23 Rise of the 4th Starseed

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Even though the Blocking test was one that could be completed with a full score, not all of the tests for the Fielders category worked the same way.

For his second test, Irvine had to stay close to an erratically moving Solver within his 15 meter restriction zone.

Between them, the whole grassy field was laden with different kinds of obstacles all around.

It was like a game of tag designed to measure a Fielder's ability to not let his Solver gets out of bounds.

As the time went on, the Solver examiner would slowly pick up his speed and tread through even more difficult hurdles until the examinee could no longer keep up with him.

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In this test, Irvine had displayed his outstanding field of vision to track and anticipate the irregular movements of his Solver examiner.

He had prioritized himself with reading the movements of his supposed Solver 'teammate' and finding the shortest route to reach him rather than following him around with pure speed.

When the Solver examiner who'd been tasked with losing his Fielder thought that he'd successfully pulled some distances away from Irvine, the latter would suddenly appear from the most unexpected of directions, having trodden through a very peculiar set of obstacles on the way.

'This guy is...!'

To the examiner, it had felt like Irvine had mapped out the whole field of hurdles beforehand and were now following him as if he's walking through his own backyard.

In this aspect, his way of accumulating scores for this particular test was 180 degrees from Derrick Wallace who'd chosen to close in on his Solver examiner with his superior speed until he eventually tired himself out.

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The one thing that Irvine had realized from his past future, was that even after reaching a higher Physical State, he was not a player with great physical prowess or explosiveness when compared to the others.

What he had instead noticed when he'd been forced into an early retirement and doomed to rewatch all his old pro matches videos was that;

He had a good spatial awareness!

When he saw himself playing as a Guard in matches, he would always manage to anticipate earlier the oncoming Solvers and Fielders, allowing him to intercept them faster than normal Guards.

Unfortunately, because of him lacking the necessary firepower to push enemies away or contend with them through physical means, he always ended up getting knocked down or grappled more often than not.

Which in turn, accumulated into bad statistics for a Guard.

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This spatial awareness was also the reason why he could have a higher success rate for moves like [Joint Break] than most others.

In a close-quarter combat, he could feel and see when a coming attack was close enough for a counter, and then calculate the appropriate reach of his fists to deliver enough damage to stun the joints area of his opponents.

It was one of the example he'd found on how to apply this 'weapon' of his in a different way.

From that moment on, Irvine would train and think to himself on how to best make use of his gift.

He had since started to condition himself to be able to locate moving players on the field at all times even in the midst of combat.

Teaching himself how to get to the right place at the right time for offense and support even though he had already retired by then...

These were all the things that he hadn't had much of a chance to experience when playing as a Guard.

'Yes, this is how I'll be able to compete at the highest level... With my timely and precise interception playing style!' After returning and trying many things, Irvine once again affirmed himself that he was walking the correct path this time around.

Of course, he was not only planning to simply make use of this weapon, but also to evolve it into something more.

A new definition of fighting style tailored only for him!

But he felt that he was still rather lacking in ideas and execution in this aspect for it to happen in this short amount of time.

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Nearing the end of the second test, the speed of the Solver examiner had finally reached a level where Irvine couldn't have performed an interception even if he could anticipate his routes.

It was inevitable that everyone would eventually fail this second test at some point.

This was because the examiner who acted as the Solver was a person who's at least a peak Stage-3 Human!

Even Derrick Wallace who had achieved remarkable success in the Physical Exam in terms of speed and stamina ended up tiring himself out before the examiner.

Once an examinee allowed a distance of more than 15 meters away from the Solver, the test would automatically end for him/her.

Still, even with that condition, in the end, Irvine's final score for the second test was something that reached the upper percentile of all the other Fielders that had taken it as well.

Even when compared to Derrick Wallace, he didn't lose out by much in terms of the length of time he'd managed to survive it.

This in turn, had also started to bring more and more attention towards Irvine from his fellow Fielders participants.

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The Fielders category consisted of 5 different tests. Including the Blocking and Following tests.

Following his astounding performance on the first two, with each of the subsequent tests he'd done after that, Irvine would always achieve a score that was far above the average, even when compared to the rest of the college players.

By the time he had completed the third test with the same above average results, the eyes of both the scouts and examiners alike had already long been brightening up.

And when the result of the fourth test had come around, the atmosphere around Z stadium had slowly become ever so lively.

*whispers* *whispers*

Even the people of the License Exam committee were all looking on and discussing the same spectacle as the scouts.

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"Sandy."

Inside one of the VIP box seats of Z Stadium, Reginald Hudson was calling his assistant with an expectant look on his face.

"Yes sir?"

"Number #038, Irvine Lang. What's his current estimated score in this Practicals?"

Truth be told, Reginald had already received the positive feedbacks for this particular player during yesterday's exams report. After all, every high school students who had managed to pass both the Written and Physical Exams deserved the attention of everyone.

And the number of such people, according to the submitted reports from yesterday evening, was exactly five.

Five close to graduating high school students who had passed and went on to the final Practical Exam.

Amongst those five, three of them had barely managed to scrape by with their total scores in the 130-140s between the two exams.

But the other two people, Irvine Lang and Medea Dormer were different.

The both of them had a real chance in passing this Arena Athlete License Exam and become a Starseed!

"...With that fourth test, Irvine Lang had already reached 63 points!" Sandy was reporting the calculated records from her tablet with a similar excitement on her usually mature face.

"!"

Reginald had first thought that this month and year would finally be the time Zeta City would once again produce their own Starseed player after hearing his assistant, Sandy, listing the name Medea Dormer amongst the participants.

But never could he have imagined that the one who had emerged as a Starseed first was this unknown player coming out of nowhere!

Irvine's total score before the Practical Exam was exactly 160 points. Which meant that with an already established score of above 60 points in the Practicals, Irvine could already be considered as a Starseed in his eyes.

It was simply the matter of his actual scores hadn't actually been broadcasted just yet. The monitor on the field had only been showing the actual raw test records as of right now.

'With Medea Dormer... Wouldn't there be 2 Starseeds in this exam!' Reginald's mind was currently screaming with anticipation.

These were his favorite moments as an Arena fan!

Zeta City was his hometown, even his favorite team was the Zeta Androids.

Things that raised the prestige of his City could only be a good thing for him, especially if Irvine would decide to attend his college here in the end.

'Should I prepare a specialized ceremony for them...?'

Right now, Reginald was seriously considering using the leftover budget of the License Exam event to throw a party for his 2 young Starseeds with the objective of further tying them to the city.

'No no, I need to keep myself in check. Plus the only one who's fixed to pass was still just Irvine Lang, and only the few of us know that at the moment.'

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Of course, not everyone was as clear with the final results as the exam committee.

Even though the experienced scouts could feel the flow and momentum of Irvine's rise, they could at most only say that his chance in passing was already at 99% or more.

Nobody was privy to the scoring system that the OPL used for a License Exam. That's why every scout used past references of records and achievements to come up with their own approximation.

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But be that as it may, both John and Rory had pretty much already regarded Irvine as the 4th Starseed after his most recent test record.

*SIGH*

"Getting him will just get a lot harder after this..." John sighed with complaint.

The only silver lining to this was the fact that they had approached Irvine and given their sincerity earlier than other schools since they were also the ones who're present to watch his performances.

"After getting his license and Gene Mod, he'll be a full-fledged ready-to-deploy Arena Player with superpower. Including his future potentials, anyone would want him in their schools." Rory stated helplessly.

Just like with Medea, right now the two of them had done all that they could to invite Irvine into their respective schools. Whether they would get a Starseed player this year or not, the rest would depend on their lucks.

"Come to think of it, the two of them seem to be quite close with each other..."

"So?"

"...Maybe one lucky Tier-1 college in Zeta City will get 2 out of the possible 5 Starseeds this year."

"..."

"Hoho, wouldn't that be nice." Behind them, Rex who had stayed silent for most of the time also added his own comment to the situation.

His casual remark had caused both John and Rory to turn their heads slightly towards the back.

"Err, sir? Isn't there already a junior student in the Silverbacks who's one of the Starseeds from 3 years ago?"

"Yes, the only Starseed Solver in the last 5 years." Rory gave a nod to John's comment.

"Ah, yes. That kid's growing well I suppose..." Rex answered the two's rhetorical question with a gentlemanly smile on his face.

"..."

"Haha, I'm just thinking what kind of dynamic it'll create to have 3 prodigious and dominant individuals within the same starting team, that's all. As you know, every little monsters like them have already started developing their weapons even before getting their Gene Mod..."

"...What do you suppose Irvine Lang's weapon is? Because to me he just looks like a regular experienced player with the way he approached the tests. It's impressive for someone his age, but..."

"I agree, he's not like the rest of the prodigies who were very overwhelming in one thing."

Both John and Rory asked the more experienced Rex for his point of view.

"Isn't that just it then? His tactical mind that thinks at the level of experienced players, add to that his precise control of the body and--"

"Hm... Well, nevermind." Rex stopped his speculations midway.

'There's also his uncanny awareness of his surroundings just like when he's dodging those rubber balls and following that Solver. But I don't know if it could be attributed to superior reflexes or something else entirely.'