Irene turned toward the control console.
One of Director Harrison’s hands rested beside the puppet’s control device.
And on his face was a suspicious, dark smile.
It didn’t take her long to understand what was happening.
"You increased the evaluation difficulty?" she asked coldly.
"The combat puppet automatically adjusts according to the strength displayed by the candidate. If he can’t handle even this much, then blocking the previous attack merely proves he was lucky," Harrison replied coldly.
Irene was about to say something else when another heavy collision echoed across the training ground.
The combat puppet raised its left arm.
Its metal palm rapidly split apart, and a barrel formed from condensed mana extended from its center. Blue white light began gathering within the muzzle.
The surrounding candidates’ expressions immediately changed.
"A mana cannon?"
"Isn’t that only supposed to be used in actual combat mode?"
"A direct hit could kill someone!"
Even several academy instructors responsible for maintaining order frowned.
But before they could intervene, the mana cannon finished charging.
Boom!
A blue beam erupted from the puppet’s palm, crossing the distance between them almost instantaneously.
Asher tilted his body sideways. The blue beam brushed past his shoulder before slamming directly into the defensive barrier behind the training ground, sending violent ripples across its surface.
At the same moment, Asher pushed off the ground.
Bang! Fwoosh!
The ground cracked apart as his body shot toward the combat puppet like an arrow released from a bowstring.
The puppet reacted just as quickly. Before the cannon barrel in its left arm had fully retracted, its right leg swept toward him with a heavy howl of wind.
Asher raised both arms and forcibly crossed them in front of himself.
Bang!
The heavy metal leg slammed into his arms.
A clear sound of breaking bones immediately followed.
Asher was sent flying by the tremendous force, tumbling several times through the air before crashing heavily onto the ground more than ten meters away.
"Asher!"
Irene instinctively stepped forward.
Threads of life energy were already gathering around her fingertips. But in the end, she stopped herself.
This was Asher’s evaluation. The moment she interfered, regardless of what had happened beforehand, the battle would immediately be judged a failure.
Mira looked at Asher lying on the ground, and a faint sneer returned to her lips.
"I thought he was actually strong."
"Mira."
Nova never took her eyes off him.
"The battle isn’t over."
The moment she finished speaking, Asher’s fingers moved slightly.
Then, placing both hands against the ground, he slowly stood up.
Both of his arms had visibly deformed after taking the previous attack, and his right arm was completely fractured. Yet under the effects of the Gate Destroyer Bloodline, the broken bones were reconnecting at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Crack.
Crack.
A scalp numbing sound of bones grinding together came from within his arms.
A little over ten seconds later, his arms, which should have been completely unusable, returned to normal.
The entire training ground fell silent.
Even the academy instructors responsible for the freshman evaluation couldn’t hide the shock on their faces.
Recovery type abilities weren’t rare.
However, the vast majority of recovery type Hunters needed to consume enormous amounts of mana, and treating serious injuries such as fractures usually required several minutes or even longer.
They had never seen anything like Asher’s ability to repair broken bones in barely over ten seconds using nothing more than his own regenerative power.
[Repair of both arms complete.]
[Current vitality remaining: 97.2%.]
[Host has endured a D rank attack for the first time.]
[Gate Destroyer Bloodline Adaptability activated.]
[Host’s bone strength has increased slightly.]
Asher rotated his wrist.
Not only had his injuries completely disappeared, his bones were actually slightly tougher than before.
The regenerative ability of this bloodline was even more powerful than he had imagined.
The combat puppet charged again.
This time, Asher didn’t choose to meet it head on.
After their previous two exchanges, he had already gained a rough understanding of the puppet’s attack patterns.
It indeed possessed D rank speed and strength, but its combat techniques relied entirely on preprogrammed routines. Before every attack, the mana patterns on its shoulders, waist, or legs would light up in advance.
As long as he found the pattern, he could predict its movements.
Buzz!
The combat puppet’s right shoulder glowed red.
Right punch.
Asher moved sideways in advance.
The metal fist swept past his cheek.
The mana patterns around the puppet’s waist immediately lit up.
Spinning sweep.
Asher abruptly lowered his body, almost pressing himself against the ground as the attack passed overhead. At the same time, he used the movement to reach the outside of the puppet’s right leg.
He didn’t attack the thick metal armor.
Instead, he thrust his hand directly behind the puppet’s knee and, through a connecting gap barely the size of a fist, grabbed a mana transmission shaft rotating at high speed.
"What is he trying to do?"
Someone in the crowd asked.
The next moment, Asher gave them the answer.
He didn’t attempt to tear the transmission shaft apart with brute force. Instead, he used the enormous momentum generated by the combat puppet’s rotation, planted both feet firmly against the ground, and twisted the transmission shaft in the exact opposite direction.
Crack!
A piercing sound of breaking metal rang out.
The combat puppet’s right leg instantly lost support.
Its enormous three meter tall body tilted sideways.
Asher immediately released his grip. Before the puppet could fall, he flipped onto its back, thrust his fingers into a gap between the armor plates around its neck, and pulled outward with all his strength.
Rip!
Mana sparks scattered everywhere.
The control cables connecting the combat puppet’s head to its body were forcibly ripped out from beneath its armor.
The red light in the puppet’s eyes began flashing wildly.
It attempted to reach behind itself and grab Asher, but with the transmission shaft in its right leg already destroyed, the instant its body moved, it lost its balance and crashed heavily onto one knee.
Asher seized the opportunity and leapt into the air from the puppet’s shoulder.
His right fist clenched tightly.
The remaining bloodline power within his body rapidly gathered.
Then he punched directly toward the control core at the back of the puppet’s neck, now completely exposed after losing its armor protection.
Bang!
The metal core caved inward on the spot.
The combat puppet’s enormous body shuddered violently before the red light in its eyes completely disappeared.
Boom!
Its three meter tall body crashed heavily onto the center of the training ground.
From the moment the combat puppet launched its first attack until it completely lost the ability to move, the entire battle had lasted only one minute and twenty seven seconds.
Asher stood on the combat puppet’s back and slowly withdrew his fist.
The skin on his right hand had split again from that final punch, and blood dripped from his fingertips, but the small wounds quickly began closing under the effects of Hyper Regeneration.
The entire training ground was completely silent.
A moment later, the crowd seemed to explode as discussions erupted even more fiercely than before.
"He won?"
"A freshman who hasn’t even entered the academy defeated a D rank combat puppet?"
"Is this guy really from the Lower District?"
The way many people looked at Asher had already changed.
If the shattered testing stone could still be blamed on equipment malfunction, then a D rank combat puppet lying defeated in front of everyone obviously couldn’t be dismissed as luck.
His physical strength might only be E+.
He might not possess a single active skill usable in combat.
However, relying solely on his terrifying regenerative ability, calm judgment, and grasp of combat timing, Asher already possessed the possibility of defeating a D rank enemy.
Nova looked at the fallen combat puppet, and for the first time, genuine interest appeared in her eyes.
[Target Nova’s Favorability increased.]
...
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