With half of the students already done taking their test, Vander noticed the next person that went up. The tanned girl that went up next was Bella, the student that got a Grade B+ on the dexterity test. After the dexterity test, she hasn't gotten another high grade. Vander remembered her getting an E grade on the strength test, but missed her endurance test grade.
As the first student that stood out in the first test, Vander expected her to get a high grade on another attribute. His expectations were killed when all she could light up were two purple mana stones.
"Two purple mana stones. Grade E." Before Sarah could finish recording the result on her tablet, the disappointed Bella already went down the platform.
'Looks like she's a speed specialist. Only focusing on her dexterity. Even though that's all she's focusing on, she's still better than me.' Thinking that a dexterity specialist's other attributes were on par with his, his resolve to get stronger increased.
'Looks like I'm next.' Vander saw Sarah pointing at him.
"Good luck Vander. You really need it." Right next to him, Alice egged him on.
"I'll try my best this time." Vander quickly got on the chair and put the helmet on. Putting on the helmet, Vander got comfy on the chair before he signaled that he was ready.
Starting up the helmet, Vander felt his consciousness leave his body. Teleporting to some other place outside his body.
Not knowing what was happening, Vander felt his brain dunked into water. But this water was different, getting barraged by different words and images. This was a high pressure stream of data that was flowing into Vander's brain. Like a sponge, Vander was absorbing all the information into his brain. The stream of information was flowing faster and stronger with every new thing Vander learned.
With more and more information being absorbed, Vander was starting to get overwhelmed by the amount of data that kept flowing in. Different types of recipes, places, and techniques were all gathered into his brain then compressed, learning everything almost instantly.
But doing this hundreds of times, Vander's brain felt like it was going to burst. His consciousness was slowly blacking out from this new realm that he was in. With the last bit of knowledge getting crammed into his brain, Vander's consciousness blacked out.
Opening his eyes, Vander forgot what just happened, only feeling a slight headache.
"Three green mana stones. Grade D+." With the tablet in hand, Sarah recorded Vander's score.
'What just happened? I swear I just put that helmet on.' Holding on to his forehead, Vander walked towards Alice.
"I don't know what happened, but it hurt my brain. All I remember is putting on the helmet, then bam. Nothing. Nothing at all." Vander tried to retell what happened in there to Alice.
"Uh… ok. At least you got a decent score. This has to have bumped your average up." Alice tried her best to change the topic by praising Vander.
Alice ended up as the last student to take the test. Without having to even point at her, Alice started to walk up to the platform.
With the helmet on, Alice signaled to Sarah that she was ready. The helmet turned on and Alice's eyes became unfocused, staring blankly at nothing.
The blue mana stones all instantly brightened up, this was a record time in Vander's group. All purple stones lit up in almost the same amount of time. The lighting of stones slowed down when it came to the green mana stones. The first green mana stone took its sweet time to light up. The other two green stones didn't take quite as long.
Past the green mana stones, Alice finally made it to the yellow stones. The first mana stone was lighting up at an even slower rate than the green one. Eventually, the yellow stone was fully lit up, with the second one about to do the same. But the helmet turned off and retracted before Alice was able to complete the second yellow mana stone.
"One yellow mana stone. Grade C-. Since everyone has finished taking their test, let's head over to the next arena. Follow me." Sarah was already on her way to the exit, following the other groups who barely just left.
Alice, who was just confused by the test, was instantly delighted. Hearing her result, she shot up from the chair and ran towards Vander and the rest of the group.
"Did you see that? I got the highest score in the group again. Even though my intelligence is my only lacking stat according to my [Record]. I didn't even need your help." With a proud look on her face, she boasted about her achievement while following Vander and the group.
"I saw it, I saw it. You're the best in the group. And I know you're the most talented person here. You'll be able to become an Alpha in no time." Vander continued to stroke her ego.
"I know. It's only a matter of time." Alice's confidence was through the roof after Vander's praise.
With Sarah rushing through the tests and quickly leading her group back to the bus, she eventually caught up with the other groups. Barely getting on the bus at the same time as them.
Driving towards the next arena, one of the students asked Sarah a question about the test they just took.
"Professor Sarah, what kind of test was that? All I remembered was putting on the helmet and the next thing I knew the test was over."
"Yeah."
"I didn't know what happened."
"I thought I blacked out for a second and failed the test."
"Me too."
All the students were confused because of the intelligence test and chimed in, wanting to get answers.
"The helmet that you guys used has mana stones embedded into it. These different stones have mana generated data contained in them. With my mana powering up the helmet, these stones activate and push all the data in them into your brain at a high speed. The helmet checks to see if your brain can learn condensed information at an accelerated pace. Once your brain stops absorbing the information, the failsafe on the helmet activates, stopping the test." Sarah explained to the group.
"Why can't I remember all that information that I received then?" One student questioned.
"It's falsey generated data made from mana. It's only temporary information that you can instantly forget. We're here. If you want to learn more about this, you can take a mana science class as an elective."