Chapter 88: Qualifiers (1)
Three days passed quickly and right now was the time for the qualifiers of the tournament.
Haruto was sitting in the waiting room along with his comrades and the other participants. Of course the waiting room could not contain every participants and divided into multiple waiting rooms.
Apparently, there's more than ten thousands participants this time. Haruto entered the junior block for the tournament as requested by Zelrigth, restricted to 15-40 years old humans only (depends on the race). The senior block will be held at spring next year where powerhouses from all over the world will compete.
There around five hundred people here including Haruto's group waiting for the first round of the qualifiers.
The first round was test of strength, there's an artifact to measure someone's punching force. They could not use any artifacts or ki during the test, only pure physical power. The test for magicians were held in different way and that is the measure of mana.
"Alright, block G please proceed to the arena."
Finally it was Haruto's group's turn.
""""""Good luck Haru-kun/Haru/Haruto-kun/Haruto-nii/Nii-sama/Milord""""""
The girls gave a cheer to him and he nodded while smiling gently.
All the participants in this waiting room walked out of the room to the relatively large indoor hall. There's a small arena in the middle with a transparent ball placed on a pedestal.
"The rules is simple, every participant just need to punch this ball as hard as they can and if they scored at least 200 points, they'll passed."
Looks like one point equals 500 pounds. That means to pass the test one needs to have 100000 pounds punching force. That was quite harsh and far above normal. At least one needs to be as strong as Lena in this test.
Well, it's not a problem for Haruto though. That kind of force could easily be performed with a casual knock for his current power.
"95, you failed."
"167, failed."
"213, passed."
"269, not bad."
"320, good."
"52, get out from here."
"116, not even close."
"765, great."
"456, nice."
"192, close but not yet."
"1056 amazing!"
The test went on with the majority of them failed. There's a lot gritting their teeth as they went out from the hall. People like them must be frustrated to not even passed the most basic qualifier. It can't be helped though, as having 100000 pounds punch could easily pulverized any Middle rank monsters.
Lena herself could easily deal with Middle rank monsters but she was powerless against a High rank monster just like the black minotaurs a.k.a Beta series Yomi created.
"26803!!!!"
The examiner widened his eyes in shock as he saw a bulky bearman carrying a huge greatsword on his back, the other participants too look at him with their eyeballs almost burst out from their sockets.
His height was more than two meters tall with a ferocious-like face. His eyes shone like a beast but what's scary is his calm and domineering atmosphere, it was as if he's an expert great warrior, not your ordinary rampaging beast. Numerous scars could be seen all over his rough skin.
Even Haruto could not help but raised his eyebrows in surprise to see someone in scoring more than twenty thousands points. He's confident he could break the ten thousands threshold too but only barely below twelve thousands without utilizing ki.
Someone like the bearman could easily crush a huge mountain with a single punch without being too serious.
"Hey look, isn't that Tram?" One of the participants near Haruto whispered to the person next to him.
"Tram? You mean THAT Tram? The Desolator?"
"Yeah, I heard he's already slain dozens of Demon Lords alone, he's a famous Gold rank adventurer. Rumor said he was currently challenging himself to defeat a Demon Emperor."
"How insane, but he's certainly amazing huh, we're nothing but flies compared to him."
Haruto's ears twitched as he learned the information of the bearman. Killing dozens of Demon Lords was extraordinary feat. If the rumor was right of him wanting to challenge a Demon Emperor then maybe he's really quite insane.
Demon Emperor is after all a Legendary rank, one of those so called Semi-Transcendent monster, it can't be compared at all. A single Demon Emperor could defeat a thousand of Demon Lords effortlessly.
Haruto couldn't help but making a grin as he could hear someone that is possibly stronger than him. His blood was boiling in excitement from the aura Tram radiated too he could tell he was not a bad person. As of now he was confident in winning but he's not sure if Tram actually has hidden cards just like him.
He was getting bored when the level of the participants here is quite low but to think a worthy prey would appear. Haruto didn't realize him until now because Tram could also suppress his strength to some extent that's why he's surprised.
"Participant Haruto, please walk to the stage."
The examinee finally called Haruto's name after awhile. He moved outside the crowd and immediately gathered attentions from how young he was.
"Look look, that guy is still a teenager."
"Yeah not seeing many like him in this tournament."
"Does he think this tournament is a joke? Although the rules said 15 years old could join but almost no one dares to unless they wanted to get beaten up and sent home to their mother."
"His face irritates me too, he must has a lot of luck with girls, just look at the female participants in here eyeing him with glittering eyes, is he trying to show off? Fuck!"
"Hmph, I bet he can't even score 50 points, his build is not bad but he's still a snob in my eyes."
"Hahaha, right!"
As Haruto made his way to the stage, the men around him began sneering with some of them laughing. Their eyes were full of mockery and pity but Haruto kept his casual smile without being perturbed even if he could hear what they said.
The girls were different though as they looked at him with predator eyes and rosy faces. He ignored this too.
"Alright, hurry and punch with all you've got." Even the examinee sneered at him.
Haruto shook his head as he smiled helplessly, he made a casual stance and thrust his fist forward.
*Bang*
His fist rammed against the transparent sphere and the tablet device on the examinee's hands began calculating his score.
"...200 points."
He said.
"Hey, he's not actually bad."
"How can that be? I lost against a teenager?"
"This is bullshit, there must be a mistake!!"
"Calm down, it's just 200 points, there's also a lot scoring 500s and 400s, he's only barely passed. In the second round battle royale he would get squashed in an instant with that strength."
A lot of them were shocked to see Haruto passed but a lot of them also kept their cool and mockery gazes, they're those who passed the test.
And yet the examinee narrowed his eyes and started to look at the young man in front of him with doubtful gaze.
Tram on the back too had his eyes lit and began pondering as his interest was picked by the boy standing there.
The ignorants may not realized it but it was a clean 200 points, no more, no less. None of them could hit a clean score like that. What could this mean?
It's simple, that means this boy could perfectly control his strength and used a force with precise accuracy, flawlessly and effortlessly.
The technique to manipulate power level was indeed possessed by strong people but no one could manipulate their power and strength as perfect as that boy. Considering his age he's without doubt a heaven defying genius, his true strength was totally unknown.
And thus the first round was done with Haruto attracting interests from a few people.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone