The tunnel before Lucifer was split in two. One was going towards the left while the other was going towards the right.
"Which one?" Lucifer muttered, frowning. "Is this also a test?"
He started looking around to see if there was anything that had a clue here as to what he was supposed to choose, but there was nothing.
"Fine. I'll just choose one," he let out as he chose the left tunnel and started running once again.
As Lucifer ran inside the tunnel for five minutes straight, he noticed that it once again split in two.
"Again?" He let out, frustrated.
He was again about to choose the left side when he stopped.
Frowning, he looked to his left, where he found a small stone lying out of his view.
"That stone... It was exactly at that place last time too. Don't tell me I'm back where I started?" He let out as he frowned.
As he was wondering what this split was, he remembered the words of Yovann.
"Remember, sometimes we can have all the strength in the world, but luck still plays an important role in our victory. So never underestimate your enemy, even if he's weaker. Who knows, his luck might be better."
"Luck... Could it be about luck? Two tunnels? One leads back here? The lucky one will choose the right one on the first try while the unlucky ones will choose the wrong one and waste their time?" Lucifer said, frowning.
"This must be it. I really wasted my time by not choosing the right one."
This time he chose the right one as he started running.
Unlike before, this time, he didn't end up back there again. Instead, he finally reached the next obstruction.
He could see ten men standing before him in the distance.
...
Ren and Cassius also reached the two tunnels. While Ren chose the left one, Cassius selected the right one.
As for the other three contenders, they were much behind them. In fact, only Dash seemed to be catching up as he flew at his best speed.
....
Lucifer was standing before ten men who all had a rod in their hands. All of them were wearing black leather jackets and other clothing artifacts that were making them feel like gangsters.
"Human enemies this time?" Lucifer muttered, frowning. "Is this a test to see how I defeat them without killing them? Or something else? Because they're genuinely too weak for me."
Since all of them were holding weapons, Lucifer was sure that they weren't Variants.
Beep!
While Lucifer was wondering how he should deal with them, he heard a loud beeping sound coming from his bracelet.
Looking down, he realized that the white light that was blinking on the bracelet had turned off.
"What does this mean? I can't use my powers?" Lucifer exclaimed, upset.
The white light signified that the Variant had the permission to use his powers, and its absence showed that they couldn't.
"Ah, so that's what it is," Lucifer muttered as he realized what was happening. "I need to defeat them like humans."
He remembered his martial arts class. It was the same there. Unlike other classes, they weren't permitted to use their powers in that class. So they learned and fought using human skills like Martial Arts, Judo, and many others.
"Fine. I can do it. After learning for a year, I know where the threshold of my human strength is to some extent. I don't think I'll set off the bracelet now. At least not against these people," Lucifer said, determined as he started stepping towards the men.
"Come, kid!" The men laughed as they advanced towards Lucifer.
The first man who reached Lucifer didn't attack with a rod. Instead, he tried to kick Lucifer's chest.
Unfortunately for him, Lucifer moved like lightning as he caught the man's leg before hitting the man's knee with his elbow, breaking it.
He didn't stop there as he hit the neck of the man again, making him finally drop to the ground, groaning in pain.
The second and the third man came together as they attacked with the rods.
This time, Lucifer went to the ground, not only dodging the rods but even using his kicks to make the men drop to the ground before he attacked the two of them, taking them out.
"Next," Lucifer said lightly as he patted his clothes. A glint of excitement could be seen in his eyes.
...
Cassius and Ren also reached the next obstruction to notice a few men standing before them. Their limiter once again became activated, and they too realized what this test was.
"A test to fight without gifts?" Cassius muttered. "Did they forget that I'm a swordsman even without my gifts? It's child's play for me."
He stepped forward with his heavy sword in his hand, ready to fight.
...
"That was fun," Lucifer exclaimed as he laughed. He really enjoyed this part of the test as he got to fight without his abilities.
Ten unconscious men were lying behind him as he advanced towards the next obstruction.
....
The five teachers were standing in a different place, but there were still five doors before them.
It was the place where the students were going to come out from.
"It shouldn't be long now. Soon, we'll see the winner," Alexi said, smirking.
"I have an idea. How about we make bets on who is going to win? We can each contribute a thousand coins. The ones who are right will get all the money that is collected from this to be shared amongst only them," he suddenly suggested.
"If there's only one who is right amongst us, that person can hoard five thousand coins. How's this?" He further said.
"Not bad. I'm in," Yovann said as he placed a thousand coins inside a bag. Alexi did the same.
"Fine. I'm in too," Franci said as he also gave a thousand coins.
Morbius also gave a thousand coins of contribution along with Mirali.
In the end, five thousand coins were collected, which weren't cheap by any means in this country.
"So, give your final choice of name. You can't go back or change," Alexi said.
"Cassius," Morbius answered.
"I'm going with Cassius too," Franci said.
" I select Cassius too," Mirali answered.
"I also go with Cassius. Hah, it looks like none of us are going to win anything extra with this," Alexi said, smiling wryly. "Yovann, Cassius for you too?'
"No. I select Alex," Yovann answered, smiling.
"Do you really want to lose your money? Fine. It looks like we'll all earn some coins after all," Alexi let out, laughing as he held the bag.