Andrew went home that night defeated.
He made sure to train 3 times harder than usual out of spite and jealousy.
But deep down he knew he couldn't go against the causality of this world.
Andrew did his nighttime routine, loaded up on even thicker, semen-like protein shakes to support recovery, and knocked out.
Waking up, Andrew quickly got ready for the day and headed to school.
"Today's the day, I need to show off a bit to make sure I won't get fucked, but not too much at the same time"
Andrew sighed, the day was gonna be long.
Arriving at school, each step towards the gymnasium at the far end of the campus felt like everything he had been waiting for.
Stepping though the perked open doors, he quickly scanned the crowd of students who already gathered, spotting his friend Dylan sitting on the side wall.
"Yo, what's going on... How do you think you'll get placed today?" Andrew said, his words dragging on.
"What's good. Honestly I'll probably end up in the genius class. I'm pretty confident in my strength and endurance stats…"
"But what about you, Andrew? I know you're quite strong and all, but do you think you'll get stuck in academia?"
Andrews face carried no tension. There were no worries about this.
"My stats are probably more balanced than any other student in the school..."
He smiled. It was inevitable he'd get into at least one class.
"I mean, I guess we're gonna find out today." he lightly smirked.
After everyone had arrived, the proctor didn't waste any time.
"Okay everyone, let's get this over with so I can go get drunk and cheat on my wife… as you all know already, just hit the metal panel with all your strength, no advanced techniques allowed for this one, this is to test the max strength you can sustain."
"For the agility section, you will be asked to hop in the testing room designated for reaction time and foot readiness. This is to test your ability to actually apply your agility in a practical way."
"As for endurance, you will have to take body shots from a combat puppet."
"Each 5 hits will increase the strength value by 5 points with a 3 second rest in between each mode switch. If at any point you feel like you can't go on, say stop or fall to the ground."
"The intelligence test is gonna focus on your comprehension, you'll be given 3 hours max to learn a low grade martial arts manual and whatever level you achieve will correlate with your ranking."
"Hope you all understood that, because I won't be repeating it again, so good luck and I'll call you up one by one…"
Everyone looked at him with a strange expression.
"…did he just say he was gonna cheat on his wife?" Andrew side eyed Dylan.
"Haha, who cares bro, he's probably a weirdo... All we gotta focus on right now is the tests ahead of us, don't worry about these small things." Dylan responded.
"I feel like I'm the only one who thinks that shit was weird as hell to say to a bunch of teenagers…" Andrew pondered shaking his head.
Dylan was right though, right now they had priorities to attend to.
The proctor quickly started the strength test.
Students went up one by one, the machine measuring in kilograms of force.
The student average was typically around 100 kg, most students that went ended up achieving about 100–150 kg.
And then the three top students went.
Maya ended up going first.
She shifted into a somewhat unorthodox stance, with her guard open, but supreme lightness on her feet.
The fighting techniques taught by the top families were different than just boxing or Muay Thai.
They involved taking advantage of strange stances in order to deliver precise decisive blows.
After settling into her stance, she exploded with a ferocious power.
She struck the panel, causing a light sound of reverberation.
[450kg] displayed on the measurement device.
The students broke into surprised expressions. These top families really were no joke!
"Goddamn, she's a little ferocious…" Andrew muttered as he whispered.
She walked away holding an expression that spoke, 'what else would you expect?'
Next up was Ron, he approached the panel with a confident smile.
He got into his stance, striking with even more vigor than Maya did, causing deeper reverberations, his punch even carrying a hint of fiery explosive power.
[600kg]
Everyone agreed it was a tyrannical blow, as expected of someone of his status.
However, even with the expectation, it didn't stop the building envy of the onlookers.
Next was Michael, he stepped up and as soon as he was within view of the entire student body, the girls started to go crazy.
"Oh my god, he seems to get more and more handsome every time we see him!"
"His talent boosted his appearance even more it seems, now he has an electrifying aura…"
....
"God damn it, why does this guy have to be so handsome!" Dylan grumbled with a sigh.
"You're but a drop in a vast sea, my friend…" Andrew replied as he lay his hand on his shoulder.
"Hmph! Well we'll see what the reactions are like when I step on stage…"
Michael quickly got into position and took up a tighter stance, a lot more distance between his legs compared to the others.
"Oh, quite interesting, seems like he's going to leverage his superior agility…" thought Andrew, eyes narrowing.
Michael exploded with a punch, his hand moving too quickly for most of the students to even react.
[800kg]
People were past the point of being surprised anymore. Everyone cheered instead.
Dylan was called up to the stage next.
But before he could take more than 2 steps, Andrew grabbed him by the shoulder, leaning in to whisper.
"Yo, when you hit the target make sure you use your front two knuckles, and push your first two fingers into each other using the side of your thumb… you can thank me later."
"Uh, okay I guess, if I break my hand though it's on you."
"Shut up, this is a top grade alloy meant to absorb as much force as possible, you won't get injured, especially with your durability."
Dylan walked up to the stage with a cocky look, determined to take first place this time around.
Although he didn't have the craziest talent, he believed in his training from early childhood.
Taking up his stance, Dylan pulled his hand back with all he had, and then launched it forward, rotating his hips as fast as possible and allowing his hand to fully follow through, utilizing Andrews advice at the moment of impact.
A loud boom erupted, sounding like someone dropped the entire machine on the ground from 10 feet up in the air.
The reverberations were incessant.
The number that displayed on the testing machine almost made everyone's jaw drop, including the proctor.
[—kg]
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