Chen Xiao smiled a little sheepishly. "That first punch the other day was actually a warm-up. I just threw it casually, so naturally the reading wasn't accurate."
"When I was ready to test it seriously afterward, the teacher recording the results said, 'That's enough,' so I stopped."
"I'd only just arrived at the school and was afraid people would find me annoying if I kept testing, so I didn't insist. That's why even I can't say exactly how strong I am."
"But... I don't think it's reached ten tons yet."
He hadn't watered down the truth. His grip strength really was below ten tons. Apart from the "warm-up" pretext, he had offered no other excuse.
Normally, however, an ordinary person's punching force was roughly twice their grip strength, before adding the kinetic energy supplied by a punching speed of a hundred meters per second.
The instantaneous explosive force of Chen Xiao's last strike had approached, or even surpassed, the twenty-ton mark.
Twenty tons in one punch. Would you dare take it?
Hearing this, Storm seemed to grasp something from where she stood in the distance. "This clearly has everything to do with Vitas's speed. Compared with Peter, who's only a little faster than an ordinary person, his movement speed has already reached more than ten times that of a normal person."
"We all know that a punch's power depends not only on the explosive strength of muscles and bones, but also directly on the speed of the arm."
"The basic laws of physics confirm this too: the greater the speed, the harder the impact."
Only after her explanation did everyone around them understand that Chen Xiao's astonishing burst of strength hadn't come out of nowhere.
Even so, quite a few were still secretly shaken.
His speed was over ten times that of an ordinary person, his static grip strength started at no less than five tons, and a full-force punch instantly exceeded fifteen tons.
In terms of sheer physical strength alone, he had completely surpassed every Mutant student present.
Although becoming Mutants generally improved their physiques, giving them strength and endurance far beyond those of ordinary people;
that improvement was limited, often amounting to only a few times the norm. After all, what Mutants truly relied on was ultimately their own unique abilities.
Unless they were Mutants with innate physical enhancement, their bodily strength rarely improved by leaps and bounds.
At this thought, the students below the arena immediately felt much better. Right, we rely on our abilities! So what if you're strong and can run fast?
Can you pass through all solid matter? Can you control plant growth? Can you release a scorching aura and blast targets apart from a distance?
While they were silently finding ways to save face,
Cyclops and Storm were inwardly reeling.
They had read Chen Xiao's admission file: initial awakening as an energy-type Mutant, ability named "Energy Berserk," current power rating level one, potential rating level three.
His basic physical capabilities had been only twice those of an ordinary person, with mediocre enhancement effects. The overall assessment had stated that his chances of joining the X-Men after graduation were less than ten percent.
After all, not every Mutant who graduated from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters could put on an X-Men uniform.
That required recognition across multiple areas, including a solid foundation of knowledge, accumulated combat experience, and ability stability.
Yet that assessment had been overturned on Chen Xiao's fifth day at school. The physical strength he displayed then was still climbing rapidly, soaring to ten times that of an ordinary person in just five days, with a measured strength of 1,300 kilograms.
Such an outrageous rate of growth had prompted even Professor X to personally review his records and place the new student on the priority observation list.
Of course, no one had known then that Chen Xiao had actually used less than half his true strength.
That was also why Storm had specifically kept him behind for a talk after class that day. Despite the school's many students, those with both reliable combat strength and highly adaptable abilities were exceedingly rare.
And today, just ten full days after he had enrolled, his physical strength had already risen to dozens of times that of an ordinary person. That rate of evolution was simply staggering.
Indeed, there were plenty of Mutants stronger than Chen Xiao was now, and even more who surpassed him in speed. Quicksilver, for instance, was so fast that even the sense of time became blurred.
But the key was that Quicksilver's extreme speed was driven by his ability. Once activated, it distorted his surroundings as he entered a state beyond the limits of physical laws;
Chen Xiao, on the other hand, possessed sheer bodily might through and through.
Scott's heart sank, and he immediately decided to raise the confidentiality level of Chen Xiao's file to the highest tier once this class ended.
His voice was low and solemn. "You've all just seen Vitas's close-combat strength. In terms of physical capabilities alone, I'm afraid even I would be no match for him."
"Next, we'll switch to ability combat training. I'll control the output of my optic blasts and attack him. You can choose to block with your ability or dodge."
"...All right." Chen Xiao paused briefly, not expecting one punch to rewrite the training plan on the spot, then nodded in agreement.
He had never truly used his "Energy Berserk" ability before.
Now he drew a deep breath, and with a thought, another dormant power within him abruptly awakened.
As though a fuse had been lit, the activation of his ability rapidly triggered certain special gene chains, unleashing a torrent of primal, restless energy.
Boom!
From a distance, invisible energy seemed to erupt from Chen Xiao's entire body, whipping up powerful spiraling currents that made his clothes snap loudly.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Transparent gusts burst from all over his body, spinning rapidly upward from below and sending his hair flying wildly, his aura extending a meter around him.
With a gold-and-blue glow added, the scene would have looked exactly like a Super Saiyan transformation.
Of course, that required overlooking the shoe on his left foot. When he had pushed off the ground earlier, the brute force had torn a gash through its upper, leaving his toes exposed.
The sight made Shadowcat's eyes light up below the arena. "So cool."
"Damn it, this guy stole the spotlight again," a boy with a secret crush on Shadowcat muttered sourly.
While the others were still marveling at this release of energy, Chen Xiao himself was slightly stunned.
He could clearly feel his muscles abruptly swelling as the berserk energy surged through his bloodstream, power pouring into him like a raging tide.
In that instant, he was certain his strength had increased at least fivefold, an unprecedented surge.
But the cost was equally obvious. The erupting energy felt like flames consuming his body, draining his stamina at an astonishing rate.
Just then, Scott raised a hand in the distance and pressed his glasses frame, warning, "Vitas, I'm attacking."
Before he finished speaking, a dazzling red light flared across the lenses, and two searing beams shot out with a boom, tearing through the air straight toward Chen Xiao's face.
The optic blasts were incredibly fast, crossing more than thirty meters in the blink of an eye.
Yet at the very instant the red light appeared, Chen Xiao stamped his right foot hard against the ground,
Boom!
His fivefold-enhanced strength erupted, shattering the floor beneath his foot and tearing his right shoe completely into several pieces.
But he had no time to worry about that. Using the tremendous recoil, he flashed more than ten meters sideways, barely avoiding the beams.
Boom!
The two red beams slammed into the spot where he had stood. The floor instantly exploded, flames and rubble spraying in all directions as a scorching shock wave thundered outward.
Just then, Scott tilted his head slightly, and the two crimson beams swept sideways like a pair of invisible hot knives, heading straight for Chen Xiao in the distance.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Wherever the blades of light passed, ice walls exploded inch by inch and the ground was cleanly sliced open. The vines entwining the arena and the swamp softening its surface all vaporized and disintegrated in an instant.
The spectacle was staggering.
Sending Scott flying more than ten meters with that earlier punch had certainly been impressive, but in the blink of an eye, Chen Xiao had been completely pinned on the defensive.
Under the scorching beams, he trailed a string of afterimages as he raced around the arena, using solid ice, stone pillars, and broken walls to maneuver and dodge.
Every time he accelerated forward to close the distance, the beams slashed toward him like his own shadow, forcing him to brake abruptly and turn back.
On his closest attempt, he had only made it to just over ten meters from Scott.
Scott himself was nowhere near as fast, but now he only needed to stand still and shift his eyes slightly to attack. There was no need to give chase, much less dodge.
"Damn... wasn't Cyclops supposed to have slow reflexes and be easy to overwhelm?"
Chen Xiao twisted back and bent low, narrowly avoiding a sweeping beam as he muttered inwardly.
Thinking back to the movies, this ability never lasted more than three seconds on-screen: he was either knocked unconscious in a surprise attack or restrained and controlled, always ending up a sorry sight.
But the man before him was an entirely different matter.
Leaving aside his steel-like physique, which had taken Chen Xiao's twenty-ton punch head-on and merely been sent flying without a scratch, his beam control alone was already troublesome enough,
with power that rose and fell at will, crisp starts and stops, seamless horizontal sweeps and vertical cuts, and firepower that left no gaps.
Even more remarkable was how steadily he sustained it.
Moreover, the destruction remained confined to the arena's surroundings: whenever a beam was about to cross the boundary and strike a distant wall, it abruptly dissipated without leaving any residual blast.
So while the fight on the platform shook the ground, everyone below watched with keen interest, without any fear of being caught in the crossfire.
On the surface, Chen Xiao was constantly taking attacks without being able to retaliate, but his efforts were not actually futile. As he continued driving his ability at full power, his understanding of his innate "Energy Berserk" ability quietly deepened.
For instance, besides its dazzling visual display, the energy storm erupting from his body also came with a repulsive barrier.
Several times during the battle, beams had exploded against the ground, but the resulting shock waves and scorching surges of flame were all blocked by the transparent layer of energy hovering over his skin.
With repeated activation and circulation, his X-Gene grew increasingly active, and the berserk energy it spewed out slowly increased.
This improvement further enhanced his physical functions.
However, the increase mainly affected his muscles' explosive strength, while the boost to speed was less obvious. Otherwise, a fivefold enhancement should already have taken him past the sound barrier.
As Chen Xiao fought while examining the changes in his ability,
Scott, Ororo, and the others in the distance were also watching intently, silently sorting out the characteristics and limits of his power.
Suddenly, the beams stopped. Scott's low voice carried over. "Vitas, next I'll reduce the beams' output."
"Take them head-on and test the upper limit of your ability's defense."
"All right."
Chen Xiao didn't hesitate. He knew Scott was helping him gauge his capabilities.
Only by thoroughly understanding every limit of his own ability could he make accurate predictions in real combat, maintain his rhythm, and avoid accidents caused by misjudgment.