"Are you sure you're an Adept?" the examiner asked. "What techniques do you know?"
"Air Current," Kyle answered.
Silence.
"And?" the examiner asked.
"That's it."
The other Newbies didn't show their disdain, but they definitely felt it.
One technique.
That was pathetic.
To get screened, they had to know at least five, and that was the bare minimum.
The examiner looked back at Luke. "Luke," he said with an annoyed tone.
Luke just sighed. "Yeah, I didn't check that."
"Why did you let him pass?" the examiner asked.
"I told him to make me move away from the wall, and he did it," Luke said.
The examiner raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "How can a Peak Adept make a Late Fighter move?"
"He outsmarted me," Luke said with a sigh.
"You were outsmarted by a half-dwarf?" the examiner asked.
"Don't remind me!" Luke answered with a groan.
The examiner snorted before looking back at Kyle.
"You're not supposed to be here. You're not supposed to pass the screening."
Then, the examiner sighed. "But you passed anyway, and now, I'm stuck with you."
"You can thank Luke for that."
"Thanks, Luke," Kyle shouted.
Luke just looked away in embarrassment.
The examiner just shook his head. "Follow me," he told the group.
The examiner ran towards the city's exit, and the group followed.
He was running at quite a high speed, but the others managed to keep up, except for Kyle.
His hammer and his armor were just too heavy.
Within a couple of seconds, Kyle lost track of the group.
When he reached the city's exit, he looked around.
He was sure that they had left the city, but he couldn't see anyone.
'It's quite gay, but I have no other choice,' Kyle thought.
Then, he sniffed the air.
The examiner had quite a strong musk, and since Kyle's sense of smell was so fine, he could smell where the examiner had been.
'I'm fucking chasing a burly man by following his scent. Ew.'
Kyle followed the scent, which led him to the woods.
After a while, he heard sounds of fighting.
Eventually, Kyle reached a clearing, and he saw the Newbies fighting each other while the examiner watched.
The examiner looked at Kyle with annoyance when he noticed his arrival.
"Join the fight," the examiner said. "Killing is forbidden. Unnecessary destruction of property is also forbidden."
"Okay," Kyle answered before running into the melee.
The Fighters were almost dancing around as they performed incredibly complex moves.
It was clear that all of them had trained for years.
Kyle focused on one of them.
There was a Shouter amongst the group.
The guy was fighting with a huge shield and a one-handed mace, just like Nervon.
No one was currently focusing on him since dealing with a Shouter was troublesome.
"I'm comin!" Kyle shouted at the guy.
He didn't want to get a cheap shot in.
After all, this was an exam, and the contestants were supposed to fight each other.
The Shouter looked at Kyle with disgust.
Why did he have to deal with the half-dwarf?
Kyle approached with his hammer, holding it low in front of him.
Suddenly, the Shouter shot forward and lowered his posture.
BANG!
The Shouter's shield collided with Kyle's lowered hammer, stopping it in its tracks.
Kyle's entire body bulged as he moved his hammer up to destabilize the Shouter's stance.
However, the Fighter had read the Body and the Mental Tome.
He had immediately shoved his Ether into his mind to slow time in his perception.
The Shouter could see Kyle's muscles bulging, and it was more than obvious what Kyle was about to do.
Because of that, the Shouter completely changed his stance and removed his shield.
As expected, Kyle's hammer shot up wildly since there was no resistance anymore.
The Shouter just walked forward to hit Kyle with his mace.
But then, Kyle's eyes narrowed as his body bulged again.
The hammer stopped in the middle of the swing, and green Ether gathered around it.
Then, he slammed downward.
The Shouter noticed the new dynamic and realized one thing.
Yes, he would be able to injure Kyle with his mace, but a moment later, the hammer would also hit him.
Despite Kyle's weak Realm, that hammer was still quite scary.
The Shouter grew annoyed.
The fact that he actually had to become serious against a Peak Adept, even for just a moment, was humiliating to him.
The Shouter stopped his attack and lifted his shield.
BOOM!
Kyle's hammer hit the shield, but a moment later, his eyes widened.
The shield didn't give way!
It didn't crack!
BANG!
The next moment, the shield pushed the hammer to the side, destabilizing Kyle.
Kyle's eyes widened as he suddenly saw a giant in front of him.
The shield revealed the Shouter, who had suddenly grown to be around 2.5 meters tall!
'Right, Body Tome,' Kyle thought.
The Shouter's power had increased significantly as he released his True Body.
The next moment, the air around the shield began to pulsate.
BANG!
Kyle's body took to the sky against his will, and his body hit the shield.
"Ah, Gravity Affinity. Rare," Theodor commented.
Kyle's body was stuck to the front of the shield.
He tried to push himself off and managed to make some progress.
But, of course, his opponent wasn't just standing there.
Kyle felt himself moving rapidly.
And the next moment…
BOOOOM!
The Shouter rammed his shield into the ground, Kyle between the two.
The air was pushed out of Kyle's lungs, but his armor protected him from most of the damage.
Then, the shield lifted, and a foot stepped on the arm Kyle held his hammer with.
The gigantic Shouter lifted his mace, which had also grown bigger, for some reason.
And then, the mace slammed down on Kyle's head.
Or, it would have, if the Shouter hadn't stopped the attack inches away from Kyle's face.
Kyle breathed heavily and looked into the narrowed eyes of the Shouter.
"Okay, you got me," Kyle said.
The Shouter snorted and stepped away from Kyle.
From a distance, the examiner just shook his head.
Sure, Kyle had been stronger than expected, but that wasn't enough.
Only two or three Newbies would get through the tryouts, and Kyle was weaker than all of them.
There was no point in testing Kyle further.
He was not strong enough to join.
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