Chapter 16: Bad Luck Strikes Again

Elwin ordered the class to split into five groups. Each one would follow a single instructor to the various tests.

It was immediately apparent that Charles and Mason had very different mentalities.

Mason immediately began barking orders at his group. He marched them over to the strength test and began.

Charles on the other hand moved to his group and introduced himself again. Then he politely, yet firmly, guided the students to the constitution test.

Alex ended up in Mason's group.

Tom and Red ended up in Charles's group.

"Okay, I will only say this once so listen close." Mason barked out to the group. "First things first, pick up the biggest stone you think you can. If you lift it to your chest and hold it for ten seconds you clear that level. If you clear a level, try the next higher level. If you are sure you lifted the largest you can, move off to the side. Lastly, no using any abilities to help you in these assessments, not that you have any yet. Got it?" He eyed the group. When he saw no one was causing any problems he continued. "Well? Get to it already!"

Alex was not sure if Mason was naturally short tempered, or if he was just playing a part. Either way, he was far too bossy for Alex's liking.

The stone orbs were arranged by size. They were all numbered. Ranging from twenty pounds all the way up to two thousand pounds. Alex could not imagine that anyone could lift the two thousand pound sphere. Even if they could lift the weight, it was two meters in diameter, what kind of grip strength would it take to lift that?

As Alex was choosing his stone he noticed a familiar face. Well, to be more accurate, it was familiar hair. He remembered seeing her in the enchanting class this morning.

Currently she was trying to lift a fifty pound sphere up to her chest. She kept grasping the stone with her finger tips and brought it up to her stomach and tried to reposition the sphere so she could bring it up to her chest. But every time she got it to her stomach her fingers would start to give out, and she would drop it.

Alex could see she was straining her fingers. He was worried she might injure them. So, he quickly made his way over. The problem was, while he was concerned, his expression was one of consternation.

'Okay, one more time. You got this. Just lift the stupid rock and get it over with.' She gave her self a small pep talk as she rubbed her hands together. Just as she bent down to pick up the stone again a shadow was cast over her. Bent at the waist, she twisted at the shoulders and looked for what was casting the shadow.

She found a brutish man standing over her. He was furious and she had no idea why. She took a moment and made a mental check. 'I didn't offend anyone, did I? I don't think so. Did I take his stone?' She looked up again. 'Definitely not. Then what is his issue?' After thinking for a moment she was starting to get angry.

"Look, I don't know why you have come over here. But i do not appreciate such a disrespectful look from someone I have not met before." As she said this she was becoming more and more irritated.

Alex was stunned, but only for an instant. 'Damn it! I did it again!' He was now becoming genuinely irritated, only it was with himself. That last fact, sadly, was not clarified by the look on his face.

'Now he is even angrier. What an unbridled jerk!' She thought as she scowled at him, now standing upright with her hands on her hips. "Look, I don't time for your rudeness. Leave me to my assessment." She huffed and turned back to her task.

"No, you misunderstand." Alex quickly commented.

"Sure, whatever." The girl said as she bent down to try again. Not really even listening to Alex.

"I just don't want you to hurt your self." Alex tried to clarify.

She stopped and slowly stood back up.

Alex took this as a good sign and continued speaking. "You were struggling so hard to lift that fifty pound stone. I wanted to help you."

Still not turning around, she responded. "Ooh, I see. You saw me struggling."

"Yeah." Alex was very happy that he was able to clear up this problem. 'I am getting better at this. I am gonna rub this in Tom's face late.'

"You just wanted to save a weak lady." She continued after a moment. Her hands were tightly clenched, but Alex didn't notice.

"Y...yeah. I guess you could say that." Alex was unsure now. 'Since when was I saving her? Saving her from what? I never said she was weak, did I?' Alex was finally becoming aware that something was not right.

She finally turned around to face Alex again. Her brown eyes were seething with anger. Her neck and chest were red with an angry blush. Her teeth were so tightly clenched that it was painful to look at. "Look, I get it. You are a big guy, I probably look small compared to you. Some type of protective instinct might be at play here. But the day that I need some big burly man to come save me will be a cold day in hell!" She was roaring by the end. She honestly reminded Alex of a mother lion roaring at an encroaching male.

Alex was immediately cowed by her ferocity. He could only mumble an excuse as he backed up slightly.

"What did you say?" Her voice now had a low and threatening timber.

"I" He took a big deep breath. 'I honestly came with good intent. I have nothing to be ashamed of.' he reminded himself. "I said, I just didn't want you to injure your fingers because you were grabbing it wrong. But I was nervous, so I made an ugly face on accident." A slight blush rose in Alex's face. Luckily his tan covered it.

She didn't believe his excuse for a second. "You mean to tell me that there is a proper way to pick up a stone?" Her tone dripped with vitriol, and doubt.

"It would be better to show you." He stepped up to the fifty pound ball and began giving a demonstration.

"To start you were bending at the waist. Always bend at the knees." As he explained his performed the actions he described. "Grabbing by the fingers will only strain the tendons. It is better to apply force from the palms and use the fingers for control." He then stood.

"Now, you have two options from here. One is to simply raise the weight from the elbows up to your chest." He slowly showed this motion and then lowered the weight back to his waist. "The second option, the one I suggest, would be to flare out the elbows to your sides as you bring the weight up to your navel. Then slowly rotate the sphere until your fingers are on top. Lastly, push up from the bottom of the sphere until it reaches your chest." After performing this action he put the weight back and stepped away.

The girl was shocked into a stupor for a moment. She quickly recovered.

"You mean to tell me, that picking up a stone has that much technique to it?" Alex couldn't tell if there was more doubt or surprise in her voice.

"Wont you know if you try it." Alex said as he walked away. He was sure she would get it this time.

He was right. By the time Alex made it to the stone that weighted 800 pounds she was already done and off to the side waiting for the next assessment.

He just shook his head and wondered, 'Why is it always me that has these types of misunderstandings? Was I born under a bad star or something?'

With a moderate amount of effort he lifted the stone and completed his assessment. Alex was the student who lifted the largest weight in this group, by far. It was clear to everyone that he could have lifted an even bigger one, but Alex saw no point.

Mason made a mental note and chose to remember Alex's name for later.

Alex went through the other four tests in order. His scores were great, he was the top or near the top in all the categories, except speed and reflexes. The categories were strength, speed, constitution, reflexes, and defense.

The speed test was a timed one hundred yard dash. Alex achieved a time of eight and a half seconds. Red actually was best in the class in this test. He did it in seven seconds flat.

The constitution test was simply staying in the smoke array for as long as possible without making noise. Alex got the highest marks here. The smoke was unable to bother him. Eventually they had to ask him to come out.

The test for reflexes was the most interesting by far. A container of filled with iron balls was placed over a bell. You could not see in the black, metal container, but it would randomly drop a iron ball from the bottom and it would hit the bell. You were placed in a calk circle, one meter in diameter. You could not move before the ball left the container, but you had to be out of the circle before the bell was rung. Alex placed pretty average in this category. Once again Red stole the lime light. He was able to succeed with the container at the closest point, only inches from the bell.

The defense test was very simple by comparison. A weight was attached to a large fixed arm pendulum and then it was raised to various heights. Once released, the pendulum would swing down into the student. They had to stop it with only their body. If they moved at all, they failed. The weight and height determined your score. Alex did very well here as well. Only one person did better. Surprisingly, that was Tom.

As class was wrapping up professor Elwin was scribbling on multiple sheets of paper and looking at a pile of notes. Eventually, he finished and handed out papers to all of the students.

"Each person was just given a list. This list represents the weapons that I have determined make the most of your natural physique." His voice carried an irritated tone. "Each person's list is also a permission slip for the allocation of training weapons. Submit them at the Combat Arts building behind this field to get your weapons. Class dismissed." With that Elwin and the upper class men climbed back onto the flaming crane and flew away.