Last month during the Resmond physical exam…
"Hey, Joe [Gio]! Did you even trained for this exam?", Marko chuckled, preparing his modified pair of a table tennis racket, his weapon of choice, that will be used for the Resmond physical exam. Through the use of his mobile phone, he ensured that his rackets are connected and in sync with his gripping gloves. It was a weapon derived from technology.
"Marko, I am born ready. I didn't even bring my knuckles for this battle," Gio responded calmly with a smirk.
"Fool! Just because you are the top student of Herschel, that doesn't mean you are the strongest among the participants. This is a test for Super Humans, not just mere humans."
"Chill, Marko. Haven't you seen how easy the mental test we took a couple of months ago? The test is general for all aspiring heroes. We've been to Herschel, a great school that provides quality education." Gio sighed. "Just watch and learn. This is the new Gio 2.0. I learned a lot of fighting techniques from my uncle, though I still didn't consider him as my martial arts mentor. He can move his involuntary muscles, but only parts in his arms and legs, unlike me, I can move e-e-everything." Gio flexed his ability to move involuntary parts of his body, including his skin and bones.
Marko nodded and exhaled. "But still, we should prepare, even a little bit, because we might not know how competitive this Resmond physical exam is. Even our batchmates passed the mental exam because it just tested us how knowledgeable we are about these Super Human kinds of stuff." Marko continued. "You're classified as a Super Human, born with unordinary ability and feats, and you've been trained by your clan, so it will not be hard for you to pass this physical exam, unlike me, which is just a table tennis athlete only."
The speaker started announcing the upcoming Resmond physical exam. "Good morning to all future Resmondians. You may now proceed to our basketball gym to prepare yourselves. The physical exam will soon start in more or less than 30 minutes. Be sure to have all your forms approved and signed by the managing officials of the school. Thank you, and Al Doheda Senram."
"What did the speaker say? The head of Senram??" Marko babbled in confusion.
"I dunno either, but as far as I know, the founder of this school is a believer of a god named Senram. It might be their own 'God bless' version," Gio responded thoughtfully.
Marko sighed, "People surely believes in multiple gods, ey? It's clearly written in the book of Havito that there is only one god in this universe and no other else."
"Let's just respect their beliefs. After all, we went to a pro-Havitonian school, so we can't oppose their beliefs, because we haven't seen the other side of the coin."
"Sure, Joe. Anyway, the test will start soon. Let's go!", Marko replied, preparing himself for the test.
The participants, including Gio and Marko, were gathered in a basketball gym. There were many participants from all around the globe. Magic users, cyborgs, weapon users, and other weird creatures were all gathered in one giant basketball gym. Many of them are well-prepared, either practicing their crafts or testing their weapons.
"Marko, I think I should've brought my knuckles, hehe," Gio teased.
Marko changed his vibe. He was a little worried that Gio might not pass his test. "See! I told you! Don't underestimate this exam if you really want to pass. You know Joe, I really—"
A mysterious stranger, wearing a cap and carrying a robust backpack, walked towards them while they were arguing. The stranger interfered and picked up the table tennis ball. "Hi, Mister. I think you drop your table tennis ball."
Marko did not expect that he will pick up the table tennis ball, because it was destined to explode when it is in contact with any other human, except Marko's fingerprint. "Hey! Don't touch that! It will explo—"
Marko tried to grab the table tennis ball away from the stranger, but it was too late. A loud boom was heard in the entire basketball gym. Everybody heard the loud boom and looked for the source of it. Astonishingly, there were no casualties that occur. Smoke arose, and the explosion was handled in the hands of the stranger, which transformed into a solid rocky figure, as realistic as the rocks of the mountains. Gio and Marko were amazed at the arms of the stranger and at the response time of his hand. The stranger giggled. He returned his hands into the normal state, and then he wiped his hands into his shorts.
"That's a nice thing you got there. I'm Zai of the Shan Clan."
Marko apologized to the nearby crowd for the sudden uproar. He was puzzled. It was like he saw a preview of how powerful the participants of this exam were. He cannot comprehend that someone like him is able to stop the explosion with just his hand.
“I-I'm Marko, and this is my friend, Gio. We were classmates since high school. I’m really sorry about what happened today. I'm a professional table tennis athlete, and what you just touched was my modified table tennis ball that explodes when touched by others.”
“Nah, it’s okay. That was nothing but a scratch,” Zai lazily responded and reverted his arm to normal.
“Hi, nice to meet you!” Gio approached. “Name’s Gio, but my friends call me ‘Joe’. I'm from the Baldoza Clan, a clan that can move specific involuntary parts of our body. Unlike my father and my relatives, my case is different; I can move everything at will—.”
Marko interrupted. “Wait a minute. Zai, what you just did earlier… Are you a user of some Elemental Magic?”
“Yep. My clan specializes in using Earth Magic. And to be honest, I am just a new guy in this city. I’ve actually lived in a distant village near the Shan Mountains. Are you familiar with it?”
“Yes! That place is a famous tourist destination. Don’t tell me your clan was named from that mountain?!” Marko exclaimed.
“Yep. That’s right.”
“That’s amazing! Maybe you bring me to that place. I wanna watch those beautiful aurorae Borealis.” Marko chuckled.
“Yeah, sure.” Zai continued, “By the way, do you know where I can apply for the physical exam?”
“Have you taken the mental test?” Marko asked.
“I did, in my home town. Luckily, I passed the test. They sent me a letter to participate in this physical exam. I traveled by myself to this place. Boy, I never knew it'll be this far and tiring,” Zai responded wearily.
"Really?!” Marko gasped. “Have you tried seeking assistance towards your friends or clan members?"
"I only asked for the directions, but all the traveling was all handled by me,"
"That's so amazing! But let's just continue our conversation after filling up the forms and falling in line." Gio disrupted the almost-long conversation between Marko and Zai. He knew that Marko is a talkative man when it comes to meeting people.
Zai agreed, and he came along to grab his exam permit. Zai's papers were completely prepared, which made him an eligible participant in the test. After filling up a lot of forms, they fall in a long line to approve Zai's forms and get his exam permit.
Upon returning to the basketball gym, the speaker appeared on the stage situated on the left side of the court. The speaker appeared confident and presentable. She wears the teacher’s uniform astoundingly and has a beautiful smile.
“Good morning, my future Resmondians. Please find your respected seats, because, in a few minutes, we will start the physical exam,” she announced.
The students were quickly dispersed to find their seats. Since Marko, Zai, and Gio were a little late, they were forced to sit at the back.
After a few minutes, the speaker returned to the stage and began her opening remark. “Again, good morning, and welcome to our most awaited physical exam. Aren’t you all excited to see our potential freshmen battle it all out to pass Resmond?”
The crowd cheered gracefully.
“Before we start, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Felicity Hansel, but you can call me Madam Fely, and I will be the facilitator of this program. While our faculty is currently preparing for the exam, I will state the important rules and guidelines for this test.”
Madam Fely paused as the five robots appeared in front of the participants. The robots were in various shapes and sizes; some are enormous and bulky, while some replicated the human body. They were armed with big guns and rocket launchers. Immediately, a visible, transparent barrier appeared from the ground, creating a dome that forms a boundary between the audience and the basketball court.
“Okay, let’s continue. The robots appearing in front of you are created and operated by our wonderful Resmond Robotic Club. These robots won various awards in different contests internationally, and some of them are even bought by big companies. They are destined to test and grade your abilities for this exam.” Madam Fely continued. “Also, what you just saw rising is a transparent barrier made of a very strong force field that can withstand almost everything.”
“There are five robots that you will encounter in this physical exam: Agility, the thin robot with a human physique, will test your reflex in the battle; Speed, the robot with the sleek legs, will calculate the rate of your movements; Strength, the big-bodied giant, will base on the damage dealt by you to the robot; Endurance, the four-armed robot, will test your ability to continue despite all the attacks taken; Lastly, Intelligence, the big-headed, flying robot, will focus on your thinking ability in the battle. These robots will determine your overall performance and grade, which will dictate your chance of being admitted into this school.”
“Since I can’t discuss everything in detail, our staff will hand you out a pamphlet on how these robots work.” The school staff then proceeded to pass the pamphlets to the participants.
“The exam will only last for five minutes. After five minutes, the robots will stop automatically, whether the battle is on-going or not. Anything that happens after five minutes will not be recorded in your exam.”
“These robots are made of unbreakable steel, so feel free to go rough. But if you manage to break them, it’s alright, we have our Resmond Robotic Club in the corner which will operate and maintain these robots in good shape. Remember, our goal here is to give the robots the highest amount of damage that you can inflict upon them.”
“For the rules, there are actually no rules,” she chuckled. “But, if glitches and bugs are occurring on the system, don’t worry, Sir Rick is here to help. He will be my co-facilitator for this exam.” A middle-aged man wearing a gray, cotton robe went forward to the stage to introduce himself.
“Good morning! I’m Derick, but you can simply call me Sir Rick. For this exam, I will be handling what we can call your official grade for this exam. These robots are not flawless, so I will be in charge of rechecking the information relayed to me by the robots. If you think that you are unable to move further, you can surrender by crossing your arms in front of me. Our medical team will be there at your side but do take note that we will not handle all the medical expenses. We gave you a waiver; you should know that.”
“If you pass your exam, then your overall mental and physical grade will determine your section. We will announce your section right after your physical exam. We have seven different sections: Steinfeld, Argon, Bagorotti, Calvin, Dimrod, Elkov, and Finesland. The first letter of these sections is your grade’s rank. So, if you almost got a perfect grade, then congrats. You will be together with the top students at Steinfeld or Argon.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“And maybe that’s it! The order of participants will be in alphabetical order of your last names. We’ll give you an extra five minutes to read and study the pamphlets given. If you have any questions, feel free to approach us. Al Doheda Senram!”
----------------------------------------
GIO “JOE” BALDOZA
“Abenson Ednalyn, may you please come forward. I repeat. Abenson Ednalyn, may you please come forward.” Madam Fely continued to announce her name until she came forward.
Holy shit! I’m getting nervous. I didn’t know that this physical exam will have a very intense atmosphere. Gio was anxious as he was the first to be called among his friends. He was biting his nails and his legs started bouncing. He does not know when he will be called. The first participant walked towards the basketball court, in which the exam will take place. Gio watched the battle to cope up with his nervousness.
The five-minute timer started as it was projected in the LED display at the top of the basketball gym. As soon as it began, Ednalyn Abenson showed her beautiful wings. It was one of a kind. It appeared like the wings of an angel and flapped like a bird. She drew out her sword by connecting her two hands. It was a sword that was not made out of steel, but rather made out of concentrated aura. The color was gold, and it beamed out among the audience like a light.
Gio was baffled. Amazing. A woman with the power to concentrate a high amount of aura with just her hand? How was that even possible?!
At the first glance, the battle was quick to judge who will be the victor. Ednalyn was swift to dodge Agility’s basic attacks. She was able to deal massive damage to Strength, but her sword did not cut through. With her flight ability, she can cope up with almost every assault from the robots.
Intelligence was the only robot she cannot touch. It was a small, light-weight robot that can dodge any physical attacks swiftly. Its eyes turned red and only stayed at the top of the battlefield, radiating red light. According to the pamphlet given, this red light was used to scan and analyze a person’s movement and abilities. This information was then used and passed among the robots to aid them in their offense and defense.
After two minutes have passed, the robots changed their behavior. Strength grabbed her leg that opened up for Speed to give a strong kick in her face. Endurance was also there, but Ednalyn was quick to escape. She was shocked. She did not know that the robots were able to team up with each other. Ednalyn cannot get close to the robots. She only managed to deal petty damage, because she struggled with Strength’s incredible defense.
Two minutes left, and the robots started their incredible counter-attack. Strength held Agility’s left arm and threw him directly towards Ednalyn. She had no time to escape. Her wings were seized. Followed by Endurance’s four-arm tackle, she was brought down, allowing the robots to attack. She tried slashing both Endurance and Agility, but they didn’t flinch.
She was trampled consecutively by the robots. Ednalyn cannot move, which led her to convert her sword back as her remaining aura. To escape, she spun herself to a great extent, creating a strong, aura-powered whirlwind that drove off Endurance and Agility. After escaping, she maintained her whirlwind up until reaching the top of the barrier dome.
She closed her wings and spun thrice faster than before. The wind movement was strong inside the barrier. It drove Intelligence off in different directions. She then struck downward with her legs first at full power. Strength tried holding and stopping Ednalyn, but she was an unstoppable force. She sent a powerful shockwave that made the robots fly. The battle ended favorably for Ednalyn.
Gio analyzed the battle. He observed how the robots moved and noticed their patterns. Agility acts and moves like a regular human, evading and attacking at a regular pace. Strength is the powerhouse of the team. It was able to deal massive damage but was slow to block attacks. Endurance has a slow pace, but it never gets tired offensively. Speed is as fast as a cheetah, but its path is predictable.
Lastly, Intelligence was still a mysterious opponent to Gio. Intelligence does not fight. It only acted as a background accessory. It is the brain of the team, giving orders to robots by sending information about the skills and abilities of the participant. Intelligence is the main reason why the robots succeeded in trapping Ednalyn.
Gio seemed uneasy about what will be the outcome of his fight. He was not sure whether he will make it to the end or not. He pondered on how he will defeat the robots. While his friends were having a conversation, Gio sat straight and meditated.
“Marko, what’s your friend doing?” Zai asked Marko.
“He’s concentrating his aura. He normally does that whenever he had big fights.” Marko replied.
Zai and Marko felt the strong aura flowing throughout Gio’s body. The strangers that sat near him also noticed this situation and observed Gio. The color of his aura was pure white.
Woah! This was not how Joe’s aura was before. How did he make his aura flow very freely? How much did he train last summer?! Marko was perplexed, but he did not show his emotion in front of Zai.
Half an hour later, and Gio’s name was called. He did not pay attention. While he was on deep concentration, he never heard his friends speaking to him, nor sensed Marko tapping his shoulder. His name was called three times, but Gio did not flinch.
Baldoza, Gio. Baldoza. Baldoza!
“Oi, Joe!” Marko tried his best to wake up Gio by shaking him out in his deep concentration.
“Oh, sorry. What happened?” Gio awakened with his heart throbbing fast. He was not sure if he fully meditated. He felt that he was absorbed by his immense aura in his body so much that he cannot escape from meditation.
“Idiot, you’re next. Madam Fely has been calling your name for like five times!” Marko scolded.
Madam Fely announced impatiently. “Okay, if Mr. Baldoza won’t come here. I will be announcing the next participant.”
“Hurry, Joe!” Marko snapped.
“Okay! I’m coming!” Gio clumsily rushed towards the stage as Zai wished him good luck. The crowd watched him. It was an awkward moment.
“Sorry, Ma’am. I was just prepping up.” Gio wearily said as he was tired from brisk walking.
Madam Fely sighed. She noticed that the operators were not done yet fixing the robot’s damage. “Okay, we’ll be starting the physical exam in just a minute.”
Gio was relieved as he sat down to the floor take a rest. He observed the operators. They were changing and reconditioning some parts of the robots’. The robots looked like they took a lot of damage from the past participant. Endurance broke one of its arms; Strength had deep punch marks, while the other robots suffered minor dents.
What the fuck happened here?! Who was the person here before me? How was he able to punch straight to unbreakable steel? Gio had a lot of questions in his head. He sat for two minutes until one of the operators showed a thumb signal on Madam Fely.
“Are we good? Okay, let’s start!” Madam Fely stood up from her chair as the operators went back to their respective places. The transparent barrier rose, and the LED display projected the timer with Gio’s name at the bottom of it. Gio prepared himself by transforming his arms into a bigger and more muscular figure. He launched his white aura, which will help him fortify his offense and defense.
This was the specialty of the Baldoza Clan. The Baldoza Clan was known to have been born with an ability to move their involuntary parts of their body. However, Gio was born special. From his skin down to his skeletal parts, he was the only known member of the Baldoza Clan that can move almost everything in his body at ease.
Members of the Baldoza Clan can freely shift their hair, muscle, skeleton, and even their brain and heart. They perform all sorts of things that an ordinary human’s voluntary muscles cannot do. They can strengthen or transform a specific part of their body, but at the same time, other parts of their body will have less defense. In Gio’s situation, he reinforced his arms by transferring the muscles in his body to his arms, leaving his body to suffer more damage and have less endurance from the opponent’s attacks. This scenario also works well in his skin and bones.
The timer began, and Gio initiated forward towards Strength by concentrating his muscles on his quadriceps and hamstrings. He landed a strong punch to Strength. He slid back to the ground as he felt a sharp pain in his knuckles.
Agility and Endurance launched to attack. Soon after, he realized that these robots were used to distract him from Speed’s swift attacks. He then decided to harden his back in case of unexpected attacks, and it worked. He parried Agility’s and Endurance’s attacks and at the same time, he kicked Speed away by predicting its destined place to land a punch.
Suddenly, he saw Intelligence’s eye turned red. The red light pointed out towards Gio, analyzing every move that he does. Gio finds himself stuck on how he will outsmart his opponents. Shit, I gotta create some new movements to avoid being predictable. Think, Gio.
While thinking about his next moves, Gio kept blocking and attacking the robot’s weak points. He thought that the robots were still using their patterns and algorithms for the first two minutes. Okay, I think I’ve formulated an effective idea.
For the first minute, Gio conserved his aura. He repeatedly sidestepped and assaulted the robots approaching him. There was nothing special about his moves. He just read each of the robots’ movements. He knew that in this way, he can easily pass the test. But no, Gio aimed for the highest possible score that he can get.
“What is Gio doing?! Why is he acting like a simpleton? He will be placed in a very low grade if he continued performing that way.” Marko was frustrated as he watches Gio. “This isn’t a fight. This is a dance performance!”
Gio soon sensed the change among the robots’ activities. Their response time was getting quicker, and they were able to block Gio’s punches. Crap, this was harder than what I’ve watched earlier. Nevertheless, the robots are wired on what I’ve become earlier. Gio grinned.
Gio took a huge risk and lunged towards Strength. By controlling the grip of his skin, he tackled Strength and stuck onto its back with all of his strength and aura. When the robots are about to attack, he only rolls himself to dodge the attacks. Utilizing the size of Strength, he thought that he can manipulate what Intelligence sees.
Gio grasped for Strength’s head to remove its vision. Strength suffered huge blows from the robots. The robot was confused, leading Strength to punch nothing, but its companions. At the same time, Strength cannot reach for its body, since its arms were twice bigger than its hand. If I can’t beat them, then I’ll beat the system itself.
The robots were all acting crazy on the battlefield. There were mixed reactions from the audience. Some find Gio’s strategy clever and astounding, whereas some opposed to it as cheating.
“Hey, Zai. What Gio is doing… Do you think the damage that the robots took will be computed from Gio’s overall grade? I mean, he didn’t even attack. Instead, he uses the robots’ abilities to his advantage.” Marko mumbled as he finds Gio’s performance odd.
“There were no rules, right? I’m sure the facilitators have much expected this kind of situation. Do you use your aura while watching this battle?” Zai responded as he watches the battle.
“No, I don’t have aura within me.” Marko timidly answered.
“Well, there’s another trick that he uses. You know magic was derived from the aura, right? Well, I used my raiyou or my aura-powered sight to observe Joe.” Zai continued. “I saw Joe using pusura, or ‘passing the aura’. Based on my observations, Joe utilized pusura against the robots’ fists. Therefore, when the robots attacked, the score will still be generated from Joe’s, since he possesses that aura.”
“Ooohh, I get it. It’s that controversial technique that is used for playing games infinitely like slot machines without wasting any tokens.”
“Yeah, it’s a very cheap trick that even our high-end technology can’t even resolve. That’s why bodyguards in big casinos are required to acquire aura mastery in raiyou for them to see that pusura.”
“Crap, do you think Resmond forbids this trick?”
“I dunno. Not everyone can perform pusura. It’s an ability that requires time and training to master. Maybe the facilitators aren’t expecting this situation to happen. They’ll probably let it slip away.”
“Hopefully, ‘cos that announcer confidently indicated ‘no rules.” Marko laughed.
Two minutes remaining, and the robots are yet rampaging all over the battlefield. They tried their best to remove Gio away from Strength, but it was not effective. Strength attempted to crush Gio on the barrier, but Gio was swift to dodge. It only inflicted itself with more damage. At that time, Gio’s aura was soon to run out. He was exhausted.
This is why I hate robots. They never get tired of themselves. Gio panted.
Gio was at the corner of the barrier when Strength stopped moving. He severely punched its head, but there was no response. He was bewildered. He knew that these robots will fight until the end. He then looked from his back and saw that the robots were furiously dashing towards him to attack.
When the robots were about to strike, Gio looked at the LED screen. There was only a minute left for the battle to end. Gio disassembled himself from Strength and took a massive leap away. He believed that killing time was the only possible strategy left for him.
While staring down from the robots, Gio was appalled. They did not even attack towards Strength, but instead jumped and tackled Gio down. Agility and Speed grabbed his arm mid-air to prepare for Endurance’s four-arm blow to his body. It was a heavy blow, which came from Endurance’s arms attacking all at once towards Gio’s abdomens. The blow hit Gio terribly that he spitted blood on the battlefield. He was knocked down defenseless. He did not expect this severe counter-attack.
“GGWP. This will be a deadly minute for Joe.” Zai fretted as he watched from his raiyou.
“Why, what happened?” Marko exclaimed.
“He made a wrong decision. When the robots were going towards Joe, I saw Joe passing almost all of his aura to Strength. I thought that he will manifest a very high score input when all of the robots will strike towards Strength, but it was countered. Now, he was left weak with no more aura left for him.”
“What did you just say?! Oh, my goodness!” Marko sputtered as he slowly stood up from his seat. “Come with me, we gotta end this exam.”
“Wait.” Zai held Marko’s hand as he was about to go down. “Look at the timer. There are only about 30 seconds left. You can’t do anything.”
“Fine, but I’ll check up on him after this battle.”
“Sure, I’ll come with you.”
Marko returned to his seat. He was staring down and repeatedly scratching his chin, seeming very nervous about the outcome of the exam.
Gio was unable to do anything. He was too weak to stand up and fight. His option left was to use all of his muscles and bones to shield his vital parts.
Half a minute left, and Strength was ready to deliver the final assault. Strength clutched Gio by his leg and slapped him to the ground three times. Strength then threw Gio as far as he can, allowing the other robots to attack him. He was treated like a toy being played by toddlers.
Five seconds left, and Strength ran back as fast as it can towards Gio. Strength jumped as high as it could. When the timer buzzed, the robots froze. The audience was stunned when they saw Strength purposively stopped mid-air to land towards Gio. Gio was crushed by the gigantic body of Strength. He succeeded to protect his vital parts, but Gio cried in intense agony when his built-up muscles and bones started cracking and breaking. It was so painful that even the audience felt how bad the landing was.