“Victor Goodwin, go.”
Finally being called, everyone was expecting Virus to obediently step forward and enter the room. However, against everyone’s anticipation, he turned toward the invigilator instead and said, “Your Trait… this Test of Speed must be a specialty of yours due to your sensory trait, right?”
Feeling slightly surprised at first, a chuckle formed on the invigilator’s face before he admitted, “That’s right, but what are you trying to imply here?”
“Oh, nothing much, just that I would love to see you demonstrating how the Test of Speed is truly done. An enlightening show that would teach us a valuable lesson. So what do you say, Mr. invigilator?” One large smirk was now clear for everyone to see on Victor’s face.
Immediately, a realization struck the candidates as they began demanding very persistently.
“Oh, right! Mister, you must be very good at this! Come one! Come on! You must show us!” Said Lydia with high expectations forming within her heart.
“Victor’s right, mister, you have got to prove to us how this test’s truly done!” Abby Wu was also fuming in elation.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Hyped as well, Ismail Archer urged the man, “You must be great at this… we want to see it! Come on.”
‘You guys want to see the true gap between an expert Guardian like me and amateur Guardians like yourselves, huh?’ Being surrounded by these brats which kept insisting on him displaying his skills, an amused grin formed on the invigilator’s face too as he decided, ‘Fine, I’ll make you guys experience the great disparity between us. May it be an eye-opener for you.’
With that, throwing a brief glance at everyone’s face, he declared, “Alright.”
Next, he didn’t hesitate to enter the dome as the game of evasion began.
…
“Um, why is the overseer entering the dome?” Within the spectator’s area, the representative lady from the Weapon Stars queried.
For a few seconds after that, every representative’s focus was concentrated outside, until, the handsome old man replied at last, “He’s going to show off to the kids.”
“Oh, I see… this should be a bit interesting.”
…
After entering, predictably, for the next three minutes, the invigilator began walking around while evading the balls casually. Amazingly though, he always happened to be exactly at the places that no balls were going to hit.
“Ah, how is he doing that?” Thunderstruck by the show, Lydia was the only one to express her failure in comprehending the complexity of the situation.
And to that, Victor’s clear answer resounded, “It’s easy really if you think about it. He’s merely sensing the balls the moment they are about to be thrown. And knowing where they’re going to be, he simply avoids those locations.”
“Ah, that’s what I thought too! But to be able to actually do that… Mr. invigilator’s truly awesome!” Abby praised.
Subsequently, as the clock hit four minutes, going against ten super fast balls, the invigilator’s eyebrows finally started to turn sharper. It was obvious he was getting more serious now.
Still, being the professional Guardian he was, and more importantly, since his Trait was extremely relevant to this very test, he was able to continue without any issues.
…
Five minutes!
…
And even six minutes!
“AH! He’s already within the domain of three stars for this particular test!!! Simply legendary!” Exclaimed Ismail with his eyes wide open. Just a minute ago, he was wondering how anyone would be able to exceed four minutes, that it was impossible to surpass four minutes. But now, that exact person had shown itself before him. Not only that, but the person also had far exceeded his expectations!
Afterward, the invigilator was still able to keep going for around thirty seconds. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to keep that up for much longer as he finally reached the absolute limit of his toleration as he promptly stopped the test.
Six minutes and fifty-three seconds!
That was the time the invigilator had lasted within the dome of speed.
Clap~ Clap~ Clap~
Applauding the man, Virus complimented him, “Bravo! Since from the sixth to the ninth minute is considered a three-stars mark, you should be somewhere in the middle of three-stars. Good.”
Although he was saying this, however, internally, Virus couldn’t help but admit he was somewhat disappointed. He was expecting some type of challenge from this man. A type of challenge that even he himself might not be able to outshine without getting serious first.
Regrettably, the man was still too raw and that did not happen.
“Hahaha… well, as long as it was helpful to you guys.” A rain of sweat pouring down his face, the invigilator was exuding a teacher-like air from himself.
Seeing this, Virus ‘nearly’ felt bad about what was going to happen next.
Alas, ‘nearly feeling bad’ wasn’t actually ‘feeling bad’. Therefore, he still entered the dome of speed as the timer went in motion once more.
For the first three minutes, Virus was running around dodging the incoming baseballs in a very awkward and disgraceful manner.
His movements were so awkward and stiff that the others were starting to think it was a miracle he was still within the ring!
It was to the point that the candidates had already lost the count of the times the balls had barely gone past him while almost hitting him.
“Wow, he sucks at this, but he was somewhat able to last until now.” Feeling ridiculous about the whole situation, Ismail Archer admitted.
“Let’s just watch for now. Even if it’s pure luck, he’s doing a great job lasting in there.” This was Abby Wu defending him. Even though she didn’t believe Victor was truly capable of actually persisting this long, she still appreciated his luck.
03:56
At this point, since a new phase of assault was about to begin, the pitchings paused briefly.
03:57
And simultaneously with it, all of a sudden, in the middle of the dome, Virus stopped along with it.
03:58
“Eh, why did he stop moving all of a sudden? Did he give up perhaps? Is he paralyzed?” Full of doubt, feeling absurd, Ismail questioned.
