Marsh's eyes narrowed a fraction.
The boy had not dropped. He had not even taken a half-step back. Under a carefully measured thousandth of Marsh's aura—enough to force most Rank 9 students to one knee—Ash Apeiron had simply stood there, breathing evenly, eyes slightly unfocused as if he were listening to something only he could hear.
Interesting.
Marsh withdrew the rest of the pressure at once. The test was over. He had seen what he needed to see. The soul was far stronger than the file suggested, and the body was already holding up far better than any E-Rank had a right to. There was no point continuing.
"Hm," Marsh said out loud, before he could stop himself. Then he looked directly at Ash and spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact tone.
"I was testing you just now. A small pressure, nothing more. We prefer to make sure we are giving the right resources to the right students."
Ash let his breath out slowly. His heart was still doing a little jog, and he told it firmly to calm down.
