Jelo was standing at the corner of the room, his eyes widened in shocked as he stared at Ken.
The reason for his surprise was twofold. Firstly was the fact the exposed parts of Ken’s skin had become darker than it was a minute ago.
The second part was more mind boggling than the first but it also kind of explained it, Ken’s shadow had dissapeared.
In the bright room it was hard to see shadows clearly, but for someone as observant as Jelo, he had been able to see their faint traces.
When Ken had first stepped up to the circle, his faint shadow had been on the ground beneath him, it stretched out like everyone else’s. But now, after he dramatically closed his eyes and opened them, his shadow was no longer there.
Jelo’s mind began to spin quickly. Putting the two observations together, the only possible explanation was that Ken had somehow been able to wear his shadow like a second skin.
’Just what can that shadow do?’ Jelo wondered.
His question was answered a few moments later when Ken stepped back, strecthed his arm and then swung his arm forward, hitting the circle with a force that caused a loud vibration to spread through the whole room.
It took all of Jelo’s willpower not to flinch.
Even the woman was a little flustered as she checked the machine quickly. She raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. "Strength, 40."
’Woah,’ Jelo thought, eyes widening as he realized the gap between Ken and himself.
He was now sure that Ken belonged to a powerful family, there was no other rational explanation.
The next test was for speed and as the wall began to shoot the balls, Ken moved in a flash, he began to catch the balls even as the speed increased he didn’t struggle he just kept increasing his speed as if he didn’t have a limit.
After a while though, he stretched to catch a ball but it went just over his hand and landed on the floor.
Woah. Atlas muttered and Jelo exhaled. It seemed the shadow not only increased Ken’s strength, it also increased his speed.
But did it also increase his stamina? M
"Speed, 50," the woman announced.
Jelo felt a bead of sweat form on the right side of his neck. Even now that he had been blessed with an ability, or system, or whatever it was, he still wasn’t a match for some of the other fellow supers.
If a recruit could be this powerful, what about Class 2 students and upwards? And what about actual supers, the ones who’d been training and fighting for years?
’I’m not strong at all,’ Jelo thought grimly. ’Even here, I’m still insignificant.’
The last test was stamina and Ken walked to the treadmill lazily. He climbed it and started running as it went to his top speed. Ken maintained the speed for a while, showing no signs of slowing but soon it became obvious he was struggling. His breathing became heavier and his legs started to ache, soon he jumped off the treadmill.
"Stamina, 30," the woman said.
His stamina wasn’t high compared to his other stats but it was still better than any of them. All in all, it was impressive.
Ken’s badge beeped, and Jelo saw it light up with the letter **D**.
As Ken came back to the group, he grinned at Jelo. "Not bad, right?" he said in a proud voice
Jelo forced a smile and nodded, though his mind was still reeling.
The next person called was the hot girl. It turned out her name was Tessa. Jelo was too shaken by Ken’s stats and rank to judge whether her name was a nice fit or not.
Unlike Ken, Tessa didn’t use any ability. Instead she hit the circle with a technique that puzzled Jelo.
Tessa didn’t adjust her body of put some space between her and the circle so she could use her momentum, instead she seemed to cock her hand back then she released it like it was a sling. Her punch wasn’t aimed at the center but at the lower edge of the circle.
It hit it with an impressive force.
Just as Jelo was wondering if that was even effective, the woman announced, "Strength, 35."
Next was speed, and she scored an impressive 35 as well.
At the stamina test, she scored an even higher score, 40.
That’s the best stamina so far. Jelo thought to himself.
Her badge rang and showed **D**.
Jelo felt himself go pale. While it might not have seemed as impressive as Ken’s rank, there was a small problem. Ken’s score had been with his shadow while Tessa had done that without any ability..
Those was her raw physical stats. And not to mention her ice magic was just as impresive, if not more.
In the end, Jelo realized how misleading the ranking system of the military could be. After all, if someone had average stats but an amazing ability, you could enter a fight with them cocky and get beaten to a pulp.
His train of thought was interrupted by the woman’s voice calling his name. "Jelo."
He stepped forward to the front of the circle and inhaled deeply.
When he hit it, the circle glowed faintly, barely reacting at all.
"Strength, 10," the woman announced.
It was just like Jelo had assumed. His stats measured by the machine corresponded with his stats in the system.
He sighed and waited for the wall to pop up, already knowing his fate.
He scored another 10 in speed.
Then for stamina, he got 10 as well.
His badge beeped and showed **F**.
When Jelo walked back to the group, his head was slightly lowered. This is humiliating! He thought to himself. He had been given what seemed like a cheat system and yet he was still a weakling, at the bottom.
He could only hope the system would have a way for him to grow stronger quickly.
As he joined the group, he saw Ken looking at him and let out a sigh. ’At least he won’t talk to me anymore now that he knows I’m a loser.’
However, Jelo was very surprised when Ken grinned at him. "Not bad there, Jelo," he said warmly. "What technique did you use for that punch?"