CHAPTER 115. Three Assessments ((Part-2) out of 3}
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Nearly an hour passed since then, and the first assessment almost came to an end, with only one of the 9 Earth's Alpha Chosen left to complete their first assessment.
As the last of them, Kensei stepped into the portal entrance designed specially to match his Sword Innate Talent.
Everyone was watching how far he would reach with interest. Because the one just before Kensei had gone as far as 920 meters.
No one expected Min-soo to be the one to reach Stage-9 of the first assessment that even Olivia wasn't able to accomplish.
Until Min-soo finished his first assessment, Olivia was the one who scored the highest by reaching 895 meters, just five meters away from the 9oo-meter mark.
Now everyone was waiting to see if the usually silent Kensei could bring them any surprises.
Within the screen that showed everything that's happening in Kensei's assessment location, there weren't any wind storms like how it did for Gabriel or the violent lightning field for Brandon or similar to the deadly darkness waves in Sergei's case.
Instead, there were a hundred swords of various sizes and shapes stuck to the ground.
As soon as Kensei stepped in there, they all began to shake. Just as he was about to cross 10 meters, a sword shot itself towards Kensei with its sharp end pointing at his body, and Kensei used the Sword in his hand to strike it. Still, the Sword that flew towards him only got deflected and once again shot itself towards him, intending to stab Kensei.
So, he continued to deflect the Sword whenever it was about to harm him, and with every 10 meters he crossed, an extra sword joined the stray and made it harder for him to pass through.
By the time he was at the 100-meter mark, ten swords were attacking him without a rest, but that didn't hinder his movement at all as he deflected them with ease.
After the 100-meter mark, even bigger and broader swords began to attack Kensei, and by the time he crossed the 600-meter mark, he was under a constant restraint of 60 swords, and he could barely move further.
Out on the platform, looking at the situation inside, most of them believed that Kensei couldn't last long before those swords would stab through his virtual avatar.
Henry murmured to himself, "Come on, Kensei, weren't you supposed to be my rival? How could you be defeated in Stage-6 when I was able to enter Stage-7?"
Brandon, who was standing right beside Henry, heard him and said while looking at the screen, "You don't need to worry about him. Didn't you notice he has yet to use his Sword Aura? If my guess is right, Kensei is using this as an opportunity to test his own limits."
Brandon's words caught the attention of others, and they all seemed to realize that and waited in anticipation for what's about to happen.
It didn't take long before Kensei began to use the Sword Aura and passed through the barrage of the swords with ease.
One by one, he entered higher stages without any hint of slowing his pace.
In just a matter of minutes, he crossed the 900-meter mark with more than 90 swords constantly obstructing his path, shocking the other Earth's Alpha Chosen.
It was because other than Min-soo; he was the only one who managed to reach Stage-9 of the first assessment.
At the same time, in the virtual sword grave, Kensei struggled while dealing with the 91st Sword that was stronger than the other swords combined.
There was a significant difference in difficulty with every hundred meters. After 900 meters, it was even harder to pass ahead.
From the looks of it, Kensei seemed to have reached his limit, but soon, everyone outside noticed the trans-like state that he was in.
Kensei didn't seem to struggle anymore under the barrage of 91 swords and walked ahead at a slow pace while continuing to deflect the sword strikes using his Sword Aura without even looking at any of those swords.
Andrea was intrigued and asked MJ, "Great Venerable, what do you think of the strange state that Kensei was in right now?"
Others looked at MJ, waiting for his answer as they too were interested to hear about it.
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MJ then shed some light on what was happening to Kensei, "He was in a Pseudo-state of enlightenment and initiated the process of merging three minor weapon masteries."
Seeing that others didn't understand what he said, MJ began to explain in detail, "You all must have noticed that maxing out a Minor Weapon Mastery was three times easier than that of a Minor Elemental Mastery of the same grade innate talent.
That is because unlike elemental innate talent users, who can directly upgrade their element into a higher element, the weapon innate talent users had to merge three minor masteries of a particular category weapon to reach Major Weapon Mastery and turn minor weapon aura into a major one."
MJ then further briefed on the two types of enlightenment. The process of upgrading Minor mastery into a Major one can be done through entering a state of enlightenment, and there are two types in it.
The first one is 'Immersive Enlightenment', where one enters a reclusive state of meditation and they wouldn't be aware of anything around them.
The second one was the 'Pseudo Enlightenment', which typically occurs when one is pressured to their limits. However, the latter type of enlightenment was less effective than the former one.
Everyone on the platform turned their attention to Kensei, who advanced further at a steady pace while in Pseudo Enlightenment.
Kensei's three Minor Sword Masteries were
He merged two of them and managed to cross 960 meters successfully, but once again, he came to a halt while facing the power of the 96th Sword that joined the attacks of the remaining 95 swords.
Kensei tried to merge his third minor mastery to create a Major Sword Mastery while still in the Pseudo Enlightenment, but he had failed to achieve it by a hair's breadth.
If he had succeeded, he would have overcome the 1st Universe Limit, just like Akor.
However, it's not so easy to upgrade to Major Mastery. It was already quite impressive that Kensei managed to reach as far as he did in just nine days since the start of the Trial Program.
When Kensei gave it his all and barely reached 970 meters, he could take the combined might of 97 swords, and those numerous swords stabbed his virtual avatar before he respawned on the platform.
Everyone began to look at Kensei in a new light. Under everyone's astonished gazes, Kensei maintained his calm face, but underneath that, he was actually quite shy.
Ever since he was little, he didn't interact with people his age, since he trained in the way of the Sword in seclusion most of the time.
He didn't even attend schooling and was only instructed by a private tutor on the basic knowledge required for the modern age.
Meanwhile, Henry had his jaw dropped with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
He treated Kensei as his rival, and when Kensei was having trouble in Stage-6, Henry wanted him to press on so that Kensei could reach Stage-7, the same stage as him.
But, not only had Kensei exceeded Henry in the first assessment, but everyone else as well.
Henry usually annoys others by challenging them often and with his self-absorbed attitude.
So, Andrea and Kasim took that opportunity and approached Henry before gloating at him, "If this continues in the next two assessments, you couldn't be Kensei's rival anymore. You have to up your game."
Henry's mouth twitched due to them making fun of him, but he couldn't retort and stayed silent.
Right then, MJ projected another screen that showed the results.
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First Assessment Results:
1. Kensei: 970 meters (Stage-9)
2. Min-soo: 920 meters (Stage-9)
3. Olivia: 895 meters (Stage-8)
4. Andrea: 855 meters (Stage-8)
5. Brandon: 820 meters (Stage-8)
6. Sergei: 810 meters (Stage-8)
7. Henry: 760 meters (Stage-7)
8. Kasim: 715 meters (Stage-7)
9. Gabriel: 690 meters (Stage-6)
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Soon after, MJ announced the details of the second assessment.
"In the second assessment, it will be to test your close combat prowess. For this, I will be restricting you all to lv 26, Tier-3 Low-Phase with the same amount of overall stats.
Not only that, but you also wouldn't be able to use your Innate Talent, skills or even your Spirit Energy, for that matter. This will be pure hand-to-hand combat."
Hearing that, the first one to react was Henry, as his face glowed with excitement.
He then looked at Kasim and Andrea before lifting his chin with a newfound arrogance and said with a smirk, "It's as if this second assessment was tailor made for me. When it comes to hand-to-hand combat….I am pretty confident in reaching Stage-9 or even the 10th one."
While some were shaking their head at Henry's overconfidence, he requested MJ to start the second assessment with him.
Henry's actions brought Gabriel a sensation of Déjà vu because an hour back, he was just as excited as Henry, though not so over the head as him. Gabriel just laughed to himself and waited to see what would happen.
MJ raised his brows at Henry's request but ignored him and announced, "In this assessment, none of you will be fighting against each other; instead, each of you will be facing a certain someone's virtual simulation as the opponent. Everyone's stats will be restricted to match Lv.25, the peak of Tier-2 and usage of your Spirit Energy, Innate Talents and skills will be completely restricted as well."
As MJ's voice ended, a few seats emerged beside the square platform, and except for Henry, MJ teleported everyone else to those seats.
Just after that, someone else appeared just opposite Henry with their eyes closed.
Before MJ could further explain the rules, Henry impatiently asked, "Great Venerable, how does this work? Does the stage I could reach depend on the amount of time I would take to defeat this crimson-haired man's simulation in front of me?"
MJ scoffed at Henry, "You are gravely mistaken if you think you could reach higher stages. Hmph! I will be impressed if any of you could even manage to enter Stage-6. The second assessment is undoubtedly much harder than the first one. Also, this isn't about how long it would take to defeat your opponent, but it depends on the duration it takes for you to survive.
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