A Slap to Rock The Highest Heaven!

"Swept away by the situation, I forgot to mention it before, but thanks for helping me back then."

Eugene struck up a conversation with the blue-haired kid, not because he was truly thankful to him for messing up his god-given chance of impressing the Inferno-Hands Divine Princess, but because he wanted to know more about him, for he wasn't an Earthling nor a Greenlander and held mysterious origins.

"Don't mention it. I did what anyone following the warrior's code would do to a man like him. Besides, it's not like you needed my help. I saw you using a trick similar to my father that requires mental energy to catch his ax and kill him. That probably makes you an Aura Master. Am I right?"

The boy didn't know that he had exposed that he comes from a well-off family to Eugene by telling him that he knew about Mental Energy and Aura Master, which most races were unfamiliar with at this point.

"Yes, you're correct."

Eugene admitted to the boy that he was an Aura Master because he didn't have an explicit need to hide it from him.

Also, It's not like he could hide it from any wise person until he learned to suppress the signs that he shows when using mental energy.

"Your speculation about me is right on the mark. I'm indeed an Aura master, although weaker than most."

"You had the situation under control. Against an Aura Master like you, even ten Ogres like him are not enough." The blue-haired boy sighed, his expression deflating like a balloon. "You never needed my help."

Although not an Aura Master himself, the boy knew they represented absolute might.

"What if I say your help was much appreciated."

"I will reluctantly believe you."

"I'm Eugene V. Samuel. What about you?"

"Wren O. Suaird."

After finding out the boy's name and surname, Eugene got the shock of his life and forgot how to breathe for a few seconds.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Yes, I am," Eugene said. "Can you confirm what you just said? Is your surname really O. Suaird?"

"Yes, it is."

Eugene gulped in excitement.

"You really are a royal of the Sword Kingdom that rules the Flying Island?!"

Wren's eyes widened as he never expected an Outlander to determine where he came from accurately.

"I am, but how do you know? An Outlander shouldn't know a thing about what goes inside the tower. How did you determine who I am and where I came from?"

The inhabitants of any world that had just started getting noticed by the spirit of the tower are known as Outlanders, and Eugene was one such Outlander.

"It's quite rude of you to question a stranger you just met about his secrets. Don't you think so?"

Eugene raised his eyebrow at Wren, who felt guilty for going off at him.

"Sorry. Please do me a favor and keep my royal lineage a secret from others. I don't want people flocking to me because of my background instead of who I am."

"Sure, I will. But if you don't do a better job at hiding it, any person with enough knowledge about the royal families of the tower would find out that you're a royal from the Sword Kingdom. Your blue hair is a direct giveaway of your royal lineage."

"I did tell her to change my hair color, but she refused and kicked me into the blue stream. As a result, I appeared at this waypoint of the void ring. She was my maid, but just like my mother, she took the side of my father and betrayed me."

Eugene wondered what this dramatic royal with crocodile tears in his ears was doing here.

"You're out to make a name for yourself?"

Wren gently shook his head, showing that he was somewhat in refusal to his word.

"You can say that, but I actually was forced out of my house by my father."

"I understand."

"You do?"

"Yes."

To become an adult, a person only needed to reach eighteen years of age back on Earth. However, it wasn't the same for the people of the Flying Island. They had to leave their family and climb the tower to become adults. Only after climbing the first ten floors of the tower can they complete the adulthood ceremony and become adults. If they don't do so, they can't legally own anything on the flying island. A royal not living up to the expectations of their people, not owning a property, and never becoming an adult was a disgrace to the royal family. Thus, the Sword Emperor had no choice but to throw Wren, who was a salted fish born in a family of hard workers, out of the flying island.

"Since you know who I am, might you be interested in becoming my guide?"

A guide would help others in climbing the tower.

By revealing that he was an Aura Master, Eugene had impressed Wren.

Thus, Wren didn't mind taking him in as his guide.

"Sorry, but I will have to decline. We just met. It's not a good choice to hastily team up with strangers when there's little chance we will be going to the same starting place in the tower. If we are meant to climb it together, I am sure we will cross paths in the future."

After saying that, Eugene began walking toward the front of the crowd.

Wren looked at his back in thoughtful silence before suddenly shouting, "What if we are heading to the same place? What then?"

Eugene stopped and looked back at Wren over his shoulder.

"I might have a different answer for you the next time we meet."

Then, he continued moving forward until he was the closest to Sebastian.

The demon from hell suddenly snapped open his eyes.

"The first examination will now begin. I hope you're all mentally and physically prepared." Sebastian smiled at the anxious and excited crowd. "You don't need to do anything complex in this test. You just need to make a drum produce a noise within a minute, and you'll pass and earn ten miracle points."

"And where is this drum? I don't see any."

There was no drum in this white room.

But who said a demon couldn't make one appear?

"It's right here."

Sebastian used his demonic magic to morph the table next to him into a drum, awing the crowd and making them realize yet again that this being was beyond their comprehension.

"In order to make it produce a noise, you can beat it, kick it, throw it, smash it, and do whatever you like. It's all up to you."

"That's all?"

This was more simpler than they thought.

"Yes." Sebastian nodded his head. "Now, if there's anyone among the crowd that would like to give it a try, please make your way up the platform."

It was a challenge for humans, especially the fat and unhealthy ones, to climb it.

"I'll go first."

Eugene, however, easily jumped onto the platform and walked directly to the middle of the platform to stand before the drum.

It wasn't an ordinary drum.

Instead, it was the condensed form of dozens of kilos of iron from hell that a demon shaped to look like one.

What did that signify?

Others might not know this, but Eugene, who was familiar with the trickery of demons as he had come across them many times in the game, was certain that this drum-like thing was a reasonable force absorber and a good noise-canceller.

The chance of it producing a noise after getting hit with the full force of an 'Adult Male' was slim, but with his strength that surpassed humans, it won't be too challenging for him to make it hum.

However, he wasn't looking to pass the test.

He wanted to 'Ace' it.

Thus, he decided to stop holding himself back and go all out.

Radiant blue light glowed out of his hand.

Hundreds of people in the audience gasped when they saw it, but only a few were knowledgeable enough to understand that it was the light of his Aura.

[You've infused mental energy into the veins, bones, and skin of your right hand, causing it to possess incredible power.]

[Your mental energy has decreased to 35 points.]

'I need more than this to ace this.'

So far, Eugene had only exhibited traits of an Infuser. Aura Master that can temporarily boost the physical strength and defense of a part of their body by infusing it with mental energy was called an Infuser. Aura Master was a collective term. Infusers were just one type of Aura Master. There was another type of Aura Master called Conjurer. And Eugene was all set and ready to show the world what a Conjurer could do.

"You only have thirty seconds left. When are you going to strike it?" Sebastian questioned Eugene, who had stopped after raising his gleaming blue hand above the drum

Eugene beamed at him.

"After showing you a magic trick."

It wasn't just words that came out of his mouth but also four blue wisps, each containing two units of mental energy. They went up to his raised hand and twirled around it. Everyone saw them intertwining like threads to form a glove of some kind. Only Eugene knew that this glove was solid like metal and had increased the force of his right hand by a good amount. And only the person most closest to him could feel an insane amount of mental energy suppressing the very atmosphere around that hand of his. An invisible force was spreading from his hand and grabbing the air by its neck, forcing it to condense around it.

"Still not enough."

Eight more wisps of mental energy left his parted lips and increased the force of his right hand.

The weight of his right hand had increased so much that he couldn't keep it in the air.

"Swoosh!"

For a split second, Eugene's hand seemed to transform into a Majestic Lightning Dragon descending from High Heaven.

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

A deep sound like the roar of a black dragon reverberated throughout the white room when his palm crashed on the drum. Humans & Ogres also felt a slight tremor beneath their feet. Yet, what widened their eyes was the scene of the metallic drum exploding and metal shrapnel bursting outwards. The wind gusts that had generated from the point of explosion fluttered his hair and clothes and knocked down the people closest to the platform.

Eugene had destroyed the drum itself!

Cracks appeared on the spot where it once stood, and they spread out like creatures of chaos, decorating the entire platform in lines of destruction.

[You've Aced the test.]

[You've earned 100 miracle points.]

It took a while for the operator to announce his result in a shaky, bugged voice, which showcased that she was confused out of her mind because of what Eugene did.

No one had told her what reward to give a man that destroyed the drum itself.

So, after thinking for a few moments, she gave Eugene double the highest reward.

[Your skill, Mental Fortitude, has stabilized your irregular state of mind.]

'Fuck, I broke my hand. But it was worth it.' Eugene spoke to himself when he saw the number '100' on the back of his hand.

He had gained 100 miracle points, which was enough to get the class he most urgently needed.

"For an Outlander with no class to make the drum emit a sound is already extremely difficult. Making it produce five noises at a time with a single slap is unheard of in recent times. It has happened only three times in the past. Each one went on to become a legend. But to explode it on purpose, I have never seen an Outlander do it before in my life. Just what are you?"

Sebastian showed an intense reaction to Eugene's blatant use of power beyond Earthling's comprehension, and in his heart, he considered him an anomaly that shouldn't exist.

Eugene smiled at him.

"I'm what you initially judged me as–a human through and through."

"No way in hell I can believe that. No human can remain this calm after breaking their bones!"

Eugene looked at the unstable Sebastian with eyes as calm as an ocean before showing him his broken hand.

"Sir, Will you be kind enough to heal it?"

Was this how a fucking human should act after crushing all the bones in his hand?!

"No."

Sebastian refused to heal him and demanded for someone among the crowd to come and take the test

He had totally lost his cool because of the antics of the maniacal human that was more demon than himself!