Guild Wars

Before he could ask anything, Cerea appeared above the dais in this hall and spoke. "Aspiring Warrior Draco, are you ready to take the Trial of Body?"

Draco simply smiled and nodded. Still, this was enough for Cerea as she flashed with a brilliant light and then disappeared, only her voice left behind.

"The test… begins!"

｢System to Player Announcement

Detected that player Draco has initiated the Unranked Warrior test of the War Maniac Pavilion. Allocating resources and redistributing routines. Standby.｣

Draco raised an eyebrow at this. The AI that had already been buffed once had to literally invest more resources and computing power to handle a mere trial from the War Maniac Pavilion?

More importantly, why tell him? The AI typically did not reveal this type of information unless it was trying to warn him about something. Draco\'s eyes narrowed as he reached a conclusion: If the War Maniac Pavilion\'s were something that required significant investment from the AI, it meant that even the current him was wise not to underestimate them.

｢Unranked Warrior – Special Rank Acquisition Quest

Description: The War Maniac Pavilion, a transcendent agency with tendrils in hundreds of Realms, is always actively recruiting from each Realm in search of qualified warriors to fight in war! To that end, you have been given an opportunity to try for this position and have to pass a test to show your physical and combat prowess.

The test is split into five sections, Strength, Endurance, Intent, Technique, and Prowess.

Rewards: Unranked Warrior (Special Rank).｣

Draco noted that the test had segments and just as he was about to ask, he felt himself be expunged from the hall into a vast field that was basically a wide plain. What made him speechless was that there were thousands of males and females of different species around him.

Blue-skinned people, mermaids, orcs, beast humanoids, devils, demons, and all sorts of humanoid creatures surrounded him, spread out equidistantly over this patch of earth. Each of them wore different attires and seemed to be scouting out each other using various sensory abilities.

Draco spread out his Void of Perfection at Tier 6 which easily covered the entire zone and counted there to be exactly 64,566 humanoids around him in the positions of candidates.

Interestingly, there was no visible examiner or person who took on an authoritative disposition. This naturally confused Draco until he felt a wave of power appear in his mind, noting that it was Cerea\'s voice.

"Aspiring Warrior Draco, I will now guide you through the various stages of the test. You can let me know of any questions you have before the test begins." She stated gently.

"Who are these people?" Draco asked calmly as he looked around.

"They are also fellow Aspiring Warriors of different Realms who have been gathered here in this space-time to take the test together. They are your competitors and peers, and soon, will be your comrades if you succeed." Cerea answered immediately.

"Hmm, is there a cut-off point? Or a limit on the number of those who can pass?" Draco further inquired as he began stretching.

"No. If everyone here passes their tests, everyone will be accepted. The War Maniac Pavilion cannot get enough warriors and will never have enough, so all who qualify are welcome."

Draco nodded and posed his final question. "In that case, will there be a ranking among those of us who pass? Will there be a different kind of treatment depending on the level of difficulty difference in everyone\'s tests? If so, what will be the benefits?"

"No, tests are uniform across the board. Yes, there is a ranking per test. Yes, there are rewards and benefits for those who surpass the others." Cerea responded succinctly.

"Hmm, thanks, I\'m done with my questions," Draco stated as he noticed that others were talking with their own squires.

"The test will begin in 5 minutes or when there is a total of 100,000 candidates. Please note that you will have all your external aids blocked to clarify the results, including equipment, items, and titles." Cerea warned before going silent.

Draco nodded. So he still had his Semi-Eternal class stats as well as skills, his partially sealed bloodline, and Control at Tier 6.

Frankly, that was more than enough, any one of these would allow him to outshine the others, much less all 3.

He continually scanned the area and saw the numbers rapidly rise like a rocket, going from a mere 64,000 to 96,000 in less than 3 minutes. Just when the 5-minute time limit was about to pass, the number finally hit 100,000!

Without warning or fanfare, the entire Realm trembled as the test began!

｢System to Player Announcement

The objective of the Strength Test has been set. Player Draco must lift up a minimum of 5,000 kg, punch with a force of 50,000 pounds, and shatter a plank of Ultra Wood to clear this task.｣

In front of each candidate, three things manifested. One was a nameless kettlebell that was black in color and had a number written on it that was currently \'0 kg\'. Another was a punching machine with a pad and a meter, that also stated \'0 pounds\'. Finally, there was a thick piece of wood cut into a typical plank size and length placed atop two stands at waist height.

Seeing these things and having received the prompts, the various candidates only shared looks to check on each other before focusing on their tasks.

To Draco\'s immediate left was a female serpent woman who was more serpent than woman, resembling an argonian. She glanced over at Draco and licked her lips rapaciously, as if seeing a fine piece of meat.

To his right, there was a bulky giant with rippling muscles but a small head and small legs, like some cartoonish caricature of a muscular man. The fellow arrogantly sniffed as he looked around, disdaining everyone including Draco.

Behind Draco, the candidate appeared to be another human man who was rugged and relatively handsome, looking roguish. He adopted a lazy posture and didn\'t much care about anything, with a face that said everything was a drag.

In front of Draco was a humanoid bearman who had a scar on his face and multiple wounds that were covered with flimsy patches all over his body. He seemed to not care about how ugly they were and rather flexed them openly, revealing his jagged teeth in a prideful smile.

When things began, everyone focused on themselves and most began by lifting the kettlebell, though others decided to work on the wooden plank or the punching machine first. After all, there was no compulsory order, just that one had to achieve the necessary results in each.

Draco glanced down at the kettlebell and refrained from manifesting Control or his bloodline actively, only relying on his base strength and the ones from his class stats. He even turned off his Semi-Eternal Class passives that boosted his stats to insane heights that the AI couldn\'t even display so that he could measure the average strength properly.

He needed to understand what equated to the basic requirement of the War Maniac Pavilion with regards to the Unranked Warriors, as it would give him a deeper glimpse into their thinking and operations.

Draco had 255 points in Strength outside of his various boosts. He gripped the kettlebell\'s handle and lifted it up easily as it currently weighed nothing. He then received a mental prompt that the weight would sequentially increase until he reached his limit.

Draco assented and felt a bit of weight as the kettlebell\'s number now displayed 100 kg, but this was easy enough for him to hold at his current level. He then felt the weight jump to 500 kg and raised an eyebrow, because it was now - to him - like an average person holding a bowl of water.

It jumped to 1000 kg and he felt like he was holding a bowling ball in hand as an average person. When it went to 2000 kg, Draco had to put in more effort as it felt like he was carrying a bucketful of water with one hand as an average person.

At 3000 kg, he began to huff slightly and had to add his other hand to stabilize, which immediately made the weight bearable. At 4000 kg, his knees bent a little but he managed to stay standing and firmly, too, without trembling.

At 5000 kg, he was in the same position, but his back drooped a bit and he was even trembling heavily, but he was still able to remain like this without falling. The kettlebell\'s spirit informed him that he had to maintain the position of carrying it for 10 seconds for it to count.

By the end of the ten-second count, Draco was red in the face and beginning to sweat. He dropped the kettlebell weakly, his whole body trembling as if he had run a mile while fatigued.

This made those around him seem disgusted, the bearman and the muscleman in front and on his right respectively almost seemed like they wanted to lift him and throw him out of the test altogether.

The lazy guy behind him didn\'t much care but did frown a little while the lizard woman seemed satisfied, as if the weaker Draco was, the more it suited her tastes.

Meanwhile, Draco had long since blocked their existence out of his mind as he pondered his realizations. Well, it seemed like the average martial-focused Rank 5 would struggle here unless they had some skills to significantly boost their strength.

After all, Rank 5 was the minimum Rank at which one could apply for this test after farming enough reputation points. Since he had a Semi-Eternal Class and had way more stats than a player, Draco was comparing with NPCs.

Draco pondered and nodded to himself, feeling that it was doable. One didn\'t need to be exemplary, just very competent and well-rounded, which was fair.

Still, Draco was not done. While maintaining his Class stats - since he couldn\'t turn those off - he only switched on Control at Tier 6. He took the kettlebell once more and tried again since he had unlimited attempts till the test was over.

The process was the same but the outcome was not. By the time he reached 5000 kg, he was still casually holding the kettlebell up with no problem. He kept going until the weight reached 30,000 kg before he began to feel strained and only once he reached 50,000kg did he meet his limit.

Those around him who had only carved a bit of attention to see his progress were dumbfounded, forgetting to even continue their own test. The leaderboard was not out yet, so they couldn\'t tell who was first, but the idea that someone who had previously barely been able to meet the requirement of 5000 kg suddenly reaching 50,000 kg was hard for them to reconcile.

However, they were in for another shock when Draco turned off Control and only used his bloodline, and was able to last up to 250,000 kg. With infinite energy from the bloodline, he was able to push his best strength-based bloodline branch, which was still the Horned Demon branch.

Draco then switched on Control and his bloodline, easily reaching up to 600,000kg and making many almost flee, as the kettlebell\'s weight at this point in time was enough to form a small gravitational field which began to actually twist space.

Meanwhile, Draco, the cause of this, was casually holding it in hand until he reached his strength threshold, where he had to cancel the mass after holding onto it for about 10 seconds.

After all, if he tiredly dropped the kettlebell at 600,000 kg, it was unknown what kind of mushroom cloud explosion would occur here.