After walking for a few minutes through a long corridor, we eventually arrived in front of a steel door.
That’s when Charles turned to us and spoke.
"Which of you wants to go through the tests first?"
Kevin had never gone through these types of tests, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.
That’s why I wanted Clentine to go first.
But...
"Amon’s first."
She kind of threw under the bus.
"Great. Let’s not waste any ti then."
Charles placed his hand on the door, and in the next instant, the door turned transparent.
He turned back and waved at to follow him in, so that’s exactly what I did.
As the door reappeared behind , I looked around, noticing that this room was far from normal.
It stretched out a kiloter in each direction. Aside from a few weird machines, it was completely empty.
Rather, there was a fake sky above , as well as so fake horizons on each side.
Either way, it didn’t take long for us to approach the strange machines, and the first one looked like a weird punching machine.
It had a massive pad in front, and the rest was covered in steel.
"Punch this pad as hard as you can. For now, don’t use any of your Gifts. Only raw power, got it?"
"Sure."
Charles moved aside.
I disabled all of my buffs and stood in front of the pad.
Then, without hesitation, I shifted my body weight and struck the pad, causing a powerful gust of wind to spread out at the point of impact and blow my hair back slightly.
Though despite how powerful the attack was, the pad absorbed all the power.
And before I could process what was happening, Charles chid in:
"Your estimated strength is Grade 40 to 45."
"So now I can use my Gifts?"
He raised a brow.
"Only if you have any physical enhancent Gifts. Or I guess, any that fall into that category."
Since I can enhance myself with Black Lightning and Telekinesis, that probably counts.
Channeling my Gifts through my body, I took a step back and nodded at Charles.
The mont he nodded back, I struck the pad once again.
Just this ti, there was a loud whistle that resounded after my punch, followed by a powerful gust of wind that blew back several ters.
I stopped myself with Telekinesis, and then stared back at the pad, which surprisingly had a small dent in it.
Though the one most surprised was obviously Charles, who stared wide-eyed at the sight.
"Uhh..."
"Y-Your estimated strength is Grade 55 to 60."
"I jumped up 15 Grades? Are you sure this machine’s not broken?"
Charles shook his head, and then pulled out so glasses from his dinsional ring, putting them on.
"N-No. It’s working fine. Let’s move on."
Shrugging at his reply, I followed him to the next machine.
It was a steel table with a single red button on it.
"You just have to press the red button once it starts to glow. This will test your Perception and Speed stats."
How’s it going to test both?
"I can tell from your expression what you’re thinking. You can trust when it cos to evaluating other people, since my Gift is based on perception."
"..."
In that case, I guess it’s fine.
"Can I use my Gifts?"
He paused for a mont.
"Let’s do one without Gifts. Afterwards, you can use them."
With that in mind, the two of us began the second test, and by the end of it, Charles just stood there with a blank look.
"Normal Perception and Speed are that of a Grade 50 to 55."
"W-When using Gifts, Perception and Speed are that of a Grade 65 to 70."
He t my eyes.
"I’ve never seen sothing like this before."
"Your reputation was that of a demonic trash, but who knew that trash was so powerful? Heh. I knew I shouldn’t have believed those rumors of people saying you’ve died."
I rolled my eyes.
"Get on with it. How many more tests do we have left?"
"Just one more."
Sighing, he pointed toward another table, but this ti, instead of a button, there was a crystal.
"Place your hand on that crystal and channel all your energy into it. If you have multiple Gifts, channel their energies as well."
"This will test your Vitality. I’ll stop you when I see you reach your limit."
I tilted my head slightly.
"Isn’t the main point of Vitality to see how far you can go after you’ve reached your limit?"
"Uhh? What?"
Charles blinked several tis, as if he couldn’t understand what I just said.
"When you raise your Vitality, that also ans you raise the upper limit of your Gift, yes. Using your Gift after you reach your limit is just suicidal. You’re damaging your body and your mind for close to no gain."
Aha.
Yeah.
This guy and I are definitely not on the sa page.
Either way, I just smiled and nodded, getting through his lecture, until eventually, he moved aside and I sat down at the table.
I took a few deep breaths, and then placed my hand atop the crystal.
Even though it looked like an ordinary glass ball, its texture reminded of sand.
But even if I didn’t know how it worked, I wanted to put on a show.
So without hesitation, I began infusing the energy of all three of my Gifts directly into the crystal, causing it to turn pale.
A black color broke out, then a completely white color, linked to my Telekinesis.
Lastly, a cyan color, linked to my Sword Saint Gift.
As the energies of the three Gifts circulated inside the orb, the energy leaked out into the room slightly, twisting the surroundings slightly.
The floor of this room soon flew off, revealing a bunch of circuits that shouldn’t even exist in this era.
But those circuits weren’t visible for long, as my black lightning fried them, as well as everything else inside the room.
And so, within just a few minutes, I was completely out of energy, sitting in a pitch-black room and holding the fragnts of a broken crystal in my palm.
I didn’t even use all of my energy, as I had plenty more to spare.
Though...
I guess there’s no helping it.
I turned my head toward Charles, and only then noticed that his glasses had shattered and his complexion had turned deathly pale.
He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, trying to get so words out.
And finally, after just a few monts, he spoke.
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