Sin's punch had blasted a hole straight through his golem. It quickly healed as it exclaimed:
"Your punch score is 10/10."
As soon as those words left the Spirit Golem's mouth, Sin's serious frown turned into a large grin.
Dreli's smug smirk disappeared, replaced with a frown of disbelief.
"What!?" A person blurted out from the crowd.
"A max score!?"
"Woah..."
"Wasn't expecting that."
"Wasn't he the guy that got the lowest Spirit score?"
Murmurs began to quickly grow in the crowd of people. Everyone was at a slight loss at what they were seeing.
As this commotion became louder, Dreli's face went slightly pale. Not only was Sin's score much superior to his... not only was Sin's score the maximum you could get... but Sin's score had also drawn all the attention away from him.
In fact, he didn't hear a single person talking about him. It was as if he was a nobody, just like his parents. It had been a very long time since he had felt this type of humiliation.
No one was intending to embarrass him. Of course not. They were way too preoccupied with Sin right now. But due to that, they were ignoring Dreli as if he was some weakling who didn't need to be mentioned at all.
'Surely not...' Dreli thought to himself, speechless for a moment.
His golem spoke: "Kick me now."
Sin's golem also said the same thing: "Test your kick now."
Sin was confident in his ability now. He didn't hesitate at all whatsoever, throwing his right foot forward in a sideways roundhouse kick as if it were a baseball bat. His left heel spun forward and his hip turned slightly, generating immense force as his shin slammed into the side of the golem.
The golem's abdomen was obliterated on impact. Its torso was blasted off of its body, traveling through the air before bouncing across the ground and sliding to a stop several feet away.
It took 15 entire seconds for the Spirit Golem to return to its original state.
Of course, even more muttering about Sin sounded in the crowd. Magnus' eyes narrowed as he saw this, 'Not bad...'
When the golem finally went back to normal, it spoke again: "Your kick score is 10/10. Your final score is also 10/10."
"Oh-hoho!" Bao Huxin suddenly exclaimed with amusement, "Nicely done!"
Sin exhaled, but his exhale turned into a chuckle. He was relieved, but more so ecstatic at his score. He was expecting something decently high, but this almost literally blew his expectations into the air.
As Sin made his way back to the line, the stunned Dreli found himself facing the Spirit Golem while swallowing his spit. His confidence from before had shriveled down.
With all the strength he could muster, he kicked the golem.
"Your kick score is a 6.5/10. Your final score is 6.75/10."
As the commotion about Sin's score settled down, Dreli heard a few negative remarks about him in the crowd as he walked back to the line.
"Damn... I was expecting more from Dreli."
"Dreli's fighting the guy who got a 10/10 right? The match seems more interesting now."
"They were talking a lot of smack... it should be fun to watch."
Dreli was in utter disbelief right now, 'How? How could such a pathetic piece of shit like him get such a high score? I know his type... average punks that grow up with everything they want. I am different... I worked for what I have. Despite that, he gets that high of a score?' His head felt like it wanted to explode right now.
'It's not right! Fuck sake! It's just not right!' He gritted his teeth. To him, his life seemed to come with horrible disadvantages. It was understandable to a certain degree.
After all, in his younger years before he got any hint of his own greater power compared to his parents, he was bullied for having parents who were seen as failures.
So, when he exceeded the expectations of those who doubted him, he felt he had overcome a harsh beginning. He felt he was born with nothing, but due to this, he couldn't recognize the fact that there were those born in this world with far less than him, who had accomplished much more.
As he made his way back to the line, Magnus walked forward. While the surprise of Sin's score still hadn't settled, Magnus punched the Spirit Golem.
Similar to Sin's kick, the golem's torso was blown off into the air.
"Punch score: 10/10."
And with his kick, the golem took another 13 or so seconds to regenerate.
"Kick score: 10/10. Final score: 10/10."
Again, Magnus' high score was expected, but still awesome to see. What people weren't expecting was Sin's monstrous score--which was even more exciting since it was so unexpected.
As Sin's team made their way back to the larger group on the other side of the arena, Sin noticed a lot more eyes glancing toward him.
When he glanced back, those eyes darted away into the air or to the side, or toward the ground.
'Huh... intrigue? Or is it respect? Whatever it is... it feels good.' Sin thought to himself, still catching himself smiling even up until now. He could sense that people looked at him with a different gaze now.
'It's amusing to see how easily people are swayed by power. How even their slight, subconscious mannerisms completely morph in the span of seconds...' Sin found this to be interesting.
Having lived mostly outside of human society for a long time, he found that he could observe the species almost as if he was an outsider. Finding flaws like this, or other characteristics that most people wouldn't notice was an often occurrence for him.
When he got back to his group, he first thought about his score so far.
'I got a 2 in the Spirit Testing, and a 10 in the Physical part. That means my score is a 6 right now. That is already a passing score, if I'm not mistaken. Although, the benchmark score to pass the exam might be higher than the score needed to pass the other tests. Still, assuming I am just barely passing right now, I cannot afford to lose this final test.'
He glanced over at Dreli again. The young noble was staring at the ground. Sin had no clue what he was thinking, but at least he wasn't trying to attack him or stare at him like he had laser vision like the other times.
Bao Huxin raised his voice, "The final part of this test will now begin!" He looked down at a watch on his hand.
"Tsk... a bit late, but I guess it was worth it." He began to mutter under his breath, walking over to the other part of the arena, "I managed to see Magnus' power, even if it was only a little. That crazy child... I wonder if he will remain in Solstar's Hunter Guild... it sure would be a miracle." He paused, thinking for a moment, 'And there was also that other kid. The one who got a perfect score in the physical section. How absurd... I wasn't expecting that at all. I guess we have some very promising cadets join in the future. I just hope most of them survive past the Hunting phase...'