Rin asked himself countless questions but suddenly felt a warm current over his head and regained consciousness, he was lying on the ground and rose to look ahead and met the gaze of the middle-aged man who had not yet fully lowered his hands initially in front of him at the clap.
"Huh?" x2
Rin and the middle-aged man had the same reaction, both staring at each other.
Rin understood when he saw everyone lying down that they must have suffered a mental attack, and depending on how long it took them to recover, the score would be higher or lower.
Astros is a golden awakener and a fairly strong one at that, so the illusion-type attack sent out earlier was reduced to a minimum, enough for the best to take a few minutes to get up, but ... why is a panda standing up?
the lieutenant, who wasn't paying attention, saw strings of characters appear on the tablet next to him:
- Number 896 - Rin - Spiritual Sensitivity Test: 2s ( SS )
- Number 601 - Shanna Matri - Test Spiritual Sensitivity: 2s ( SS )
he took an involuntary breath as if running out of air, not that Shanna shocked him it was even expected but the other name meant one thing ..... Complete talent!
The lieutenant froze in disbelief: "How long has it been since such a prodigy emerged in our stronghold... Not a mere pretender like Shen Yi, but a genuine talent..."
Shortly afterward, a screen displaying the results lit up, allowing the candidates to discover their rankings. Once everyone had regained consciousness, the results read as follows:
Number 896 - Rin - Spiritual Sensitivity Test: 2 s (SS)
Number 601 - Shanna Matri - Spiritual Sensitivity Test: 2 s (SS)
Number 356 - Shen Yi - Spiritual Sensitivity Test: 11 s (S)
Number 589 - Shin Genryu - Spiritual Sensitivity Test: 15 s (S)
Number 124 - Yuuki Shenzhen - Spiritual sensitivity test: 1 min 20 s (A)
Number 801 - Hayashi Yoson - Spiritual sensitivity test: 1 min 24 s (A)
....
Number 895 - Alliong - Spiritual Sensitivity Test: 4 min 5 s (D)
The candidates were stunned to see Rin at the top of the leaderboard, now looking at him as something out of the ordinary. Meanwhile, "the monster" couldn't help but laugh, holding his stomach as he contemplated Alliong's score: "All in the muscles, unfortunately, the brain isn't included in the package, ahahahah!"
As Alliong, red-faced with anger, began to hit the little panda who dared to mock him, a commotion swept through the room.
Seeing that the order was returning, Lieutenant Jin spoke up in a commanding voice: "Silence!!! I present Mr. Astros, a level 39 Golden Awakened. He's one step away from becoming a platinum awakened, so a little respect!!!"
At these words, spoken with gravity, the whole room fell silent, even Rin felt an invisible pressure and had the impression that Astros was watching him with curiosity.
Lieutenant Jin continued: "He'll be here to give you the spiritual test. While the first test required you not to expect it to show 100% effectiveness, that's not the case for the next one. So, I'm going to introduce you to the next test: the Spiritual Absorption Rate. As its name suggests, this test will reveal your ability to convert mana. This data is crucial, because the higher it is, the easier it will be for you to apprehend your stigma, learn the mana exercises, and, above all, absorb the energy of the awakening stone as best you can!"
While he explained the details of the test, the surrounding soldiers arranged crystalline tubes in the four corners of the room. After the explanation, the lieutenant asked all candidates to take a minute to concentrate, in absolute silence. Then Astros held out his hand and murmured: "Dream... Immobilization..."
At these words, imbued with a palpable mysticism, a pink mist invaded the room, plunging the candidates into an extremely relaxed state of semi-consciousness. The soldiers then triggered the tubes, releasing raw mana into the room like a breath of wind, each participant instinctively absorbing the energy. Yet the vast majority immediately rejected it. These reactions, meticulously observed by the soldiers, revealed innate data that could rarely be modified, except in exceptional cases.
During this ordeal, Rin felt a strange sensation, as if an invisible force were moving through him. At first, he felt overwhelmed by a new, unfamiliar energy, which manifested itself as tingling throughout his body. He tried to hold it back, to channel it, but it slipped through his fingers like fine sand.
An internal dialogue began in his tormented mind:
"What's that?"
"Mana... that's all it can be, mana!"
"I must control it, hold it back... but how?"
"Concentrate, Rin. Visualize it, imprison it in your mind..."
Despite his best efforts, Rin could feel the mana slipping away from him, flowing out of his being like a river overflowing its banks. He tried to pull himself together, to concentrate more, but the force within seemed too powerful, too elusive.
After ten minutes or so, a soldier in a white coat handed Astros and Lieutenant Jin a tablet: "The data is compiled: there are 2 SS, 3 S, 6 A, 52 B, 103 C, 256 D, and 474 E."
Rin's thoughts were interrupted by Lieutenant Jin's announcement: "All right, you can wake up now! We're going to announce the results!