His fist had indeed made contact with the machine, and it was only a matter of time before his hit point would be shown.
The numbers, as usual, started slowly rising from zero, before speeding up rapidly and finally stopping on the definitive final number.
"What the f*ck! How is that even possible?" one of the students from the few left behind Fai exclaimed, his voice incredulous. What he was seeing right now was, in his logical understanding, utterly impossible for a human.
"But he's just a normal human, how was he able to do that?" "The hit point, it's too high for a normal human!"
Even the bald man, looking at the screen, was visibly impressed, a subtle shift in his otherwise rigid posture.
'How is a normal human able to hit this much?' the bald man thought, a flicker of genuine bewilderment in his eyes.
'Could it be the machine is broken? No, it's not that; the machine is in good condition, I just can't understand. Could it be he's part of that organization? But I didn't feel any energy… it's almost as if he gave it just a simple punch, and not only that,'
the bald man thought, as he now shifted his gaze, meticulously scanning his surroundings, observing his military personnel. He was absolutely sure of it.
'I'm sure of it, he slipped, and it wasn't normal; it was caused by someone else, a deljiberate act.'
The bald man's mind raced, connecting unseen dots. Then he shifted his gaze back to the screen; the number on it read Thirty Five .
The other students behind were stunned into a deathly silence; they even thought that maybe the machine might have been broken, malfunctioning.
But seeing that the bald-headed man hadn't done anything in that regard, it meant it was still functioning perfectly well.
But it was truly crazy, though. It was a well-known fact that the strongest normal humans on Earth weren't able to achieve hit marks beyond twenty, a long-standing record.
Yet, standing before their very eyes, they could see an individual who had managed to break that record, defying all established norms.
Looking at the screen, Fai too was in shock; he wasn't expecting such a result, not after his stumble.
The moment he could feel his body had lost balance, he had lost hope, resigning himself to failure.
He only pushed forward, hoping that some sort of miracle might happen, and fortunately for him, it did happen, a spectacular, unexpected triumph.
'Thirty five ? Even though I stumbled, I still managed to make Thirty five ?! Wow, I wonder what the results could have been if I hadn't stumbled… sixty? Maybe even a hundred?'
Fai thought to himself, a wide, genuine smile spreading across his face. He was utterly content with his performance, a sense of accomplishment warming him.
'I guess consuming the pill was a good idea after all,' he thought to himself, remembering his earlier contemplation, his internal debate on whether to take it or not.
In the end, he had made the courageous decision of taking it, and he was profoundly glad he had done so.
"PASS!" the bald man screamed, his voice booming through the hall, confirming Fai's success.
And just like the others before Fai, a military personnel promptly came to get him, and they began moving towards where the other passed students were gathered.
Passing through the small, narrow entrance, Fai and the military personnel made their way to the others.
But before he could go further, the military personnel stopped him and handed him a coin, a golden coin.
"Go meet the others and wait patiently. Orders will be given on what you are to do next," the man said, his voice flat and uninformative.
As he did, he was already turning, on his way out, offering no further explanation, no hint of the coin's purpose.
Fai then held the coin in his hand, examining it closely.
But apart from the distinctive golden color, he couldn't see anything else on it, no marks, no engravings, no currency denominations. It was just a simple, unadorned coin.
'I wonder what we are even to do with this,' Fai thought, his brow furrowed in contemplation. 'At first, I thought it was maybe a reward of some kind, but looking at it, I don't really see anything special about it.'
'Should I use Fae Eyes?' he asked himself, the thought quickly forming. 'I mean, I didn't think much of the pendant until I used my skill on it; it could be the same for this coin.' Fai considered, a strategic light entering his eyes.
The skill Fae Eyes was indeed a remarkably useful skill; it had given him vital information on many different things, unveiling hidden properties.
It was even thanks to this skill that he was able to know about the true effects of the pill had he absorbed it.
So, he was thinking that there might be a significant, unknown use for this coin as well, a secret that no one else knew about , and by using his skill, he might just find out what it was.
[Fae Eyes]
Fai activated the skill, his vision sharpening as he focused intently on the coin.
[A golden slot coin]
[Skill is too weak to comprehend the coin]
[You are advised to level up the skill]
Fai had activated his skill, and as usual, it provided him with information about what he was looking at.
However, for the very first time, the system was not able to have complete access to the information.
It was as if the information was too high-grade, too intricately coded, to the point that the system was even explicitly advising him to level up the skill.
'This is a first,' Fai mused, a flicker of excitement in his eyes.