Chapter 74 Part 5: Exam

“Jeff~! Why don’t you dodge like you usually do?”

Rain’s voice came from afar.

I held my head and looked at her.

She, who was standing on top of the machine that continuously fired balls, seemed to truly believe that I could dodge these balls.

“How… how do I do this…?”

Knock knock knock knock!

Small balls hitting my head, face, arms, and legs.

My whole body.

It wasn’t terribly painful, but the feeling of my body being continuously beaten wasn’t very pleasant.

“Jeff, come on!”

Even Shine, who was sitting and watching me, seemed to think that I could dodge these balls.

I rolled around on the floor with a sad face.

Rolling around, my eyes spinning around and my body spinning.

However, I couldn’t dodge all the balls flying at me.

“Ughhhhhhh…”

I rolled around until my whole body was covered in dust, but I couldn’t think of a way to dodge the balls.

My breathing was ragged, and my arms and legs were limp.

My lack of stamina was making me feel physically tired.

So the only thought that remained in my head was wanting to avoid it.

And then it was.

I unconsciously spread out my hands and drew up my power.

Not to attack, but to spread it as thinly and widely as possible.

Pazik-!

Blue lights blooming in front of my eyes.

A faint electric field spreads widely.

A clear blue electric field spreads out, covering a certain radius based on my body.

It felt like my vision was expanding.

Everything around me began to enter my head.

Up, down, sideways.

It felt like I was seeing all directions at once.

I could see everything around me with a gaze that had no blind spots.

I gaped blankly.

I began to predict the direction of the flying ball.

I stretched my arms and legs forward.

Then, the ball passed over my clothes with a precarious feeling.

What is this…?

Immediately after that, my concentration dispersed.

The blue electric field spread out in all directions began to sway unstably.

The trajectories of the balls flowed in vaguely, and as I narrowly avoided the balls, countless balls flew at me once again.

“Yup yup yup yup yup!”

Rain’s voice was filled with laughter.

She kept pressing the buttons on the machine.

Dadadadatta-

Every time my little finger pressed a button, the speed of the balls increased.

The balls were soft and didn’t hurt that much, but I couldn’t even open my eyes because there were so many balls hitting my face.

Doo doo doo doo!

So many balls poured down on my entire body.

Eventually, I collapsed on the floor and burst into tears.

I couldn’t stand the situation where I was being forced to do something I couldn’t do.

“Sob… Hwaaang!”

Once I burst, tears poured down uncontrollably.

As I lay on the floor and cried, I heard Rain’s panicked voice.

“Jeff?”

The ball stopped moving.

The noise of the machine that was spitting out the balls also subsided.

I could hear footsteps coming from all directions.

I wiped my eyes with both hands and crawled to Shine.

“Shine….”

“Jeff…”

“Huh….”

Shine came to me and hugged me tightly.

Her embrace was so warm, I put more strength into my hands and didn’t let her go.

Shine twisted her body as if she was a little uncomfortable, but the more I did, the more I clung to Shine.

“It’s so hard…”

The tears that were pouring down were annoying.

My face must have been a mess, but I couldn’t show this face to Shine.

I buried my face in Shine’s chest and continued to cry.

“Jeff, are you okay?”

“Sigh….”

Shine’s hand gently stroked my hair.

I regained some composure in her arms, and I closed my eyes tightly as I recalled the shameful behavior I had just shown her.

How could I burst into tears at this age?

It was so ugly.

I gulped and caught my breath, then carefully raised my head.

Then, Rain, who was standing next to me with a restless expression, came into view.

When she saw me, she bit her lip and raised her hand.

“…I’m sorry, Jeff. I usually avoid things, so I thought I would do well this time too…”

“Usually…?”

“Yeah…”

According to Rain, I had been doing this training without any problems, even in my usual, or rather, in the blank space of my memory, for the past few weeks.

As I wiped my eyes, I recalled what had happened earlier.

The moment the distracting thoughts that had filled my head due to my lack of stamina disappeared, my body moved on its own.

The abilities that were naturally displayed.

Even the evasiveness that I showed because of that.

I slowly nodded.

“… did it?”

“Yeah.”

I released the hand that was holding Shine.

“Shine. Is it really me that did it?”

“Yeah. It’s really Jeff that did it.”

I took a step back from Shine and caught my breath.

The heavy breathing that had been coming out in groans slowly subsided.

Was it because I had shed so many tears?

My head felt a little refreshed.

“So. Jeff. You can do it now,” Shine was confident.

The movements I had just shown her, as if I could perfectly demonstrate how to use the ability.

I nodded.

“Start!”

Right after shouting at Rain, she pressed the ball launch button with all her might.

If she did, then so be it.

“Rain.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll do it again.”

“… Are you sure it’s okay?”

Rain asked with a worried expression at my words.

I nodded to Rain and answered.

“Huh. Don’t stop this time.”

“Okay.”

Rain turned and ran at my answer.

She got on the large ball launcher and waved at me.

“Shine.”

“Huh.”

Rain smiled brightly.

As if there was nothing wrong.

Looking at her, I wondered if there was something strange about me.

“I’ll try.”

“Huh. Jeff can do it.”

Her words gave me confidence.

I took a deep breath and turned around to head to the training ground.

The moment her little finger pressed the button, the machine made a noise and launched the ball again.

The balls flying in from all directions filled my vision.

I recalled the memory from earlier and raised my power.

Pazik!

The blue current that started from my fingertips wrapped around my entire body.

The current field that started like that spread out from my body and spread a thin curtain around me.

It was a little smaller than before.

But it was also the maximum size that I could maintain at the moment.

My arms and legs stiffened with an appropriate amount of tension.

The moment the ball flying in from the air touched the blue curtain, I moved my body.

I twisted my arms.

I lifted my legs.

I turned my body to the side.

The movements continued like flowing water.

The movements contained in it were minimal.

The flying balls all passed by.

A small noise from my collar struck my ears.

But I didn’t look at it.

My gaze was directed straight at the ball flying towards me.

Once again.

Rain, who had been watching me continue to dodge the balls, regained her smile.

She started repeatedly pressing the button with her eyes shining.

The mechanical sound grew stronger.

The speed of the balls grew faster.

More balls covered the sky.

I took a step forward.

The size of the blue curtain spread out in all directions gradually began to increase.

The faint current contained in the breath flowing out of my mouth.

The crackling light passed by the ball.

I was able to recall a vague memory as I avoided the ball.

I followed the movements that existed in my memory.

My body was drawn over the memory of continuously avoiding the ball with a swaying movement.

Unlike before.

My arms and legs were strengthened.

My movements became sharper.

As I avoided the ball, I instinctively realized that my current movements were inefficient.

The balls were getting faster and more numerous.

I avoided the balls and looked at Rain’s gaze, but she seemed to be confident that I could avoid them without difficulty at this speed.

Bam!

The ball hit my arm and fell.

The movements became increasingly difficult.

The excessively fast ball passed by, grazing my cheek.

“It’s the last speed!”

The last speed.

The ball began to fly at an even faster speed.

How should I move?

I searched my memories.

A vague memory flashed by, and I, drawn in it, clearly avoided even this speed of the ball.

Think of a way.

I bit my lip.

And at that moment, I could picture a scene.

A huge dark cloud called by Rain.

A blue-colored thunder dragon inside it.

When I was struck by the lightning that fell from the sky, I was able to achieve speeds that surpassed sound.

Of course, I couldn’t enter that form, the origin state right now.

Kung-

Aloud thud from my heart.

There was no longer a bracelet on my arm that suppressed my abilities.

The bracelet I always wore had always suppressed my abilities.

I was used to that life, so I had no choice but to adjust the total amount of my abilities to that level.

But now, now that I had nothing to worry about.

If it were back then when I was unconscious.

If it were back then.

Flick!

Blue lights burst out before my eyes.

Blue currents began to wrap around my entire body.

The electricity that started from my heart spread throughout my body.

It was weak.

It was such a weak power.

Such currents, not even static electricity, spread throughout my body.

My body began to move.

Before I could even think, I read the signals sent by the widely spread current field.

My body, which read the signals sent by the current field, reacted immediately.

The speed of movement that moves faster than the speed of reaction that starts from the brain, and moves faster according to the movement of the surroundings.

The blue current that covers the entire body showed a faster reaction speed than the bioelectricity that starts from the head.

Don’t think.

Just move.

It reads all the information sent from the surroundings and automatically gives orders to the body.

An unbearable pleasure.

A sense of omnipotence that fills the whole body.

The confidence that can be felt when facing an easy problem.

A smile appeared on the face that had been crying.

It’s fun.

I realized for the first time that it was this fun to use my ability to do something that others couldn’t do, something extraordinary.

I can do it.

I can do it.

I can do it.

I can do it.

I turned my gaze and looked at Shine.

She was smiling.

I looked back at Shine and smiled.

And yet I could read the movement of the ball.

The gaze didn’t matter.

The blue curtain spread out in all directions told me everything.

There was no longer a blind spot for me.

Shine.

I could do it.

Like you said.

I could do it like you said.