Director Harrison’s expressio changed in disbelief when he witness the scene before him.
"How is that possible?"
This testing device was capable of measuring the life force of any Hunter below A-rank.
How could a young man whose mana was only F-rank exceed its calculation limits?
"The equipment is malfunctioning."
Harrison immediately declared.
"Run the test again."
However, before the staff could even approach, the two-meter-tall black testing stone suddenly emitted a crisp cracking sound.
Crack.
A fracture appeared beneath Asher’s palm.
Then the crack spread rapidly, covering the entire testing stone in the blink of an eye.
Boom!
The testing stone exploded into countless fragments, spraying black shards across the ground.
Everyone around them froze in shock.
Asher lowered his head to glance at his hand before looking up at the equally speechless Director Harrison.
"Does that count as passing?"
Harrison’s expression turned extremely ugly.
"The testing equipment has been damaged. The results are invalid. If you wish to pass the assessment, you must still complete the combat evaluation."
He raised his hand and pressed the control device beside the training grounds.
Rumble!
The ground slowly split apart. A humanoid combat puppet over three meters tall, forged entirely from black metal, slowly rose from the underground platform.
Its chest bore a clear rank designation.
[D-rank Combat Puppet]
Harrison looked at Asher, a trace of coldness flashing through his eyes.
"Survive three minutes against it...Or defeat it, you’ll pass."
Buzz!
The combat puppet’s eyes lit up with a crimson glow.
The next moment, despite its enormous size, it burst forward with astonishing speed, instantly crossing more than ten meters. Its massive metal fist, carrying a heavy roar through the air, smashed straight toward Asher’s chest.
Asher stood where he was.
Just when everyone thought he had frozen in fear, he slowly raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and met the metal fist head-on.
Bang!
One large hand and one small hand collided directly.
A violent shockwave swept across the entire training grounds.
The ground beneath Asher’s feet instantly caved inward, while spiderweb-like cracks spread rapidly in every direction.
But his body remained rooted in place.
He didn’t take a single step backward.
The combat puppet’s fist had been stopped with one hand.
The entire arena fell deathly silent.
Asher slowly raised his head and looked at the D-rank Combat Puppet standing right before him.
A faint smile gradually curved across his lips.
"D-rank... doesn’t seem all that strong."
Asher’s voice wasn’t loud, still it carried clearly across the entire training ground.
The surrounding candidates were still immersed in the shock of that head-on collision. Those who had already awakened and understood the Hunter ranking system stared at the center of the training ground with almost unbelievable expressions.
That wasn’t an ordinary training machine.
It was a genuine combat puppet possessing D-rank strength.
Even though most of its attack modules had been temporarily disabled to prevent candidates from being seriously injured during the evaluation, its raw strength and speed were still far beyond what a newcomer with only E+ physical strength should have been able to withstand head-on.
But Asher had blocked it.
He hadn’t even taken a single step back.
"Is the testing equipment broken again?"
"How could his physical strength only be E+?"
"Even a D-rank enhancement-type Hunter might not be able to stop that punch with one hand."
"Could he have awakened some kind of hidden talent?"
The surrounding discussions grew louder.
At the front of the crowd, Mira lowered the arms she had been crossing over her chest. For the first time, her flame-red eyes became serious.
Clearly, she had never expected this illegitimate son, someone she had considered completely harmless, to possess such strength.
Nova said nothing.
Her gaze remained fixed on Asher’s right hand.
Others might not have noticed it, but she had clearly seen that the instant Asher caught the combat puppet’s fist, his fingers had bent at unnatural angles, while the skin beneath his arm had briefly torn under the overwhelming force.
That attack had injured him. But only a few seconds later, those wounds had completely disappeared.
"A recovery-type talent?"
A thoughtful look flashed through Nova’s eyes.
At the center of the training ground, Asher still maintained his posture of blocking the combat puppet with one hand, but only he knew that the previous collision hadn’t been nearly as effortless as it appeared.
His physical strength was still only E+.
Even though the Gate Destroyer Bloodline granted him vitality far beyond that of ordinary Hunters at his level, his bones and muscles still weren’t strong enough to completely ignore a D-rank attack.
The instant he caught the metal fist, three fingers on his right hand had suffered minor fractures, while his shoulder had also been damaged because it couldn’t withstand the full impact.
However, Hyper Regeneration had activated almost the instant he was injured.
[Minor fractures detected in host’s right hand.]
[Shoulder muscles damaged.]
[Hyper Regeneration activated.]
[Estimated time until complete recovery: 10 seconds.]
[Current vitality consumption: 0.3%.]
Looking at the system notifications, Asher quickly evaluated his current strength.
In terms of raw power alone, he still couldn’t truly contend with a D-rank opponent head-on.
However, with his extraordinary vitality and regenerative ability, as long as an enemy couldn’t inflict a fatal injury in a single attack, he possessed endurance far beyond that of an ordinary Hunter.
The combat puppet obviously wasn’t going to give him any more time to think.
Buzz!
Accompanied by a piercing mechanical sound, the right arm Asher had blocked suddenly rotated. The power mechanism hidden inside its wrist activated simultaneously, releasing a force far greater than before.
The ground beneath Asher’s feet sank once again.
This time, his body finally slid backward.
His shoes scraped across the ground, leaving two clear trails behind.
"Its strength is increasing." Irene frowned.
She was very familiar with the combat puppets used by Aegis Academy.
Under normal circumstances, puppets used for freshman evaluations only displayed strength at the early D-rank level. Yet the aura being released by this puppet continued to rise, clearly surpassing the difficulty an ordinary evaluation should possess.
Irene turned toward the control console.
One of Director Harrison’s hands rested beside the puppet’s control device..
And in his face was suspicious dark smile.