Dean could feel searing pain in his organs. His muscles spasmed, pulsating with a throbbing sensation. His skin felt like it was on fire, his veins and blood vessels felt like a stream of lava flowed through them.
He felt an intense amount of pain that pulsated through his body. No matter what he tried to do, the pain wouldn't just go away. He felt weak, almost like he was dying. His skin was covered in layers of sweat, and the sheet beneath him was drenched.
The next instant, Dean's eyes swung wide open. He gasped for air, but every breath he took was met with a sharp sting in his chest. Even the slightest movement brought about a searing pain that shot throughout his entire body.
Taking a quick look at his body he quickly understood what was going on, he closed his eyelids. A red glow began to form on the surface of his skin, and slowly, the searing pain he felt began to settle. His breath was met with a wave of relief, his skin felt lighter, and the throbbing pain in his head faded away.
Dean activated his healing attribute, stopping the residual celestial energy from eating away at his body. During his sleep, he unknowingly canceled the healing process, causing him great pain, and almost pushing him to the brink of death.
Dean sighed in relief, "Thank goodness I'm not a piece of dead meat."
Dean still felt weak due to the constant use of his demonic energy, but it didn't stop him from getting up from his bed.
He looked around, he could see Sale and Razz sleeping peacefully.
Dean freshened up and left the room alone. Upon leaving the dorm building, he noticed that the sun was already rising. Dean really didn't have anywhere else to go, so he decided to head over to the venue where the testing was going to take place.
Dean reached the field. He could see several pieces of equipment laid around, and a large machine that was inactive, but the field was mostly void of people. Dean was apparently the first person to arrive. He stayed there, concentrating, as he tried to channel the last bit of energy he could muster.
Dean had a lot of problems. Even with the large amount of celestial energy that completed the emptiness of his core, his demonic energy was still weak. And to add to that, Dean knew next to nothing about celestial energy. He didn't know how to properly harness it, or control it, and he knew that if he made the slightest mistake, the celestial energy was going to overwhelm him, causing serious damage.
After a while of contemplating his next course of action to ensure his safety in the institution, Dean began to notice a few students arriving at the venue.
He recognized a few of them from the previous day. A few seemed to be filled with determination, and some of them had a sour expression.
Slowly, the field began to fill up, the atmosphere began to get even more lively, and chatter began to erupt, and finally, after a long while of waiting, an instructor showed up.
It was the same female instructor that addressed them the previous day. She was clad in the same institutional uniform with the emblem placed on her chest.
The crowd went silent upon noticing her presence. They stood with a respectful posture, meanwhile Dean just sat on a small platform. He wasn't bothered about the testing event because he already knew what was coming for him. The only problem Dean hoped to counter was the events that followed afterwards.
He wondered if the trainers were even going to put any effort in helping him grow, or if he was going to have to do it himself. Dean was clueless, weak, and slow when it came to progressing. It was going to be a bumpy ride for him.
The instructor began to address them once more, "good morning students. I'd like to welcome you all into the institutions once more."
"The reason for today's event is pretty simple. The event is to categorize the lot of you into your groups based on your capabilities, feats, and specialties," she added.
"During this testing, you are all required to put in your best effort, for it will determine which category you will end up in. You are strictly prohibited from holding back your strength."
Dean stared at the instructor with an annoyed gaze. She spoke like the weaker students weren't going to be treated like garbage once they were categorized into the yellow wristband group.
He saw the look on Sale's face when he was talking about his wristband, and how he seemed so disheartened. His expression didn't seem like the look of someone who was receiving the proper amount of training necessary for them to increase their demonic rank.
"There are four challenges that will be taken today, and your results will determine which category you end up in," the instructor said.
"The first challenge will be the brute force challenge. In this challenge, you are all expected to destroy several durable boulders in the most minimal amount of time."
"The second challenge is called the obstacle evasion challenge. This challenge is quite straightforward. All you need to do is to dodge as many obstacles as you can till the challenge ends."
"The third challenge will be about your accuracy and precision. There will be several targets for you to hit, and you have to hit as many targets as possible within the designated time frame."
"And the last challenge will be your demonic ranking test, just to ensure that you are truly at the demonic rank that you claim to be at."
Dean listened attentively to her without any hint of distraction. The challenges sounded easy, but Dean knew that they definitely weren't, and even the slightest mistake was going to make someone end up in a lower category.
Even though he knew that he was going to end up in the lowest group, Dean was still determined to put his all into the testing.
The instructor spoke once more, "and with that all that being said… "
"The test starts now!"