Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

49  Speed Test

Alex just stood there, looking at Kyla with a deadpan gaze.

He already knew he was as strong as an E rank, but he wasn't expecting his strength to reach that of a weak E+ rank!

"Just so you can better understand the strength of Awakened, let me lay it out for you."

Kyla spoke after seconds of silence passed.

"Starting at F- rank, the average strength of an awakened's punch is around 100 kg and below, F rank is around 100-300 kg and F+ rank is around 301-600 kg, E- rank is around 601-1000 kg, E rank is around 1001-1500 kg, and finally E+ rank is around capped at 2000 kg+."

"Keep in mind that these are figures for untrained awakened like you." "With proper training, these limits for each rank can be greatly increased — even a normal human can reach strength levels of up to 500 kg if they trained their bodies and their techniques for their whole life."

"In reality, the strength cap for E+ awakened is actually around 3000kg, and is almost unheard of to cross that barrier without first reaching D- rank and becoming a Distinguished awakened, like me."

Kyla spoke casually about the difference in strength between the ranks of awakened, and at the end she casually threw a punch of her own at the machine, greatly shocking Alex with a value of 4692 kg!

'So although I can barely reach the strength of an E+ ranked awakened, I can only compare to those who are not only weak in their rank, but also untrained. Great.'

This was a gut punch for Alex, quite frankly he had been proud of his strength that he had built up through his own hard work, only to find out he still barely reached half the strength of the real powerhouse Evolvers.

'This makes sense actually, Rowan had strength far above mine even though he was only an E rank. His strength is probably above 2000 kg while still at E rank!'

While Alex was wallowing in his own self-inflicted misery, Kyla noticed his downtrodden mood from the side and decided to give him some encouragement.

"Don't beat yourself up kid, keep in mind that you reached this level of strength without any proper training or combat techniques at your disposal, which is quite frankly shocking."

Alex's eyes lit up, thinking about what Kyla had just told him.

'That's right! Rowan and all those other strong Evolvers all have techniques that boost their strength, while I have nothing. If I manage to get my hands on a technique then who knows, maybe I could even surpass that 'unheard of to cross' 3000 kg limit!'

Alex regained confidence in himself again as he was reminded of a crucial fact, his lack of techniques or even training.

Up until now he just fought by instinct and didn't have any real strategy to his fights other than 'Win or die!'.

With the advantage of his mysterious talent [Soulforge] backing him up, he had no doubts that there would once be a day in the future where he has no rival in the same realm as him.

Snap!

All of a sudden, Kyla snapped her fingers right in front of Alex's face, causing him to jolt awake.

"Stop chuckling to yourself so weirdly and move on with the next test, move it!"

Alex's face reddened when he realised he had displayed such an embarrassing scene right in front of Kyla. He rushed over to the next machine she pointed at to escape from the embarrassment.

The machine she called out to him looked like a hyper advanced treadmill.

Listening to her instructions, Alex alighted the machine and pressed the start button.

"For this test the speed of the treadmill will slowly increase over time until it reaches a point where you either fall off, unable to keep up, or the sensors will detect the moment you are about to break and stop the machine."

Alex nodded at Kyla's words and focused his attention on running.

'While I was F+ rank, I was able to run at speeds of 25 metres a second. Let's see how fast I am now.'

With that Alex started walking at a leisurely pace on the treadmill, starting at a measly 1 metre per second.

Gradually, over the next minute the speed started to increase, and by the two minute mark, it reached 25 metres a second.

'Already beat my previous record, let's see how far I can take this!'

26…

29…

32…

36…

40…

It was only by the 40 metre mark that Alex showed his first signs of struggle, with sweat starting to form on his forehead and back.

'Come on!'

But he wasn't finished yet.

42…

49…

***

79.36 m/s.

That was the top speed Alex had reached before his body couldn't keep up with the speed any longer and he was ejected off the treadmill.

Luckily, Kyla was standing closely behind him so she caught him before he could injure himself. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

'My speed is over triple what it was!'

This time Alex didn't need Kyla to read his results out to him, instead he waited for her to explain how he compared to other Evolvers.

"You really are full of surprises, you know." Kyla spoke as she released her grasp on Alex, letting him slide down onto the ground and catch his breath.

"79.36m/s, do you know just how fast that is?"

Alex shook his head.

"Let me give you a hint, E+ rank awakened usually ranges from 81 m/s to 100 m/s, give or take a few decimals."

Alex was disappointed when he heard that his speed didn't match up with his strength in terms of power scaling.

"Speed is different from strength. There aren't many techniques out there that can outright increase your speed, most just give you more interesting methods of utilising your speed."

"This means that training has little to no difference on your speed. It is entirely up to your own talent and physical fitness."

But when Kyla continued, Alex realised that he was thinking wrong.

'So I have the physical fitness of a peak E rank or maybe even a weak E+ rank if I push myself, no matter whether they have any techniques or not!'