Limit Testing (1)

'I'd better not offend any of them.

That was Shivan's first thought when scouted the room.

A large percentage of gift users came from noble families with gifts being passed down for generations.

These gifts were known as inherited gifts. Inherited gifts were usually extremely powerful people who had them were held in high regard.

However, Shivan has heard these gifts would always manifest themselves differently. Their base may be the same, but how they function may be different.

He had also heard nasty rumours about noble families spreading around, so it was in his best interests to avoid any hostilities with them.

"Hey there. What's your name? I'm Ryan. Aren't you pretty nervous about the exam?"

The person next to Shivan started talking to him. He had a head of spiky pitch-black hair complemented by deep blue eyes. 

He had smooth, flawless skin along with a well-sculpted jawline. His charismatic presence was overwhelming.

'I've found it. A real-life protagonist. God, handsome men have it easy in life.'

"I'm Shivan," he replied. He didn't linger on my previous thoughts for long. It was only a trifling thought that occupied his mind momentarily.

He extended his arm towards me for a handshake. He responded, not being discourteous.

'He has a firm grip.' His hands were calloused, evidence of years of hard training or work.

When he shook hands with him, he also felt some danger from him. Shivan could usually gauge the danger of anyone nearby due to his observational abilities.

Yet, Ryan was able to avoid his detection until he made contact with him. Compared to the rest of the gift users here, Ryan was on a different level.

That intrigued Shivan so he prodded on further. "Why are you nervous? There's no examination to pass. They're just probably testing our skills."

"Yeah...but what happens if I do bad? I'll be ranked low among my peers. I cannot let that happen."

As Ryan spoke a dark look appeared on his face.

'He probably faces some issues in his personal life.' Shivan thought to myself. 'Not my business.'

Ryan's posture and the way he expressed himself made his determination to be one of the top scorers clear.

But, Shivan couldn't imagine why he needed a high ranking.

"Ryan Coeruleus, please come with me."

Their conversation was cut short by an examiner entering the room and calling his name. Ryan was then taken to another room.

Shivan waved goodbye and murmured 'Good Luck' to him. Ryan thanked him and wished the best for him.

'Interesting guy.' That was Shivan's final evaluation of him. 

Since Shivan was the last to enter, he would probably be called in last. He shut his eyes as he waited for his turn to arrive.

As more and more people got called up, the number of people in the room decreased. With a constant inflow of people, the number of people in the room fluctuated. It got to five people before being filled up to thirteen people.

"Shivan De-Wani, please follow me."

Shivan's name was finally called. The examiner he received was the same as Ryan's

After a short walk, the examiner brought him to a training room. Shivan gave his suitcase and valuables to the examiner as he left him in the room alone.

Three of the walls were all white with several small gaps in them that Shivan suspected probably harboured technology.

On the final wall, there was a massive one-way window from which the examiner was probably watching Shivan.

Above and below the window, there were the same small gaps that were on the walls. The ground beneath Shivan was a dark blue. 

'At least it doesn't feel like an insane asylum.' Shivan pondered as he surveyed the room.

"This first test will examine your reflexes. Please be wary as the projectiles will be fired from all sides. Mana may be used in all testing."

The examiner's voice projected across the room from the loudspeaker.

'Seriously? That's it? This is going to be easy. Especially for someone like me.'

Shivan didn't voice his thoughts to the examiner. Lest the examiner decided to ramp up the difficulty.

From all sides, the guns appeared ready to fire that examiner's command.

"3"

Shivan closed his eyes and tried to focus on all the weapons simultaneously. He didn't want to know what would happen if he got hit, so he took this seriously.

"2"

He also enhanced his physical strength with mana. Being able to move faster was a massive benefit.

"1... FIRE!"

Guns occasionally started firing from all different directions. The first projectiles came from the wall in front of Shivan. They were round black balls, resembling small cannon.

Shivan estimated the projectiles to be 3-4 times faster than a baseball pitch. He easily stepped to the side and avoided the ball.

A second later, a second ball came from behind him. Once again he sidestepped it.

Next, it came from the left. Which he only took one step to avoid.

With Shivan's sensory abilities, he knew where the ball was going to hit, even before it landed.

The time interval between two balls firing got smaller and smaller, while more guns started firing simultaneously as he kept dodging the balls fired.

To see what the balls felt like, he grabbed one midair as he avoided two others that were shot at me.

They were squishy and soft. They reminded him of the stress balls he used to play with.

As he heard the guns retargeting him, ready to fire another salvo, Shivan pitched the ball he caught toward one of the guns that was about to fire.

As the ball exited the barrel, the ball he threw that gun collided with the other ball, diverting the attack away from him as he caught the other two balls.

Armed with his new strategy, Shivan avoided all the balls fired and threw the balls at the ones he couldn't doge.

This continued on for a while before he was finally hit.

It occurred because a ball was fired as he jumped in the air. He had recently thrown the balls he caught beforehand, so he had no ammo he could use to redirect the ball.

As he fell due to gravity, the ball clipped his leg causing him to lose balance and collapse onto the floor.

The exercise ended after he got hit and all the guns stopped firing.

He wiped a sweat off his brow. He hadn't exercised like that for a while now. 

After taking a minute to catch his breath and drinking the water that was given, the examiner announced "Test 2, strength testing."

'At least praise me or something for the previous round!'

Shivan suspected he probably set the highest score for the entrance applicants or something similar for that test. After all, not many could replicate what he did. His gift gave him a very big advantage on the first test.