"A test? What kind of test?" asked Emery curiously.
Magus Ramora inwardly smiled when she heard that. She didn't say anything more and instead immediately led Emery to a long hallway with a dozen doors. Some of them were closed while others were wide open; apparently, the ones being closed meant it was currently occupied by the privileged acolytes.
The two of them walked past the closed doors and into the open door they came to first. Emery looked at the plaque beside the doorway and saw it was "Room 7".
Entering inside, he saw three people wearing the staff uniforms already waiting.
Immediately after, as if they had rehearsed it a thousand times, one of the staff members told Emery to undress while the others prepared the instruments needed for the test. Afterwards, he was asked to lie in a tube-like chamber at the back of the room.
Emery laid there on the cold surface of the chamber, confused as he watched the staff members sticking several translucent cables onto various parts of his body; the temple, the nape, the chest, the shoulders, the arms, the thighs, the legs, and others.
Of course, Emery asked what these cables were for. This didn't seem to be a secret as one of the staff members immediately explained that they were very helpful in the tests he was about to take; one of them was to ensure much more accurate data.
Before Emery managed to ask more, the tube-like chamber was closed and he quickly found himself entering the virtual space. Realizing that the test would be held in the virtual arena, he subconsciously heaved a sigh of relief.
The place he entered was a circular-shaped dome, every nook and cranny was colored porcelain white leaving no spots unscathed. There was nothing in the room except Emery himself, until a notification suddenly appeared in front of him.
[You are now entering a physical test. You are stripped from your ability to cast spells]
[Level 1 will soon begin]
Seeing that, Emery quickly warmed up and prepared for whatever was about to be thrown at him.
All of a sudden, from the corner of his eye, he noticed that there was something coming out from the walls. Turning his head towards it, he saw a tube-like instrument that was strangely familiar to him.
After scouring through his memories, Emery finally recalled what it reminded him of. The instrument that just came out of the walls looked really similar to the weapon used by the Zaiueo acolytes.
There were ten of such instruments, surrounding Emery from all directions with the barrel pointed at him.
Swsh!
Without any notice, a large rock was shot from one of the instruments, flying rapidly through the air towards Emery. Seeing the arrival of rock as big as a fist, Emery quickly stepped aside to avoid it.
Things didn't stop there as immediately all ten instruments fired the same rock at once. Without further ado, Emery immediately leaned his body while stepping to the side, avoiding the rocks that were coming towards him.
Even though the rocks travelled fast and came from multiple tricky angles, various trajectories, as well as different intervals, Emery was still able to avoid them with relative ease.
At some point, the instruments started to move around and shift from their initial position which made Emery have to pay special attention to their before and after positions.
He continued to dodge the rocks thrown at him for several minutes until the instruments stopped firing altogether. With it, another notification appeared in front of him.
[You have passed level 1]
[Level 2 will soon begin]
The walls opened up again as more instruments appeared. Now, there were twice the number of instruments. This time, all of them were shooting a grey-colored stone.
Swsh! Swsh! Swsh!
Moving his head to the right, Emery watched as the stone flew past his eyes. He immediately shifted his location again because he sensed several other stones coming from his left, targeting various parts of his body.
This level 2 was harder than level 1 because not only was the stone faster and harder to dodge, the firing speed of the instruments were also increased. Even so, Emery eventually was still able to avoid all the stones perfectly.
[You have passed level 2]
[Level 3 will soon begin]
Emery noticed how no more instruments were added. Therefore, he subconsciously relaxed his body because he thought that the test gave him some break time. It was at this moment that Emery was caught off guard and stumbled on his feet, as his body suddenly felt much heavier than before.
A notification appeared before him again, telling him what exactly happened.
[Gravity Space activated; 3 times gravitational force applied]
This meant that Emery's weight was now three times heavier than before. The drastic burden suddenly imposed on his body was enough to lose his balance in the short term while slowing him down by 10 to 20% in the long term.
Even so, Emery was able to quickly adapt to the changes on his body. There were some instances where the stones almost hit his body, but eventually he could dodge the stones thrown at him perfectly after some time.
Several minutes later, the instruments had once again stopped firing stones.
[You have passed level 3]
[Level 4 will soon begin]
[Gravity Space activated; 5 times gravitational force applied]
This time, a flustered look appeared on Emery as he finally had some difficulty moving his body. Just a few seconds after level 4 began, a stone hit one of his arms because he miscalculated the speed at which his body was moving.
It was quite painful and even almost made him fall to the ground. Knowing that his current position was an easy target, Emery quickly used his battle art.
[Immortal Gate – stage 5]
[Battle power added 32 points]
Faint layer of energy enveloped Emery's body as the battle art took effect. Thanks to the fact that [Immortal Gate] was a battle art, not a spell; he was able to use it and boost his battle power significantly.
With that, Emery managed to pass level 4 as well.
[You have passed level 4]
[Level 5 will soon begin]
As the notification disappeared, the walls opened up and once again brought more instruments out in the open. This time, ten more instruments were added to the fray. In addition, the instruments now fired jet black stones which seem sharper and harder than its predecessor.
There wasn't any increase in the gravity level, but thanks to the newly-added instruments, the space that Emery could use to dodge became very limited quickly. As time went on, Emery was even forced to start using his battle art [Weeping Phantom] to dodge the hailstones that were coming his way.
Emery continued to focus on dodging the stones until he found nothing flying in his direction again. Unknowingly, he had already passed the level.
[You have passed level 5]
Emery managed to pass level 5 after much difficulty; however, before the next level started, he suddenly realized that a new set of information came into his mind.
[Your physical score 6000 – rank 97]
A notification came into his mind, informing him that he had managed to surpass two privileged acolytes in terms of physical capability. Apparently, it meant there were two acolytes who didn't manage to pass level 5.
[Level 6 will soon begin]
[Gravity Space activated; 10 times gravitational force applied]
It was clear that level 6 was a massive gulf when compared to level 5; ten times gravity was no joke as it drastically affected his mobility, slowing it down by 30% even with the help of [Immortal Gate]. Within seconds, Emery tasted how painful the pitch-black stone was when it landed on his body.
Emery felt like some of his bones were fractured by it; the stone was much harder and painful than the gray stone that hit him at level 3. His right shoulder that was hit was rapidly bleeding, but the former was clearly determined not to give up.
Immediately, Emery regained his footing and dodged the stone that was flying towards his stomach. He kept dodging the stones to the best of his ability, but a stone or two still managed to hit the mark.
In the corner of his eye, Emery noticed that the longer he endured this stone onslaught, the higher his number became.
[Your physical score 6320 – rank 94]
[Your physical score 6410 – rank 89]
The live broadcast of his number that continued to rise naturally made Emery spirited. It was as if he was on drugs; how his body moved as he fully focused all his concentration to dodge the stones coming from all directions.
Even as the stones hit his body, Emery simply gritted his teeth and continued to avoid them as best he could. Until eventually, a notification appeared once again.
[You have passed level 6]
[Your physical score 7000 – rank 73]
The first time Emery took the test, he had managed to pass 22 acolytes already.
[Level 7 will soon begin]
[Gravity Space activated; 20 times gravitational force applied]
As soon as the notification disappeared, Emery instantly realized that he could barely move his body an inch, even when he had given everything he had. The instruments scattered around the room immediately fired, sending dozens of stones towards him.
Seeing the volley of stones heading in his direction, Emery knew he had to use his last card. Otherwise, his journey would end here.
[Fey Transformation – stage 2]
ROAR!!!