Hah.
There have been so many chapters wasted detailing the process and results of the Strength, Endurance, Intent and Techniques.
Do you think it was for fun? Those chapters involved so many numbers ffs!
It was because the testing system wanted to extract the details of each candidate thoroughly, from their body power to their combat abilities and comprehension, all for this prowess test!
One could say that the prowess test was the actual test under the Test of Body exam!
In order to make sure they could fully dig out your prowess, they gathered details about all your abilities and then tabulated them before creating foes here for you to vanquish. So for the others who had foolishly done their best, a foe of equal strength basically meant a foe with strength equivalent to the maximum output you released in all previous rounds.
It was a widely known fact that it was impossible for a human to always release the same amount of force with each punch, even if their stamina remained constant. The same applied here, your maximum output on all previous tests was not your normal output, so it was obvious that everyone would struggle.
However, Draco had never unleashed his full potential. At first, he only exerted minimal effort, then drifted into a fatherly reverie for much of the remaining time, snapping out of it only when a test managed to catch his attention.
Yet, it was during those moments of clarity that the tests managed to evoke any real sensation. To put it in perspective, the mild irritation of a mosquito bite had barely escalated to the gentle pressure of a fingertip. In numerical terms, it was as if the intensity had only just crept from a fraction of a point to a solid one.
So naturally, when an equal foe was spawned for him, not only was it a piece of cake, but it was killed like a common monster in the Main Plane. Of course, it you were to unleash that very same monster on the Main Plane, it would cause a calamity that only the core members of Umbra could stop, akin to a top level World Boss.
The test was therefore barely worth mentioning, but thanks to it Draco was now on the cusp of verifying something. Alas, he would only know for sure after the next segment.
After dealing with the equal foe with no limitations, it was time for the next segment which involved battling an enemy with limitations on both sides. Once again a mannequin appeared that randomly shifted forms and finally morphed into a mermonster that was akin to a fishman with slightly more humanoid features.
This being wielded a cragged spear and had pristine blue scales on its body. Its eyes shone with confidence, intelligence and malice, aiming to crush any foe presented before it with its superior strength and intellect.
Draco assessed it and found that it was around the peak of Rank 5, which was - on paper - slightly stronger than him in terms of base display.
Both sides received their limitations. The mermonster had to fight on land, which halved its actual combat strength by half since it did not possess aquagenesis but aquakinesis, meaning that it needed water to be present to cast half of its skills.
Meanwhile, Draco's limitation was that he could not use any melee combat abilities. No swords or fists, only ranged weapons or magic. This left him amused as he felt that things were still not tense enough.
So the moment the fight began, he first released a thin cannon of wind that blasted the mermonster back and then created a lake-sized flow of water that surrounded their battlefield, all with Subjective Magic.
Then, he released his control of the water, allowing it to exist freely without his influence.
"There, now your limitation is removed. I would probably do well with a few more, so I wont use any energy above worldly to power my spells and I will keep to only using basic spells. There, that should be fine." Draco said with a sunny smile.
The mermonster's eyes became red, because it could tell that it was being looked down upon heavily by his foe, like a deity looking down at a random red ant in the garbage dumps searching for sugar cubes.
It was akin to seeing the woman of your dreams being given the essential vitamin from your rival and instead of feeling ashamed, he does the helicopter and mocks you for being unable to replicate his majesty.
Both were beings of a power that even the current Draco knew he could not match until he, Eva and Shuangtian fully completed Lucifer's plan and ascended to the same level of power as Caelo and Caela.
So whatever was behind the War Maniac Pavilion should have the same power... this would only be possible if it was a faction outside of the game...
A lot of questions, but the answers could only be found when he completed the test. As such, he waited for the second hour long segment to end, and noticed that once again, nearly no one passed.
This made him even more certain that the War Maniac Pavilion was an outside faction because its operations would be unsustainable with such high requirements if it existed within Boundless' Western Fantasy.
To test in all the previous round and then use those results to perform a final brutal test with a realistically less than 0.1% pass rate...
Only if one knew beforehand the trick of this exam and withheld power when testing previously would they have a chance here. But since they had some way to prevent the information from leaking, it was almost foolproof.
The ones who passed were either very lucky or could break through their own limit of power to achieve victory, in which case they could be further trained into powerful warriors.
Aside that, those who would normally pass would be those who were like Draco, suppressing their abilities but still 'trying their best', in which case the War Maniac Pavilion had scored with recruiting a colossal titan of a talent.
They were taking an extreme road of seeking quality, even more stringent than Umbra!
The final segment began, and a new mannequin spawned again that underwent a round of shifting before settling on the form of a...Dragon?
Draco was amused as he watched a yellowish-purple colored Dragon appear before him, lazily glancing over with a hint of disdain in its eyes. As Draco scanned it, he saw that it was the equivalent of early Rank 6, which did count as a significantly stronger foe.
Draco was then informed of his handicap, which was that the Dragon could not fly but had to remain ground based. The Dragon seemed to receive this notification and the disdain in its eyes thickened, because any being that needed a handicap to even fight it was definitely hot trash.
Draco saw its look and titled his head with a strange smile. As the Dragon rose up to its feet boredly to get rid of this pest, Draco simply released a wisp of his Serpent God branch power to envelop the Dragon before him.
The moment the Lightning Dragon felt the aura of Draco, it froze for a split second then bowed its head obsequiously, like a wastrel grandson seeing their majestic grandpa coming over.
Draco simply folded his arms behind his back as he glanced at the Lightning Dragon passively.
"End your own life." Draco decreed calmly before the Lightning Dragon even had a chance to beg.
The proud Dragon paused, this time for a long few seconds, before sighing and lowering its head, the life force from irs body rapidly dissipating. It had terminated its own life functions and died gracefully, laying in place as if it was sleeping.
Its body dematerialized like those that came before, leaving Draco with a clear and empty field. Meanwhile, the others did even worse at this stage because even with a random handicap, they still couldn't defeat opponents so much stronger than them.
The final one hour period elapsed, allowing Draco to see the pale faces of all those who had come to the Test of Body with high spirits previously, majority of them now realizing that they were likely not going to make the cut with that poor performance.
Despite this, they hoped the War Manic Pavilion could be fair to them, because their previous results weren't bad and showed that, at least, if they were nurtured well, they could definitely do better.
However, Draco was sure that it was extreme unlikely that anyone but him would be allowed to pass.