Drai was the last one to arrive in his group. He scanned the surrounding students but couldn't find any familiar faces.
Olly waited briefly before addressing the group in front of him.
"Since everyone seems to have finished deciding their groups, let's begin. As you have been told, I'm Olly and I will be responsible for the strength-constitution group until further notice. Before we begin, please join our group's server in Solunapp by scanning this code," Olly said as he displayed a large screen toward the students.
Drai scanned the code with his comm and checked out the group server. He could see that the other students who had joined were displayed as members while Olly was the only administrator. Solunapp seemed to have used the photo and name in his ID as his profile picture and username, seeing as they were identical.
"Now that all of you have joined, please vote in the poll that I've just opened," Olly instructed.
Drai opened the poll and saw the question, "Which are your main attributes?" There were three options to choose from, and Drai voted for the third option, "Strength and constitution."
Olly looked at the poll results and nodded. He saw that it was the usual pattern of strength being the majority of the students' focus. Most of the rest focused on both strength and constitution while only a few had constitution as their only main stat.
"Since most of you have strength as your main attribute, we'll begin with that. Firstly, I'd like to test your strength before we begin our training. Follow me," Olly said as he turned around and headed toward a rock formation. The students immediately followed him.
Olly eventually stopped in front of a big rock that was slightly taller than him and quite wide. He turned toward the students behind him who was staring at the rock curiously.
"This rock, along with the others in the formation behind me, is a mineral called trablite. Although it looks like a normal rock, its characteristics make it very useful for strength training," Olly said as he put his hand on the rock's surface, pressuring it.
To the students' surprise, the part of the rock that was under Olly's hand trembled slightly before caving in with a loud crunching sound, swallowing Olly's arm up to the elbow.
"First, trablite is resistant to shattering. Its structure is able to change in response to external force," Olly explained while his arm was still embedded into the rock.
"And second…" Olly said as he pulled out his arm, leaving behind a deep hole. Not long after, the students were once again surprised as they saw the hole in the rock slowly close up until it returned to its previous state.
"…it can repair itself as long as the overall structure remains intact. That's why it's a precious commodity for training," Olly concluded.
While the crowd was nodding in response to the statement, Drai was busy drooling over the rock; he wanted to take a piece away so that he could train with it everywhere. He imagined himself sitting in a class, listening to the professor while clenching the special rock between his thighs.
'Maybe I should ask the professor later if I can borrow a small piece,' Drai thought.
Meanwhile, Olly continued, "Now, I would like you to test your strength against the trablite. We'll do it ten students at a time. If your name is called, please step forward and line up in front of the rock."
Olly then called out ten names whose owners immediately came forward as per his instructions. They stood in a row, waiting for further instructions.
"Now put one hand on the surface. Make sure you apply pressure instead of striking it with your palm to gauge your strength more accurately. Remember to push with all your might and memorize the feeling and depth so you can use them as indicators of your strength development later on. Ready? Now push!"
The ten students immediately strained their muscles and pushed against the rock with one hand. It was quite a sight seeing the ten buff young men try their hardest to make a dent in the rock, their faces contorted, teeth gritting, and veins bulging.
The scene didn't last long, as Olly soon shouted, "Stop and hold your postures!"
The ten students promptly stopped pushing and kept their hands on the rock. Drai was surprised to see that despite trying so hard, none of their marks even came close to Olly's; the deepest dent was merely wrist-deep.
'The professors are totally at a different level. Professor Olly didn't even seem to be trying, but his mark easily reached his elbow," Drai thought, impressed by the difference in strength.
"Oh, that's pretty deep. Looks like your strength is quite high," Olly commented upon seeing the student whose wrist was buried inside the rock.
"Hmm?" Olly remarked as he spotted a student who failed to leave even the shallowest of marks.
"I-I'm sorry, Professor," the student sheepishly apologized.
"Hey, there's no need to apologize. It's just a test. Let me see…"
Olly looked down at his comm and seemed to be reading something before returning to the student.
"Davon, right? I saw from the poll that your main attribute is constitution, so it's understandable that you can't do anything to the rock. Even that student with high strength could only leave a relatively shallow mark, let alone you," Olly assured Davon, who looked relieved upon hearing these words.
"Okay, you can all go back now. Next is another ten students. Please come forward if your name is called!"
The next group performed similarly to the first one. It was now obvious to the students that leaving a deep hole was not an easy feat. They finally realized how formidable Olly was. His casual attempt earlier didn't get much response from the students, but it was now clearly etched in their minds as some sort of goal.
Soon, it was the third group's turn, which also produced similar results. The only difference was that Drai had been quite interested in a rather buff girl who was part of this group. He had watched her closely while she was giving her all against the rock, but was quickly disappointed and lost all interest due to the girl's average performance. Her mark failed to reach her wrist, meaning that it was less than ten centimeters (4") deep.
'What a shame. She looked quite charming, but her hole is even shorter than my pee-pee,' Drai lamented.
After the third group was done, the fourth and last group was up next. Olly called out seven names that included Drai.
Drai and six other students stood in front of the rock with their palms resting on its surface. The strength-based students looked totally focused, as they wanted to perform better than those of the previous groups. It didn't matter that this was merely a test that wasn't scored; their competitiveness was ingrained. After all, their competitive spirit was the driving factor that mainly contributed to their admission in Soluna Academy.
However, Drai didn't have such a competitive spirit. How could such a feeling even sprout if he seldom interacted with his peers? The closest thing to competing that Drai had done was his repeated attempts to beat up the beefaro that had drilled a hole in one of his butt-cheeks.
But this didn't mean that Drai wouldn't try his best. In fact, he would probably try much harder than all the other students because his goal was different from theirs. If others set the highest achiever as the standard that they must beat, Drai's sole purpose was to become stronger and tougher.
It didn't matter to him whether others do well or if he could become the best among them. Drai just wanted to grow stronger. And due to his not-so-astute mind, he simply thought that being stronger meant surpassing his current state, which led to him constantly pushing his body beyond its limit during training.
Drai wasn't really aware that repetitive training, even under one's limit, could also lead to improvement, albeit at a slower rate. But this was truly a blessing in disguise, as Drai's unreasonable training methods had resulted in his equally unreasonable physique.
Seeing that all the students were ready, Olly shouted, "Now push!"
All seven students grunted and pushed with all their might. Having experienced the toughness of the rock, the other students watching this didn't have high expectations. After all, didn't they all have similar stats? Unless someone utilized a skill or physical trait, they would likely get similar results.
However, a loud crack abruptly caught their attention. The spectators' eyes were instantly drawn toward the noise, which let them witness the moment Drai's hand penetrated the rock's hard surface.
It could be seen from Drai's face how hard he was exerting his strength. His sunken arm pushed deeper into the rock. The staring crowd was shocked upon seeing Drai's elbow slowly disappear into the rock.
It didn't stop there though. Drai mustered all the strength he could; his muscles and veins looked as if they were about to burst at any given moment. Slowly but surely, his arm pushed deeper into the rock. It wasn't until his biceps entered the hole that Drai felt he couldn't push any further. Regardless, Drai didn't give up and gave it his all to overcome his limit.
The students watched in aghast as Drai's whole body quivered. His face was unrecognizable due to its redness and the numerous veins that were threatening to pop out of his skin. Some of the students even felt nauseous watching this grotesque sight.
"Stop now!" Olly shouted. The students who were pushing the rock immediately stopped and panted heavily, feeling relieved. They looked around instinctively, curious to see the others' results. However, their jaws dropped when they saw a grotesque figure whose arm was almost entirely inside the rock.
Drai was so focused that he didn't hear Olly's words. He was still desperately pushing the rock. He knew that if he relaxed even for a moment, all his strength would disperse and he would be unable to continue, as he was already at his limit.
Suddenly, Drai felt a hand grabbing his shoulder before hearing Olly's voice.
"Drai, you can stop now."
Drai actually wanted to ignore Olly and go on, since he still hadn't managed to push the rock any further. But he felt his strength slipping away due to Olly's interference, so he eventually relaxed his body, feeling slightly regretful.
Taking deep breaths, Drai turned his head to find Olly staring at him with a strange look in his eyes, which represented Olly's current feelings of concern, shock, and awe.
Murmurs started to arise from the crowd. The feat that Drai had just done left the students with various feelings. Some were looking at Drai in awe while some others had fiery eyes instead. A few students were harboring jealousy whereas a few others felt rather indifferent. But one thing that all of them had in common was that by now they all had noticed a particularly strong student named Drai.
***