It was more and more impossible dodge as more balls came out from more places. The circle of movement shrank every second so Darius had to be aware of where to stand. The circle was shrinking in an odd way. Instead of remaining as a perfect circle contracting to the center, the circle moved to random places conditiously every second as well.

When Hope first took this test she suffered abysmally. She got a good score, but this test was the most nightmarish for rookies. The fact that the movement circle moved and changed shapw like a bubble was a horror.

Darius persisted with his dodging, causing Hope to frown further. By this time he should have been using his hands to block but he was still only evading. Hope was curious how he would react next next, as the circle slowly shifted to a wall. Darius shifted most of his focus to the wall because a shorter distance meant a shorter time to react.

The circle was already a seventh of its original circumference. Darius then made a bold move. While ducking, flipping and sliding, he moved to the edge of the movement circle. This was a bold move as one mistake would have him out of the circle, but it did give him time to react.

Hope refrained from teling Darius that he had already passed the test as was the tradition. To see the limits of how far a rookie could go. Of All the tests, this simulated an intense battle scenario the best. Yet still, this was nothing compared to fighting the serpentis.

Even though he could not use arts or skills, his instinct and senses were far above that of the average person. The boost of the rudimentary Clear Sky Physique started coming into play. If he had had this boost during his fight with the serpentis he would have dispatched it with much less effort.

Not a moment would pass during recovery that he didn't rethink his movements and choices. He remembered the fight to incredible detail. Reflection of it seemed like a good idea to him because another thought spurned his mind. What if he had to do something similar in the future?

The old man was his master, but it was also the old man that put him at risk. He said he would explain in due time but Darius was not happy. Who knew what that old man would throw at him next. Not to mention that odd hologram that the old man was showing respect to. Darisu was aware of all that was happening around him. He just couldn't listen in or focus on some details. Either Darius came to a notion. Power, he needed more power!

The stronger he was the better the chances of his survival. Ro did not lie, Martialists had an incredibly high survival percentage even among all proffessions. The only reason it wasn't higher was because many Martialists took on more than they could chew.

Darius was motivated on passing this test. Earlier on he had an internal battle on low key or high key. Low key profile was bullshit! He was gonna go high profile all the way. The tallest tree attracted the most wind, but it was still the tallest tree!

As Darius got more motivated, his body reacted in kind. His focus increased and he danced along the line.Then out of knowhere, a ball came out, at a speed much faster than before. These wildcards were input to appear randomly and were the main reason people failed the test. The previous wildcards were nothing compare to this one, and it came from the wall Darius was close to.

To make matters worse, two wild cards were shot out from behind him, faster than the previous. These two were likely to hit him first! Hope snickered, this boy had bad luck, Ro raised a brow in interest, curious to see how Darius would deal with this.

Ping!

Ping!

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Hope and Ro were impressed. It was quick but superb action from Darius. He stepped forward, hands behind his back. He grabbed the two balls behind him and used them to deflect the ball ahead. He caught a ball! Two no less!

These balls were incredibly fasr. It was like trying to catch the fastball of a professional pitcher who focused on fastballs from Major League Baseball. Darius had superb control and caught them, that was the first ping. The second ping was his using the balls he caught to smash away the one incoming from his front.

Darius smiled. When he was told that his hands were immune he already understood that he could catch the balls. Using balls to block other balls. This was something that Hope had trouble doing even now! Of course sshe trained at a much higher tier but still this was relative!

By the time he was her age, he should be able to do this with ease. This wasn't simply fast reflexes. Awareness, muscular control, dexterity and hand-eye coordination but all be top notch.

"Irie" Ro could not help but clap, he was truly impressed. Darius continued to take the test for a few more seconds until it shut down by itself. Ro looked at Hope with a questioning expressioning. Hope cringed as she said, "he has supassed the limit teacher had thought was possible for rookies."

"Dayum young blood." Ro was thoroughly impressed. He had never heard of this happening before, which meant that Darius was the first! Darius had assumed that he had finished in the required time required to pass the test and walked out. He saw Ro's incredibly jubilant face and Hope stone wall expression, she was clearly hiding discontent. Darius knew he had done a fantastic job and did a mental fist pump.

He wanted to be the tallest tree. He wanted the most water, he wanted more exposure to light. He wanted the strongest trunk! He wanted everything he could get. Darius was happy, and his happiness angered Hope. She thought he was being smug, but in all honesty, she meant nothing to Darius. He was just happy, she was being envious.

"So what's next?" asked Darius with puffy cheeks. Hope frowned and said, "What aspect of battle are you best at. Support, defense, offense etc." Darius scratched his head. He wanted to lie and say support for multiple reasons but his survival was at stake here, the more accurate a value they had for his abilities the better the training he would receive. He sighed and sigh, "Strength and elemental type Offense."

Hope then walked out of that room and the duo behind her followed. They arrived in an observation room similar to the previous one. The room they were observing had nothing except a metal plate. The plate was 2 square meters right in the middle of the room. Hope pointed to the metal plate and said, "Hit it with your strongest attack."

This test seemed simple enough so Darius walked out. Ro was incredibly curious, as this was the test he looked forward to the most. Hope pretended to be emotionless but she was also bursting with curiosity. She knew he would do something freaky. The last test was different according to what type of fighter one was. Darius was an offence type warrior so this was the test for him.

In battle one rarely had the opportunity to blast their opponent with their strongest attack, but this test was a show of talent and potential in one's field of expertise. And as Darius surmised, it also allowed the teachers to create a better training schedule more suited for him.

Darius arrived at the metal plate. He had received a lot of boons after his fight with the serpentis. He was a genuine 1 star Spiritknight of the Honour Step. Darius was not sure of whether or not he should use Thur's Indignation, the magic he had gained from his Astral God. Mjolnir's Fall was an attack type magic from Thur's Indignation, but they were quite a few prerequisites. First he had to activate an ability called Thur's Summons.

Thur's Summons was a domain type boosting ability, that temporarily increased ones affinity to nature; Thunder, water, lightning and life energy to be exact. The next prerequisite was Inborn Divine Strength. This was the highest form of an innate strength physique. Not only did it make you incredibly strong, it also gave one a small amount of divine energy, which was the bane of all mortality.

Darius gained a superb ability from the Dantian of the Colossus Spirit. It was an ability called Stupendous Might. The first skill, Absolute Power, temporarily gave one inborn divine strength! The second skill, Diamond skin, made one's skin hard. Almost as hard as a real diamond.

Certain abilities, that allow for one to go to the next step are diffrent. For Darius thos abilities are indomitable and Stupendous might. What made these skills different was that they gained an extra skill when one broke into the next tier. In other words, they not only hand a primary and secondary skill, they both now had a tertiary skill! The same applied to his astral god magic, Thur's Indignation. Mjolnir's Fall was the tertiary ability of Thur's Indignation.