CHAPTER 25
As Kai's strength test result was announced, Ray almost found himself gasping in shock.
Van unconsciously took a step back as he stared at the teen's back.
Then Kai did the most absurd thing he could possibly do in Ray's book.
The moment his score was announced, he tilted his head to face the silver-haired boy and then gave him a wink.
'Show off.'
Seeing how she had let herself go for a moment, the female instructor swiftly regained her composure as she adjusted the rounded glasses properly on her face.
"I should have expected something like that from a son of the Larsons."
Hearing her words, Ray's brows furrowed in confusion.
'... Why is she speaking like that? Is that annoying dud someone of importance? And wait! Why can I hear her words clearly from this distance?'
The silver-haired boy quickly rubbed his ear confusedly as, for some reason, ever since he awakened his system, his senses had been turned up a notch compared to before.
But the instructor's voice suddenly cut through his thoughts.
"Next test," she announced as she pointed to the burly man whose duty was to help the teens onto the bar thingy.
But Kai lifted his hand, stopping the man dead in his tracks.
"I can manage," he said with the corner of his lip curled into a smile.
Tucking his hands back into his pockets, he leaped off the ground and landed on a bar gracefully.
"Are you ready?"
"...."
Silence was used to reply to the question as Kai calmly pulled his bandana from his head and placed it perfectly on his face, covering his eyes while letting only his nose and mouth be seen.
Then he struck a nonchalant pose with his hands still in his pockets before giving the instructor a nod.
Ray, seeing this attitude, somehow felt rubbed the wrong way as he frowned.
'Like for real, what's wrong with bro? Why is he acting like the main character of a show or a novel?'
"Begin…" the instructor's voice cut through his thoughts.
The next second, a spike was shot toward Kai, who swiftly dodged it by a wide margin even with his eyes closed.
Another was fired, and he immaculately leaped over it, landing a few bars away.
With a faint smile, the instructor moved her fingers on the tablet.
After tapping a few buttons, she pushed her index and middle fingers from the bottom to the top of the tab.
Instantly, spikes were fired out rapidly at the teen, who didn't even fret.
Immediately, he became almost a blur of motion as he weaved gracefully between the spikes.
Sidestepping, leaping, and even at times leaning backward, he immaculately cleared each obstacle while hopping from bar to bar.
He was so calm, fluid, and graceful, like a dancer who had honed herself through countless days of relentless training just to wow her crowd.
Within a minute, he had cleared the bar without as much as breaking a sweat or removing his hands from his pockets as he landed after crossing the entire thing.
Something which Trisha hadn't even been able to do.
And for some reason, her icy-cold eyes narrowed as she glared at the show-off who was now removing his bandana and placing it back on his head.
"Agility; 65."
"Grade; 6."
"Hump. Nice," Kai commented casually as he walked away to stand off to the side.
Trish couldn't help but keep glaring at him from the corner of her eyes.
Ray gulped silently as he stared at the two powerhouses standing nearby.
'And we are in the same batch? And I haven't even seen the grades of the others. Damn, this is bad.'
But the next second, he curled his fingers with grim determination.
'... No. No use ogling at them. Just focus on being the best and becoming a much bigger monster.'
"Ray Dawson."
Hearing his name, Ray's heart skipped a beat before settling down as he strode over calmly.
Soon enough, he stood in front of the woman.
"Ability?"
Ray shook his head.
The woman turned to the burly man, who provided another earth-ability book and handed it over to her before she passed it to the teen.
Ray received the ability book while staring at it blankly until a notification went off in his head.
[Ooops. Host unable to learn ability due to incompatibility.]
[Will Host be willing to convert ability book to EXP?]
[YES/ NO]
'Huh?' Ray was stunned as he blinked rapidly at the screen flashing in front of his face.
'... Turn the book into EXP? Damn it. Now I'm tempted to actually do that, but I can't. What if I do so after collecting the book and they ask me a few months later if I've managed to learn the ability? What will I do then?
The risk was immense, considering the fact that they would keep a close eye on anyone with the earth ability. Is this why Van refused earlier?'
He paused for a few seconds, exhaling and shaking his head thoughtfully.
Then he handed the book back to the woman.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm uninterested."
The woman lifted an eyebrow as she stared at Ray intently.
'First the other one rejected the book, and now this one? What's going on? Have metas lost their credibility in the eyes of normal humans? I thought everybody wanted to be a meta,'
The woman frowned slightly but let it go, collecting the book and pointing toward the punching bag.
"... Let's see what you got."
With a deep sigh, Ray strode over to the bag and took a stance before it.
The signal from the woman was given, and he wasted no time jabbing his fist forward with all his might, colliding with the punching bag.
A small ring echoed, and numbers shuffled across the display for a moment before settling.
"Strength; 8."
'Huh?' Ray lifted an eyebrow, staring at the number for a few seconds before glancing at his system screen.
[STR: 8]
'... Is it a coincidence?' he pondered silently, shaking his head before walking toward the next test.
Climbing atop the bar alone, spikes were immediately fired at him.
With some effort, he began dodging them, albeit not as fluidly as Kai.
His movements were rough, jagged like a rock, as he leaped from bar to bar while avoiding the spikes at the last possible moment.
This brought back memories of when he had worked tirelessly just to afford the cheapest ability book.
Back then, he had been a twelve-year-old newspaper boy, earning only five credits daily.
Running to his delivery locations, he had learned to dodge obstacles in his path.
Once, he collided with someone, sending his papers sprawling into the mud.
That day, he realized the importance of attention, precision, and timing.
Swerving around people, leaping over sudden hurdles, ducking under buckets of water—these sharpened his senses and refined his reflexes.
He began moving swiftly across the bar, his breath slightly ragged and a bead of sweat forming on his face.
Still, he persevered as the difficulty ramped up, pushing himself until he could no longer maintain the pace.
At thirty seconds, a spike finally struck him.
"Agility; 9."
Ray sighed deeply as he dropped from the bar, panting softly, his gaze fixed on his system.
[AGI: 9]
The same system was used here, confirming that the measurements were consistent.
"Grade; 1.2."
Ray stared at his watch, now displaying the same number, letting out a disappointed sigh.
"Congratulations. You are all fully Aspirants and will now be teleported to camp to begin your training. Good luck."
The moment she finished speaking, a soft ding sounded in Ray's head.
[Congratulations: New attribute unlocked.]