[1300kg]
"Bruh wtf, how is that even possible? The machine must be broken or something!"
"This can't be right, he can't be that strong, right? He isn't even from a martial arts family…"
"He just hit 10x the average in strength, must be due to his talent or faulty mechanical work…"
…
Students' words resounded, signaling disbelief among the audience.
Even the rich kids mouths were agape.
Dylan walked back with a smug expression.
"Haha, did you see that Andrew? That's what you call real talent!"
"Yea yea, whatever you say. You could've hit just above 1500kg I bet if you trusted your body's durability more." Andrew chimed back, but with a look of a proud parent and a smile.
"It is what it is, even at home I only managed to score about 900kg. I'll take what I can get, this will be enough to boost me into the genius class!"
Dylans smile said a lot in the moment.
However, he knew the slight technique shift really shot up his performance this time around.
He knew he wasn't gonna get as fortunate in the next tests.
Just then the professor said the next name on the list.
"Andrew Clancy! Please come up!"
Andrew took a deep breath as he stood and walked to the front.
"Good luck bro! You got this!"
Andrew smiled at Dylan and nodded his head.
Along the way to the front he heard a few whispers from some of the girls in his class.
"Andrew… didn't he get more good looking compared to yesterday?"
"Yea now that you mention it he's a real hottie, no less than those from powerful families…"
"Even his physique looks rock solid, but didn't he awaken nothing yesterday?"
"Yea, unfortunately he's meant to be average in that aspect, truly unfortunate…"
….
Hearing his name buzzing around in the air, he knew he was gonna try and show off a little bit on this test and do somewhat mediocre on the others.
"Of course though, I can't use my full power… maybe I should hit with a light little 900kg?
Not the highest, but not the lowest and still within feasible ranges for an average person…"
Andrew faced the plate.
"Feel free to go whenever you're ready, but don't be too disappointed by your results… you'll make a fantastic construction worker with that body of yours." The proctor remarked.
"Please, a construction worker? Who the hell do you think I am? I'll never end up as just that, not in this life…" Andrew thought as his eyebrow twitched, before taking a few deep breaths.
He was gonna try and use pure technique over strength for this. He knew enough about force transfer from his past life to casually utilize most power that leaked out.
"Okay…just a little love tap…"
Andrew got into position and then threw a punch right towards the center, torquing his entire body from his feet and his hips at one time.
He pushed into the ground with his back leg, slightly leaning his bodyweight forward into his fist.
As soon as he came into contact with the panel though, he knew there was a problem…
"Oh shi-"
Andrew's fist came into contact with the panel, creating a devastating sound of reverberation to resound throughout the crowd.
He had accidentally punched through the testing panel!
Everyone looked at Andrew like they had seen a ghost, even his good friend Dylan was completely starstruck.
"Does talent mean nothing in front of this guy?!"
Andrew was even more startled, he didn't expect to punch through it like it was a piece of cardboard.
The proctor seeing this couldn't believe his eyes, shsring the same expression as the rest of the crowd.
Nobody said anything, it became so silent one could hear a pin drop.
Before anyone could say anything, Andrew quickly spoke up.
"Ahem, professor, I accidentally might have hit the same spot as Dylan, I think he created a weak point and when I hit it the stored residual kinetic energy burst out… can you replace the test panel so I can retest?"
The proctor suddenly came back to life, as well as the other students.
"Yes… yes that does make sense, how else could that have happened? It's scientifically plausible anyway…"
"Okay, I'll be right back from the storage room and you can retest." The proctor quickly ran to the other room.
The proctor, in order to preserve his sanity, quickly self-justified it as too short of a time in between the two boys, leaving the residual energy from kinetic energy dispersion hadn't completely cleared yet.
"Yes! That had to be it!"
Upon retrieving the new alloy panel, Andrew quickly retested and hit a perfect 900kg.
The proctor heaved what seemed to be a sigh of relief.
"Very nice Andrew, my apologies for what happened before, I should've held off a bit longer before calling you up."
"It's alright professor, it happens. I knew something was up when it felt like I hit a cheap martial arts gimmick board haha."
"Yea that was due to my negligence; but you did very well this time around. Depending on how you do in other tests you might have a chance at becoming a martial artist."
"Thank you for the kind words, I shall go back now."
Upon finishing up the lighthearted discussion, Andrew felt a sense of relief wash over..
Everyone else was justifying what happened in their own narratives as well following the professor, in order to protect their identity as awakeners.
"At least humans are still just as predictable in this life…"
Andrew quickly sat down next to his friend Dylan, who once again had a cheery expression.
"That one scared me a bit! I thought you actually broke the testing machine for a second, I got real worried for myself, haha!"
"Yea I wish I was that strong, maybe one day though…"
"You're more well rounded than me, so you should be able to get into a martial arts class no problem if your strength's that much. You must've taken some secret medicine to boost your strength."
"Haha, the world may never know Dylan, in due time the truth always prevails…"
….
Andrew, after settling the scores, started talking nonsense again with his friend, not realizing a very certain someone had their eye on him…
"Master, is he really that strong? That didn't seem like a fluke."
"Hmmm, I could tell he exploded with a dangerous momentum for a second. Still but an ant in my eyes, but he's got more potential than he lets on."
"I see, maybe it'd be best to make connections with this person then..."
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