Shadow Slave: The Great Hunt

Chapter 13: Test of Strength



"Yes, sorry."

Standing up and grabbing his plate which was luckily for his morals, empty.

With the platter out of the way he quickened his pace to catch up with the large strides of the man in front of him.

"Sorry sir but what is your name?"

"You can call me teacher."

His new teacher answered, disinterested.

They continued to make their way past classes, some full, some empty but they kept walking as their footsteps echoed through the hallway.

Soon the lights less and less frequent and doors became pure metal with no windows.

After walking for minutes? Hours? They finally stopped at a door label 1008 L-Wing.

His teacher cursed, pulling out some keys from a small pocket in the uniform.

With a creak the door slid open and the lights turned on revealing a room filled with beeping machines and contraptions that he had never seen in his life.

"The first thing we will do is measure your physical abilities when using your Aspect and not from the report it seems you also gain an increase of strength. We will put that to the test."

With those last words he gave a sinister smile as though relishing the torture that would come for Art.

First he was given some simple shorts to change into, and then they began with a measure of his VO2 max whatever that meant.

To do that he was put in front of what must have been a treadmill from the times of old and the man strapped a strange device over his mouth.

"Run and don't stop."

The man said whilst turning the treadmill on and closing the glass case that surrounded the small machine complex.

He started to run, noting the timer in front of him and how strong he felt after his ascending whilst trying to settle into a pace.

And the treadmill just kept getting faster and faster pushing him to breathe harder and harder.

Then he heard a noise and the already breakneck speed jumped to a new level and for some reason more than usual he felt like the oxygen was lowering.

And so it continued the teenager running at almost a full sprint, his purple eye's narrowing and a grimace on his face and his bare chest rising and falling uncontrolled.

In the end he lasted for fifteen minutes- which was over the limit of usual humans but not amazing as far as dormants went.

Falling to the ground he heard another sinister laugh echo through the hall that suddenly didn't look so friendly.

"Now let's test your muscles"

After going through a series of workouts where once again he was pushed to his limit in what seemed at the time a never ending cycle of pain.

But strangely enough his muscles didn't feel that tired, every time he rested he almost felt as good as new when he got back up even though he was only given 5 minutes of rest.

"By now you must be tired, despite what I want you to go for the day tomorrow we will do the same with you using your Aspect."

"I can keep going sir."

The words came out of his mouth with little thought, a habit that he had a feeling would get him into trouble at some point, now that he was thinking about it that point may have been reached.

"As you wish."

With a grin spreading across his teacher's face Art unconsciously shivered a chill crawling up his spine.

Transforming again he tried to focus on the changes in the still human parts of his body.

It was incredible he felt stronger, faster and more flexible from the quick stretches he did.

It was very strange to have tails let alone three of them as due to their weight he had to crouch and lean forward even then his brain was struggling to consistently control them though it felt natural to do so.

They started again with the running test and he noticed even things not directly transformed were affected for example his eyesight and even the speed of his recovery this allowed him to last much longer that before totalling in at 45 minutes a very impressive time.

Then onto strength where his performance was quite impressive putting his pure strength to a score of 23 which was far above average.

"Follow me we are joining the general combat class to do some sparring against the other Sleepers. I know because of your background you don't have much technique but the Spell will also put you against those stronger and more skilled so just stay smart."

This time they went on a comfortable jog going to an elevator that they conveniently had not taken when going there.

"Your biggest competition will be the legacies, they have more skill and more mastery of their Aspects not to mention the reach advantage that nearly all opponents will have over your claws and hands."

The man said, looking at him with a serious expression.

When they finally made it to the classroom he was surprised at the sheer number of people present from commoners to Legacies, with some obviously more and less comfortable with their weapons of choice.

Slipping in unobserved as the students had formed a circle around what seemed to be a sparring ring in which two students were currently locked in combat Nephis and a Hulking beast of a man who seemed to be led around by the lithe skilled girl.

What followed was a massacre person after person was put on their back by the unassuming grey eyed girl until it was only him and Caster left.

Stepping up to the mat he fully expected to lose.

Using In his ability he turned his body into the morph that had become his new normal only retracting his claws like most cats could and crouching down placing one paw on the mat.

With a small nod at both participants the instructor Awakened Rock said 

"Begin."

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Don't you just love a good cliffhanger I know I do, thank you all for the support a lover one of mine is on their death bed and writing is the only thing keeping me sane.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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