Chapter 62. The Dummy Test I

Chapter 62: 62. The Dummy Test I

The last words of Lily’s introduction still hung in the air when the heated stares began.

Dozens of rankers across the packed dirt lifted their eyes and fixed them on the three women floating above the podium.

Some looked with open hunger not trying to hide anything at all.

Others simply gaped at the contrast of white, light-brown, and deep-red hair, at the different shapes of their bodies, at the way the afternoon breeze moved through their clothes.

Kael’s gaze was among them.

His eyes tracked the heavy curve of Lina’s chest, the calm line of Lily’s posture, then the sharp-eyed Amber.

’The team is like buy one, get two free. How these three different personalities merged in one team. Fuck, I want to join this team already.’

A sudden sharp pinch bit into both of his hands at once from both sides.

Tina’s fingers dug into his right palm.

Brianna’s grip on the left was even harder.

The twin points of pain snapped his attention back down.

He glanced at each of them in turn, then offered a small, easy smile.

"I was only checking how strong they are," he said quietly.

"And how strong I’ll need to become if I ever want to beat them."

’And also how much points I’ll earn if I fuck them all at once.’

Neither woman looked fully convinced, but the pinching eased.

Above them Amber’s black eyes narrowed.

She had felt the weight of those stares.

A fresh wave of dense mana rolled out from her body, thinner than Lina’s earlier pressure but sharp enough to make the nearest rankers flinch and drop their gazes to the dirt.

Several of them started shaking like a leaf.

"You worthless punks," Amber said, voice rough and cold.

"Don’t ever look at me with that kind of gaze again or I’ll fry the skin right off your bones."

She dropped from the air and landed hard on the stone podium.

Lina and Lily followed a heartbeat later.

When Lina’s boots touched the platform her heavy chest swayed with the impact, the golden breastplate shifting just enough to remind everyone how much soft flesh it held in place.

The motion was brief, almost casual, yet Kael felt his cock stir in response.

’Why am I getting hornier every single day?’ he thought, forcing the reaction down before Tina or Brianna could notice.

Lily stepped forward at once, placing herself slightly ahead of Amber and raising one hand in a calming gesture.

The light-brown strands of her asymmetrical bob shifted in the breeze, soft against the sharp lines of her dark-blue jacket.

"That’s enough, Amber," she said, voice still gentle but carrying clear authority.

"We’re here to train them, not terrorize them before we even begin."

Amber clicked her tongue but stayed silent.

The scar under her right eye caught the light as she turned her head away, deep-red curls bouncing once with the movement.

Lina, on the other side, rested a hand on her hip and let her weight shift, the motion making her full breasts sway again beneath the golden plate.

Arrogance sat easily on her face, as if the entire stadium existed only to receive her orders.

Lily faced the crowd once more.

Her black eyes moved across the thousands of rankers with calm measurement.

"From today onward you will train in this arena for three full days. We will push you until your bodies and mana channels are forced to grow.

Whether that training feels like a challenge or like pure suffering will depend entirely on how much enthusiasm you bring to it."

Lina stepped up beside her, white hair drifting around her shoulders like loose clouds.

She spoke in the same superior tone she had used earlier, chin lifted.

"The guild will provide food for both day and night. You will also receive the minimum amount of sleep required to keep you functional. Nothing more."

Amber’s rough voice cut in from the other side, arms crossed under her smaller chest.

"They’re rankers. Why do they even need food or sleep? A real ranker can go a week without either and still fight. If these weaklings start crying about full stomachs and soft beds, they’re already dead the moment a real demon shows up."

The three of them stood together on the podium, each one framed by the open sky behind the stadium walls.

White hair and golden eyes full of open contempt. Light-brown hair and gentle black eyes that still managed to hold the entire field in place.

Deep-red curls and a scarred, fiery face that promised pain to anyone who stared too long.

Their bodies, their voices, and their auras formed three clear poles of the same unit: arrogance, calm control, and raw aggression.

Kael watched them in silence, the earlier desire still present but now mixed with a colder calculation.

Three days of forced training under women like these would either break most of the rankers present or forge them into something that could actually survive the coming vanguard.

’I have to use this opportunity to get stronger as much as I can.’

Tina’s fingers remained lightly wrapped around his right hand.

Brianna’s grip on the left stayed firm.

Neither woman spoke, but both kept their eyes on the podium, reading the same differences in temperament that Kael had already noted.

The afternoon wind moved across the training ground again, lifting strands of white, light-brown, and deep-red hair at the same time.

The Valkyrie Order had arrived in full, and Grayhollow’s remaining days of preparation had officially begun.

Lily raised one hand and several reinforced training dummies rose from storage compartments along the edge of the arena floor.

Each one stood roughly human-sized, the surface marked with faint runic lines that pulsed with contained mana.

"These are academy-issued reinforced dummies," Lily explained, her voice carrying easily across the quiet field.

"Each one is fused with a stable mana core. They will not break under ordinary strikes no matter how many times you hit them."

Lina’s voice cut in from the side, still carrying that same annoying edge of superiority.

"Well, they can be broken. You people are simply too weak to destroy them."

Amber gave a short nod of agreement, arms still crossed.

Lily glanced at both of them with mild exasperation before turning back to the crowd.

"Let’s not stifle them before they even begin. Now then. I need someone to demonstrate."

Her black eyes moved from face to face across the front ranks.

Rankers shifted under the calm weight of that gaze. Some looked away. Others froze.

The search continued until those same eyes settled on a pair of steady blue ones that met them without any panic.

Lily’s index finger rose and pointed directly at Kael.

"You. Come forward."

A path opened through the crowd at once.

Kael released Tina’s and Brianna’s hands and started walking toward the podium.

Before he left them completely he glanced back over his shoulder with a small, teasing smile.

"Watch closely. I’m going to use both of yours bedroom’s training to my best abilities."

Tina’s face flushed a light red at the tone.

Brianna’s green eyes narrowed slightly, a quieter thought turning behind them.

’I need to become strong enough to take him from that wife of his. He probably doesn’t even love her. She might be controlling him somehow.’

Kael continued walking.

The distance to the front of the arena was not long, yet every step felt measured under the combined attention of three high-ranking women and thousands of watching rankers.

Lina’s voice rose again, louder this time.

"Lily, that’s the one who was staring at me when I arrived. Being handsome doesn’t give him the right to gawk. Let me handle him."

She started to step forward. Lily’s hand closed lightly around her wrist and stopped the motion.

"It’s fine. The dummy is enough to test him. You’ll probably break him in the name of testing."

Lina clicked her tongue but stayed in place.

Lily’s gaze returned to Kael as he approached.

A quiet assessment moved behind her black eyes.

’He feels different from the rest of these rankers. His level is only D minus rank, yet the way he carries himself is steady. No panic and a calm confidence.’

Her eyes traced the full height of his frame for a brief moment.

’Six-foot-six. The face matches the height. Let’s see if the skill matches the looks.’

Kael reached the nearest dummy and stopped a few paces in front of it.

The three members of the Valkyrie Order stood on the raised podium above him, white hair, light-brown hair, and deep-red curls framed against the open sky.

Their expressions were already judging, measuring, waiting to see what the single ranker they had selected would actually do.

The afternoon wind moved once more across the arena, stirring the three different colors of hair at the same time.

Kael rolled his shoulders once, settled his stance, before taking the mulberry sword from the sheathe.

’Now let’s see what my new found strength can do against this dummy.’