"You there, you didn't cower like the others. This I can admire. Come over." Rowland had been watching the scene the whole time as well, and Lucian's act of voluntarily coming to the front hadn't escaped his gaze. It even created a favorable image of Lucian in his mind, which clearly showed he knew nothing about the students and the hierarchy in the preparatory academy.
If he did, he definitely would have felt that Lucian even stepping onto the stage was a waste of time. Not even an Apprentice Knight? He may as well just hand in his wish to withdraw from study himself.
This was the first time Lucian stood so close to someone so strong. Not even Sofia's servant could match up to Teacher Rowland. Lucian knew this just from the simple fact that his AI couldn't even scan Rowland's stats. He originally wanted to try the same scan on Professor Kaldor as well, but after experiencing that weird and mysterious sensation in his head after his encounter with him in the hallway, he didn't want to risk anything.
This world was one full of mysteries, and Kaldor seemed like a man who held many secrets. Lucian didn't want to poke the hornets' nest by attempting a scan on him.
"You should know what you need to do already." Rowland said, keeping a keen and focused gaze on Lucian the whole time. Of course, after watching 20 students take the same test previously, even the most mentally deficient students could understand what they had to do.
Following his instructions, Lucian assumed his stance and sent a punch towards Rowland with all that he could muster. It sounded quite flowery and magical, but all it was was a simple punch. Lucian was nowhere near the realm of a superhuman like Rowland, only having strength slightly above the average human on earth, so it appeared quite lackluster.
Rowland received Lucian's punch without batting an eye; however, there was a slight change in his expression, a flicker of disappointment. Lucian witnessed this change and could guess what would happen next.
"You should check my Vitality now, Teacher." Lucian spoke, with reverence and obedience filtering out of his tone.
Rowland had completely dismissed the first young girl who'd stepped up for the test without even assessing her vitality, and so Lucian could tell that Rowland was about to do the exact same thing to him. In fact, he wouldn't even be the second person it had happened to.
Three out of the six students who'd failed didn't even have their vitality tested by Teacher Rowland before he delivered their verdict, clearly showing that strength and agility were the two main factors in considering whether they should pass or fail.
But Lucian's highest stat was Vitality! If he was given a fail after all three of his stats were judged, then that was it. It was fair, and he could do nothing about it. But if he was failed without even being given a fair test, then he wouldn't be able to accept it.
Teacher Rowland frowned when Lucian spoke to him out of tone, clearly challenging his judgement as a teacher of the Official Academy, but he stopped himself from chastising him and giving him an automatic fail when he saw the resolute look in his eyes.
The two of them locked gazes, and even facing Rowland's pressure, Lucian didn't falter one bit. His eyes remained steady, and his expression remained locked. It was clear that despite knowing he was about to be handed a fail, Lucian looked unperturbed.
'Interesting…' Rowland stroked his non-existent beard and reassessed this young lad, Lucian.
Unknown to the students present, and even most of the teachers, while there were three main physical requirements to be met to be allowed to continue studying at the preparatory academy, and eventually go on to the Official Academy when they advanced, there was also a hidden fourth requirement.
Courage.
Having strength and power could take one far in this world, but they meant very little if one didn't have the mentality to accompany such power. If they faltered and cowered in the heat of an intense battle, it could mean death. Naturally, this was something no organisation or force wanted.
Rowland could tell that out of all the students present, Lucian perhaps had the strongest mentality; the most courage, out of the lot. Knowing this, Rowland decided to heed Lucian's request, and decided to check his Vitality stat as well.
The process of assessing Vitality was simple, just as simple as the other two, in fact. It was simply the reverse of the previous test. Instead of the student punching the teacher, it would be the teacher punching the student — restraining his strength of course.
Meanwhile, while Rowland went through all of this in his mind, Lucian had many considerations of his own.
'So that's how high his vitality is…' Lucian thought to himself. Unknown to Teacher Rowland, and probably everybody else in the entire assembly hall, Lucian was assessing Rowland while he assessed him.
Before he sent his punch toward Rowland's incredibly strong body, he asked his AI to establish a new task — this time focusing on analysing the toughness of the object his fist was about to meet! The object in this case being Rowland's chest.
Of course, such a crude method of judging wouldn't be anywhere near as accurate as his AI's normal scan or even Rowland's unique method of judging, but it was the best result he could get for the time being.
[15.26]
This was the result it displayed to him internally, and it gave Lucian quite a shock. He didn't know the standard of Grand Knights in this world, but this was still something that the science of his previous world could not explain no matter how hard their top scholars wracked their brains.
It was simply impossible, both medically and biologically, for a human's body to reach such a level of toughness.
However, before he could consider this any further, Lucian was brought out of his thoughts by the incoming fist of the walking scientific miracle, aka Rowland!
'This is going to hurt…' Lucian braced himself.
All of the previous students who had their vitality tested were left with tightened faces, and some even with broken ribs thanks to having a lower vitality. Lucian only hoped that this wouldn't affect his training…