Andrew wasn't aware that this conversation was even unfolding, he felt like he could subtly feel someone looking at him, but everyone kinda was so he didn't pay much mind to it.
After about 3 minutes since his initial testing results, the proctor announced who would be going next.
"Zachary Yueler, please step up!"
Attention still hadn't quite faded from Andrew's results just yet, everyone was still a bit surprised that he managed to reach 900kg with no talent.
However, they felt an intrinsic desire to watch this 'dark horse' take his test, better known as the odd one out in the school.
They knew he awakened something kind of incredible, at least no less than those kids with more power and resources.
Zachary walked up to the testing panel with a steadfast expression, he had a confident gleam in his eyes behind his slightly too long raggedy ass hair.
Andrew took note of this and shifted his attention from his conversation with Dylan to the scene that was about to unfold.
"I'm quite curious what this kid's gonna manage to be able to do… there's no way the protagonist hasn't experienced explosive growth past the norm already." Andrew thought, with a curious look.
Zachary arrived in front of the testing panel, the proctor gave his little spiel, telling him to go whenever he was ready.
Zachary closed his eyes beneath his bangs, nobody could tell what he was planning to do.
Just then, Andrew felt something stir from deep within his body, he wasn't sure quite what it was, but he knew this was gonna be an interesting display.
Just then he noticed that Zachary seemed to have a faint gleam over his entire body, slowly being drawn into his left hand.
"Is that… the attribute given by the talent?!"
"No way, how the fuck can he even use that shit yet!"
Andrew held back a shocked expression and made sure to steady his breathing and his heart.
Soon after, Zachary opened his eyes and exploded out with a fierce punch.
Andrew wasn't sure if anyone else could see what he was, but as Zachary's fist traveled, he could feel an extremely destructive aura within his punch that instinctively made him tremble.
He felt a subtle anticipation in his heart all until the moment that Zachary's fist suddenly landed on the testing panel.
For a fraction of a second, there was no reaction.
And then suddenly, there was a deafening explosion.
Andrew quickly ducked his head, pulling his friend Dylan down with him, just as a piece of shrapnel flew past their heads.
"Holy shit…" Andrew thought, a little bit more shocked than he originally expected.
"There's no way this kid's stats could be higher than mine, is the space-void attribute really this powerful?"
After the explosion rang out, kids looked in shock at the cloud of smoke that enveloped both the professor and Zachary, that was dispersing throughout the gym.
"Oh my god! What the fuck just happened?!"
"Did that kid Zachary just cause that? How is this even possible?!"
Just then, a big gust of wind suddenly filled the entire gymnasium, sweeping away the cloud of smoke.
There was the proctor, with Zachary right behind him.
"Ahem, I'm sorry class, it seems like the machine is malfunctioning… my sincerest apologies to you all."
The proctor threw a quick glance at Zachary like he was looking at a monster.
"This kid… he's either gonna die young or become something that shocks this world!"
He knew there was nothing truly wrong with the device, it was inspected and replaced every year to ensure tip-top functionality and safety.
But Zachary had managed to overload the entire machine and blow it to smithereens.
"This would only be possible with a strength above 3000kg!"
The proctor quickly calmed all the frantic students down, and quickly pivoted the conversation back towards the remaining tests.
"Okay everyone, thankfully Zachary was the last student. We shall now move onto the rest of the exams…"
Everyone had slightly suspicious expressions on their faces.
They were all thinking the same thing, "we're just gonna ignore what happened?"
But seeing as the instructor had no desire to continue the discussion, and he seemed calm on the surface, they all listened to his words and refocused on what was to come next.
Deep inside, the professor was anything but calm, but he couldn't make a scene as to ensure the safety of one of his students.
If word got out a newly awakened talent had caused this, with no background, he had a feeling his death would not be a good one.
Moving onto the rest of the tests, everything else had managed to go much smoother.
He seemed particularly rushed to try and finish everything else up in a much more timely manner.
The students just suspected it was because he wanted to get down to some dirty business though, they didn't expect the cause of this was because he had great news regarding the principal's future promotion… ahem the future of the entire school's success.
The rich kids did a lot better on the rest of the tests, where Zachary seemed to actually slightly lag behind.
By the end of it, the results were out, Andrew was quite happy with his results.
Thankfully he was one of the last ones to go in every other category as well, so he had a clear benchmark at what he should do to accomplish his goal of not overperforming like Zachary.
Dylan had managed to actually output very well in the remaining tests, just barely shy of the trust fund kids with special attributes and higher quality talents.
"Okay everyone! This was a very nice year of testing, I hope all of you decide to work hard to accomplish your dreams in the near future. Time awaits nobody, especially my mistress... I must be off then."
"Your placement results will be officially mailed to you by tomorrow. That's that then, Adios!"
And just like that, the professor quickly skedaddled out of there.
The students looked on with slight disappointment, silently critiquing the school for hiring this guy.
Everyone made their ways out of the gymnasium, it was another day of leaving school early, and everyone was silently invigorated in their hearts.
They looked upon Zachary with interested eyes.
He didn't do necessarily too good in the rest of his tests, but he was still at least top 10 in results among every other bracket somehow.
His scrawny figure looked kind of… dependable now.
Girls started looking at him just a little bit differently too, and dudes looked upon him with slight admiration but mostly jealousy.
"How the fuck did that kid do so well? He doesn't deserve that kind of ability…"
"I know right, I would honestly be better off with the talent he has. I would definitely soar to the sky with anything better than what I have now!"
"Oh please, keep gassing yourself up that way and maybe you'll start having sweet dreams at night…"
Andrew, overhearing this, making his way towards the exit of the school with Dylan, shook his head.
"Admiration masked as jealousy because of their own perceived threat of being inferior to who was once inferior to themselves… typical teenagers."
Andrew sighed and shook his head, jealousy would get you nowhere in life. Only real effort would change your fate or a god-given gift.
Dylan and Zachary saw each other off down the road from the school.
After bidding farewell to each other, Andrew was thinking of his next mode of attack.
"Obviously I'm gonna keep training what I got right now… but I'm curious as to what ability this kid Zachary used…"
"I'll have to do some research myself into elemental embodiment."
With a determined expression Andrew walked down the street.
But just ahead he saw a familiar face just up ahead looking at him with slight nervousness.
He smiled, he hadn't expected this result, but it wasn't far from his range of possible expectations.
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