Chapter 9: The Shifty Fox.
While struggling beneath the crushing weight of the invisible pressure, Spencer grit his teeth, and forced his muscles to obey, slowly and agonizingly raising his head to glance at the figures standing atop the wooden platform.
All of which stood in silence while observing the recruits.
They seemed to be taking a silent tally of who could withstand the unknown force and who was already beginning to crumble under the strange pressure.
'Goddamnit, these bastards are testing us with this shit,' Spencer thought, his irritation boiling over as he felt the grit of the recruitment ground pressing into his palms.
He wasn't necessarily against the idea that a military organization should separate the wheat from the chaff, but this form of testing felt unnecessarily degrading and crude.
It wasn't a test of skill or even true bravery, but a raw display of power designed to beat them into submission before they had even drawn a standard-issue blade.
Seeing the looks of blatant amusement and cold disdain on the faces of some of the soldiers on the platform only served to infuriate him even more.
What truly grated on his nerves, however, was a much more practical concern, because those bastards weren't focusing that contempt on him alone.
Because their mockery was spread across the entire crowd of hundreds, the system wasn't registering a concentrated flow of points toward his own profile.
He was enduring the humiliation of being forced to his knees without the consolation prize of a massive ST harvest to make it worthwhile.
'You know what, forget this!' Spencer thought to himself, his internal voice snapping with a sudden, cold resolve.
Since there was nothing to be gained by playing the part of the struggling weakling in this specific moment, he refused to be debased any further by a force he now had the means to counter.
He had been hoarding his points for a rainy day, but as the mud of the border camp threatened to touch his face, he decided that the storm had officially arrived.
'System, allocate 10 points to each of my physical stats immediately!' he commanded mentally, his heart racing with anticipation, at the same time, a rebellious air surrounded him.
[Request Acknowledged]
[Successfully allocated stat points accordingly]
The moment the last notification vanished from his peripheral vision, Spencer felt a sensation that was nothing short of miraculous.
The oppressive, leaden pressure that had been threatening to snap his spine suddenly seemed to lessen greatly, thinning out until it was nearly non-existent to his heightened senses.
It wasn't just that the weight had lifted, but that his very vessel had been reinforced from the inside out.
He felt an intoxicating, surging power flowing through his veins, a warmth that started in his chest and radiated to his fingertips, making his previous self feel like a fragile glass doll in comparison.
Curious about the extent of his sudden evolution, he called up his status window.
[Status Window]
Name: Spencer Luminous
Age: 18
Race: Human
HP: 110/110
MP: 0/0 (Locked)
Strength: 11.2 (+10)
Agility: 12.4 (+10)
Stamina: 12 (+10)
Vitality: 11 (+10)
Intelligence: 11 (+10)
Unallocated stat points: 15
The leap in numbers was staggering to behold. He had effectively bypassed the limitations of an ordinary human in a single heartbeat, his stats now reflecting the baseline of a Tier 1 warrior.
His breathing, which had been ragged and shallow just seconds before, became deep and steady as his lungs expanded even while under the pressure.
Right now, He felt as if he could leap over the very carriage that had brought him here, or crush a stone with a single squeeze of his hand.
"Hmm?"
Up on the platform, the young platoon leader who was releasing the pressure suddenly stopped his rhythmic tapping against the hilt of his axe.
He raised a dark brow, his sharp eyes narrowing as they moved with uncanny precision through the crowd, eventually settling on a certain figure amongst the hundreds of struggling recruits.
His gaze locked onto Spencer, who was no longer trembling or gasping for air like the men surrounding him.
At first, the officer looked skeptical, perhaps thinking it was a fluke or a momentary surge of adrenaline from the boy. But after a second of deliberation, he decided to test his hypothesis.
He subtly increased the intensity of his pressure, focusing it in a way that no one but he, would truly notice.
A strange, predatory light flashed past his eyes as he watched Spencer's reaction to the increased load.
'Well, would you look at that. It seems we've got a shifty fox on our hands,' the leader thought to himself, a small, dangerous smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
He found it interesting that someone with such an unremarkable appearance could suddenly find the strength to stand firm when even the more "talented" noble sons were starting to falter.
'Just what in the hell is going on—?' Spencer almost blurted the question out loud, his teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached. Despite his massive stat boost, he felt the air around him beginning to vibrate with an even greater intensity than before.
It wasn't just his imagination; the pressure was steadily increasing, and it looked like it showed no signs of stopping.
He looked left and right, seeing that the other new recruits were also facing the same escalating force, though they were faring much worse than he was.
Some of them who were barely holding on by their fingernails before had now completely collapsed, falling unconscious into the dirt as their bodies gave out.
A few of the more stubborn ones had begun to cough up spots of blood, their internal organs straining against the sheer weight of the unknown pressure being projected from the platform.
'What's that idiot planning by doing this? There's no way the army high command will simply stand by and watch him kill off an entire batch of recruits, right?' Spencer felt a genuine spike of anxiety rising in his throat. Even with his new stats, the pressure had climbed to the point of being nearly unbearable once again.
It was a terrifying reminder that even though he had reached Tier 1, he was still standing in the presence of monsters who had spent years, honing their power on the front lines.
Right now, he couldn't help contemplating whether he should use the remaining stat points he had to increase his strength so that he could beat this pressure.