Asic Quadro dominated the accuracy test, holding onto his unbeaten streak with 195 points. If Morgan hadn't messed with him and cost him points, Asic could have set a new record with a perfect 200. He was far ahead of the second place by dozens of points. As for Morgan, after getting countered by Asic, he lost his focus and missed out on a good score, managing to add only 50 points from drone shooting.
Higgs stepped into the control room to dig through the camera files, trying to see exactly what Asic had done.
"He reloaded just once, right before Morgan tried to snatch his target, and after that, there was no sign of him reloading again," Higgs replayed Asic's footage over and over. He wasn't just imagining things—there really wasn't any footage of Asic reloading. But logically, it was impossible for the ammo to load itself.
"It's like the reload time just disappeared. No, it's more like Asic Quadro, that bastard, has a technique so fast that the camera couldn't even catch it, making it seem like the time vanished. It's not entirely impossible, after all." Higgs was both impressed and a bit in awe of Asic's skill. Reloading so fast that the cameras couldn't capture it? That had to be some next-level expertise.
"Now I really want to see how he fights," Higgs said to himself, his expectations for Asic so high that he immediately contacted the company behind the competition. Though he worked for the Miners Federation, he also took money from the big three companies of the new world.
One of the three pillars of humanity: Oceania.
Whatever it took, they had to recruit Asic Quadro into Oceania.
"The final test—battle against a monster."
"This test is straightforward. Fight the monster we've prepared for you. You don't need to win; just prove your worth to see if you're suitable for the rank of a two-star Miner," the examiner announced to the candidates. The crowd of applicants buzzed with excitement. Up to this point, they'd just been collecting statistical data, but now came the real advancement test for a two-star Miner.
You might not be able to run fast, lift heavy weights, or shoot accurately, but if you can take down an opponent, you prove that you're worth your paycheck. Unlike a one-star Miner, a two-star Miner has to face monsters in the mines.
If they performed well in this test, they might even get scouted by a company once it was over.
Handsome smiled, showing off his pearly whites. He'd been waiting for this moment for so long. Physical assessments and shooting drills had been boring enough to make him yawn a dozen times. Fighting a monster, though—that was the stage for him to shine.
"Alan Yuri," someone called.
"I'm up first!" Alan exclaimed, thrilled to hear his name. He'd been overshadowed by the others and was itching to seize this chance to shine.
Alan walked into a closed-off room, seeing nothing but a rectangular space about 100 meters long and 120 meters wide. Not too small, but not overly large either, designed to simulate a mine environment.
Mines aren't open spaces. They're narrow and claustrophobic. If a Miner faces an enemy there, they must fight in a confined, disadvantageous environment. Anyone not used to fighting in tight spaces would struggle during actual operations.
"Send in the monster," Higgs ordered the team behind the scenes. A metal door opened, followed by the sound of footsteps and labored breathing from something entering. Alan Yuri spotted red eyes glowing in the darkness before the creature stepped fully into the light. It looked humanoid, stood about 140 centimeters tall, with long ears, a short snout, dark blue skin, and a round, protruding belly.
It was called a Smurfman.
The Smurfman was a type of low-intelligence humanoid monster, related to goblins, though larger, stronger, and more cunning. It even knew how to use weapons. Alan noticed it carried a club.
"A Smurfman, huh? Not bad!" Alan grinned, grabbing a cylindrical object and pressing a button. The object extended, revealing a sharp tip at the end. He twirled the short spear to show off, pointing it at the blue-skinned creature in a declaration of intent.
"You have three minutes. You don't need to win. If you can't handle it, just surrender," a staff member's voice echoed through the room. Alan smiled. According to Miners Federation statistics, the average time a Miner needed to take down a monster was three minutes. If you couldn't do it in three minutes, you were below standard.
Three minutes. Alan was determined to finish it in three minutes. No, even faster than that. When the green light turned red, signaling the start of the test, Alan drew upon his inner energy to boost his physical abilities.
Alan charged, thrusting his spear, but the Smurfman dodged and swung its club, aiming for Alan's head. The club moved so quickly that Alan barely reacted, followed by a loud thud as it struck.
Alan tried to act unfazed by the blow to his face, jerking his spear upward to disarm the Smurfman, knocking the club into the air. With no weapon, the blue-skinned creature was harmless. No better opportunity to finish it than now. Alan unleashed his full power, aiming to strike.
He imagined the Smurfman would be dead in the next second, but Alan's dream shattered when the Smurfman ducked, agile and nimble, avoiding the spear and countering with a long-reaching punch.
BAM!
The Smurfman's fist collided with Alan's nose. Its agility was impressive; despite being related to goblins, it was a far more capable opponent. Many underestimated it for its goblin kinship, not realizing how much smarter Smurfmen were. Plenty had died for making that mistake.
The Smurfman wasn't just skilled with a club. It also knew hand-to-hand combat. It used its long arms to land a solid punch to Alan's chest, knocking the wind out of him. Blood started dripping from his nose.
'Damn it.' Alan raised his hand to cover his bleeding nose, instinctively stepping back. Higgs noticed the hesitation—a lack of experience that could be deadly.
"Idiot," Higgs thought. If it were him, he wouldn't even care about a bloody nose. He wouldn't take his eyes off the Smurfman for a second.
The bleeding was alarming, sure, but between the blood and the enemy in front of him, Alan needed to prioritize the enemy. With his attention too focused on the blood, the Smurfman took the opportunity to grab its fallen club again.
Alan had lost his best chance to end the fight. His desperation to prove himself led to a costly mistake—possibly the start of his downfall.
"Damn fool!" Alan swung his spear in frustration, charging in to strike the Smurfman. It defended skillfully, blocking the spear with its club, being extra careful not to lose its weapon this time. The angrier Alan got, the more his nose bled, staining his shirt red.
Alan lost his cool, and despite his spear skills being honed, his reckless anger got in the way. His confidence, bordering on arrogance, made him think the Smurfman would be easy to defeat.
In reality, Smurfmen were level-2 monsters, tricky to handle. They might not be as flashy or grand as other monsters, but they weren't weak either. At least this Smurfman fought with a lot of composure.
Alan fought with everything he had, but the Smurfman was sly. He couldn't find an opening to kill it. Three minutes passed, and the fight ended in a stalemate, though the Smurfman was heavily wounded. Still, a tie meant Alan failed the test.
If you couldn't kill the monster in the given time, you failed. Despite calling it a tie, it was a loss for Alan and a win for the Smurfman.
Alan left the exam room, his face tight with disappointment as those around him taunted.
"So what if he has five units of inner energy? He's still useless."
"Couldn't even beat a Smurfman. What a joke."
"You guys..." Alan Yuri was irritated. How dare they mock him? He wanted to see if any of them could do better against a Smurfman.
Other applicants went in for their tests, facing monsters mostly below level 2. No one else fought a Smurfman—at most, they dealt with goblins, giant lizards, or demon spiders.
The difficulty varied for each applicant.
Higgs watched the tests from the control room. He wasn't alone—there were dozens of others stationed in various observation spots.
They were the sponsors.
They were scouts sent by major companies to keep an eye on rookie Miners. Their job was to spot unpolished gems and bring them in for refinement. Unlike the scouts sitting in the glassed-off room, these were from influential companies.
Medium and large companies funded the Miners Federation's activities, and those who donated enough got special privileges to be here. Those who didn't have enough funding were in the glass room. It was a world where money determined how you were treated.
The monsters sent to fight the applicants weren't randomly chosen, despite what they said. They were selected by these scouts.
The Miners Federation office was essentially a marketplace for buying and selling miners. Performance assessment data served as decision-making metrics. What truly measured a Miner's value was their work—but to prove that value, they needed to do more than kill monsters.
They had to show their talent—to be challenged beyond their limits!
The monster had to match the applicant's strength. With Alan Yuri's five units of inner energy, sponsors expected him to take down the Smurfman, which was tougher than what other applicants faced.
'These naive chicks... They think the monsters in front of them are their enemies. But no, what they're really fighting is the expectation of their sponsors.'
'Struggle and fight! The world of Miners only has space for those with value. If you can't prove your worth, you're not worth the money or opportunity these companies would spend on you. The fate of the worthless is to remain laborers forever.'
"Next up, Handsome Undertaker!"
"Yeehaw! Finally, my turn to shine!" Handsome almost fell asleep out of boredom, uninterested in watching others fight. Back in the control room, the sponsors were discussing among themselves.
"What should we send against this guy?"
"How about a Smurfman?"
"A Smurfman would work. Alan couldn't beat it, so hopefully, this guy will."
They had high hopes for Alan Yuri, given his five units of inner energy, but he hadn't managed to beat the Smurfman. He might have injured the monster severely, but not winning made it meaningless. Results were what these business people cared about. Alan might have value, but he wasn't as interesting to them as before.
Handsome, though, was different. He had more inner energy than Alan Yuri. More importantly, he had ego.
"A Smurfman is too basic. I think we should send something tougher to see his power. I'm really curious about his ego, Muscle Engine. What can it do?" Fujioka from Sakamoto Corp suggested.
"His body is clearly trained to the extreme. Just by looking at him, you can tell he's got massive physical strength. He'd fit perfectly at our company," Sarn from Anshin Fitness looked at the data Higgs provided, eyeing the muscles on Handsome's body with interest.
"If you want to recruit him, you'd better bring a bag of protein shakes to woo him. How much are you willing to offer him? I could give him a ton," Swan from Stel poked fun at Sarn. One ton of protein shakes equals 1,000 kilograms—that's 1,000 bottles of protein shakes, enough to last a year.
"Let's see if he's got the goods first, but I agree. Sending a Smurfman is too basic," Sarn wasn't sure just how valuable Handsome was yet, so he hesitated to jump into a bidding war with Swan. But Swan was already sold, impressed by Handsome's physical performance metrics.
"Mr. Higgs, could you give us a suggestion for what monster Handsome should face?" Swan asked.
This was normal in the control room. Top scouts from big companies got to decide which monsters applicants would fight, like a reality TV show. When they couldn't decide, they'd ask Higgs for his input.
"Honorable guests, I recommend that Handsome face a Fishman," Higgs proposed.
"Fishman? Not bad," Swan was somewhat satisfied.
"If the Smurfman is a level-2 monster, then the Fishman is the most dangerous among level-2 monsters. Not bad at all," Fujioka adjusted his glasses.
"I agree. What does everyone else think?" Sarn asked, and everyone nodded in agreement.
"Send in the Fishman," Higgs ordered.
"Yes, sir," the team got to work, programming the Fishman to enter Handsome's exam room.
Handsome's choice of weapon? None.
Before each test, the staff led the applicants to pick their weapons, but Handsome walked past the armory without even glancing inside. He entered the examination arena empty-handed. Truly empty-handed—wearing only a pair of red strawberry-patterned shorts, drawing a few whistles from the control room.
'Dude's gotta be out of his mind.'
"Applicant Handsome, don't overdo it," Higgs warned him through the speaker.
"The best weapon... is the body!" Handsome flexed his massive muscles for the camera, his skin glistening with hot oil, showcasing his painstakingly trained physique in full. Whether it was disgusting or impressive was a matter of opinion.
"Observe this body! These muscles cry out for combat! To clash body against body is the greatest respect I can show to these muscles. I don't need any weapons."
"He's... really something," one of the scouts remarked.
"But I like him!" Swan was absolutely taken with Handsome. The crazier, the better. According to a 50-year study by a university in the U.S., the most powerful inner energy users often had unbalanced minds—the crazier they were, the stronger their inner energy.
This extreme, outrageous personality was exactly what made Handsome marketable. This guy could be a star—assuming he could beat the Fishman.
The door opened, and a massive figure stepped out of the shadows, water dripping onto the floor, pooling around its feet. It was a humanoid monster with pitch-black skin except for a white belly, mucus covering its body, and a head that resembled a fish with tendrils.
A Fishman—catfish breed.
Fishmen were common monsters found in the sea. They harassed human settlements and frequently attacked fishing boats, cargo ships, and tourist vessels. They were stronger than Smurfmen and came in many varieties. They were smart—understanding language and martial arts.
This particular Fishman was a freshwater catfish breed, not from the sea. A group of Miners had caught it, then sold it at auction, and the office bought it for $1,600.
"W-what the hell?!" Handsome couldn't take his eyes off the Fishman. He seemed shocked, his pupils dilating, his breathing heavier than usual.
"Heh, looks like the chick finally realizes the difference in strength between himself and his enemy," Higgs smirked at Handsome's reaction. The musclehead hadn't shown any fear since entering the advancement exam, but now it was dawning on him that he was just a clueless rookie.
"Such beautiful muscles! My friend, I am Handsome! Come join me in the world of bodybuilding!"
"..." Higgs fell silent.
"..." Every sponsor representative in the control room fell silent.
"..." Every other applicant fell silent.
The dude's not scared of anything!
"Hrrrm!" Handsome struck another pose, his entire body flexing, his muscles rippling rhythmically, fully under his control.
"With the power of these muscles..."
"Grrr," the Fishman flexed back, mimicking Handsome. It wasn't doing this because it wanted to—it was simply copying human behavior. Watching the muscular man and the large Fishman show off their muscles made Higgs break into a sweat. Even when Asic had shown off by shooting down 90 flying targets, Higgs hadn't felt this uncomfortable.
"We can't broadcast this scene. Cut it out, or at least censor it if cutting isn't possible. It's inappropriate," Higgs ordered his subordinates.
"Yes, sir."
Every time there was an exam, the Miners office would broadcast the highlights. Handsome's fight would definitely be aired—except for this part, unless they decided not to cut it.