[Test number 7 Starts.]

[System Initialization... Data used: Human race, Faith Asteria, Peak stage Bronze rank.]

Kieran frowned at the announcement.

"The rank of the opponent has dropped? Why? And Faith Asteria... Why do I feel like I've heard this name before," Kieran murmured, staring at the young woman who had appeared.

She didn't seem to want to attack him and just looked around compared to the other opponent he had faced so far in his tests.

"Hi! Which academy are we in?" Faith said, waving her hand in the air to greet him.

Kieran was confused by the sudden situation.

'Isn't it just a data? Why she can talk?'

Seeing the confusion on his face, Faith laughed before explaining the situation, "Ahah, it's not the real me, don't worry. You just have to see me as a clone made of data and with a cultivation level adjusted for this test. I have the same personality as the real me, as well as some free will, that's all. So, which academy are we in?"

"This is Ostrion's Transcendal Academy," Kieran replied.

"Eh~, you must be pretty talented if the computer chose me to be your opponent. Let me see what you can do."

When she finished her words, Faith moved her index finger slightly, making a small circle in the air. The next moment, a wheel-shaped blade of wind flew towards Kieran.

Waving his hand, he made a blade of fire appear. The two attacks exploded upon contact with each other halfway between the two.

"So you have an affinity for fire. Let's try that then," Faith said.

Waving her index finger again, she caused several blades of water to appear, one after the other, which fell towards Kieran.

A faint, dull yellow light appeared on his right hand before he raised it, creating a wall of earth, which blocked the wheel-shaped blades of water.

Quickly moving to the side, he formed several earthen spears, and threw at Faith.

A green glow shone in her purple eyes as she took a step forward while a wind appeared around her.

The wind deflected Kieran's earth spears, and any spears that got too close to her were dodged by weak movements of her, letting them continue their paths in the infinite white space without inflicting the slightest injury to her.

Kieran frowned at Faith's movements. He could tell that his earth spears were more powerful than the wind that swirled around her, yet it only took a slight effort for her to dodge each one.

"Fire and earth. Were you born with a dual elemental affinity, or did you have a double awakening?" Faith asked, placing her index finger on her lips as a charming smile appeared on her face.

Kieran said nothing and simply activated his abilities, taking on the appearance of a lycan.

"Oh! Are you getting serious?"

Taking support from the ground with his legs, Kieran disappeared the next moment, appearing in front of Faith, who was looking at him with curious eyes, her index finger still resting on her lips while her smile had not changed at all.

His pair of claws infused with crystal essence shot through the air, leaving a golden blue trail behind them, quickly closing in on Faith.

"You can't attack a defenseless girl like that~," said Faith, moving her index finger, which was on her lips.

Her movement seemed extremely slow, yet she moved faster than Kieran's claws, and as she was about to be pierced by them, her thumb and middle finger came together, putting slight pressure between the two before they separated, causing a popping sound to be heard.

Kieran watched the entire scene in slow motion as he felt a shockwave of invisible power collide with his body, breaking several of his ribs, shaking his organs, and propelling him hundreds of meters into the air.

*cough*

He spat out a mouthful of blood while holding his ribs with his hands, a sharp pain reverberating through his body. He felt as if his organs were screaming in pain throughout his whole body.

He spits out another mouthful of blood before wiping the blood from his mouth. Moving his body in the air to regain his balance, he formed several platforms of earth before reaching the ground again.

His eyes were fixed on Faith, who was still looking at him with her hand pointed forward and a smile on her face. Her index finger and her slightly separated thumb were still pointed towards him.

'What was that? A shock wave? Wasn't her ability linked to wind and water?' Kieran was confused, not understanding what had just happened.

"Eh~, it seems like you don't know my ability. Don't you know my name? You must not watch the news often," she said with a charming smile.

A flash of enlightenment crossed Kieran's eyes as he thought of the name displayed at the start of the test as he stared at her.

"You are Faith Asteria, the Tone Traveler. Fifth place in the list of the 100 young sovereigns," Kieran said as he struggled to believe his own words.

"I reached fifth place?! Woohoo! Well played me!" Faith said, jumping up and down while waving her arms.

'How do I beat someone of her level with a sound ability?' Kieran thought as he looked at the headset on Faith's neck rising and falling with each of her jumps, 'I must put an end to this test before she puts on her headset.'

Crystal essence moved quickly through his body, infusing his legs. His muscles bulged, and with a slight pressure on the ground, he disappeared again.

Faith, who was jumping happily, stopped. Her fingers moved in front of her, causing her fingers to snap again.

Kieran formed an earth wall several meters thick in front of him, as well as an earth platform to his right. As soon as the soundwave hit the earth wall, he pressed on the earth platform to pass the wall, which seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.

Faith moved her hand towards Kieran, snapping her fingers every time he changed direction, causing several soundwaves to appear as a result, which he dodged in the same way.

It only took him a short moment to reach her despite losing crystal essence in the process.

"Crystal Essence Claw!"

Its claws, surrounded by golden blue crystal essence, suddenly appeared in front of Faith's head.

She took a single step to the side, narrowly dodging the claws which cut a strand of her long purple hair.

She opened her arms wide, extending her hands before clapping her hands together.

"Sonic Blast."

A powerful soundwave hit Kieran, who quickly reacted by creating a thick wall of earth behind him to avoid being pushed back in the air, causing numerous cracks to appear on its surface when he collided with it.

His entire body shook under the power of the soundwave as blood flowed from his mouth.

Leaning on the earth wall, he quickly threw himself at Faith again, but as he was about to reach her, he saw her put her headset over her ears. The decorative butterfly wings on each side emitted a slight purple light while music could be heard coming from it.

Faith watched as Kieran got closer and closer to her, but she didn't move. She smiled kindly at him before disappearing from her location.

'Shit!' Kieran shouted in his mind.

Something slammed into his face, throwing him several meters away. He felt pain in the left side of his face, but he forced himself to react.

Moving his pair of claws, he plunged them into the floor of the room, stopping a moment later.

It all happened in a second, and while he managed to stop himself, he could see Faith a few meters away, slowly falling to the ground. Her right foot was in a striking position where his head had previously been.

Pivoting her body slightly in the air, she landed gracefully on the ground.

"You almost got me this time!" she said with a cheerful voice.

Kieran stood up, clenching his teeth, preparing for her next move.

"Hmm, looks like you can still keep going. Try to keep up the pace~."

A green and blue light shone in Faith's eyes. At the same time, Kieran seemed to hear the sound of music as Faith disappeared in front of him.

He felt a chill on his back, turning around quickly while swinging his arm to counterattack. He saw a pair of black ankle boots coming dangerously close to his head.

The two attacks collided, and Faith was the one pushed back in this confrontation, but she also quickly disappeared from his sight again.

"Your body is pretty strong."

Faith's voice was heard above him. Looking up, he crossed both his arms in the air, stopping the downward kick that was coming for his head.

Faith twisted her body in the air and swung her other leg. Kieran reacted by moving his left arm to intercept the blow but only felt a light touch before she disappeared again.

Trying to regain the initiative, a red light shone in his eyes as two circles of fire formed around him before spinning.

He suddenly felt something on his right side. Moving the circles of fire in this direction, he saw a wheel-shaped blade of water coming towards him.

'It's not her!'

Turning his gaze away from the wheel-shaped blade of water, a knee appeared in his vision, hitting him in the chin and pushing his head back.

A swift kick hit him in the head the next moment, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

Kieran quickly stood up, looking at Faith, who was standing a few meters away from him with both arms behind her back.

"You're not bad, but you don't seem to have any movement technique, and some of your moves are filled with excessive movement, slowing down your speed," Faith said.

"Are you trying to give me a class?" finally, Kieran couldn't bear to be silent in front of her anymore.

"Something like that. You seem to be talented, and helping a future human genius will only improve the future of our race," she said as she played with her hair.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Kieran didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his situation. She seemed to live in her own world and do as she pleased while toying with him.

"Are you giving up then?"

"Who said anything about giving up?"

A black double-bladed sword appeared in his hands, and the aura around him seemed to change subtly.

"Shall we go again? I won't hold back this time," Faith said, looking into his eyes while stopping playing with her hair.

"Bring it on," Kieran replied.

"I'm coming!"

Faith walked slowly towards Kieran. Her boots created footsteps sound against the floor of the room, which spread and amplified with each of her steps.

Kieran felt a slight loss of balance as his vision became blurry. The sounds of footsteps seemed to surround him, invading his senses.

Faith suddenly disappeared, and he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, making him react instinctively. His double-bladed sword slashed in the direction of the footsteps, but it only cut empty air.

"Sound Pulse."

Faith, who had appeared behind his back, hit him with her small fist. At the last moment, before she could touch him, Kieran twisted his arm and placed his double-bladed sword between him and her fist.

A series of small waves of sound seemed to travel up Faith's arm, passing through the metal that formed the double-bladed sword before entering Kieran's body, wreaking havoc.

"Argh!"

Kieran stifled a cry of pain as the force of the blow pushed his body back. At the same time, he twisted his wrist, raising one of the blades towards Faith's head.

A surprised expression appeared on her delicate face as she snapped her fingers, disappearing in an instant before reappearing a few meters back.

"The movements of your legs are those of an amateur, but with this weapon in your hands, the movements of your upper body are different."

Kieran, who was on his knees after Faith's punch, felt like his bones were breaking after this blow. With each of his movements, no matter how slight, he felt pain running through his body.

"Are you ready?"

Faith's voice rang like an echo in his ears, each word repeated countless times, and the same feeling of loss of balance invaded him.

He was having trouble thinking with all the noise when a determined look appeared in his eyes, he suddenly covered his claws with crystal essence before digging them into his ears.

A dull silence filled the surroundings, and he could see Faith looking at him with a surprised face. Her lips moved, but he heard no sound coming from her.

He let out a long sigh as he slowly stood up with his double-bladed sword in hand.

'What am I going to do now to beat her?' finally able to think again without all the noise, he began to think of a plan.

Faith disappeared again before his eyes.

A dull yellow light shone in his eyes, and half of his crystal essence quickly disappeared as hundreds of earth platforms formed in the air, overlooking the entire room in a 100 meter radius around him.

Faith appeared behind him, swinging her right leg towards his head. Kieran reacted quickly and turned his body to intercept the blow.

The dull yellow light still shone in his eyes, and the earth platform just above Faith suddenly began to move.

A spear of earth came out of it, falling on her at a rapid speed. Her light purple eyes only glanced at the spear before snapping her fingers together and moving several meters away from Kieran.

"Earthstorm!"

Kieran's loud voice echoed through the room, and each of the earth platforms seemed to react. One after the other, they fractured into several dozen separate pieces, which took a pointed shape before falling toward Faith like a storm.

Faith smiled softly at the sight of thousands of spikes of earth falling on her. Her fingers moved slowly before she snapped them together.

Her figure could be seen appearing and disappearing non-stop, dodging the falling rain of earth spikes without any effort.

Kieran watched the entire scene while gathering his crystal essence into his double-bladed sword.

As the rain of earth spikes came to an end, the giant's ability moved in his legs, and the sound of an explosion was heard.

Appearing in front of Faith as if he had teleported, he slashed in front of him with an oblique strike.

"Earth Shattering!"

Faith's vision was filled with a golden blue color, but no fear could be discerned in her violet eyes. She opened her mouth, letting out a sound.

"Resonance Burst."

Dozens of soundwaves seemed to be created in an instant and amplified with each other. The golden blue light that tried to destroy Faith was suddenly unable to move forward as an explosion shook the entire room. A strong wind pushed Kieran and Faith back from the point of impact between the two attacks.

Looking ahead to see the result of his attack, Kieran saw a fist surrounded by soundwaves entering his vision before stopping just a hair's breadth from touching him. The soundwaves spread out and ruffled the fur on his body.

Turning his gaze away from the small fist in front of him, he observed Faith sticking out her tongue and winking.

"Looks like I overdid it. You won this test," she said before taking a few steps away from him.

"What are you talking about?" Kieran asked, seeing her lips move without hearing anything.

"Oh, that’s right! You pierced your eardrums."

She waved her hand and created letters made of water with her elemental affinity. Saying the same things she had said to him previously in writing.

"How did I win? We're not done yet! Come again!"

Kiera shouted at her, but she pretended not to hear him and turned around, waving her arm in the air.

"It was fun to play with you~. Bye Bye~!"

Her body began to disappear into several particles of light.

"I wonder if the younger me who had just reached silver rank could have win against him," she whispered before disappearing.

[Test number 7 Succeeded. 1000 academic merit points awarded.]

"Succeeded? Don't mess with me! Come back here!" Kieran shouted.

Faith Asteria Illustration: