Magnus glimpsed over at Sin with a nonchalant look.
'The guy is grinning like he just helped an old man cross the street.' Magnus said to himself, a bit disturbed. 'But his physical strength isn't weak. It might even be visible to experienced eyes when compared to mine...'
He didn't think much of Sin. And he wasn't going to do so after this either. However, he noted for the moment that Sin wasn't a complete weakling. More than making him wary of Sin, all this did was reassure him that his instincts about Sin were right from the start.
Sin, on the other hand, felt extremely proud of himself. The fight was amazing, and it went almost exactly as he had planned.
He made sure to stay very careful, especially while the Spirit was using its Spirit Energy-fueled abilities. Thankfully, the praying mantis Spirit used physical attacks—something Sin could fight against.
The concept of physical attacks wasn't threatening to Sin. What was more scary were element attacks made from Spirit.
They weren't as strong and weren't nearly as fast either most of the time. Despite that, they were still more powerful. This was because they would do damage on contact.
Even during Sin's battle with Agneil, he had noticed the Spirit Energy of the spikes before they even summoned around him. However, due to their unexpected nature and Sin's lack of experience, he was hit by them easily.
That was the main problem with Spirit Energy attacks that weren't physical... they were simply too unpredictable and unknown to Sin. He needed to learn more about them in the future.
For now, however, he was hyped about his performance. After his bout, the examinees who decided to glance at him had another change in their gaze.
After the strength testing, they had a bit of respect and intrigue in their eyes. But now, many pupils danced with admiration and even a hint of fear.
Sin noticed this from simply standing there. He didn't even need to think much about it. Having all these people look at him with these specific expressions created a unique atmosphere that Sin could simply feel in the air naturally.
And that feeling was grand. It was harsh, as though slaves looking at their owner. But it was also rewarding for the same reason.
'This is a hint of it. A hint of how the strong feel.' Sin said to himself.
Soon after, Bao Huxin announced the next match. The fights continued as normal.
Dreli was quickly rushed out of the testing arena, same as some others who had suffered more critical damage.
Sin's perceived love for combat was strengthened, not just by his own bout, but also as he saw other people fight in front of him.
Just like this, the exam soon came to an end. By the time the fights were done, there were only about 35 people left in the arena, excluding Bao.
The others had to be hospitalized immediately.
"Out of you all, 25 have failed. If you can do math in your head, you already know who you are." Bao said in a low tone and cold eyes, pausing as he stood over the examinees.
As soon as he said this, a wave of gloom fell over the group. Many looked down, disappointment weighing heavily on their minds.
"Those of you who have failed here will be contacted again by the Hunter Guild of Solstar to attend the Hunter boot camp—where you will slowly earn your way to becoming a Hunter. If you can not complete even that, you do not deserve a place as a Hunter in this world."
Bao's words were harsh but also held a hint of hope for those who had failed.
"Everyone else... congratulations. From right now and onwards, you are all officially Hunters. For your official Rank and Hunter ID, you will need to visit the guild again. However, your scores are already tallied."
Sin smiled, 'I am one of the ones who passed. I know that for sure.' He was proud.
'I was willing to do the boot camp, but I'm pleasantly surprised. In the battle testing section, you get 10/10 points if you win, and 0/10 points if you lose. There is no middle ground.'
Taking this into consideration, Sin knew he had gotten a total of 22 points—10 from the battle testing, 10 from the strength testing, and 2 from the Spirit testing.
Dividing 22 by the sum of the scores—3—Sin knew he had a total score of 7.3/10, or 73% out of 100.
Knowing that 60% was the passing rate of the test, Sin was positive he had passed.
'I scraped by, thankfully. Now... I wonder what Rank they will assign me. 73% ain't much... a C Minus if it were to be a graded sheet.' While he wondered what Hunter Rank he would get, Bao continued to talk:
"Now, out of you all who passed, there is someone I must choose whose fight performance impressed me the most. Thankfully, I already have someone in mind." Bao said before pausing for a second.
People began to whisper amongst themselves as they heard this:
"Huh... I wonder who he's chosen."
"To me it's quite obvious."
"Really? Who?"
"It could be anyone!"
"I hope it's me!"
Magnus narrowed his eyes, 'I am easily the strongest here. But unfortunately, a biased human with a stupid brain is choosing the winner. Due to my lackluster one-punch approach, I doubt I will stand out enough to win. Tsk...'
Sin was also skeptical of the winner: 'I barely passed the exam at all, so I doubt it's me who won. Out of the others who had good fights, Magnus being the strongest has a good chance. There were also a few others with good showings of their ability...'
Bao spoke: "The winner of the prize for best fight performance is... Sin Alaric Dalroth!" He smiled as he stared at Sin, "Come up to the stage and pick a prize!"
Sin raised a brow, confused. For a moment he didn't move, not believing he had won. He didn't expect it whatsoever, having been so drowned in the other people's fights.
Everyone else, however, seemed to have expected this. A small flurry of claps erupted as Sin made his way up to the stage.
"It was obvious. The way he dominated Dreli as if he was a weakling was hilarious."
"Yeah... he is way stronger than he appears."
"He deserves to win."
Bao cleared his throat: "Ahem! You showed all-rounded fighting ability today. Not only did you deal with the Spirit properly despite having a low Spirit power score, but you also showed immense physical instinct and ability. So... you are allowed to choose from these items."
He raised a red-cloth scroll before throwing it on the ground. The scroll unwrapped—revealing a small plethora of items on the ground.
There were weapons—it seemed. Along with that, other trinkets, armor pieces, and also consumables.