Jude King, a man unwilling to admit defeat

"I have enough miracle points to get the class I want but not the skill I need. I need to also work hard on the next test. That way, I will rack in more miracle points."

Both of Eugene's eyes showed similar desires.

They reflected his greed for a certain book and skill and showcased that he was willing to do anything to obtain them.

Far away, someone was cursing nine generations of his family.

"That greedy bastard held nothing back to show off his strength to his race. He even destroyed the strength testing drum in order to gain the interest of the Gods."

Sebastian clicked his tongue in frustration.

"Now I have to move my old bones to clean up the mess he made so that others can take the test."

"Ugh, I hate my job!"

After crying without tears for some minutes, Sebastian raised his hand and outstretched his forefinger.

As a result of his simple actions, the humans and ogres down below got to see the pieces of metal shrapnel scattered throughout the white room floating up.

He curled his finger, and they shot towards the center of the raised platform, where they reassembled into the shape of a black metal drum.

One by one, Earthlings came up to the platform and struck the drum to make it release a drumbeat.

Except for one, they all failed.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

When Hudson, the man in his fifties who had appeared in the white room while answering nature's call, brutally punched the drum, two booming noises came out.

"Why is the operator not announcing that I have passed?"

[Do you think your silly actions will fool me? You made the first drumbeat with your mouth and farted out the second one from your bum hole. You need to make the drum release a beat, not your body. Thus, I judge that you've failed the test.]

The announcer, a high ranker hired by Sebastian to help him judge the contestants, didn't hold anything back while shaming Hudson, who turned beet red.

"I hadn't mentioned it before, but I will punish whoever cheats with an immediate disqualification from the test or minor injuries, or with both."

Sebastian, of course, noticed his cheap tricks and glared at him with red eyes.

"Since you're the first to break the rules, I will let you decide how I should punish you."

The demon gave the man a chance to save his hide.

"Pardon me! I didn't mean to. I am the type of fighter who subconsciously makes noises from his mouth while throwing a punch. I definitely wasn't trying to fool you there."

However, the man didn't cherish the life-saving grace given to him by a blood-thirsty demon.

"You lost your only chance to walk out of this unharmed."

Sebastian clicked his tongue venomously.

The onlookers saw Hudson flying out of the raised platform like a broken kite and breaking a few bones of his by crash landing on the ground.

Everyone understood that they might die if the men in white and the operator caught them cheating and that there was no way to hide even the tiniest of their actions from them.

Thus, they kicked all thoughts of cheating out of their mind.

"I never thought that the martial arts I learned in my youth would come in handy today. Thanks, mom and dad, for forcing me to master our family's traditional arts at a young age."

Elsa, the young woman who had appeared here while taking a bath and was currently only wearing an oversized shirt, stepped on the drum and jumped high up.

In mid-air, she positioned herself in such a way that all her body weight would add to her next attack.

She smashed her elbow in its center and sent a shockwave through its body.

"Buzz!"

It emitted a slight buzzing sound that didn't sound like a drumbeat.

"Did I pass?"

Elsa looked at the man in white with bewilderment in her eyes.

"Yes, you did."

The White room's master nodded at her.

[Participant Elsa has earned ten miracle points]

The white room's operator announced her result.

As she went away with a smile, He chanted something in a language that sounded like a banshee's scream to her.

When he finished reciting the spell, a magic circle appeared beneath the drum.

Nine more such circles appeared on the platform.

They lit up, releasing a bright crimson glow.

[Black Magic: Item Duplication]

When their glow died down, the onlookers felt shocked as they saw that nine more drums had appeared on it out of thin air.

A total of ten drums were now on the platform.

The rate at which Sebastian was testing the participants increased exponentially.

"All of us have passed the strength test."

"We're so much better than them."

"Yeah, none of us have failed, but only a few of them have passed."

"They are a race inherently inferior to us in terms of physical strength and spiritual will, so don't compare yourself to them."

All the Ogres managed to make the drum produce a sound or two, but they weren't as impressive as their young sage, Sharbul, who caused it to emit five noises and created a crack on its surface by hitting its center with the tip of his staff.

"Shit! I feel like an absolute sore loser after failing this test. I wasn't good at anything back home. And now, I am not good at anything in this place either."

"You're not the only one feeling down and dispirited. There are plenty of guys who failed, some right next to their crush."

"I think these bastards are bad-mouthing us."

"So what? What do you want to do? They managed to pass the test, and you failed. If you fight them, they will break you as easily as I break a twig."

"Fuck! Did you have to slap the cruel reality on my face without any consideration of my feelings?!"

On the other hand, most of the human participants blushed out of embarrassment and lowered their heads in shame as they could not make the drum produce a single beat because they were out of shape and lacked strength.

Years of messy eating and not working out have left them weak and pathetic.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The only human who made it release three beats by doing nothing extra and only punching it was shirtless, but others still found him imposing and majestic nonetheless.

He was Axel Watts, the one who gave his shirt to Elsa.

He let excitement get to his head and punched it again, but his result didn't change.

After him, there were at least five more humans who used their brains and strength to make the drum release a sound.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

The first human to make the drum release two beats with a single punch appeared.

He was all bones and skin but succeeded in doing what many others failed to do.

[You have passed the test]

[You've gained 20 miracle points]

'The man in white and the owner of the feminine voice aren't as omnipotent as they had made themselves look to us. At least I fooled them.'

The lanky man thought while climbing down the platform and returning to his old spot.

He had 20 miracle points, not because of his strength but his brain.

He had perfectly timed the audio recording of the drumbeats that he had recorded in advance with his act of hitting the black metal drum.

As a result, He managed to fool both the demon and the operator into believing that he had made the drum produce two noises using his fist and not any underhanded means.

After him, many people tried, but even the best Earthling could make only make the drum release one beat.

The only two people who were left to take the test were Wren and Jude.

"Only you and I haven't taken the test. Would you like to go first, or should I head up?" Wren asked Jude.

"I would like to take it before you," Jude replied to Wren.

"Okay, then good luck."

"Thank you."

Just climbing the platform made Jude King, the kid who appeared in the white room while jerking off, feel tired.

However, he didn't waste any time going up to the drum closest to him.

He started pushing the drum to the platform's edge with all his strength from the very start as he only had one minute to do it.

He felt dead tired and started sweating profusely because of just pushing it a few inches from its original spot, but he didn't give up. His Mom and dad weren't in this place. He clearly knew that there was no one he could leech off of in this strange place as everyone was a stranger to him. He only had himself to depend upon from now on. He could instinctively tell that he needed enough miracle points to get a basic class, or it would become hard for him to survive in the future.

Thus, he gritted his teeth and pressed forward with his act of bringing the drum to the platform's edge.

He didn't stop even when blood leaked out the corner of his mouth.

"I used to do sports back in school. I was the ace of my team. However, a boy crushed my legs with his car out of jealousy. Because his father was rich and powerful and had bought the judges and the investigators and was willing to pay all the money his son's victim needed to recover from his injuries and get back on his feet, the judge only made his son do community service for a few years. I became able to walk after a long time, but the doctor made it clear to me that I couldn't run for more than 5 minutes or do any kind of sports if I didn't want to die from the veins in my legs bursting or high blood pressure exploding my heart. I became depressed and wasted my days by jerking off 10 to 20 times a day, smoking hundreds of cigarettes, and drinking enough to drown my soul in alcohol. I lived a shitty life and destroyed my body in a shittier way. I lost all his muscles due to years of suffering from nutritional deficiency and doing self-harming acts. I am the weakest and most pathetic person in this room. It's a wonder how I am still alive. However, I am unwilling to live like a sore loser. I am unwilling to die, knowing that I might not receive a funeral, much less have a person attending it! I will live like a beast! Until my death, I won't stop marching ahead!"

The roar of a beast that had had enough of licking his wound sounded out from the depth of his heart and touched the heart of many people in the white room as he gave the drum one more push to push it off the platform.

The drum plunged down the air at an incredible speed.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

It crashed on the ground with such force and momentum that the floor cracked, a cloud of dust raised, coloring the clear air brown, and five resounding reverberations rang throughout the white room.