A Serpent's Tale
Chapter 278: Strength Test

Chapter 278: Strength Test

They set up some sort of bag which I was supposed to punch which would test my Strength by determining the force of my punch.

They all backed away to give me space to perform, and there was nothing behind the bag except the back end of the arena. At least from where we were it was the back.

I slithered up to the bag, which was more like a pillar in terms of how tough it felt.

Of course I didn’t know how strong it actually was but I would definitely give this punch my all.

I took a deep breath and cocked my left fist back, placing my right just in front of the punching bag in an open palm.

I clenched my hand into a fist and twisted my upper body back to pull my a arm back just a little more to get more power for my punch.

And then, I threw my fist forward, turning my body in tune with my arm to increase the power of my strike.

The air surrounding my fist was being pushed away due to the sheer force of it obliterating the space I pushed it through, creating shockwaves that blew the dust in the surroundings into the air wildly.

Then, my fist near instantly reached the punching bag with a thunderous bang.

*BAANNGG!!!*

A huge cloud of dust bellowed out upon impact and made it basically impossible to see.

But as the dust was blown away by someone’s spell, everyone in the arena could see the absolute carnage that my fist had brought.

The floor of the arena had been literally ripped out from the shockwave and the punching bag was nowhere to be found. It’s shape that of an isosceles triangle. There was even a dent in the floor where I stood.

There was only a massive hole in the colosseums wall at the back end. And it wasn’t a small one either.

The wall itself was rather tall, being about ten metres tall, with the stands for people to watch the matches that happen in the arena up on top.

And yet, my punch had broken a hole large enough to break that wall down from top to bottom. Cracks still forming along it and pieces of stone crumbling off even after a few seconds had passed.

Was I really that strong? I hear that these walls are able to withstand the full charge of a raging Bull-Kin at full power AND amped up with magic.

But there it was, broken, and still breaking.

Everyone here was completely awestruck at what I had just accomplished.

’Wait... I’m not gonna have to pay for this am I? Oh dear Goddess, please don’t tell me I’ll have to pay for the repairs!’ I prayed frantically at that horrifying prospect as I had no idea how much the wall cost.

I may have money but I don’t want to waste it. I do have a limited supply. Even if that supply is big, it’s going to run out someday.

So until then, I’d rather keep as much of it to myself.

I know that sounds stupid considering I spend a lot on food and sex toys once, but that’s not the point here.

I also didn’t realise that my body had tensed up from that punch until just now, and it was surprisingly painful.

Not in the sense of ’I’ve lost my arm’ but more of a ’Ow, I stretched my muscle to much’ kind of pain. It hurt a little more than that, probably, but a quick stretch and relaxing soothed my body and got rid of the pain.

But the result of my punch was still incredible if a little unnerving. Yes, I may have immense strength as I’ve now discovered, but I don’t want to be poached for it, or any of my other physical abilities either.

Though, I think I can leverage my status as a Genius from the Institute to shut down anyone who tries. That shouldn’t be against the rules, right?

I’m technically using my status as a member of the academy, which IS against the rules, but I’m using for the purposes of retaining my freedom of choice and my future.

Maybe I should just double check with the headmaster when I go back.

Anyways, after several minutes of waiting, I decided to clap my hands in an attempt to get everyone out of their trance.

*CLAP!*

It was loud enough that I think it resounded throughout half the arena maybe.

And it fortunately did snap everyone out of the stupor from staring at the hole in the wall in disbelief to then all stare at me the same way.

Great... This is the kind of thing I hate and want to avoid as much as possible.

I have a feeling that I won’t be able to hide my strength for much longer at this rate...

’Goddess damn it...’ I cursed in my mind as I sighed, knowing that all the events surrounding me would eventually make their way to someone with high status like the Duchess.

And to be quite frank, I don’t want her to find out based on my previous interactions with her. She seems a little mentally unstable.

I don’t want her of all people to come after me. She’s not only a Duchess and the ruler of the city, but she’s also the one who owns the orphanage and funds it also.

The only thing I could do was hope that she wouldn’t take an interest in me, however, I had a feeling that that wouldn’t be the case.

Either way I clapped my hands once more and got everyone out of their stupor of staring at me once more.

When that was done, I was not expecting the young kids to run up to me, practically swarming me and fawned over my strength. Some of them even claimed their desires to one day surpass me as well.

The adults here then came and pried them off of me, apologising for their behaviour, but also.

"What the actual fuck was that?!" A male Serpentar screamed at me after dragging me away from the younger snakelets.

"My full strength?" I responded as I shrugged with my hands as well as my shoulders.

"THAT was your full strength? THAT!" He screamed hysterically as he leaning into me, causing me to shrink back in response.

"Yes? Why? What’s wrong?" I asked as he was starting to lean in almost too much that he might fall over and land face first in my breasts, which I would rather not happen.

I’d probably slap him away before he could fall there though.

Fortunately, he seemed to realise this as he stood straight once more and took a few deep breaths to calm down.

Then he opened his mouth to speak once more, "Why did you come here to test your strength?"

"Because there’s no other place to realistically test it. Don’t worry, I shouldn’t destroy anything else while I’m here. I don’t plan on using any magic."

The man sighed and rubbed his forehead. "That’s not exactly the problem here."

"Then what is?" I was confused. I knew that breaking the arena was an issue, but if that was the issue he would’ve probably demanded compensation from me already or something.

"The problem is that you’re too strong for us to assess. I thought you were some sort of kid because you still look like one." He moaned as he rubbed his eyes now instead.

"But I am a kid." I stated bluntly.

He stopped rubbing his head and looked at me in disbelief. "You serious?"

I reiterated, adding some extra info to clarify, "Yeah, I only turned one hundred and eighty last month."

It’s true, any Lamia or Naga under the age of two hundred is considered a child still. Even if they look like a smoking hot babe like me.

The man continued looking at me in disbelief, unable to comprehend what I was saying.

He then sighed and spoke up, "If you want to get a proper measure of your strength, you should go to the adventurer’s guild. They’ll be able to properly measure your strength. Why did you even come here in the first place?"

I twiddled my fingers together as I answered, "Well, I didn’t know the guild did strength assessments, and I thought I might be able to do it here, considering what you’re trying to do."

The man sighed once again and explained why they were doing this, "We’re doing this as a charitable deed for the youngsters who want to do this. But I guess I should thank you for that, since you seem to have motivated them to become stronger, which is never a bad thing."

"That’s good then. What exactly is going to happen with..." I looked in the direction of the carnage that I inflicted upon the colosseum.

"Hmm? Oh don’t worry, it breaks more often than you might think when they host competitions and tournaments here." He reassured that everything would be fine and that I wouldn’t get into trouble because of that.

I sighed in relief and thanked him for his help and left to go to the adventurer’s guild to get a proper strength assessment.