Her tone carried even more suspicion than when she had spoken to Vivian earlier.
Yize’s appearance didn’t show any signs of being able to crush a powerhouse like Lailong.
Lailong’s face reddened. He coughed dryly twice.
“Watch your words! It was a spar! I just tested him a little and found that Brother Yize’s strength was unfathomable, so I took a liking to his talent!”
Meixier smilingly added.
“Oh?”
“Is that right, Captain?”
“But I heard someone got sent flying by the second punch and embedded into the wall.”
Lailong: “……Meixier!” This little girl always has such good intel!
Mailike rubbed his forehead and also came over. Though he no longer dared to underestimate Yize, he still found it unbelievable.
“Brother, are you really that fierce?”
“I know the defense of Captain Lailong’s Thunder Armor. Even an ordinary A-class monster can hardly break it.”
“You did it with two punches…… How?”
“Did you use some special martial art or magic?”
Yize put down the teacup in his hand. Facing three pairs of eyes full of curiosity, doubt, and scrutiny, he remained calm.
He thought for a moment and decided to respond in the simplest way.
“Uncle Lailong is very strong, especially in defense.”
He first affirmed Lailong, then explained.
“I’m just…… maybe a little stronger than normal, and a little faster. As for how…… maybe I was born with a special constitution.”
This explanation was essentially no explanation, but combined with his sincere expression, it was hard to find fault.
Lena was obviously dissatisfied with this vague statement.
She was a woman of action, believing that seeing is believing and fist-to-fist is the best way to communicate.
“Just talking is useless!”
Lena waved her hand, cutting off Mailike who wanted to press further. She stared at Yize with burning eyes.
“Let’s see what you’ve got! Yize, do you dare to go a few rounds with me?”
“No need to go to the duel arena, that’s too troublesome.”
She pointed at the stone table in front.
“Let’s compete in the simplest thing—arm wrestling!”
She had absolute confidence in her strength.
As the team’s frontline damage absorber and powerful charger, her physical strength had been tempered through thousands of hours, supplemented by a special aura cultivation method.
In terms of pure strength, she even surpassed most Demihumans who had natural advantages.
She considered herself second only to Captain Lailong in the Night Raid team, and could even surpass him briefly in certain burst states.
She didn’t believe this seemingly not-so-strong young man could beat her in pure strength.
Lailong’s eyes lit up upon hearing this. Instead of stopping her, he revealed an expression ready to watch the show.
“Great idea! Lena, test Yize’s mettle!”
“But I’m warning you, be prepared.”
He had personally experienced that inhuman strength last night.
Meixier also smiled and stepped back half a step, looking like she was ready to enjoy a wonderful match.
Mailike held his head, his gaze sweeping between Yize and Lena, full of anticipation.
Vivian pouted and muttered.
“Arm wrestling? How boring…”
In her view, this kind of contest was too tame.
Yize looked at Lena’s battle-filled eyes and knew he had to pass this test.
He nodded and stood up.
“Alright, let’s try.”
The two walked to opposite sides of the stone table.
Lena extended her right hand, which was well-defined and covered in a thin layer of calluses.
She placed it in the center of the table, fingers spread, exuding power.
Yize also extended his right hand and clasped it with Lena’s.
In comparison, Yize’s hand appeared slender and well-proportioned, with smooth skin, more like the hand of a scholar or mage.
“Ready?”
Lena took a deep breath, her muscles tensing slightly. Her azure eyes locked onto Yize.
“I won’t go easy on you just because you’re new!”
“Feel free to start whenever you are, Sister Lena.” Yize said politely.
“Start!”
With Lena’s own low shout, the muscles in her arms, shoulders, and even her abdomen instantly swelled.
A massive force erupted, attempting to crush Yize’s arm instantly!
But!
Yize’s arm didn’t move an inch, and his muscles didn’t even bulge noticeably.
Lena was startled. She immediately increased her strength to 80%.
With another low shout, a faint light flowed over her arm as she infused her aura into it to further enhance her power!
The table let out a strained “squeak,” but Yize’s arm remained as steady as a rock, not even swaying.
He even had the leisure to smile at Lena.
Lena’s face flushed red, this time from both effort and shock.
She stopped holding back and unleashed all her strength without reservation, even making the floor beneath her feet tremble slightly!
She exerted 120% of her power—the maximum she could muster without using a special burst technique!
But Yize’s arm still stayed firmly in the center, as if Lena’s force, which could bend steel, was just a gentle breeze.
The terrace fell silent again, except for the table’s faint groans.
Meixier and Mailike both opened their mouths wide, staring at the scene in disbelief.
Lailong folded his arms, sporting an “I told you so” expression.
Yize felt it was about time; if they stalemated any longer, the table might break.
He looked at Lena, whose forehead was sweating from exertion and whose eyes were starting to show shock. He said softly.
“Sister Lena, careful.”
As his words fell, he moved his wrist slightly.
There was no violent burst, no aura light. It was a seemingly casual press.
Lena felt an irresistible force transmitted, and the defense she had maintained with all her might instantly crumbled!
“Thump!”
Her hand was pressed firmly onto the tabletop. She lost completely.
Lena stared blankly at her pinned hand, then looked up at Yize’s calm expression. She couldn’t speak for a long time.
Her proud strength was so easily crushed before him?
“I… I lost.”
Lena slowly withdrew her hand, took a few deep breaths to calm the shock in her heart.
Her gaze toward Yize had completely changed— no longer scrutiny and doubt, but filled with shock, admiration, and a burning competitive spirit.
“Amazing! Yize! You’re the strongest human I’ve ever seen! No exceptions! I’m completely convinced!”
She reached out and patted Yize’s shoulder hard, laughing heartily.
“We’re teammates from now on! We must spar again sometime! I don’t believe I can’t beat you when I use my burst skills!”
Meixier finally snapped back from her shock. She touched her chest, her purple eyes gleaming.
“Truly… an astonishing display.”
“Mr. Yize, your constitution is indeed ‘special’ beyond imagination. I’m becoming more and more interested in you.”
Her gaze seemed to want to see through Yize inside and out.
Mailike gave Yize a thumbs up, his tone much more sincere.
“Brother, awesome! I’m impressed!”
Lailong watched this scene and nodded with satisfaction.
Through these two small “tests,” Yize and Vivian’s strength had been demonstrated most intuitively, and they were quickly accepted by the three core members.
Though the methods were a bit unexpected—headbutts and arm wrestling—the result was perfect.
“Alright, tests are done. You all know each other now?”
Lailong clapped his hands to pull everyone’s attention back.
“Yize is going to use the teleportation array to leave Stana at noon and return to the Olay Empire to deal with urgent matters.”
“So soon?”
Yize said helplessly.
“No choice. The situation there is extremely urgent. If the teleportation array didn’t need until noon to finish charging, I would have left even earlier.”
Lena said.
“But isn’t the Adventurer’s Guild squad tournament in a few months?”
“You just joined the squad. Aren’t you going to participate with us?”
Everyone looked at Yize and Vivian with hope.
With these two ‘super’ rookies, they believed they could climb a few more ranks in this tournament.
Yize rubbed his chin.
“If I’ve finished dealing with the issues there by then and the timing works out…”
“I could consider coming to participate.”
Meixier smiled.
“Then I hope Mr. Yize makes it in time!”
“Also, there are many teammates in the squad you haven’t met yet.”
“If you could come earlier, it would also help us train our teamwork.”
Time arrived at noon.
Yize reached the teleportation hub of Stana.
He placed his identification badge into the activation device.
Soon, a glow enveloped him.
Just as Yize was teleporting, he seemed to hear Vivian shouting loudly.
“My route is different from Yize’s!”
“And this road looks obviously longer!”
Indeed, her teleportation route was the one that took three days with fourteen transfers.
Yize’s was the route that took only one day and passed through the Elf stronghold.
Lailong explained helplessly.
“Yize knows someone at the teleportation hub… so he has special privileges.”
“But this isn’t a perk of our Night Raid squad. I didn’t pull any strings for Yize.”
At the same time, on the Betty Territory battlefield,
Riya, after hearing about Yize, had gone berserk.