Once the test ended, they were teleported back to the town hall.

  The silence that followed was almost reverent. But Arthur’s thoughts were anything but calm.

  During the trials, he’d watched dozens of participants strike the crystal—most with impressive strength, fierce energy, and reckless abandon. Many even failed to make the crystal budge. "Well, at least I won't be in the last 56, I guess," he sighed to himself.

  But what caught his attention were six particular individuals. The six of them... were on another level. They didn’t just hit the crystal. They shook the very air around it.

  Every strike from them sent tremors racing through the hall. The crystal pulsed with unstable light, humming like it might fracture at any moment. The ground beneath Arthur’s feet had quaked. And after each blow, the same thing followed: silence. A stunned, breathless kind of silence that said—that wasn’t normal.

  Arthur had just sighed, watching from the edge of the platform.

  “How are those even humans...” he muttered under his breath. “I need to grow stronger,” he added, clenching his fists harder than he could manage at the moment.

  Now, back inside the town hall, he stood off to the side, arms crossed tightly, trying not to visibly tremble.

  He wasn’t just nervous about the results (though he was). No, what unsettled him more was what had happened inside him during that test.

  What the hell was that...?

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The surge. The heat. The scream that wasn’t a voice but a presence, roaring through his veins. That hadn’t been his power. Not the one he trained with. Not the strength he understood.

  His limbs still shook with the aftermath of something far beyond him. Something ancient. Primal. It had risen like a storm—then vanished, leaving only dust and silence behind.

  He drank a replenishment drink handed to the participants the second they returned. He was convinced that was the only reason he hadn’t collapsed. Even now… he felt like a single breath would knock him out.

  This solemn silence was broken by a guy who yelled: “The results are in!!!”

  The tension exploded instantly. Murmurs turned into shouts. Dozens rushed forward in a blur of limbs and noise.

  Some screamed with joy.

  “I made it!”

  “Top forty! Yes!!”

  Others sobbed, collapsed, or cursed under their breath.

  Arthur moved slowly, like a man underwater, forcing his legs forward. Above the crowd, floating mid-air, glimmered a projection of glowing runes. Dozens of names flickered across it, shifting, shimmering—broadcasting the top 56.

  Top 56, he reminded himself.

  He began scanning the list, breath shallow, vision fuzzy. His name wouldn’t be in the top 20—he was sure of it. He passed it. Then the top 30. Then he stopped.

  There was no way.

  He wasn’t above those fire-wielders. Those illusionists. Those elite guild prodigies. All those magic attribute bearers.

  Then a whisper stirred in the back of his mind:

  "Just look. What do you have to lose?"

  Arthur blinked, mildly amused by the voice in his head. “Fine,” he muttered. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  He looked up again.

  Top 15...

  Nothing.

  Top 10.

  Still nothing.

  His heart sank like a stone. He let out a breath and turned away—

  —and froze.

  7th: Arthur

  He blinked.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Still there.

  His name.

  Seventh.

  The world blurred. Noise fell away. His hands went numb.

  And through the chaos, through the crashing thoughts and pounding heart, one thought thundered like a blade striking stone—

  What the hell is happening to me ?

  

  WITH THAT, THE PRELIMINARY TEST COMES TO A CLOSE.

  DON’T HESITATE TO FOLLOW—

  OUR JOURNEY HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN. ??