Just as Miss Mizu asked, all the students with arcane powers separated from the ones with physical powers, but Richard chose to remain where he was originally standing, not going to either the arcane power side or the physical power side.
Seeing this, Miss Mizu was slightly confused and thought Richard didn't hear her. She then called out to him, saying, "Hey you," she paused as she realized she didn't know his name. Ronin, who stood next to her, then said, "His name is Richard," leaning in as he whispered in her ear, smiling right after, almost as if he felt slightly accomplished that he was able to remember his name.
Miss Mizu then called out to Richard again, saying, "Richard, is it? I thought I instructed for those with arcane powers to move to the left and those with physical powers to the right. Why are you still standing in the center?"
Richard smiled slightly then proceeded to reply with a smug tone, saying, "Well, you see, Miss Mizu, you said to give it our all in this test and hold nothing back."
"And?" Miss Mizu asked, wanting to understand how that instruction related to Richard's current decision to not choose a side.
Richard then continued, saying, "Well, simply put, if I go to the arcane side, I'll be holding back my physical abilities, or if I go to the physical side, then I'll end up holding back my arcane abilities."
Hearing Richard say this, he couldn't help but attract serious glares from his fellow classmates, Luna, Luella, and Jarmin excluded.
"What is he up to now?" Alex mumbled. He had already mentally marked Richard as someone who couldn't resist making a display out of everything, thanks to his rather bold speech in the orientation hall, the way he casually entered class during lectures, and went ahead to disrupt the class by provoking the teacher into making him display his skills, which inevitably made the class end with a rather awkward note afterward when she took a certain female student to enlighten them on the importance of spell circuits.
He didn't particularly hate Richard; he just knew people like him were best to be avoided but not ignored, seeing as how his actions always seemed to have some sort of impact on the people around him.
"Are you saying you can use both physical and arcane powers?" Miss Mizu asked with a serious tone. Clearly, she did not believe Richard could, and his boldness to say he could was starting to get on her nerves.
"Yes, I can. Is there a problem with that?" Richard asked as he proceeded to fold his hands. Suddenly, the Absolute Plausibility System's voice echoed in his head.
[It has been detected that the host is currently the target of extreme emotions.]
[Do they intend to harvest it to obtain Plausibility points?]
Upon hearing the system's voice, Richard mused, "The Absolute Plausibility System. As long as I'm able to cause massive emotional waves to the people around me, I'll gain plausibility points. It gets me excited to see it's working just like I wrote it to in the novel."
Responding to the system's question, Richard's words echoed in his mind as he responded, saying, "Yes, harvest all extreme emotions directed towards me."
[Notice!! Once the host has chosen this method, they will no longer be able to use the other.]
In the novel, when Richard created the Absolute Plausibility System, it was intended for Alex to discover it after Dr. Arensoft had finished experimenting on it. There were two ways to gain plausibility: either by harvesting extreme emotions or feeding the system monster cores. Being the kind of person that he was, Alex naturally chose to feed it monster cores, but Richard currently doesn't have such a luxury and needs plausibility points so he can put the next phase of his plan in motion.
Richard then replied to the system, saying, "Obviously, I choose to harvest extreme emotions," he smiled slightly.
[Settings confirmed...]
[+5 plausibility.]
Miss Mizu, not wanting to get involved with the troublemaker, simply let out a sigh and then said, "Do whatever you want."
...
Alex and Ava stepped forward, walking towards the elevated platforms. Glancing over to the left, Alex noticed a white, techy weapon rack with all sorts of basic weapons. As he approached it, Miss Mizu noticed him and said, "You can pick any weapon you know suits you best, or at least the one you are used to."
Alex didn't need her to tell him what he already knew. Before Miss Mizu could even finish talking to him, he headed over to the rack and pulled out a sword. He lifted up the weapon, took a good look at the blade, and noticed it was dull.
"It must be to prevent the students from doing too much damage to the testing dummies," Alex mused, gazing at the sword intensely, then at his reflection. "Well, it doesn't matter. My power doesn't need the sword to be sharp in the first place," he then turned around and walked up to the platform. Ava did the same, but because she wielded an arcane power, there was no need for a weapon.
As both of them got on the different elevated platforms, a barrier was erected, touching the ceiling of the massive room. Miss Mizu then spoke up, saying, "Okay, both of you have 10 minutes to do as much damage as you can." As she spoke, a blue digital heads-up display materialized, showing the timer.
The dummies in the secluded barrier, originally only white in color, suddenly gained color and began to move, adding an element of realism to the test.
Miss Mizu's voice then echoed as she said, "You may begin." In that moment, Alex's eyes and sword took on a golden glow. The dummy that was in front of him was a simple E-rank green goblin, holding a worn crude wooden dagger.
"Kekekek," the goblin laughed. It then lunged itself at Alex, coming in for an attack, leaping from side to side to make its attack unpredictable. Alex simply gazed at it calmly, not even seeing it as a threat.
Once it was close enough, the goblin leaped into the air intending to deliver a swift attack. Inwardly, Alex remembered what Richard said a moment ago, "Give it our all, huh?"
In that moment, time seemed to slow down. Alex breathed in, then out. He brought his right leg forward slightly, leaning forward, spreading out the left at just the right angle. He held the sword by his left side, when the goblin finally got close enough, then swung the sword as fast as he could. He instantly cleaved the goblin dummy in half. But that wasn't the only thing his swing did. A massive golden mana blade was created that went forward to collide with the barrier surrounding the platform he was in, seriously cracking it.