Following the line order, one youth after another made their choice of test.
Some chose to fight against someone who had already passed the test, while others chose to try and defeat apprentices of the administrator. Some passed their trials, others failed.
However, one thing remained consistent: no-one dared to try and fight the administrator.
Soon, Kane's turn arrived.
As he reached the front of the line, like those before him, he was asked what his test preference was.
Taking a deep breath, a look of determination appeared on his face.
"I choose... to fight you."
Gasps could be heard around him. The carriage doors all opened as the inhabitants came out to watch what happened next. Only a look of shock could be seen on the apprentices.
From the man himself, a light chuckle could be heard.
"I wasn't expecting someone to actually take that choice. I suppose that means that you're either stupid, or confident. Perhaps both."
He moved forwards as everyone backed away to clear space for the duel.
"Do you have a weapon preference?" He asked Kane.
"I choose the spear." A calm response.
Like before, an apprentice brought said weapon over to the challenger, Kane took the spear, putting on a combat stance.
The man in armor spoke once again.
"To make this trial fair, I won't be using any weapon. However, before we start, I would like to ask the name of such a brave young man."
Kane smiled lightly as he answered.
"Kane. Kane Arthur."
The man nodded.
To the side, one of the apprentices began to count down the fight.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Fight!"
The moment it was called out, Kane dashed towards his opponent, simultaneously using (Eldritch Brain) to try to analyze how to win.
Swiping the spear at the man, Kane prepared in advance to follow through and use the momentum to release the Wind Piercer technique.
As he expected, the man dodged backwards.
Following the momentum of the spear, Kane slid his feet into position and thrusted the spear forward, adding extra force at the end.
The sound of piercing wind came from the move, but the man sidestepped this thrust. Although no-one could see his expression through the helmet, if one were to look at his face, one could see that he was somewhat impressed.
Only about fifteen seconds had passed since the start of the duel, but already the spectators at the side had the thought that Kane may have a chance at succeeding in his self imposed challenge.
Not letting up his concentration, Kane debated different strategies to not only land a blow, but defeat him in order to fully complete the challenge.
"Should I use (Tentacles)?" He murmured to himself as he began to execute his next moves.
Not wanting to give his opponent time to think, Kane swung the spear towards the man, following his sidestep.
As his opponent ducked under the spear, Kane rushed him, throwing a punch at him.
However, he was unable to land it.
From his crouched position, the armored man managed to jump backwards and avoid the blow.
Kane followed up by attempting to land an overhead strike.
As he had just jumped backwards, the man in armor wasn't able to fully dodge the overhead strike, barely sidestepping it.
Noticing that the man was off balance, Kane swept low with his spear, catching the ankle of the man.
Although it didn't knock him down, Kane still managed to land the blow.
A smile crept onto his face as he continued to move, wanting to defeat the man in the duel.
Noticing Kane's intention, the man readied himself as he announced that he would now lightly fight back.
As this information entered Kane's brain, he quickly processed it and understood that he now needed to be prepared to defend instead of being fully on the offense.
Although Kane maintained his previous offense in an attempt to stop his opponent from recovering, the man, who had already been hit, blocked Kane's swipe.
Kane realized that he was able to land a blow simply because the man had dedicated everything to dodging. From the fact that he showed up in full armor, it was easy to tell that the man preferred to tank and block blows instead of dodging them.
The man 'lightly' threw a right hook at Kane, though Kane realized that if he took this blow, it meant that he lost.
Kane quickly ducked and stepped towards the punch, letting it fly over his head, as he rushed his shoulder into the man's side to attempt to mess up his balance.
As the man was knocked back slightly, Kane took the opportunity to swing the spear at his head.
Using all of his strength to try and disorient the man with this blow, the spear quickly collided with the mans helmet.
The recoil from hitting the metal helmet, reverberated down to Kane's hands, causing the webbing to split.
However, the effects of the blow on the armored man were obvious.
His hands quickly went to the sides of his head, attempting to stabilize himself.
Taking this as an opportunity, Kane rushed the man with his shoulder, knocking him to the ground, before pointing his spear at the mans throat.
Silence filled the area as they admired the sight.
The tall man in armor lie on the ground, slowly recovering from the blow to his head, as Kane stands over him, victorious, spear pointed towards his throat.
Although everyone knew that the man held back, it was still amazing to them that this somewhat ordinary looking man, who seemed to be only eighteen, managed to beat this truly seasoned warrior.
However, the victor of this duel was secretly glad that he didn't have to deploy the skills he was keeping secret.
Coming out of his full concentration, Kane, panting, dropped the spear and reached his hand out to offer assistance to the administrator.
Accepting his hand, the man in armor stood up and nodded approvingly at Kane.
"An impressive youth. Kane right?"
Kane nodded.
"Very impressive, whatever academy you go to will be thrilled."
Kane thanked him before walking to the side to sit down.
As he sat down, the silver screen once again appeared in front of him.
Kane sighed.
"Well at least I managed to complete this. That makes... one, two... seven total stat points left. And a reputation point." He mumbled to himself as the next contester walked up and made their choice.
As he tried to figure out what a reputation point was, he felt the gazes of various people land on him from time to time.
Easily shrugging this off as an inevitable result of his actions, Kane continued to attempt to piece together what a reputation point is.
As the last person took their test, Kane finally looked up.
"My best guess now is that a reputation point is just quantified data of how well known I am. Beating a test instructor wouldn't instantly make my name renowned, but it would make me well known to the group that saw it."
Looking around as he muttered his theory, Kane noticed that of the twenty five people, beside him, that took the test, only seven managed to pass.
"Interesting. I wonder if this is a common result though..."
As this thought passed through his head, the test administrator called out.
"Well then. Eight out of twenty six. Not bad. All of you that passed the test, I suggest that you prepare everything you need, we head for the next village in five hours."
Those who had just passed the test seemed surprised.
"Only five hours to be ready? Hmm... I suppose they'll be able to return. Perhaps he's tired of the testing?" Kane once again mumbled to himself.
Although he had nothing to really pack up, Kane went to the village to say goodbye to everyone. Even though he intended to eventually return, he likely wouldn't be seeing the people of the village for a while.
Wishing goodbye to the people he had met, being gifted two books from James and a satchel from Sally, he returned to the testing site and was guided by an apprentice to a carriage with the number seven on it.
"It would seem that we were the seventh stop. Then if you exclude the administrators carriage... it would seem there are two more stops to make." He noted as he opened the door preparing to rest.
To his surprise, when he opened the door, he noticed that someone was already there.
The girl that had won with a rapier earlier was sitting in the carriage, silently reading a book.
Noticing that the door had opened, she glanced upwards and nodded to acknowledge Kane, before looking back at her book.
Kane reciprocated the nod and sat down, pulling out one of the books James gave him and looking at the cover.
This particular book, was a book on the basics of elemental magic.
After glancing at the cover, Kane wondered to himself if there were other types of magic since this world has many power systems.
What Kane understood from the portion of the book that he read, is that magic is simply organizing elements with the mind, to achieve a desired effect.
"Something like coding? Do all types of magic work like this?" He pondered.
Although he intended to keep reading two more people walked into the carriage.
The pair of boys were chatting rather excitedly, distracting Kane from his reading. Not wanting to force himself to fully concentrate, he closed his eyes to rest.