Hunter Exam (4)

The punching bag ruptured into several pieces and blasted all over the examination chamber.

Tyr returned to a normal position, retracting his spear.

A few slight gasps waved around the railings, examinees and Hunter's exclaiming alike.

Jonas had a bright smile on his face, as did Hanzo.

'He really is an anamoly.' Hanzo thought to himself, 'I still don't know his background or his true motives...'

The girls in Hanzo's group also seemed to be impressed by his power.

"Strength Grade:" 

The voice sounded through the speakers.

"150."

Several louder gasps of astonishment sounded all around the examination room, paired with wide eyes and pouted lips.

The different Hunter Squad members couldn't help but converse in surprise:

"Who the hell is this guy?"

"Without an Aura Core?"

"What is that ability..."

"150 is similar to having years of hunting experience already under his belt. He's stronger than a B Rank Hunter already, at least in terms of strength."

Tyr smirked as he heard this score, "I thought it only went to 100... but I'm happy with that." He said under his breath.

The rockstar-looking dude seemed to be at a loss.

'How the fuck...' He gritted his teeth, veins poking out slightly from his forehead.

A short young man wearing a rainbow-colored wool sweater bumped him on the shoulder with a playful smirk, "He got higher than even you, Miski."

"Shut the fuck up, twerp." The rockstar-looking dude, addressed as 'Miski,' replied with a disdainful and irritated tone.

'How did he do it? Unstable pills? It has to be... there's no other way. Damn junkie coming here and showing off as if he's some big shot.' Miski thought to himself, angered by his expectations being crumpled up and thrown into the bin.

Tyr couldn't help but notice the guy's expression and put on a spiteful smirk.

On seeing this, Miski gave an abrupt angry reaction, as if he wasn't expecting Tyr to mock him.

'That fucker...' He mused.

Tyr laughed inwardly: 'I don't know why, but seeing his stupid ass get annoyed gives me a lot of goddamn satisfaction!' 

This wasn't over yet, however. There was still more to the exam.

Next was the speed test, where Tyr had to avoid a single long-ranged attack.

A large cannon materialized from the stone this time about 50 feet away from Tyr. It didn't take long before it began to charge up a red-hot Aura attack.

Tyr bent his knees slightly, preparing to dodge. With Blink Step, he had no worries about this portion of the exam.

A basket-ball-sized orb of blazing energy darted at Tyr out of nowhere, 'Blink Step.' Tyr seemingly disappeared in front of everyone's eyes, appearing a few feet to the side of the Aura attack.

The reaction of the squad members and examinees was even more dramatic this time.

It was like watching a pro take a beginner's test. Many were at a complete loss as to how the rookie was doing this.

"Speed Grade: MAX."

"How..."

"Hahaha! Thats absurd!"

"Just where did Hanzo find a monster like this?"

"He's... a prodigy."

Tyr raised a brow, placing his hands on his hips, "Max huh? I didn't think there was such a thing. I wonder what number that is, 200? 250 perhaps?"

"300 points in a Hunter Exam is pretty impressive for a newbie. Good job, Tyr." Hanzo exclaimed from the railing.

"300? Damn... if my strength was only half of the max, I guess that means I got a 50%, or an F on that. Not that impressive when you think about it." Tyr said, gripping his fist.

"Not at all." A girl from Hanzo's team exclaimed. Stepping forward, she was short, around 5'2 ft. in stature, and wore a small loose dress that shone in bright velvety purple shades and small inscribed gems.

Her hair was short and black, flowing down to about her shoulders.

"That isn't how the grading works here. A score above 100 is very impressive, as most get around 40-80 for a decent score. 300 Isn't really a score acheiveable by most humans. It's more of a traditional aspect that the old heads of Seris don't want to remove from the tests... I haven't seen anyone get 300 during my entire life being a Hunter."

"Is that so..." Tyr exclaimed, "Still, I would want to match my speed score and strength score." Tyr wasn't fully satisfied with the 300-speed score either.

Without Blink Step, he wouldn't have gotten it at all. There was still a long way for him to go before thinking he was truly strong.

The final portion of the exam began shortly afterward.

By now, Tyr's Soul Mend was still on cool down. He had about 2 minutes before that cool-down wore off.

However, Tyr understood that the last portion of the exam didn't give you a score, but rather only graded you on whether you passed in defeating the beast you were given or not. There was also a timer of 10 minutes for you to try and kill your allotted beast. Trying to simply stall and survive wasn't an option.

So, thats why he decided to use it on the strength portion rather than this one.

He was confident in his ability to defeat the beast without having to use Soul Mend.

'But the only thing I didn't take into consideration was that I was going to get a max score on the speed section. I just pray I don't get a stupidly overpowered beast due to that...' 

It had been a gamble from the start, but Tyr could only hope for things to go his way.

The stone in front of Tyr began to transform again. He had seen a multitude of beasts become opponents of the examinees before.

From bulls to horses, to wolves, to even tigers.

However, what began to materialize in front of Tyr wasn't something he was expecting whatsoever.

A pair of large wings brushed out from the stone's center, expanding over 5 feet on either side.

In the middle, a long yellow beak formed on the head of the aerial beast, its eyes molding into ferocious pupils and its body a muscular balance between strength and speed.

"This looks like a... giant Bald Eagle." Tyr said to himself in slight astonishment as the creature finished being created.

It let out a piercing screech before thrusting its wings against the ground and soaring up into the air.

It began to circle Tyr from over 30 feet above the exam arena.

Tyr looked up, his eyes expanding in slight worry as he realized: 'This thing... it counters every move I've used during this exam...'