Michael went to a martial gym. It was 8 AM in the morning, and he was full of energy. He had to check to his progresses and train his martial arts.
The Argonauts Martial Gym he went to was a place created by an elite guild named Mythology.
They had many gym like this in all cities, creating a franchise and a business empire. That same guild was created by an expert in martial art, a legend in the Empire named Serge Frederick, nicknamed 'Siegfried'.
The gym had a great reputation, great backing and powerful instructors.
They had small branches for students and (F-) type life form. Since there were a huge difference between F-classes, the unofficial classification of F class was F-, F and F+.
As such, he would have to be worried of encountering a F type capable of killing him during his practice.
He went to the counter and showed his membership card to the pretty receptionist, who gave him a smile.
He answered her with his own smile, making her blush. Even though it was early, the gym was half full.
After teasing the pretty receptionist, he went to a set of equipment and started his workout. He called it a workout, but it was more like a check to see his limits.
He did complete lifts to understand his max.
A lift allowed him to check that he could raise 110 kg(243lbs) for each arm. After the exertion he calmly went to measure his running speed which gave him a result of 35 km/h (21,5 mph).
The test to verify his reaction speed was in a special room called 'Laser room' however.
He took a short break to recuperate and then made his direction to the Laser room. Once he entered the room, red balls with light weights would shoot at him at progressively faster speed from different angles, and he had to avoid them.
The walls had small holes the ball would shoot from thanks to a device that shot compressed air. The computer would then measure how many balls he avoided and announce his score, telling him his reaction time in milliseconds.
Stepping into the room, a countdown started. Michael waited for the countdown to end with a calm anticipation. As soon as the countdown showed the number '0' a red ball shot at him from the front.
He avoided it with minimal movement by pivoting to his right. Then the shots came one after the others.
20° shot from the right, 15° from the left, 40° from the left... The balls would shoot at him from the front at progressively faster speed and different angles.
He avoided the first ones easily, but the exertion got harder as time passed.
He was finally hit at 14 seconds. Then he was shot more times until the exercise ended on its own once the computer had enough data. His final score was 150ms.
The exercise was short but a little tiring. He had to remain tense through the whole test to check his real data.
The result came out as fast enough to be an athlete but not enough to even considered F- type beginner.
He wasn't discouraged, however. He had just started, and he hadn't put any attribute points into speed and reaction.
He left the room and went to train his swordsmanship. What Michael didn't know was that someone was recording his information...
....
Michael had made some enemies while in high school. He had a certain popularity with some of the girls, not to mention the school belle had confessed to him.
Despite the rejection, he still made some of the class displeased. He had few friends, which contributed to his isolation.
And now he was part of the top 5 who had a chance to take part in the Nirvana Program. Their parents were comparing them to him, asking them to be like him...
There was no outright hatred, but here was certainly displeasure.
So when he went to the Argonauts Martial Gym, he was noticed. He was not the only one going to the gym to check his results after all.
Jerome Gilt had been one of those classmates. When he saw Michael enter the Gym and test his limits, he discreetly approached to see the results.
Jerome wanted to know if Michael had received a good talent, and his stats would give him some hints.
He could even see the reaction speed results through a monitor connected to the computer of the 'Laser Room'. After a few minutes of watching, what he saw made him almost laugh out loud.
Whether in strength, speed, or reaction Michael was below average.
Any talents would give humans a bonus that would make them level up easier. The fact that Michael had come here to check his stats was proof that he had spent some time levelling up and wanted to verify his progress.
'His talent must be garbage with the progress he has made' he thought
He had no way however of knowing that Michael's talents were focused on long term growth. If he did, he wouldn't have had this reaction...
Jerome posted what he saw on a friend's group chat. This was shared again and a third time until the whole class knew about it. By now, everyone knew.
Michael had been the only poor kid who succeed into the top 4. The other 4 had tutors, advance training, amazing nutrition even some advanced university courses and college professors... So he was particularly eye catching.
What his classmates read however provoked some jeering and schadenfreude.
....
Frank Hicks was in a good mood. At first, he was depressed by his bad grade and his parents had been angry and disappointed by him.
He came from a prominent family, and his marks meant he wouldn't have access to the greatest programs.
Not only that but his parents were comparing him to the top 5 and Michael in particular who had less resources than them but still succeeded.
His talents being D grade brought him some comfort, but what he saw in the group chat made him exited.
He wasn't close to the Martial center, but he swore that he would pass by often from now on to ask Michael for 'practice through fighting'.
"I will start tomorrow" he thought.
...
Ignoring the plan of his classmates, Michael went to practice his martial arts. The practice was simple : he would strike some dummies.
The dummies in the gym were robot advanced enough to fight and spar. They could be programmed to defend, retaliate, and you could even program it's attributes and martial arts.
He of course put in his data to program the same attribute as him and as for Martial art he chose E.S.M.A.
The Empire Standard Martial Arts include boxing, throw, wrestling, ground fighting even weapons with knife, spear, swords...
He learned all he had to know in school. Taking a wooden sword, he took the standard stance that was drilled into him and fought.
He didn't have enough money to pay for an instructor, but he still had enough to pay for the dummie to fight back.
From vertical slash, to poke to feint, he tried different option to open the defence of the dummies without success. After fighting until exhaustion, he left and returned home.