Is this considered the end?
Shirou in the screen hopped around the blue dot, terrified he had failed the test.
After he had briefly evaluated that the structure here should be enough to support a few small-scale Imaginary Break scenarios, he threw out Gan Jiang Mo Ye and blew them up.
The effect was naturally extremely noticeable; Shirou plunged his body into the smoke and successfully reached the blue dot all the way through.
It went so smoothly that Shirou found it a bit hard to believe, except that there was no follow-up after the blue dot, which made him somewhat worried.
After jumping on it a few times, the broadcast finally transmitted Emperor's voice.
Follow the drone out.
Along with the broadcasted voice, Shirou also saw the drone flying toward his side, and only then was he sure the test was finally over.
Phew...
Shirou let out a breath. He had already gone all out during the test while ensuring he did not damage the basement structure, so his score should be quite good.
After all, with clear data, the Penguin Logistics crew and he could better carry out missions instead of having no idea what to make him do and leaving him to daze on the sidelines.
So he still took the test quite seriously, treating it as an important exam.
Following the drone out of the room, Shirou saw Emperor sitting in front of the computer and looking extremely anxious.
What's wrong? Is my score not very good?
Watching the other man's feet shaking so much that they produced afterimages, Shirou asked in a soft voice.
No, quite the opposite. Your score is extremely good, so good it scares me a bit.
Emperor stopped shaking his feet, and both hands began tapping on the keyboard.
Then, at Emperor's signal, Shirou saw the text on the screen.
Three Standards, one Good, one Excellent?
This time, what Shirou saw was no longer dense chunks of data, but six lines of text, each followed by what should be an evaluation.
Comprehensive Physical Checkup:
Physical Strength: Standard
Battle Mobility: Standard
Physiological Tolerance: Standard
Tactical Planning: Good
Combat Skills: Excellent
Originium Arts Adaptability: (Not yet tested)
Is this considered... average?
Looking at the scores above, Shirou felt he had gotten quite a few Standards, so he should probably be considered Standard?
Just speaking of physical fitness, yes, it's ordinary, but Shirou, your combat awareness and that unknown Originium Arts are way too BUGged. Overall, Shirou, you're quite strong on this land.
Seeing Shirou say he was completely ordinary, Emperor used his formidable self-control to suppress the urge to smash a keyboard onto the other's face, and explained to Shirou.
The grading standards from high to low are Excellent, Good, Standard, Ordinary, and Defective. Most people's scores will fall between Good and Ordinary, and only a few extremes get Excellent and Defective.
After briefly explaining the evaluation criteria to Shirou, Emperor took out a somewhat strange-looking... staff?
This is a staff?
It was Shirou's first time seeing a staff in a practical sense; the appearance was about the same as the long staff in Caster's hands, and it fit Shirou's idea of a staff very well.
The gun in Exusiai's hands actually counted as a staff and so on—when he learned about this, Shirou's mind had gone blank.
Yes. What needs to be tested now is Originium Arts adaptability. Could you please hold the staff and activate it in the way you are most comfortable with?
Emperor described it simply. After all, judging from the few tricks Shirou had just displayed, Emperor figured that if Shirou wasn't Excellent in Originium Arts, he should at least have a Good.
The way I'm comfortable with?
Holding the staff, Shirou thought for a moment and began twirling it like a sword and blade.
...Focus your attention on the staff.
Looking at the completely flat data, and then at the very energetically swinging Shirou, Emperor reminded him.
I'll try again.
Stopping his movements, Shirou switched to holding the staff with both hands, copying Saber's posture when releasing a Noble Phantasm.
*...*
Looking at the data that still didn't have a single fluctuation, Emperor started wondering if Shirou was messing with him. He had fought so happily in the test room just now, and now that he came out, he couldn't even make the data fluctuate a little?
50 Inexpressible Penguin Screeches
Finally, after all kinds of varied efforts by Shirou, his Originium Arts adaptability was marked as Defective.
Emperor had no other choice. When switched to other types of Originium weapons, Shirou still couldn't trigger them, yet he could smoothly pull out dual blades and a bow.
This left Emperor puzzled, and he could only attribute it to the possibility that Shirou's Originium Arts were rather special, forcing him to just give Shirou a Defective grade based on the actual data.
Originium Arts adaptability could only be judged by data; on this point, Emperor couldn't use his own judgment to grade him.
I have a few questions I'd like to ask regarding your Originium Arts. Is that convenient?
Bringing the testing work to a close, Emperor could finally ask Shirou questions.
This was also part of the post-test summary, but more than anything, it could satisfy his curiosity.
Sure. Is there anything you'd like to ask?
Shirou could roughly guess that the other party was curious about Projection Magic, because ever since the initial projection, he had noticed Emperor's attention was on Gan Jiang Mo Ye.
Although asking about such matters directly is quite presumptuous, I'm extremely curious about your ability, Shirou. It doesn't matter if you can't talk about it, but if you can, that would be wonderful indeed.
Emperor politely spoke to Shirou first, while handing Shirou a damp towel.
That's not a problem at all.
Taking the towel, Shirou wiped the dust off his face.
That's fantastic. Then please have a seat; my questions coming up might be a bit numerous.
Having Shirou sit on a nearby chair, Emperor began his various inquiries.
From the principles used to the effects of each weapon, Emperor meticulously recorded everything Shirou said.
Shirou also tried his best to describe them, even directly projecting them and placing them in his hands for Emperor to study closely.
Finally, with an expression of complete satisfaction on Emperor's face, Shirou concluded the test and left this stronghold.
The scores and evaluations would be organized and sent to him by message later, so Shirou only knew his rough scores and had no idea how the subsequent evaluations would turn out.
However, judging from the simple evaluation Emperor gave him, no matter how foolish Shirou was, he could still understand that he still possessed a bit of strength on this land.
Yet it was merely possessing a bit of strength. When facing the influences of terrain, numbers, and other factors, he was still powerless to deal with them—on this point, Shirou was well aware.
Mana was the primary source of Shirou's combat power; without mana, Shirou was merely an ordinary person.
And the mana consumption he underwent just now during the test probably consumed about twenty percent of his reserves.
Of course, this was also a rather extreme example. In a basement that was unfavorable to him, the methods Shirou could use were much fewer.
If it were an open field, then directly widening the distance and sweeping the area with a pseudo-Spiral Sword or a massive amount of arrows would be a much more efficient choice.
Still, there was no helping it; after all, one couldn't always go challenging battlegrounds.
Ring-ring...
The phone rang, and Shirou answered it immediately.
Hello? Shirou, aren't you done over there yet?
Exusiai's voice came out from the phone.
Just finished. What's wrong?
Glancing slightly at the time, it was already afternoon, approaching evening. However, Shirou didn't need to worry about the topic of dinner today; the dinner portion should be the responsibility of the Penguin Logistics crew.
So upon receiving this call, Shirou was still somewhat puzzled.
Ah... It's just that... Look, isn't today Thursday?
Exusiai hemmed and hawed for a long time before finally saying a sentence.
What about Thursday?
No matter how Shirou thought about it, he couldn't figure out what kind of day today was.
It's just that, KFC has a super discount today, how about we eat this for dinner?
Exusiai took a deep breath and blurted it all out in one go.
This feeling of a child pestering their parents to eat junk food... How nostalgic!
Exusiai thought silently in her heart.
...Just for this?
Regarding Exusiai's words, Shirou felt quite speechless.
He had thought it was some important matter, and it turned out to be just this?
Ahem, it's mainly because you rarely eat fried food, Shirou, so I was a bit worried whether you might not really like eating it.
Eating it occasionally is fine. Eating it too often is bad for the health.
Thinking about how many times the few of them had eaten fried food this month, Shirou felt it was acceptable.
That's awesome! We'll be home in a bit!
Exusiai hung up the phone immediately after speaking.
*...*
Looking at the hung-up phone, Shirou could only silently put his phone back into his pocket and head toward the dormitories.
On the other side, Emperor, who had finished organizing all of Shirou's data, brought the documents over to Emperor's office.
He saw Emperor leisurely lying on a chair enjoying music, holding a glass of red wine in his hand, which, paired with the gold necklace around his neck, radiated a heavy nouveau-riche vibe.
Yo, Emperor, how come you're delivering this personally? Don't you usually avoid going out whenever you can?
Seeing Emperor walk over, Emperor also sat up from his chair.
Shirou's data is very interesting, and I feel a portion of it needs to be kept confidential, so I came directly.
Only half of what Emperor said was true. Shirou's detailed data and evaluation needed to be kept confidential, but the main reason was that he wanted to watch his boss's expression live, which was why he had personally delivered it.
Confidential? Interesting.
Hearing that Shirou's data needed to be kept confidential, Emperor instantly perked up.
Taking the paper documents from Emperor's hands, Emperor flipped them open.
Standard, Standard, Standard... Good, Excellent? Defective?
Initially, upon seeing physical strength, battle mobility, and physiological tolerance all consecutively listed as Standard, Emperor felt that Emperor was making a fuss over nothing. However, when he looked further down to tactical planning, combat skills, and Originium Arts adaptability, Emperor fell into bewilderment.
He had thought Shirou might be quite capable of fighting, but he hadn't expected Excellent? This was quite a rare piece of data.
As for that Defective mark, forget it; the scarcity of that thing was utter trash in front of an Excellent.
This kid is really this capable of fighting?
He still trusted Emperor quite a bit, but this data still left him feeling puzzled.
Boss, take a look at these and you'll understand.
Emperor handed the tablet in his hand to Emperor; the video on it was precisely the footage he had just edited.
After all, expecting his own boss to watch a dozen screens at once the way he did was quite unrealistic; a considerate employee should be considerate of his boss.
What kind of mysterious stuff are you making...
Before you continue