Initiation Part 2

Unlike what I was told, the shell-forming process did not feel uncomfortable, instead, I felt quite comfortable, like a warm blanket had enveloped me, protecting me from the cold environment.

It was a pleasant experience, but it seemed like those around me did not feel the same.

Sounds of grunting and deep breaths echoed around me, making me aware that perhaps, only I felt this way.

I did not pay them attention, turning my focus towards the warm energy that enveloped me, encasing my being inside it.

It shrunk, solidifying into my skin, turning into my 'shell' as they had called it.

Then, another layer gathered, but it took much longer this time, almost thrice the time it took for the first one to gather.

I thought that this was my defensive layer, the 'clothing', so to speak. 

But no, this one also merged into my skin, strengthening my shell even more.

I was slightly confused, but then the third layer came.

This one seemed to merge into the clothes I was wearing, while also forming a connection with me so that I could feel it.

When the warmth disappeared, I opened my eyes to see everyone staring at me.

"Something wrong?" I asked the two dressed in black.

"You took two hours and seven times th-" He was interrupted by Eric when he started to explain why I was being stared at.

"Later," He said, holding his hand in front of his face to stop him from continuing his speech. "We can talk later, we have to get him through initiation first. I'm not taking responsibility if Mr.Numoral is displeased."

The man seemed to shudder when they thought about Numoral being displeased, which seemed to invigorate them.

"All right!" Eric clapped his hands. "Onto the next phase!"

The next phase took us back to the 'Initiation building', into the room where I had struck a target with my spear.

"Now I'm sure you all remember that you all were asked to attack a target here, that was to test your spirit power, and since there were over 500 people who took the test, you can guess how many of them passed." 

I looked at the forty-something people around me, they looked like they knew about this, meaning that it was being repeated for my sake.

"Now, it's time to test your overall ability."

A few button presses later, multiple objects emerged from the ground, including an entire obstacle course.

"We will test your speed, strength, evasion, agility, etc, over the course of two days. As long as you perform well enough, you will be entered into official training, if you don't, you will be sent to the errand division until you pass the exam."

We were led to the start of a straight track.

Eric walked up to me.

"Please go first." He asked me, I nodded and walked up to the starting line.

"Ready? GO!"

I ran as fast as I could and finished the sprint in under seven seconds.

"Not bad."

He then took me to the next one while the others started their runs, three at a time, as the man wrote their timing on a notepad.

The next one seemed like a strength test.

The plates didn't have numbers on them, but Eric was quite surprised when I lifted the biggest weight with some effort.

He let out a whistle.

"Man, you are freakishly strong."

I just shrugged, having no idea what the normal strength of a spirit was supposed to be.

"Come on, let's see how good you are at dodging things."

The evasion test was conducted by using multiple swinging blades and two turrets that shot paint.

"Don't worry, the blades are dull and light, so at most they'll give you a hard push." Eric reassured me.

I made my way to the center of the circle I was supposed to stay inside during the duration of the test.

"Here we go!" Eric pressed a button and machines started to operate.

I moved to evade the blades while trying to keep my eyes on the turrets, it was quite difficult, since I had to keep my eyes on the blades as well.

Slowly, the blades sped up, making the test harder as it progressed.

Then a thought struck me, and I changed my focus.

It suddenly became easier to dodge, for a few moments at least, before the turrets started working.

Suddenly, it became very hard, I had to jump out of the way of the paint as the turrets shot randomly, while also trying to not get hit by the swinging blades.

Thankfully, the turrets shot once every few seconds, giving me a little time to recover between shots.

Until they didn't.

Same as the blades, they picked up their frequency as well, then it was all over.

Blue paint spread across my right hand as I was hit, pushing me slightly off-balance into a blade as it struck me on my shoulder.

Immediately, the blades moved up as they slowed to a stop, signaling the end of the test.

"Hgn!" I grunted as I landed on the ground, and hands stopping my chest from hitting the floor.

"1 minute, 42 seconds." Eric spoke as I got up and looked at the paint on my white robe.

"The average is only 44 seconds, congratula...tions..." He slowed his speech when he saw the paint on me detach and drip to the floor.

"How did you do that?" He asked. 

I looked at him, and raised my now clean sleeve.

"This?" I asked.

"Yes, that. How?"

Something told me that what I had just done wasn't normal.

"I didn't want it on me, so I just pushed it out."

"Pushed it out? You just 'Pushed' the paint out of your clothes?" He seemed stupefied about what I did, to the point that he remained silent for an entire minute after that.

"Never mind, let's just continue." He seemed to have accepted the fact, and wanted to continue.

'An initiate with Awakened-level control? What sort of monster did those madmen make?'

Eric scratched his head as he led us to the next test.