In the past, in order to become a white belt, one needed to reach a Tier 4 standard. But, judging by the words of the lazy, omnipresent voice, there was no longer such a clear dividing line. If they wanted to become white belts, they would have to place in the top four overall by the end of these rounds, or else they would have to wait for another half year.
"The first round will be a test of reflexes. Begin."
The youths looked around in confusion. They had heard of this test of reflexes before – well, assuming it was still the same considering this generic name. But, from what they knew, this test should have taken place one at a time. Why was it that the voice didn't pick out who should be going?
Before any of them could figure out what was going on, the large grey tiles that made up the room pulsed with a dull ray of white light. They didn't have time to understand what this meant before several illusory balls appeared in the air, slowly growing solid.
<3… 2…>
Everyone's pupils constricted at once.
A mechanical voice reached zero in its count and hell suddenly descended.
The now solid balls shot in every which direction. Two of the freshmen couldn't even react before these 'solid' balls shot through their bodies.
Their expressions changed. In that moment, it felt as though a large chunk of their Force was suddenly ripped out of their bodies.
The good news was that they weren't injured. But, the bad news was that their stamina had suddenly been sapped away.
Leonel took a casual step forward as a ball whizzed by his head.
'So this was what they meant by a test of reflexes, huh?'
Not only did they have to deal with these balls shooting toward them, but they would definitely have to keep an eye out for their fellow student as well. It was definitely not just out of the kindness of their hearts that that lazy voice had made it clear that only four would pass.
From the very beginning, they were pitted against each other.
Leonel raised his foot.
A solid ball shot beneath his sole, rebounding off of the ground and crashing toward the wall behind him.
'The room is a 20 by 20 by 20 meter cube. There are 18 of us in here and there are 100 moving balls the size of a head. They didn't set a timer and being hit doesn't seem to eliminate you… So I wonder what the grading criteria is…?'
Leonel sent a gaze toward Aina.
The control she had over her body was immaculate. Even though compared to Leonel, the time she was having was harder, it was still of incomparable ease if she was measured up against everyone else.
There were only about four others who seemed to be taking this exam in stride.
The weird nose contraption wearing Gretta. The young man who had called out to Aina, Edmorn. And two other young men, one of which had a sword strapped to his back and the last of which insisted on dodging around with his hands in his pockets. Whether he wanted to look cool or if this was just his style, Leonel didn't particularly care.
Unlike the others, Leonel hardly moved from his spot. The balls could only be obstructed by each other and the wall. Even when they ran through an examinee, they simply turned illusory for a moment while continuing at the same speed. Quite frankly, this exam was too easy for Leonel.
With his ability, he could map out the trajectory for all hundred balls over the next several minutes. Then he could directly ignore the ones that wouldn't cross his path and mark out the ones that would. After that, it was a simple matter of knowing how the ball would attack him and dodging accordingly.
However, it was then that the walls flashed again.
The change was subtle, but Leonel's eyes narrowed.
'They increased the speed by 1%. My calculations are off.'
Leonel adjusted his simulations almost instantly.
He took a step forward, side stepped to the right, then went diagonally back to the left. In just a few breaths, he had dodged five balls and was back to standing exactly where he had been from the very beginning.
It was only a subtle increase to Leonel, but when these balls had already been travelling at over a hundred kilometers an hour, a 1% change was steep.
A Fourth Dimensional existence would only be able to reach such speeds in a Third Dimensional world. In a Fifth Dimensional world, however, even speed aces would struggle to touch such a level unless they were absolute geniuses.
As a result, everyone in this room had to read and react long before the ball reached them, or else they would have no chance whatsoever.
This 1% change cause enough of a shift that those that had been doing alright previously suddenly found themselves backed into a corner. The more they got hit, the greater the sap to their stamina was.
Beads of sweat fell from their brows, their faces paling.
As expected, once again, it was only those four aside from Leonel and Aina that seemed to be just fine with these changes. It was clear that Hero Peak was having an elite showing.
At that moment, a youth who felt he was on his last legs roared in despair. Shooting forward, he tackled another youth that was nearby, tumbling onto the floor with him.
In that instant, the youth and poor guy he tackled were run through by several of the balls, sapping all of their strength completely.
The expressions of everyone changed. They had all known in the back of their minds that such a thing would happen eventually, but no one had known who the first person to act would be.
Everyone looked around at each other warily, not wanting to be the next victim. But, this split consciousness caused some to lose the focus that had kept them in it to this point.
It was then that the lazy voice suddenly appeared once again.
"Round one completed.. Round two commencing."