Sarah led the whole group back to the bus leaving the other four groups behind in the arena. Being one of the first groups finishing up their test, the ride to the next arena was fast. Driving all the way to the other side of the city, close by Alice's dorm.
The bus parked right next to the arena. Vander was sitting with Alice when they noticed another group was just leaving the arena heading towards their own bus.
"Most of them must've failed." Looking out the window, at the other group that passed by, many of them looked depressed. They had their heads down and some of them had tears dripping from their faces.
'Strength is my weakest stat. I might end up like them.' Walking out the bus while holding Alice's hand, Vander was thinking about failure.
"You're going to be fine, Vander. I believe in you." Alice encouraged Vander, knowing exactly what he was thinking.
"What.. H-How did you know what I was thinking?" Caught off guard by Alice, he thought she could read minds for a second.
"Well, I've known you for years, I know everything about you of course… and you started squeezing my hand when you were looking at the students that probably failed." She responded with a laugh, teasing Vander with her answer.
The new arena looked almost exactly the same as the previous one. With the four platforms surrounding a central one. The only thing different about this arena were the giant objects in the middle of the platform.
These objects looked like they were ten feet tall cubes made from some sort of black metal. Nothing Vander has ever seen or learned about before.
Sarah led her group to the center platform this time, even though all the other platforms were empty. She made everyone stand in front of the strange object.
"Ok, this test is much simpler than the last. Just hit the cube one time. Use your [Record]'s if you want." She explained while knocking on the metal cube a couple times. "The stronger your attack, the higher your grade will be."
Finishing up on her explanation, a group entered the arena, distracting Vander. A different group that wasn't at the last testing grounds. And unlike the last group that left looking defeated, this group were mainly in high spirits. Chests puffed up and heads held up high. They were mostly confident. Within the group, Vander thought he recognized one of the students.
"Now who wants to go first." Sarah asked the group, getting Vander's attention again.
"I will." Alice was the first one to speak.
"Good luck. Even though I know you won't need it." Next to her, Vander wasn't surprised this time. This was Alice's specialty, and with her [Record], it improved it even more. Ever since Vander knew Alice, she would always be training her strength. Even when they were working together, she would be moving most of the heavier things at the bakery by herself. This made her one of the students with the highest strength stat in the high school, without being ranked within the top ten.
Standing right in front of the metal cube, Alice got into a stance. She put her right foot a step behind her while lowering her stance by bending her knees to stabilize her balance. Pulling her right hand back, she turned her body to the right as well.
In that stance, her body began to produce a white aura around her. The aura was thin, and didn't seem to glow like Bella's aura.
While releasing her punch, she twisted her body to follow the momentum of the punch. She gave the punch everything she had.
Landing the punch directly in the center of the cube with all her strength, Vander thought a loud bang would occur because of the impact. But the sound he expected didn't happen. There was no sound of impact at all.
Looking closely at the metal cube, Alice's fist sunk inside it. It seemed like she punched a giant pillow instead of a metal object.
Taking out her fist, the metal cube began to glow blue with an aura. It formed back to its original shape, like the punch never happened. While changing back, floating blue numbers came out of it. Forming the number '882' right above the cube.
'This cube functions almost like the awakening jewel from the graduation.' Vander seemed to see the similarities from both the objects.
"Congratulations. Grade B+." After writing things down on her tablet, Sarah told Alice to get down. Asking the group if anyone wanted to go next, she eventually had to call a random person.
"It seems like you progressed again. You're the best." Vander praised Alice when she made her way back to him.
"Only a little." Flipping her hair, acting nonchalant about it, she replied back.
…
"...Grade E…"
"...Grade D…"
"...Grade F…"
The next student, not confident in his strength, decided to use his [Record]. Standing back from the cube, he shot a laser beam out of his eyes. Unlike with the punches of the other students that deformed the cube, the laser beam did nothing. No burn or scorch marks, nothing. But the blue aura still formed around the cube which made the blue numbers appear.
110
It was lower than the grade F with a 319. The attack was now the lowest of all the attacks.
"Did I forget to tell you, this relic has a lot of magic resistance. Grade F… you can get down now." Sarah told the dejected student that was walking down.
'C'mon man, this is a strength test, not a [Record] test. Was his strength stat really that low?' Vander thought.
Hearing cheers, Vanders train of thought was broken. Looking around, he noticed all the platforms were now occupied. One of the platforms with the group that came right after them, had students cheering and clapping.
"Congratulations! You got a Grade A." The professor leading that group exclaimed.