Air Hero

Strength assessment

The training session ended, and Max passed out immediately the second he arrived back in his room. The exhaustion is too much for his body to handle. Kalina, on the other hand, makes sure that the stress from the training is within the level that his body could handle

After the first training session, Max stayed true to his words as he kept on persisting and followed through till the end. It makes Kalina realize the boy’s determination and have to applaud him for it. But it was only just the beginning. She needs to know whether Max will be able to continue until the end or not.

******

A month later, after going through daily training and changes on his food, there’s a clear improvement in Max’s body. His body is not as malnourished and pale as it was originally. Although he isn’t good-looking, at least he is now ‘presentable’.

“Big sis Kaliana, what do you say that we’re going to do again today?”

“We’re going to test your superpower strength, speed, sensitivity, and limit to get a clear grasp of your current strength. After that, I can plan the direction of your future training better.”

Just like navigating on the road. Without a clear grasp on their current position, it is harder to determine the route that they needed to take to reach the destination.

“Okay, so what do I need to do?”

“Firstly, we need to test your power using the device here.”

Kalina then pointed to a slab of black metal beside her. The metal has an incredible shine on it as if confirming that it is a complex device that could handle everything thrown at it.

“This equipment is called the punching slab. That’s just a convenient name to call it as the official name is annoying to say every time. It’s super extra strong or SES Pluton brick. The origin of this thing is said to be from an advanced civilization, but we’re unable to confirm the truth. However, since this thing is almost indestructible, we’re using it to gauge the superpower strength.”

Max then looked at the slab of black metal once again as it seemed to be provoking him, saying, ‘hit me with your best shot’.

“So, I just need to unleash my superpower to attack it?”

“Yes, that’s the rough idea. Some superpowers couldn’t be gauged this way, but that’s only a small case.”

“Okay, I’m ready anytime, big sis.”

“Let’s start immediately then. Try hitting it with your wind bullet.”

Max do precisely as what Kalina said then conjured the wind in front of him. The wind gathered into a form of a ball in front of Max, then with a motion from his fingers, the wind bullet moves forward and hit the metal slab.

*bam*

There’s some sound created when the wind bullet comes into contact with the metal slab, but that’s it. Other than dust created due to the wind, there’s nothing much to note.

“Hmm. As expected, the power of your wind bullet is lacking. I doubt that you have a D-rank level of power. If I should give it a grade, it can barely be called as D minus or D-. okay, let’s move one to the next one.”

“Wait a moment, big sis. Did my superpower really that weak? Didn’t I manage to defeat two B-rank villains?”

“Now, let me explain it to you. Although you are barely reaching D minus rank, you should understand the classification we used. At D-rank, you could already kill someone easily. At C-rank, destroying a building isn’t something hard to do. At B-rank, you could easily destroy mountains and create a catastrophe. As for the A-rank, they are considered as a national threat. For S-rank, it was something unimaginable for you, so better not think much about it. Still, you need to remember that it is talking about superpower alone. This means that even at D-rank, you are clearly much stronger than normal people. For the two B-rank villains that you killed, they are just a human too in the end, and with your D-rank level of power, you could barely kill them.”

Kalina said that because she doesn’t want Max to get overconfident and it is a good lesson for him too to stay humble and never stop aiming to get stronger. If he gets complacent, he is already halfway to damnation even before starting as a hero.

“Big sis, is this thing can truly gauge the power accurately?”

Either it was because Max doesn’t accept his test result, or it was pure curiosity, but Kalina can only smile at his question.

“Why, do you doubt it? This device has been used for so long by the United Heroes association, and it never has any problem before.”

“Well, since you know, my first appraisal test doesn’t really end well. So I just want to make sure that there won’t be any problem. It’s not that I am dissatisfied by my test result.”

“Ah, don’t worry. Even if the device has a problem, you won’t doubt my judgment, right?”

Max overlooked this point. Even if the device has abnormalities, there is no way that Kalina will judge it wrongly. If she even confirmed that his power is barely considered as D- then it must be true.

“Yes, big sis. I never doubt your assessment. Let’s move on to the next test then.”

“Mhm. You might doubt it since there’s no reaction from the metal slab. If you’re at D-rank and below, the metal slab won’t show any reaction. If you’re at C-rank, the metal slab will be turned to green. Purple for B-rank, orange for A-rank, and gold for S-rank, just like the color of the hero license. Since yours only make the slab budge a little, it is clearly shown that your power isn’t sufficient. Here, let me erase your doubt.”

This is the first time Kalina showing her power in front of Max. She pointed her fingers to the metal slab, and from her sleeves, a plant’s stem start to comes out and covered her right hand like an armor. At the tip of her finger, a flower bud started to bloom. In the end, it looked like a tulip that is ready to open up.

The mouth of the tulip suddenly glowed, and the next thing Max sees is a light beam coming out from the flower, and it hits the metal slab. At once, the metal slab turned into purplish orange, signifying Kalina’s strength that is at B-rank but close enough to A-rank.

“What you say? This big sis of yours is pretty cool, eh?”

Max looked at Kalina and the metal slab in the distance. Max can see how relaxed Kalina when executing the move just now. Her real power must be at A-rank, and it is enough for Max to look at her in reverence.

“Don’t just stare at me like that. It’s embarrassing.”

“Big sis, you’re the best!”

“Haha, enough with the flattery. Let’s proceed with your next test.”