After about twenty minutes of waiting, all nervous about how the test would go and at the same time a bit happy that his strength was no longer the same, at least not until he was exposed to sunlight again, he heard an announcement.

"All recruits have arrived. Everyone, please head to the test area that corresponds to your group number."

During the twenty minutes of waiting, each line was appointed as a group. So like this, Erix's group became the 8th group since they were the 8th in line if numbered from the left.

Everyone was confused when they heard the announcement. They were currently in a foggy environment, so there was no way they would be able to find their way anywhere around there. Erix also had the same thought.

However, they weren't able to linger on the thought for long, because their surroundings suddenly started to change. 

From the once foggy grey land, it turned into an ash-colored wasteland. 

The new arena was brightly lit up, unlike the foggy ground. There was no sign of life/greeneries there and it looked more like an abandoned planet. 

High up in the sky were two bright suns that were radiating tremendous joules of heat, as well as harsh ultraviolet radiation. It was obvious the place wasn't earth. 

Well, that was the students' assumption after seeing the two suns up in the sky.

Everyone in the foggy environment was present in the ash wasteland. 

They were all in the same position as they were back on the foggy ground.

Students were amazed at the sudden change of environment. 

Though technology advanced greatly after the war, it still was very rare to find teleportation like how they just arrived in the ash wasteland. 

While other students were busy observing the ash-colored wasteland, Erix was disheartened by the notification he got the very moment his body was exposed to sunlight.

[Host has been exposed to direct sunlight]

[All stats have gone back to normal]

The message came with a great setback in strength. 

Well, it wasn't a setback, instead, it was just his body returning to normal.

His once light and nimble body became very pale and heavy. 

Finally, his body was back to normal.

'Why? Why?' He thought. 'Why can't I have something good in my life? I'm tired of all the bullying and torture. Moments ago I was having the strength of an E-human, but now I'm back to toddler strength. Just how the f**k does this motherf**king system work? It's f**king annoying.'

[Host can be punished for talking bad of the system]

'Go to hell with your punishment, I don't care, bitch!' Erix subconsciously barked.

[Host is the definition of bitch]

[Warning!]

[Any more foul language from host, severe punishment would be initiated and death shall be inevitable]

Upon receiving that last message, Erix couldn't help but get afraid.

'A thing with the power to give and take away strength should be feared.' He thought. 'In the future, I will make sure not to provoke this bitc… I mean system.'

He was only nervous at first because he had his hopes on the system's bonus strength, but after losing it now, he wasn't only nervous again but afraid.

"I'm Leo Kane, your examiner for today's test. I will be leading group 8 to their test arena, so I expect everyone in group 8 to follow me." 

The teacher assigned to Erix's group announced before walking into the wasteland.

The whole group followed Leo as he led them deeper into the wasteland away from other groups.

It wasn't only Erix's group but many other groups equally followed their examiners to their test areas.

The teacher, Leo, was a big muscular young man, with dark spiky blond hair, a full well-kept beard, and hazel eyes. He was probably in his middle twenties.

He had broad shoulders and stood tall with an impressive height of 6'5. He was wearing a regular muscle shirt that exposed his bulging pecs.

After a few minutes of walking, Leo came to a halt. And with a poker smile plastered all over his face, he turned around and said to the students.

"The test will be held here. " 

Just as he said that weird-looking machines started appearing all over the wasteland in front of the students. It appeared randomly.

"Your first test will be with this strength machine. Just attack the red point on the machine with whatever attack or weapon you want, and it will give back a number, like this!"

Leo stepped back and took a fighting stance in front of the machine. 

Then he punched the machine with such immense strength that it caused shock waves

The number on the machine started to skyrocket.

100 points

350 points

560 points

1037 points

4573 points

10028 points

55893 points

105899 points

210006 points

The number finally stopped at 210006 points. Leo's power level was 210006 and that was around the rank of an SS-human.

The students were all speechless as they stared at Leo in admiration.

"Sorry guys, I lost my balance due to the softness of the ground, otherwise, I could have shown a better example."

At that point, the student's jaws dropped even further than before. 

They had a hard time believing what they had just heard.

"Well anyway, this is the second and final test. The agility and reflex test. Just stand here for a few moments and then the holograms of spikes will shoot at you with increasing speed. Your goal is to last as long as possible without being touched by the spikes. I won't be showing a demonstration for this test since we are low on time. Any questions before we start?"

The group just stared back in silence.

"By your silence, I assume you all are ready for the test. Stay in your line. I will call your names according to the line and please come up and take your test."

After that, the exam went by quickly. Each student would be taken by Leo to the test area where they would carry out their test. 

Some students had really interesting abilities which made Erix more nervous.

As the line was decreasing, Erix was approaching more and more towards the test zone. 

However, each time he took a step forward, his anxiety increased.

Since he now knew his life in the military would be nothing less than his normal life in middle school, he wondered if it was a good thing for him to even come here in the first place.

'Why? Why?' He thought. 'Why do I have to keep enduring these things? I'm tired of all the bullying shit! I just want all of it to end!'

He didn't remark on it, but the more he had the thought, the more he clenched his fist. 

And at some point, he felt blood as his nails dug into his palm. That was when he came back to reality.

He then looked toward the ground and took another step forward. In just five students it will be his turn.

He knew what awaited him after the test, so he was afraid to take the test.

And as if someone noticed his stress, he came to him. He was taller than Erix, maybe 1.7 meters, and had dark-purple hair with bright red eyes. He was in the same line as Erix, just that he was behind him.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" He asked with a gentle voice. "Your fist is bleeding."

Erix didn't answer at first. Why would he? The boy would just act the same as the others once he sees his level. So he didn't see any reason to talk to him.

He probably just asked this for his well-being, so even though he would be regarded as trash later, he wasn't at this moment.

".... Yeah I'm good. Thanks for your concern." He finally replied after some moments.

"You know, you don't have to act accordingly," He let out a little chuckle. "Besides, my name is Shota Grill."

"Thanks for saying that, I'm Erix miller, glad to meet you," Erix answered but only looked down. He didn't face Shota even once the entire time.

"Pfff. Are you?" He asked for a while, laughing a bit. "You see, I don't wanna be the kind of guy who is picky at those things but you didn't look at me once since I talked to you."

"So sorry," Erix lifted his head and looked at him. Unlike him, the boy was handsome. "I didn't mean to be rude."

"Well, what I see isn't rudeness but fear." He said once he saw his eyes. It was clear that Erix was afraid. Why? He didn't know. "I won't do anything to you, even if you're a low-level."

'Bullies all say that at first.' Erix thought and looked at the ground again. 

"Su-re," He then said.

Seeing him like this, Shota couldn't help but pity him. It was clear that he had lived in fear and was traumatized, which was why he was acting like that.

However, he didn't have time to think long about it because soon, it was their turn.

"Because of time, you would no longer be called individually. From now on, I will be calling in fours. Erix Miller, Shota Grill, Ambry Carto, and Natasha Heley, you four should come up and take your test."