The fluorescent lights of the training ground beat down on the floor, reflecting a somewhat piercing white glare.
The circle of uniformed police officers surrounding them wore expressions of curiosity and anticipation, like they were watching a tightrope walker at a circus. After all, in this peaceful era, titles like "Descendant of the Tai Xu Sect" and "Master of Ancient Martial Arts" sounded rarer than any serial murder case. Were they sure this wasn't some stall literature or a plot from a Wuxia novel?
Su Yu followed behind Kiana, leaning into her ear like a nagging mother, his voice lowered:
"Hey, Kiana, remember, hold back your strength."
"This is a police station, not an Anti-Entropy mech warehouse."
"Don't punch the building down, or even Dr. Mei won't be able to save you."
"Aiyaya, I know, I know!" Kiana waved her hand impatiently. Her head, topped with her signature ahoge, bobbed slightly, but the corners of her mouth curled up, revealing a hint of pride at being trusted.
"This young miss isn't an idiot. Basic control training like this, back at St. Fre..."
She realized she had slipped up and quickly corrected herself, stepping back into character.
"Cough, I practiced it ten thousand times back in the deep mountains and old forests. Don't worry, I'll just use... hmm, the strength I use to catch mosquitoes."
Su Yu's eyelid twitched violently.
Catch mosquitoes?
If he recalled correctly, the last time there was a mosquito at home, she slapped it. The wall didn't just gain a mosquito specimen; it also gained a clear palm-print indentation, accompanied by three cracks. Su Yu had spent half the day filling the wall with toothpaste that night.
But now, the arrow was nocked; it had to fly.
First came the routine physical tests: Height, weight, eyesight.
This part went smoothly, though it was enough to make the recording officer click his tongue in wonder.
"Eyesight... Left eye 5.3, right eye 5.3? That's catching up to pilots, isn't it? Miss, do you not play with your phone at all? Makes sense, since you're from the deep mountains."
"Body fat percentage... so low? Is it all muscle? But these lines don't look like it..."
Kiana stood before the height chart, her back straight, her long legs pressed tightly together, her gaze drifting slightly. For a Valkyrie, this kind of static data was child's play. Having a body tempered by Honkai energy and slaughtering its way out of piles of Zombies, the density of every muscle fiber was several times that of a normal person. Perfect physical function was the foundation of survival.
Although everyone was surprised, they simply attributed it to a "practitioner" living up to their reputation.
But soon, the main event arrived.
The Grip Strength Test.
Mei stood beside the testing station, holding an electronic hand dynamometer that looked quite solidly built.
"This is the latest police-issue dynamometer. It has a massive range, sufficient to measure the data of professional strongmen."
"Miss Kiana, please squeeze with all your might. We need to evaluate your maximum instantaneous explosive power."
"Maximum?" Su Yu, listening from the side, felt cold sweat trickling down. He desperately signaled Kiana with his eyes.
Don't believe her! Absolutely do not use full strength! If you use full strength, that thing will become scrap metal! We want a special approval, not a charge for destroying public property!
Kiana received Su Yu's eye signal, which looked like he was about to have a cramp. She blinked understandingly and made an "OK" gesture.
Got it. Hold back. This young miss has a sense of propriety.
She stepped forward, extending that slender, fair, and seemingly delicate hand, and lightly picked up the heavy dynamometer. The surrounding officers held their breath, craning their necks, wanting to see what earth-shattering number this heroine could squeeze out.
One hundred kilograms? Or even more?
Kiana took a deep breath, adjusting her breathing. It was the breathing technique for the opening stance of the Kaslana Gun Kata. Her gaze instantly became focused, and her fingers tightened slightly.
In her heart, she chanted: Gently... gently... just like squeezing... squeezing a rice ball?
"Hah!"
She gave a soft shout, her fingers closing seemingly casually.
There were no bulging veins from straining muscles, no red-faced exertion, not even the tightening of arm lines. Everything happened in an instant.
Crack—!
A crisp, even somewhat ear-piercing sound of snapping metal echoed through the quiet training ground.
The expressions on everyone's faces froze.
The electronic screen that was supposed to display numbers instantly went black, followed by a wisp of black smoke. Even more terrifying was that the two originally parallel metal handles of the dynamometer were now twisted into a bizarre angle.
The spring in the middle popped out like a kite with a cut string, bounced happily on the ground twice, rolled to Mei's feet, and stopped moving.
Silence.
Dead silence.
One could even hear the sound of breathing.
Kiana looked at the lump of "scrap metal" in her hand that no longer resembled its original form, blinked, and then looked at the dumbfounded Su Yu beside her. She wore an innocent look, like a kitten that had done something wrong, and carefully placed the lump of scrap back on the table.
"Um..."
She scratched her head, her voice as small as a mosquito's buzz, carrying obvious guilt.
"This dynamometer... is the quality not very good? Maybe it's a defective product? I... I just squeezed lightly... really, just once..."
The onlookers gasped.
Lightly?
You call that lightly?!
That's special steel! Even a vise wouldn't have that much force!
Su Yu covered his face in agony, feeling that the future was completely doomed. It was over. The "Ancient Martial Arts" persona was probably sprinting towards "Super Saiyan" or "Alien" now.
How to explain this later? Qigong? External projection of internal energy?
Mei, on the other hand, maintained her unflappable expression. She bent down, picked up the spring that had flown off, and weighed it in her hand.
"Interesting."
Mei quickly wrote a line on the clipboard.
"It seems our range was still too conservative. Grip strength... overflow."
She looked up at the awkward Su Yu and Kiana, her tone carrying approval.
"It doesn't matter. The instrument damage counts as operational loss. This precisely proves that Miss Kiana is indeed the kind of... talent with [Special Abilities] we need. She fits the criteria for a Security Consultant perfectly."
The surrounding officers finally snapped out of it. Their gazes toward Kiana had shifted from "curiosity" to "awe," and some even unconsciously took half a step back.
If this girl gives you a slap, wouldn't your head shatter? Who dares to provoke her!
Thinking of this, many officers' gazes toward Su Yu also changed. Since Kiana, the "Junior Sister," was so formidable, could this seemingly somewhat frail man also be a hidden badass who didn't show his prowess?
As expected of a talent Dr. Mei has her eye on. This level is truly superb.
"Cough, cough."
Su Yu had to step forward to smooth things over. He laughed dryly and patted Kiana's shoulder.
"That... this is the unique technique of our Tai Xu Sect, the introductory version of... 'Inch Force: Open Heaven'. It emphasizes instantaneous explosive power."
"Internal energy. It's all internal energy. We made a fool of ourselves."
The tragedy of the grip test was still vivid in their minds as the dynamometer, twisted into a fried dough twist, was carefully collected into an evidence bag by the staff.
The next item was the Reaction Speed Test.
Staff members pushed out several ball machines that looked quite precise, adjusting the angles so the dark launch ports aimed at the center of the field. These were originally used to train SWAT teams to dodge non-lethal projectiles in complex environments, with a maximum firing speed reaching 120 kilometers per hour.
Su Yu looked at those machines, his scalp tingling.
If she followed the "squeezing rice ball" force from earlier... if Kiana subconsciously went to catch or block the ball... those baseballs would likely turn into baseball dust, or be reflected directly back to smash the machines into smithereens.
He quickly took advantage of the preparation interval to sneak over to Kiana like a thief, speaking urgently in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"Um... Heroine, let's make a deal. We'll change tactics for this round."
"Don't! Absolutely don't use your hands! Those balls are fragile; they can't withstand your [Inch Force]."
"Let's just dodge, okay? Just dodge, don't catch. Show off your... uh, Qinggong? Footwork? Just don't touch the balls!"
Kiana looked at Su Yu's "I beg you, stop tearing down the house" expression and couldn't help but let out a "Pfft" of laughter. After that pinch just now, the tension in her heart had actually dissipated quite a bit—it seemed the testing equipment in this world was just so-so.
"Relax, I'm not a violent maniac."
She winked playfully, a sly look flashing in her heterochromatic eyes.
"Just dodge and not catch, right? That's my specialty! Back when I was practicing in the... in the sect, I was famous for being uncatchable. Even... even Master couldn't catch me."
Okay, that was actually escape techniques honed by frequently skipping class.
Su Yu breathed a sigh of relief and retreated to the sidelines. Hopefully, she could keep it steady this time.
"Test start. Phase one. Single machine launch. Medium speed."
Dr. Mei's voice came over the broadcast, calm as a ruthless referee.
The pitching machine emitted a slight hum, and a yellow baseball roared out, heading straight for Kiana's face. For an ordinary person, this speed was already fast, requiring full concentration to barely dodge.
But in Kiana's eyes...
The ball drifted over leisurely, like a slow-motion replay.
She didn't even make a large movement; she simply tilted her head slightly. The ball flew past, grazing her hair, not even disturbing her signature ahoge.
"Increase speed. Dual machine launch. High speed."
Dr. Mei clearly didn't intend to let her pass so easily and issued the command directly. Two machines started simultaneously, the humming sound becoming sharp. Baseballs fired like a rapid-fire cannon, sealing off Kiana's movement space from tricky angles on the left and right.
Facing this density of attack, even a professionally trained SWAT officer would have to roll on the ground in a sorry state to dodge.
But Kiana in the center of the field... she changed.
Her originally somewhat lazy stance vanished instantly, replaced by a state that was extremely relaxed yet extremely alert. She moved. Not a panicked dodge, but a rhythm bordering on dance.
Left foot tapped lightly, body leaning back as if boneless, two balls grazing past just above the tip of her nose, perilously close. Immediately after, she pivoted on her toes, spinning half a circle like a top, causing another three balls to miss.
No wasted movements.
Every dodge was timed precisely to the millisecond before the ball would hit. Every movement was controlled within the minimum range, never wasting stamina. Even amidst a rain of baseballs, not a single one could dampen the hem of her clothes.
The mouths of the watching officers opened wider and wider, their eyes staring like bronze bells.
"Is... is this filming The Matrix? Bullet time?"
"Is she really human? Those movements... why do they feel like she predicted the balls' trajectories?"
"Is this the legendary... Lingbo Weibu?! Qinggong really exists?"
Su Yu stood on the sidelines, watching the figure strolling idly through the hail of bullets, and only one word came to mind—Elegance.
That was an instinct honed on the edge of life and death countless times. Even without the power of Time Fracture, the combat consciousness etched into her bones still allowed her to look down on the masses in the world of mortals.
"Full power. Riot Mode."
A glint reflected off Dr. Mei's glasses as her fingers flew across the console.
Four pitching machines opened fire at full throttle!
In this moment, it was as if a torrential rain had begun to fall inside the training ground! The dense sound of air breaking merged into a single roar!
Su Yu's heart instantly leaped to his throat. This was Hell difficulty!
However, Kiana smiled.
That long-lost thrill of dancing on the battlefield ignited a light of excitement in her heterochromatic pupils. Her figure began to blur. It was an afterimage produced by extreme speed.
She shuttled through the "rain."
Sideways steps, sliding steps, flips, spins.
Every movement was smooth and flowing, beautiful as a carefully choreographed solo dance. Even, at the moment when two balls were about to hit her chest simultaneously, she made a move that suffocated everyone—
She didn't dodge.
Instead, she gently raised both hands, drawing a circle in front of her chest. With an extremely gentle force, the moment the balls touched her body, she guided them to the sides.
That was a deflection field application technique for Valkyrie armor, but in the eyes of outsiders...
"Tai Chi: Cloud Hands?!"
An older officer cried out involuntarily.
The two high-speed baseballs actually behaved like obedient children, obediently changing their trajectory to fly past her ribs without harming a hair on her head.
With the landing of the last ball, the pitching machines let out a click and stopped operating. Yellow baseballs covered the entire floor of the training ground. And Kiana, standing in the exact center, hadn't even broken her breathing rhythm.
She gently patted the dust off her clothes, tidied her somewhat messy bangs, then turned around and flashed a big "V for Victory" sign at the dumbfounded Su Yu.
Applause.
Unknown who started it, but the entire training ground erupted in thunderous applause. It wasn't polite clapping; it was heartfelt worship of the strong.
"Godlike! Truly godlike!"
"That footwork, you can't get that without twenty years of bitter practice!"
"The Tai Xu Sect... is actually this terrifying! Who dares to say traditional martial arts are just flowery showmanship in the future!"
"Holy crap, humanity evolved secretly without taking me? We're all human, why is she cultivating immortality?!"
Su Yu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Although he was frantically retorting in his heart, "Goddamn Cloud Hands, that was clearly a Valkyrie armor deflection field technique," he still put on an inscrutable expression on his face. A proud look that said, "That's my Junior Sister."
However, what startled Su Yu even more was that since injecting the strengthening serum, although the reaction hadn't been obvious before, he could now capture Kiana's movements.
Although seeing the movements clearly and actually catching them were two different things, this was enough to show that while this System was usually a pitfall and loved taking kickbacks—giving items that hurt him enough to make him wish for death—the enhancement effect was significant.
Although Kiana was nominally registered as a "B" rank Valkyrie, as the saying goes, isn't the strongest in the Hidden Leaf Village also a Genin?
In reality, her physical constitution could absolutely be considered "Out of Bounds." However, regarding comprehensive strength, she probably wouldn't truly count as S-rank until she controlled part of the Herrscher of the Void's Authority and transformed into the true Void Drifter.
But the S-rank level was inherently a bit absurd.
Schicksal's S-rank Valkyrie level was very awkward. Durandal and Teacher Rita could both be placed in the same level; old captains would understand just how big the gap was. One could only say that the reason Durandal was S-rank was because there was only S-rank; in reality, she could have her own 'Durandal Class.'
Solo-killing a Herrscher was nothing to her; otherwise, back during The Queen's Descent, Otto wouldn't have used her as insurance.
However, Valkyrie ratings lost their meaning later on. After all, in the later stages, who didn't have Herrscher-level combat power? If you didn't have Herrscher-level combat power, you didn't even deserve to sit at the table.
Oh, I lied. Herrschers didn't deserve to sit at the table either. To sit at the table, you needed some incomprehensible abilities, or you had to carry some legacy.
It was just that this damn System always liked to be vague and didn't clarify what level a physique comparable to a Valkyrie actually was. Like a troll who loved watching people jump in anxiety; if this weren't the Golden Courtyard, he would truly suspect this System was an avatar of Aha.
But at least it wouldn't be lower than B-rank, because only B-rank Valkyries counted as Valkyries capable of combat. As for those below, they were purely for logistics and odd jobs.
There were two injections of strengthening serum left. Although Su Yu wanted to take the second shot after the 72-hour cooldown, the System warned him that the pain would increase in steps, suggesting Su Yu familiarize himself with his currently enhanced body first before proceeding to the second stage.
Although this System always acted like an unscrupulous capitalist, and you shouldn't believe its teasing, if it said you couldn't handle it, don't be stubborn. Su Yu's goal was to possess the capital to grasp Kiana's hand, not to pain himself to death alive. Otherwise, it would just be 'one corpse, two lives.'
After the brainstorm ended, Su Yu walked to Kiana's side and cupped his hands at the crowd, his acting bug biting him again.
"We made a fool of ourselves, made a fool of ourselves."
"This is the Qinggong of our sect. It emphasizes... a leaf brushing past without sticking to the body."
Dr. Mei looked at the data record in her hand—Evasion rate 100%, reaction delay 0.01 seconds, almost approaching the theoretical human limit.
She pushed up her glasses and drew a heavy circle after "S-rank Special Talent."
Mei gave Su Yu a meaningful look: "Guess what Kevin would say if he were here?"
Su Yu thought for a moment and said, "He would say two words."
"Which two words?"
"Holy shit."
Mei nodded and tapped a few times on her phone.
Thirty seconds later.
On Mei's phone screen—
[Kevin: Holy shit?!]
[Kevin: Others practice martial arts, she cultivates immortality? Is your Junior Sister a goddess?]
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉