The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 705  Strength Test

”That would be my department. Please come this way, and we will go to the skill testing rooms. Fear not, they are enchanted to the same level as the training rooms used by the Royal Rank Elites in the Capital.” Duke Ambrose bragged.

Karl nodded. ”Then, should we call an Overlord down here? I wouldnʼt want to break them. I am a Monarch, after all.”

The head of Research and Development froze in his tracks, only now realizing the issue, while Forgemaster Granite winked at Karl.

”The barriers were made by Overlords, and reinforce themselves constantly from the mana crystals in the complex. As long as youʼre not landing constant strikes, there is no danger in letting you go all out to test the weapon.

In fact, thatʼs part of why you were chosen. If this project is to arm the special forces at Overlord Rank, we need to test them as well as possible. But itʼs simply not realistic to take an Overlord for our team without their absence being noted by other nations.” Granite explained, with his thick black beard bouncing on his chest as he quietly laughed.

The training room looked exactly like the ones at the apartment, and the quality of the barriers was only a little lower. It would definitely hold up to a single strike, no matter what Karl did to it.

Ambrose activated the training dummies, and the barriers in the room sprang to life.

Both Karl and Cara took a moment to add some power to the reserves, anticipating that they would be eliminating that much and more in the near future. It was standard procedure in the training grounds at home, but the three team leaders looked at them strangely.

”Standard procedure at home. Replace what youʼre likely to use as a courtesy to others.

Now, how would we like to do this? In theory, the blade should enhance a skill passed through it, as well as being more durable.” Karl explained.

”We will start with the skill you want to use. Then again through the blade, to measure any difference. Then we will try direct impact testing on the blade before sending it to the production testing labs to check for flaws and perform quality control.” Granite insisted.

Karl nodded, then prepared [Disintegrate]. The attack flew across the room to hit the dummy, which made the lights flicker. Everyone turned to look up at the number on the wall display.

”Thatʼs... impressive. Nearly peak Monarch Rank energy output. Is that a skill boosting your output, or are you close to advancement?” Granite asked.

”Itʼs a skill. Iʼm still in the early stages of Monarch Rank. But when it comes to combat ability, I have no trouble standing on even footing with most new Overlords.” Part of that was the fact he used [Nullify] as a barrier in combat, reducing the damage done by incoming attacks before they even got to [Void Body], but they didnʼt need those details.

”Now with the blade, if you would.” Ambrose insisted.

Karl repeated the attack with a casual swing of the blade, but the same minimal set of buffs active, and full output, the same as before.

This time, the lights really did flicker off for an instant.

”A twenty-eight percent increase in energy output. That is beyond impressive.” Fizzspark gasped.

Ambrose nodded absently as he considered the implications of such an effective boost to combat power. Such outstanding equipment would turn the tides of battles down the entire length of the borders.

”Now, to test the durability. The dummy has an impact sensor in it. Hit it as hard as you can, and we will test the yield strength of the weapon after your enhancement to see if it is suitable for combat use or if we should focus on ranged weapons.” Ambrose began.

Karl smiled. This part would be the fun one. With the blade back, he crouched, tensing his muscles for a charge.

The trio stared at him in confusion, as Karl was ten metres from the target. Far outside melee range. But then Karl cast a barrier over them and leapt forward with an air - shattering crack of supersonic movement.

The barriers on the room vibrated with the impact, sending ripples of light and dark sections through the roomʼs perimeter.

Both the blade and the target dummy were intact, but the researchers werenʼt sure that would still be true if Karl hit the barrier again.

Karl checked the edge of the blade, and found no visible flaws.

”Well, I didnʼt coat it with any skills or barriers, so that was a direct impact with the barrier at high Monarch Rank. For pure physical force, thatʼs pretty impressive. In combat, there would normally be a barrier or skill over the blade to protect it. Normal weapons donʼt hold up to that sort of abuse, after all.” Karl reminded them.

”I thought you werenʼt supposed to use any skills for this test?” Ambrose asked in a shaking voice, rattled by the unexpectedly violent attack.

”That wasnʼt a skill. That is the physical strength and speed that you can expect any of the Elites who will be using these weapons to possess.”

”Monsters.” The thin man muttered, then looked at Cara, before returning his gaze to Karl.

[Heʼs trying to decide which of us is scarier.] Cara laughed.

[Probably you if he keeps trying to mess with your new gnome.] Karl joked. Remi giggled softly as she looked outwards from a study project on the altar in her swamp. [I donʼt think that heʼs going to do that again. At least not while you two are here at work. He looks terrified, like he has never actually seen a powerful Elite up close before.]

Hawk squawked in amusement. [Researchers are like Earth Mice. They hide underground and never go out to see the dangers of the world up above. Itʼs only natural that he is terrified the first time that he meets a predator.]

Cara thought that was sage-tier advice. You could only hide in the burrow so long before you had to go out. But that creepy human had his food delivered, so he had never gotten to experience the real world before.