Exceeding expectations

Jason finally arrived at a decision as it was his turn.

He climbed up the steps and walked on the stage with slow but steady steps. Many students were displeased to wait and see his performance, as most of them were exhausted and wanted to return home.

"Trash, it's useless. You can't even see, how should you be able to demonstrate a decent sequence of a martial arts technique"

"That's true… Don't waste our time and come down."

"Do you want to humiliate yourself, mole?!?"

Jason didn't pay attention to the name-calling and he waited for the examiner to give him the verbal signal to start.

There were many examiners all around the hall and at least ten other students were also demonstrating their martial art sequence.

Before the examiner could give the signal Jason lifted one of his hands in the direction of the students who had insulted him and showed them his middle finger.

He would never meet them again, so Jason decided to cut ties, without any regret.

The whole gym went silent on seeing Jason's behavior. It was rude to do something like that directly in front of the teachers and the respectable examiners but Jason didn't mind other people thinking bad about him.

The students who had insulted Jason were flabbergasted.

'Wh-hat?? Who does he think he is??'

The students wanted to throw a temper but the examiner interrupted them and gave a 'start'  signal to Jason, ignoring his rude behavior.

There were always a few students disregarding the examiner and sometimes a few students would fight each other over minuscule things.

Jason got into the Azure feisty Ape standard position in a swift move and began the demonstration of the first sequence he had learned.

He moved the small amount of mana inside his body directing it to the mana channels close to his veins and enveloped his hands with a fractional film of mana without wasting a second.

This alone was an astonishing feat because a certain accuracy and control over mana were needed to lead the mana to a certain body part and envelope it like a second skin.

Jason, meanwhile, had to take care of his distribution of mana because the amount of mana he had at the moment was marginal.

If his mana pool had been larger, Jason was confident that he wouldn't need to form a paper-thin skin-like membrane to cover his fists which took a decent amount of his focus.

Jason began to sweat slowly as he moved around smoothly with his enveloped fists, replicating the moves described in the Azure feisty Ape description.

The gym had gone eerily silent except for the light sound of his own movements as everyone was astonished by the exquisite sequence of movements demonstrated by Jason.

Even if Jason had never seen the sequence of the Azure feisty Ape technique, the first sequence had been printed in his mind as he had watched it countless times over the last week.

Almost nobody could understand how Jason was able to do it without seeing anything. It was impossible to know how to move if one couldn't see whether the sequence was being performed correctly or not.

Jason perfectly executed one move after another without any mistakes. His entire performance resembled a mesmerizing dance that ended after a minute.

This minute was over in an instant though Jason felt like it took an eternity.

Jason was sweating buckets and his back was drenched with it but his face boasted a radiant smile.

Demonstrating the Azure feisty Ape technique made him feel as if he had achieved freedom.

He couldn't see through the bandages but it didn't matter as his accurate and smooth movements made him feel ecstatic.

His stored mana was completely dried up and Jason felt empty but this didn't dampen his happiness.

The examiner looked at Jason in astonishment, with wide eyes.

He had often seen something like that but not from a blind 2nd Novice rank youth with a malnourished body.

'Does this student have an extreme sensitivity to mana?!

Did he sense the mana flow when the instructor taught his students and this youth remembered everything and executed it like that?

Pretty good.'

The examiner praised Jason in his mind but he remained calm and said in a monotonous voice,

"Exceeding requirements:120 points"

It was as if a large stone had dropped in the pits of their stomachs when the other students heard the announcement.

Greg got full marks with 100 points because his martial art technique was perfectly demonstrated but even he felt that Jason's demonstration was slightly better than his own.

At least Jason's accuracy and control over mana were on a different level than his.

Nevertheless, it was only a single sequence and nothing special if one worked hard on it, as the requirements were quite easy to meet.

Jason himself was even more astonished than the others as he wasn't sure if he had done everything correctly.

He had never personally seen the combat technique demonstrated by the school's instructor and only the outlines were seen by him.

But, he was happy that he had received more points than he had expected.

Though after his first wave of happiness had subsided, he was again reminded that his average score was still bad.

After doing some rough calculations, he believed that he would roughly score 34/100 points on average which was much more than he expected.

Adding the presumably 100/100 points from the theoretical exam his score was hovering around that of an average middle school graduate.

Unfortunately for Jason, the next test instantly worsened his mood as the teacher said

"Now that everyone has completed the practical exams we will scan your rank and rate you with points"

The examiners stood up from their chairs and gathered together while one old man announced in a loud voice.

"Everyone, stay calm, please. There will be an uncomfortable feeling which will invade you but don't fight against it. We will scan your mana core for a short moment and award points according to the guidelines."

A weird and chilly pressure radiated from the examiner and spread out throughout the gym.

The pressure affected every student as they began to shiver slightly before the chill left them.

"Number 1 Aamin Arion 8th Novice rank - 60 points"

"Number 2 Alina Arte 9th Novice rank- 80 points"

"Number 3…..

"Number 158 Greg Fler- 2nd Adept rank- 140 points"

"Number 2374 Jason Stella 2nd Novice rank….- minus 40 points"

As he heard the examiner's voice he felt a sting in his heart. He had been aware of the deduction of points earlier but it was more painful than he thought.

His presumed score of 134/200 points was now 94/300.

The last chance for him to receive points was the soul awakening and Jason who was previously relatively happy and floating on the ninth cloud with his score was now dragged back to earth.

Everyone was exhausted and waited for the examiner to finish the distribution of points.

Afterward, he announced that the exams had officially ended and excused himself without another backward glance.

Jason, meanwhile, slowly started to walk his way back home slowly without minding anyone around him.

He didn't even notice Greg's gaze following him with curiosity shining in his eyes.

It was already evening when Jason arrived in his small apartment.

Entering the room, he went into the bathroom to shower and rid himself of the sweat. Slumping down on his bed, exhaustion took over his body and mind, making him fall into a deep sleep.