DING!
~----~
[Congratulations! You defeated an E-Rank Construct!]
[Breakthrough Detected: F ~ F+]
~----~
Kairo fell to his knees, bloodied, shaking from the aftermath of Muscle Lock.
He coughed blood as Larry quickly ran to his side, activating his special ability as a green aura of healing mana converged around his money and his hand.
His hand was bruised.
The system lit up again, informing him about the extent of his injuries. Kairo may have defeated an E-Rank Construct, but it didn't come without a price. He suffered a few fractured bones.
He was in a world of pain. "Argh…!" He groaned.
While Larry used his ability to accelerate his healing process, the others just stared in stunned silence, realizing they just survived because of him.
Major Pain's voice still rang clearly in their head. Death was rare, but it didn't mean applicants don't die. If not for Kairo, maybe they would have been part of the rare death cases in the entrance tournament.
They gulped.
Apart from the fact that they just escaped death by the skin of the teeth, another factor that left them absolutely bamboozled was the slag and ruin that now lay in front of them… the remains of the serpent-machine.
They stared with wide eyes. That was an E-Rank construct!
That was a construct belonging to Nexus Academy that was made with such durable alloy to resemble the physique of Demons and Orcs!
And yet, despite being a whole rank weaker, Kairo actually destroyed it.
Yes, he didn't do it alone, but they were not blind. All Mira did was slow the serpent-machine from finishing Kairo while he was flattened against the tree, the damage that she did to the serpent was negligible.
Kairo destroyed an E-Rank construct; that was the truth.
'Monster'. They all thought as they stared at him.
Ben? He looked down in shame, thinking that Kairo would reprimand him, but Kairo didn't even look at him.
Knowing his wimpy character already, he never expected him to stand his ground against an E-Rank construct. Ben turning around at the last moment to run for his life was all part of his plans.
Recovering some feeling in his bones, Kairo staggered to his feet. "We can't stay in one place for long. It's dangerous, even more so after the trial escalation".
"Oh, yeah, right," Mira agreed, still shocked by what just happened.
Kairo led the way, limping toward the next zone as Mira walked beside him, hesitating on if she should help him or not.
In the end, since Kairo didn't ask, she minded her business.
But then, she muttered. "You're insane, you know that?"
"Huh?" Kairo inclined his head to look at her, his face crunched slightly from the pain he was experiencing.
Mira just stared at him, then she waved a hand dismissively. "Never mind. On another note, thanks for saving me".
Kairo was stunned, but then he nodded.
As Hugo returned back to his position at the head of the team, scouting the way ahead, Kairo could not help but reflect back on the battle.
He thought of his special ability, Muscle Genesis.
It was not the easiest ability to use. The mere fact that it exposed you to constant pain during usage alone would deter most Awakened, but to Kairo, if that was the price of power, he was ready to pay it.
Not just the pain in his bones and body, but the one in his abdomen. After that fight, his hunger levels spiked.
~Growl!
He groaned in discomfort. To his shock though, he noticed that his muscle index was reducing as his hunger increased. His height too.
'Great,' he thought. 'Just when I thought I'm finally permanently tall'.
He thought of the new ability that he unlocked in combat. If you remove the pain and the hunger, his special ability was not all that bad, right?
Besides, he ranked up at the end though it was a minor rank-up. He was F+ rank now.
He decided to check his system status again.
~----~
[Kairo Vale]
[Ability: Muscle Genesis]
>Ability to grow and control muscle.
[Rank: F+]
[Stats:]
*Strength: F+
*Agility: F
*Stamina: F+
*Vitality: F+
*Intelligence: F
*Mana Capacity: F
>Class: [Warrior lvl. 1]
[Passive Skills:]
>Predatory Instinct.
(Boosts combat reflexes slightly when fighting over resources.)
[Skills:]
>Hypermuscle Creation.
(You can now consciously grow and harden new muscle fibers to enhance strength temporarily. Growth requires mana input and recovery period.)
(Muscle Charge: 3/6)
>Muscle Lock.
(When activated, temporarily harden muscle like armor.)
>Muscle Surge.
(When activated, grants one explosive override of physical limits. Cooldown: 1 day.)
…
[System Remark: A half-baked frog who has no idea the size of Mount Tai.]
~----~
Staring at the system remark, Kairo's lips twitched. 'This snarky bastard'.
Overall, despite the pain, he was satisfied. He got a minor rank-up, he unlocked a new skill, and his team was still surviving in the phase 1 trial.
For the next few hours, with Kairo not fully recovered, Hugo worked overtime as his only order from Kairo was to make sure that the team was not dragged into another E-Rank battle.
With him still injured, they were not guaranteed to survive another E-Rank encounter, and so Hugo did most of the lifting this time.
With his 2 perfectly synergistic special abilities, he was the perfect scout.
With him doing his work, the team managed to avoid trouble for large stretches of time and when they did encounter trouble, mostly F-Rank, Mira who was now confident of herself mostly led the battles with Ben.
Kairo played the role of support. He may be injured but with Hypermuscle Creation, he was still a significant threat in battle.
Like that, time passed.
At some point, they encountered another E-Rank construct, a mechanical Rhino this time. The team didn't even hesitate.
They ran.
Luckily, it was a construct on the heavier side compared to the serpent-machine so it didn't catch up to them in terms of speed.
They survived.
A few more hours later, the Trial of Steel finally came to an end. The same phenomenon happened as they were teleported out of the pocket space world.