Unholy Player - Chapter 475

Chapter 475: Establishing Power Ranks (Part 2)
As soon as the researchers watching through the cameras saw and heard that Adyr and his guests had decided to visit the second level, they rushed out of their offices, abandoning whatever they were doing to come here and greet them.

One of the oldest-looking researchers stepped forward, clearly the head of the group, as shown by the insignia on his coat and the way the others instinctively left him a step ahead.

He drew in a breath to answer. “Y-Yes, Mr. Ady…” He quickly realized his mistake and corrected his form of address. “Adyr Lord… My Lord… Young Master…”

He used every word that came to mind until he found the correct one to address him, his tongue tripping over the titles in his flustered state.

Adyr did not care about his excitement and clumsiness, as they were not disciplined soldiers but researchers carrying a kind of childish enthusiasm, which only made him laugh as he introduced them to Zephan.

“This is one of the groups with the most brilliant minds here. They are mostly the ones responsible for strengthening all those mortal soldiers you saw so far.”

“I see…” Zephan looked at the old people in front of him with open curiosity and a genuine interest in his eyes.

None of them looked like soldiers or warriors, with their white or bald heads, glasses on their noses, and even a few bulging bellies. He could not quite understand how these people were responsible for training those war machines, but he did not voice his suspicion, as everything he had seen in this city was already against his logic anyway.

Even though the researchers didn’t understand what Adyr was saying, they could tell from the looks on the faces of the Lunari people that he was praising them. They did not care about any praise, however, and were only impatient to pull them into the rooms to test their strength like lab rats, their eyes already glittering with calculation.

Luckily, Adyr did not make them wait long. “My friends here want to test their strength and endurance. Can you show us the way for that?”

“Of course… sure… here, this way…” As soon as they got the command, they turned and started to rush through the hall like a wave of white cloth toward one of the closed rooms, their steps quick and almost chaotic.

Are they some kind of Spark? The Lunari Elders followed in silence, their eyes narrowing as they tried to place these strange beings within the bounds of what they knew.

After Rank 5 and 6, Sparks with rational thinking and intelligence were not so rare, so them being one was not something impossible, and if they turned out to be Sparks, it would not be so surprising.

Though meeting a Rank 6 Spark like this would be shocking in itself anyway, especially in the Outer Region.

After the group followed the weird creatures who were excitedly leading them through a mechanical door, they stepped inside.

The room was smaller than they expected; all its walls were gray metallic in color, looking like a small box that only 15 or 20 people could fit into at the same time. The air inside was slightly cooler than the corridor.

Apart from that, the lighting was also dim, neither too bright nor so dark as to be disturbing, and there was nothing else, no visible machines or furniture, which made the emptiness even more unsettling.

Zephan and the others, wondering how they could try their limits in here and about to ask what this room was for, were interrupted before they could speak, as the head researcher started to talk.

“Mr. Lord…” He coughed, straightening his back. “My Lord, this room is for the endurance test. You are already familiar from before, I assume. We will change the environment inside to test our subjects… our guests’ physical and mental endurance.”

Zephan looked at Adyr to translate what was said, his eyebrows slightly raised.

“This room is for the endurance test. You will go under the conditions of heat, cold, and some kinds of harsh environments, and from the results they will tell your limits.” Adyr explained calmly in a way they would understand, his tone steady to ease any unease.

Zephan looked very impressed by the function of the room, but at the same time he looked a little taken aback, as the description said the room sounded a little dangerous, like it was designed to torture someone slowly rather than simply measure them.

Adyr, seeing his reaction, added calmly, “Since we are already here, I want to test my endurance as well. Why don’t we take the test together?”

Asking Zephan to stay alone in this closed room, which could cause a phobia in some people with its tight walls and lack of exits, was too much to ask, so he offered to stay with him to make him accept it more easily.

In the end, after coming this far, he could not let Zephan change his mind, especially since Adyr was also very interested to see how high the defense of a Rank 4 pure Ignis Path Practitioner could be when pushed to the edge.

Zephan seemed to be thinking along the same lines, a faint excitement flickering in his eyes. “Then let us begin.”

For Silverlight, to see how Adyr would fare and compare him to himself would be a good enlightenment to understand the difference between a slave-born race and an Elder Race, not just in theory but through direct numbers.

Adyr then turned to the two Elders and asked, but they politely refused to be tested and only wanted to watch, so he didn’t force them and just nodded, showing his respect for their decision.

Shortly after, all of them left the room, leaving only Zephan and Adyr behind, sealing the door shut behind them with a mechanical click that echoed softly in the confined space.

A short while later, the room’s hidden speakers emitted a sound slightly distorted by the metal walls.

“Young Master, if you are ready, we will start with the heat test.”

The voice this time was speaking Ancient Chinese, the one the Lunari people spoke. Apparently, the researchers had called someone from the linguistic department to improve communication and make their subject more comfortable during his tests, removing any chance of misunderstanding.

“Okay, go ahead.” Adyr answered, ready to take the same tests he had taken before and a little excited to see how much better he had gotten since then.

The dim light in the room began to grow brighter as the temperature rose, the heat quickly spreading across their skin.

Zephan looked around, not disturbed by the rising heat but simply trying to understand where it was coming from, while Adyr stood still, quietly trying to gauge the level of heat in his mind.

Soon, a voice came from the speakers to inform them of the current temperature.

“The current heat is 220 degrees (428°F).”

That was the level at which Adyr had hit his limit last time—a temperature that would char the skin of any normal person within seconds.

But this time, it was only the starting point.