The moment Alex took on the Manastorm form, his body lit up in a colourless blaze and his aura skyrocketed till the limits of a mid-tier Class E awakened.
Mason and Zol narrowed their eyes as they studied his body using their divine senses.
They 'saw' how Alex had directed a thin film of his void energy that came out of nowhere and washed over his body, triggering the mana within into an excited frenzy.
'There it is.'
Mason thought, paying close attention to Alex's aura. His aura alone gave a glimpse of where his strength lay, but Mason believed he was much stronger than meets the eye.
'The simulation only made a guess of how strong he was based on the energy readings Alex gave off. But I bet he is far stronger than that.
'Not to mention the Voidflare form.'
Alex remained standing in place feeling the surge of strength in his body, but his expression remained calm and waited for the hunters to comment.
"How do you feel?"
Lord Zol asked after a couple of seconds.
"Like I can do anything? But I'm not sure how long this state will last." He explained while observing his body.
"Any guess on your side?"
Mason chipped in.
"Hmm… Probably like half an hour or close to that time?" He wasn't sure, but he could feel the mana within his body flowing like a storm and was draining faster too.
"Isn't that a lot of time?" Ross asked, turning to Lord Mason and back to Alex. But that was only if the fight was short.
If he was required to fight for long hours, taking on the Manastorm form would drain him too fast, unless, of course, he wished to end the fight as soon as possible.
"That's more than enough time. And I think it has to do with the amount of mana in his cells. If he had more, it would be longer."
"Exactly," Zol added and explained further. "Alex appears like a weak Class F awakened despite the amount of mana in his body.
"But from an estimate, he has more than enough to be classified as a mid-tier Class E awakened; that is in this form."
Ross and Julia wore surprised expressions and then looked at Alex as if he cheated them, and he could only smile wryly looking at his friends.
"But that is only from his aura and until we test him out, we won't be sure how strong and fast he is physically."
Saying that, Mason stepped forward with a small grin.
"Wait, you're not about to fight Alex, are you?" Julia furrowed her brows when she saw Mason move.
"Don't worry, lass. I'm not going to do anything, I'm just allowing him to attack me, is all."
Julia sighed in relief.
The reason she stepped in was because she feared Mason would throw attacks at him as well. Even if Alex was strong, he hadn't seen a Class S in action before.
They may appear harmless because they were always around them, but the kind of power they wielded was no joke.
She had seen her uncle flicker a planet out of existence and the experience shook her to the core. A shiver ran down her spine just thinking about it.
"He's only interested in seeing how strong Alex's attacks will be," Ross added with folded arms and a bit of excitement he found difficult to hide.
"You're not thinking of fighting a Class S hunter right now, are you?" Julia didn't like that burning desire in Ross's eyes.
"Of course not."
Ross denied the accusation with a straight face.
"Alright, you two. Step back. Things will be getting heated real soon." Mason grinned and stepped forward.
However, before the two could move, they felt an aura wash over them before being dragged back. The aura didn't disappear and stayed in place.
Julia did not understand why her uncle would do that and turned to look at him with a questioning gaze.
"Just watch."
Ross and Julia looked back at the two fighters. They were in for a real show as they had no idea just how strong a Class E hunter was.
The VR simulations nerfed a lot of things, so they couldn't accurately measure just how strong a Class E was compared to a Class F hunter.
'Let's see just how strong I really am in this state.' Alex revealed an excited smile that Mason didn't miss.
"Don't hold back like you do with your friends, boy. Go all out." He replied mirroring the grin on Alex's face.
Standing against each other at a distance of roughly 20 meters, the light breeze from the open canyon blew past them as Alex took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
The two appeared to be almost similar in height with Mason being a little over 2 meters and Alex at 1.8 meters. He looked more like an adult than a teenager who was not even 18 years old yet.
Abruptly, Alex opened his eyes as his form flickered and he disappeared from his spot with a whoosh.
"!"
Julia and Ross widened their eyes in surprise when they failed to see Alex move! One moment he was there, then the next, he was gone.
It was almost instantaneous.
The two were infinitely close to the next level, yet they failed to see him move and the realization ignited a fire in them.
There was no way they were going to be left behind.
Mason watched with an amused expression when Alex arrived right before him with a right fist going straight for his chest. He had no armour on and made no attempt to dodge either.
In his view, Alex was as slow as a snail but he was not here to beat him up. And the fighting intent burning in Alex's eyes made him look more fun to play with.
With a perfect form that applied everything he learnt about force application, taking advantage of his footing and the right angles, Alex let out everything he had in a pure physical burst.
*BOOOM!*