"Doctors…"

The doctors sat in stunned silence, staring at Adam's stabilized vitals on their monitors. The lead technician was already with Adam, assisting and guiding him to the next testing area.

It had already been several minutes since his endurance test, and yet the doctors just sat there reviewing his vitals. It wasn't until Dr. Peterson cleared his throat and broke the quiet that they finally snapped out of their disbelief.

"High S-tier endurance... that's incredibly rare," he muttered, and the other doctors started joining him in the discussion.

"Less than fifty Heroes worldwide have that classification," another doctor murmured, shaking his head. "Even if the rest of his stats were to be subpar, he would already be popular for Hero guilds and even everyday jobs. Do you think he'd need to sleep?"

The senior doctor who had dismissed Peterson earlier also finally spoke up. "Amazing. But this probably has something to do with his special ability, too. If anything, then the chance of this result actually being invalid is high."

"Should we contact the upper brass about this?"

"After we finish the evaluation, maybe. Let's see what else he can do. It—"

And while they were chatting, the technician's voice crackled through the intercom.

[Mr. Smith, please step onto this market and make sure you're in a neutral, comfortable position.]

And now, the doctors were finally looking at the screen, which properly showed Adam to them. He was nodding his head as he stepped beside the technician, while their colleague was adjusting Adam's suit to make sure it was still properly recording and reading his vitals.

[Alright, this next test is much simpler than what you just went through.] He gestured toward an elaborate obstacle course stretching across the massive chamber. [Just to confirm, do you see the course ahead of you?]

Adam looked forward, taking in the complex arrangement of platforms, beams, and barriers. If anything, it looked sort of like a playground to him—they had one back at the Hospital, but he never got to use it at all.

[Yes, I see them… do I just need to go through the course?]

[Exactly.] The technician began removing the magnetic cuffs from Adam's wrists and ankles. [You don't need these anymore. This test is purely about movement efficiency and speed. Go from point A to point B. Press the red button at the end of each section. That's it…

…are you ready?]

[Yes.]

[Good. Good luck.]

***

And meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Long Nguyen leaned forward in his gaming chair, watching the technician pat Adam on the shoulders. His eyes were glued to his monitor as his chat exploded with activity.

"Chat, chat, calm down!" Long waved his hands at his camera. "I've been saying this the whole time. Look at his build, look at who he hangs with. Sylvie and Clementine are both speed-based Heroes. Birds of a feather, you know?"

<Agility build! He's definitely fast!>

<look at his little cute legs.>

"Exactly!" Long pointed at his screen. "Agility is the hardest stat to see during Game. All those times we thought he was tanking hits? Probably dodging by millimeters. The camera angles don't show that."

Long raised his palm at the camera, gesturing to his chat to focus on the screen.

"Alright, everyone shut up, test is starting." He cracked his knuckles. "Let me explain what we're about to see. First obstacle is the uneven track, which tests movement efficiency over irregular terrain. It doesn't test speed just yet, just how the Hero moves. Second is the beam walk, what we call the 'cat walk' because you need perfect balance on that narrow raised beam. Third is the hell icicle, random bars blocking the path at crazy angles. Duck, step over, slide under, whatever works. We call them hell icicle because the bars are blue. Get it? No…? No? What do you mean I should stop talking?! Shut up. Mods, ban this guy."

Long banged his palm on his desk, wildly wagging his fingers at his camera. His act seemed to be working, however, as he was getting a lot of reactions from the chat.

"And the last test…" he continued, a small grin creeping on his face. "...is just a straight sprint. I am sure of this—Adam's gonna absolutely destroy this course."

And soon, the test began.

Long's face lit up as Adam approached the first obstacle, nodding along enthusiastically. "Look at that form, chat. He's reading the terrain, and…"

And then, Adam stumbled over the first uneven section, catching himself awkwardly.

Long's eye twitched slightly. "Just... warming up. Getting a feel for it. Remember, this guy was moving well in the desert."

The second obstacle began. Adam stepped onto the narrow beam, arms windmilling wildly as he fought for balance. He made it three steps before falling onto his knees, almost dropping completely.

And then, they watched him awkwardly crawl to the end of the beam.

Long's eyes started twitching more violently. "What... what is he doing?"

The third obstacle arrived. Adam approached the hell icicle section, where bars jutted out at random angles. Instead of flowing through with agile precision, he crashed into the first bar face-first, then got tangled in the second, then somehow managed to get his leg stuck even though the bars weren't even moving.

"Wha—" Long stood up and clasped his head. "What is he doing?! Chat, I don't understand! He should be good at this! He has to be good at this! He has to be fucking trolling us!"

Long was practically screaming now as Adam continued to stumble, trip, and crash through the obstacle course.

The final test was a straight sprint. Surely Adam could handle running in a straight line. And he did, he was quite efficient with it, too.

But it didn't matter.

When Adam finally pressed the last red button, Long and his entire chat fell completely silent.

The SEAPS sheet updated on screen: [Agility: E-tier]

"Aaaaah!"

Meanwhile, in France, Clementine was doubled over with laughter in front of a massive television screen, waving a bottle of gin in the air.

"Oh my God! Did you see that? He face-planted into that bar!" She wiped tears from her eyes. "E-tier! E fucking tier!"

Sylvie sat beside her, looking mortified. "Clementine, calm down."

"This is HILARIOUS!" Clementine took a swig from the bottle. "That's what he gets for not contacting us! We were fucking worried about what happened to him!"

"Should you really be laughing?" Sylvie shook her head. "You're the one who trained him."

"Pft." Clementine waved her sister off dismissively. "Adam doesn't need agility anyway. He's a walking tank. Want some spoilers? His Perception test…

…is going to be absolutely dog shit too."

"You—"

"But those won't matter. I'm sure of it…" Clementine looked at the screen, no longer laughing now.

"...Our little Adam's going to at least be A-tier."

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