The reverberating sound finally stopped echoing around the room, and a familiar male voice sounded in Alaric's ears again.
"Congratulations on dealing 443 points of damage! You will receive 443 points. Drink the healing elixir to continue."
Listening to the male voice Alaric became star-struck, no pun intended.
'443 points? I really am a Waterbender.'
A window suddenly popped up before Alaric.
'I get a skill point for that? That'll be useful.'
'What should I name it? Neytiri's water spear? No, too corny; let's just make it simple.'
"Water Spear."
'Oh, I got 2 skill points? Is it because I skipped creating my own low-ranked skill?'
Delighted, Alaric sat down to examine his newly created skill, ignoring the trial for the time being.
Species: Inferior Human Level: 1 (0/100) Stage: No stars Stats: (Strength: 10) (Speed: 10) (Stamina: 8) (Intelligence: 10) (Mana: 0/50) (Mind: 6) (3 Stat Points) Skills: (Wood wall) (Water Ball) (Water Spear) Quests: (Expandable) > < Middle-ranked offensive skill, Water spear. Description: Water spear is a modified skill of the Low ranked offensive skill Water Ball. Water Spear functions by absorbing the water molecules in the air and creating a spear made of water. Cast time: 20 seconds; can be shortened if there's an ample water supply nearby. Mana required: 50 mana.> 'I really went out of my way with this one, huh? 50 mana and a cast time of 20 seconds that might be hard to use in the future.' Closing the window, he thought back to the order of the tests the male voice had mentioned. If it was in order, the next test would be testing his mind and looking at his status, that was clearly his weak point. Testing one's mind might make it hard to open my status during the trial; I should add a point to it before I continue. Adding a point to the mind stat, Alaric felt a wave of calmness and focus flood his mind. Now ready, Alaric drank the elixir next to him and looked around while waiting for the effects to take place. The room looked quite peculiar; it had the same design as the exterior of the building but was completely empty. The room was quite spacious; looking up, there were at least a few meters of headroom, more than any human could ever need. While in a slight trance, looking around the room, the male voice returned. "The next test is in terms of the mind; you'll experience excruciating pain; the longer you last, the more points you gain. Remember that this pain won't kill or injure you; it's just a test of your mind. The test stops when you fall unconscious or give up. The test starts in 5...4...3...2...1." 'What, pain?' Alaric realized what situation he was in hearing the countdown and immediately sat down, readying himself. No amount of reading could prepare him for the pain he was about to experience, though. Shocked, he immediately closed his eyes, feeling the sudden burst of pain echoing through his head. It felt like he was repeatedly struck by lightning over and over again. Holding on for what felt like forever but was realistically around 50 seconds, Alaric felt a sudden urge to give up under the unfathomable pain. Just as he was about to open his mouth, a memory popped up in his head; it was of the quest window. 'I can't give up now; all my hard work and potential will be wasted! I can't afford to lose my ability to use magic. I also need that manual!' Gathering his thoughts again, he focused, more than he had ever focused before, only thinking of one thing, the 9 celestial star manual. Looking on, Sister Greta was utterly flabbergasted. First, this young man had scored over a hundred on all previous tests and even managed to get over 400 points on the magical power test. Those points are unheard of for a twelve year old. Even now, when it looked like he was about to collapse and give in after 50 seconds in the mind endurance test, he lost all emotion on his face. And he carried on like that, not losing his determined face in the slightest, even when getting close to 2 minutes. 'That is the mind endurance test! The average 12-year-old would pass out after only a dozen seconds of that torturing pain, but this guy is moving towards 5 minutes!' 'Most trained adults wouldn't even be able to do that! He might actually be able to pass the test!' Time passed really slowly, and the more time passed, the more dumbfounded sister Greta became. Eventually, after 5 minutes and 32 seconds, Alaric couldn't hold on any longer and lost consciousness. 'This little guy is quite determined, isn't he? That's good; the future is looking more and more promising.' Jumping down from a concealed spectator stand, Greta picked up the elixir next to Alaric and sat next to him. Lifting his head, Greta let it rest on her pure white thighs while feeding the elixir down his throat. After a minute or so of being unconscious, Alaric slowly started opening his eyes, his head lying on the softest pillow he'd ever laid on before. Opening his eyes to see what godly pillow he'd been resting on, he saw a pair of beautiful blue eyes looking down at him. Following the beautiful eyes, he saw it was connected to a pure white body. A pair of hills were covering his vision of the woman's eyes, confusing half-awake Alaric slightly. After a moment of gathering his thoughts and realizing who the feminine figure was and what godly pillow he'd been lying on, he wanted to scream out of delight. Catching himself before blurting out a scream of delight, he activated his poker face again. "Oh, hi, Sister Greta, what lovely weather we're having, huh?" Realizing his perverted thoughts, sister Greta quickly stood up, leaving Alaric's head behind and letting it fall straight onto the floor with a thump. 'Ouch, how could she see through my poker face that quickly!' "Carry on with the test; you've still got one test left." Sitting up, preparing to respond, she had already disappeared. 'She's probably watching then; I should keep feigning ignorance; perhaps I'll get a lucky opportunity at some point.' Rubbing the back of his head, he sat up and looked confused, trying his best to make it look natural. The old man's voice suddenly echoed through Alaric's ears. "Congrats on surviving for 5 minutes and 32 seconds! You have been awarded 360 points! The next test will continue in 2 minutes; please prepare yourself in the meantime." 'How did I get 360 points for a mind test? Does the mind stat not stack equally with the others? Yet another mystery.' During the break, Alaric opened his status again. Species: Inferior Human Level: 1 (0/100) Stage: No stars Stats: (Strength: 10) (Speed: 10) (Stamina: 8) (Intelligence: 10) (Mana: 50/50) (Mind: 7) (2 Stat Points) Skills: (Wood wall) (Water Ball) (Water Spear) Quests: (Expandable) > 'Next test should be the intelligence test... I have 2 stat points left, but I should probably save them. I should be able to apply them during the test if things go awry anyways.' The two minutes passed in the blink of an eye and the old male voice sounded again. "Commencing the last test, intelligence."