Mikhail entered the ntal Examination building, now alone and separated from his squad.
It wasn’t his first ti coming here so he already knew the way.
The building wasn’t too small but neither was it too large.
It was moderate in size with its entire structure being decorated in white tiles.
The building’s furniture had different lab equipnt and machines placed inside, giving one the feeling of a research lab.
It was all basic equipnt however, nothing that advanced.
Well, in a certain sense, it already was.
Mikhail saw different higher-ups quickly walking through the building, trying to get the equipnt ready.
Along with their normal black coats, they wore white lab coats that highlighted their position.
Mikhail could already see so of the n present in the facility, waiting for their turn.
They weren’t all that much however.
A major reason for this was the toll that ntal examination put on a person.
Even though he had said that it was recomnded to co here because of a fresh mind, it had the opposite effect as well.
The tests taken during the examination could induce stress and exhaustion in the person, even making him feel dizzy.
It was why most people who wanted to attempt multiple categories in a day avoided taking this test.
Of course, it wasn’t the sa for himself. He was just built differently.
"Oh you’re here. Sa as last ti?"
Mikhail heard a feminine voice from behind him, turning after recognizing him.
There she was.
A woman that seed to be in her late 20’s with short black hair styled in a bob-cut with blue eyes just like him.
Emily Tate.
Mikhail knew her well.
She was the lead researcher here in the ntal examination lab, overseeing all the tests and results.
Also one of the only few won ever allowed on the wall. For what purpose she got sent here, he didn’t know.
He had gotten well acquainted with her over ti when coming for his tests.
"Yes."
Mikhail nodded.
"Hmm..." Emily put the pencil to her chin, leaning closer and examining him from all sides.
Feeling weird because of her closeness, he was quick to ask.
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing much, I’m just checking if you have any injuries from that incident. It would be a problem if our star prospect had any problems."
She searched his face to see any reaction about being ntioned as a ’star prospect’.
Unfortunately for her, she found nothing but a straight face.
Mikhail saw her face twitch as if she got annoyed.
He quickly changed the topic.
"I’m fine. Just so light injuries but I recovered quickly."
Emily smugged, spinning the pencil in her hand as she turned to guide him.
"Of course you did. Why was I even getting worried about you?"
Mikhail stared at her back as she walked.
She wasn’t even worried for him personally.
She was worried about the state of their ’star prospect’ not ’Mikhail’ himself.
Despite their informal way of talking, they were nothing more than acquaintances.
He knew the woman only saw him as a ans to her research because of his exceptional talent.
Normally, one would stay away from such a person after knowing this but not Mikhail.
Because it wasn’t like he wasn’t getting anything out of her.
In addition, he knew that the woman was aware that Mikhail knew about her plans.
It was a mutual relation where both were using each other.
Unfortunately for her, Mikhail barely gave her any chance to take unnecessary advantage of him.
As they walked through the lab, Mikhail saw various n seated on the benches at the side, waiting for their turn.
He could feel their stares of envy and jealousy digging a hole in his back.
These n barely ever got to see a woman up here after all. And now she was getting smuggy with him.
But they knew this would happen.
At this point, they were used to Mikhail always having the first turn in this examination.
It was the reason why they didn’t bother to make a queue already and remained seated on their benches.
Reaching a white door, Emily turned back to him.
"As always, head inside and get ready. I’ll report to the lab and we’ll start the examination right away."
Mikhail nodded.
"Alright."
"Tell if you feel the slightest inconvenience or weirdness okay?" She asked, signs of fake worry in her eyes.
Mikhail ignored her question, opening the doors and heading inside.
From behind he could hear Emily chuckling.
"Straightforward as ever huh?"
Ignoring her once more, he focused forward.
Through the doors was a large square-shaped room completely decorated with black concrete all around.
There was absolutely nothing in the whole room.
Not even a source of light as Mikhail saw the dimly illuminated room because of the outside light.
However, there was one thing that could be noticed.
It was the dium-sized white circle boundary in the middle of the room.
Just from a glance, one could feel that it seed to be a space separate from the rest of the space.
’And it is.’
Closing the doors to shroud the room in darkness again, Mikhail started walking to the circle.
As the room was covered in dark again, the boundary suddenly illuminated to provide an eerie luminescence.
From the walls, Mikhail heard Emily’s booming voice.
"You know the drill don’t you?"
Mikhail didn’t answer, only doing a simple nod to confirm.
"Good, settle down and we can start the tests. It should take no longer than 30 minutes."
Stepping inside the small circle, Mikhail instantly felt as if his body was entering a separate dinsion.
He could feel his senses distort and a weird sensation pass through his body.
’Illusias Magic.’
Without wasting any mont, he sat down inside the small circle.
It wasn’t that large in size. Moving a lot would definitely place him out.
Readying himself, Mikhail spoke up.
"I’m ready."
To show that his confirmation was heard, the boundary light of the circle just turned from white to red.
The whole place gave off a haunting, eerie vibe now.
Mikhail gave no reaction, already used to the process as he closed his eyes.
"The test will comnce in 3, 2, 1."
"Now."
The second it began, Mikhail felt his surroundings change, as if he was warping through sothing.
The test was simple.
Through the use of Illusias and Spiritalis Magic, the castle would induce various traumas and scenes for the participant inside the circle.
The experiences given would vary from past mories to even purely crafted imaginary scenes to see the participant’s reactions.
At a certain point, even various emotions like pain would be pushed into the participant to see his reaction to the situation.
At any point in ti, if the participant passed out or chose to run and moved out of the circle, the test would be over.
With each passing second, the hardness and severity of the challenges would increase.
And the further user showcased his ntal endurance, the higher his score would go.
The scores of the participants were given from 1 to a 100 and the average score of a normal participant was 46 to 55.
In talented cases, this score could even go up to 60 to 65 but no further than that.
Any further and the participant had to be a psycho or ntal patient to endure that much.
Of course, adults could go way higher but we were talking about 19 to 20 year old young people here.
Even if they were killers or so of the most morally disgusting people here on the wall, everyone had fears.
But only one certain man had displayed a score that was never seen before in the history of ntal examinations.
At just the age of 21, he had a mind-breaking score of 72.
And that man...
Was none other than Mikhail Hendrix.
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