chuckled and then looked back at Blake and said "That would be enough and go back to normal. Don't try to control it."
After a few seconds the number reached back to 1050. Maria had tried everything from rubbing her eyes to restarting the machine again and again but nothing worked and the score remained same.
Harold looked at Blake and said " Now all that's enough. Let's start with the exercises."
Blake started running on the treadmil and little by little his speed started increasing. Things were going pretty normal as Blake wasn't showing any abnormal speed for someone his age.
"Hmm...that's odd." Maria said while thinking something.
"What happened Maria? is something the issue?" Kevin asked. Before Maria could reply Harold answered Kevin question.
"His heartbeat isn't wavering right? It's as if he is still meditating." Harold said in a cold tone.
"How did you know about this sir?" Maria frowned.
"Thats the reason I had these tests taken. Blake isn't even sweating a little even after running for such a time. The only explanation is that his soul spirit is keeping his body in optimum condition the whole time."
"You mean to say the soul spirit is nurturing its host's body? That doesn't make sense at all." Kevin said.
"Why is this kid so abnormal Sir? Is this the reason why you have called him here for training?" Maria asked.
"Y-You guys k-know I can h-hear you guys, right?" Blake said while running. They were talking about how abnormal he was the whole time as if he wasn't even present there.
'I got lost in all this to such an extent that I forgot that he is here. Everytime I am in some research, I forget the things and people around me.' Harold thought as he facepalmed himself.
He looked at Blake and said "Whatever we say makes you more special Blake but also remember not to share it with anyone. And for now continue running until you feel tired."
'Let's see what is his physical limit' the three adults thought together with stars in their eyes.
'I feel like an experimental rat.' Blake sighed and continued running.
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