'Four minutes to get a perfect score on this one?! How stupid of me! How could I be so naive?' Nera shouted in her head.
'This is way more than an agility test... How could they downgrade it like this?' Nera's pupils shook as she kept staring at the obstacles in front of her.
'Ah... Wait... My body is way stronger than it was compared to when I used to do track-and-field events in school. Those small school events are incomparable to this monstrously hard course but that's the only basis I could get.' She breathed out to relieve herself.
'I can do this. I'll do it as fast as I can. If it's impossible then I'd want to do even better than that.' She chanted, quietly, "I will do it."
"Any more questions?" Noah asked and people in front of him shook their heads up and down, but one. Sneering at his sister staring blankly at the course.
'How easy are you to read, Nera?' He mumbled in his head. '...You better get higher scores than me, idiot.'
Noah guided them all back to the starting line.
"Are you aiming for 100%, Rosa?" Ren asked.
"I just wanted to ask since I was curious, but why not try to get a hundred?" Rosa replied.
"Ah..." Ren nodded. Dianne smiled as Gerald stared at them.
"We can do this guys." Gerald cheered, monotonously.
The three of them chuckled at his unchanging tone and they all bumped their fists together.
"Let's have fun~," Dianne said excitedly.
The examinees holding the numbers 50 to 59 readied themselves on each line on the track.
Nera was stretching her body while the rest did so, as well. The only difference was the rest of them were randomly and lightly stretching, while Nera knew how to do it properly, according to her past world at least.
While doing so, Nera glanced at her back and saw her annoying brother, Noah, acting seriously. He and a few other knights from the Second Division were the ones appointed on this part. He didn't even greet her as how he'd usually do and only guided them to the track.
'Nice to see he's taking being a knight seriously.'
"Are you all ready?" Noah asked the examinees.
10 knights were at the finish line, each for the current batch of examinees, holding a device similar to a stopwatch. They would also observe the movements of the examinees and grade them while they stood there. In addition, in case someone uses aura, they were given special glasses that would give them the ability to see far and detect aura, this was just for precaution since most of the proctors were from Second Division anyway. As long as they focus, their instincts are enough to let them see if someone was using aura or not.
All 10 examinees nodded and readied their bodies to start.
Everybody was standing up while Nera's posing was the same as how sprinters would. She had a crouch position and was counting down on her own until she heard her brother's voice.
"Go!" Noah pressed a button to make a noise to signal the start.
As soon as Nera heard the noise, she accelerated faster than the other nine. She immediately reached the first obstacle in seconds, the hurdles.
"Woah!" Everyone shouted in amazement as they saw Nera pass everybody, leaving the wind on their faces. But Nera didn't see, hear, or feel anything else, she only focused on the task at hand.
With her focusing like this, she would've have unconsciously let out her aura but since she turned it off for almost a whole year, even her consciousness knows how to control it.
Nera jumped the multiple hurdles in front of her swiftly. She jumped on her right leg as her left leg stretches out and lands on the other side. Repeating 10 times, taking the pole at the end of the course, she ran another 20 meters to the next course.
Without slowing down or stopping, she stuck down the pole by the pit, and let the pole swing her body over the bar. Her legs shoot upward and high above the bar. Her body twists and land on the soft ground on the other side.
Nera passes the next courses briskly and with ease.
"This is easier than I thought." She mumbled happily as she passed by the tilted floors, the seventh obstacle. "And extremely fun!"
***
Noah, watching from the starting line with the special glasses, couldn't stop admiring his little sister.
"What the hell, Nera?" He laughed and looked at his stopwatch. "At this rate, you'll dominate this test."
Nera's mother, Peryani, couldn't stop her tears from flowing out as she watched her daughter pass through everything without getting hurt. Covering her face with her fan, she used her crystal bead necklace to record her daughter's accomplishments.
Peryani was sitting down with Jasmine and Jamie at her side.
Both the Vanderwale siblings couldn't stop staring at her elegant movements as she passed through obstacle after obstacle.
"Nera!" Jasmine suddenly shouted while she covers her mouth.
Jamie watched her silently, but without noticing, a small smile on his face started forming.
'Is this what you said about that being knowledgeable isn't the only thing worth doing in this world?' He remembers their banter from Nera's birthday. 'I guess you're right... Even I have to admit that's impressive.'
Although, never out loud, he acknowledges her skills.
***
Since this was the body test, people who arrived in the audience were only a few, but they were thankful and considered lucky that they got to witness Lady Ponterise's beautiful dance through the rigorous course.
"Last one!" Nera shouted in excitement as she saw the tenth course in front of her.
She stood on the wet surface sideways and tilted her body to slide down, looking as if she were surfing. As she reached the ground, she ran a few more steps toward the finish line.
"Finish!" Nera laughed and raised both her arms.
As she felt her body relax, her other senses came back. The adrenaline in her body faded away and her muscles were aching in fatigue. She held her onto legs, exhaled and inhaled deeply.
After a few seconds, she asked the knight assigned to her line, "So, how did I do?" She said between her breaths and beamed a wide smile.
The knight's eyes were wide and his hands were shaking which made Nera a bit nervous.
'Was I too slow?' She looked around and didn't see anyone else finished.
"You finished in one minute and two seconds, my lady."