Stella, Imperial Scale, and Purple Lightning were not standing directly in front of Derek Su.
Instead, they formed a triangle around him.
Every five seconds, they threw ping-pong balls at him simultaneously from three different directions.
Derek Su, however, sat there without the slightest movement.
Zane didn't know what to do anymore.
No matter what, he felt Derek Su should at least try to move. Even blind luck would count. In his view, Derek Su was probably completely at a loss, but there was no way for him to insert other training steps in between to help him gradually adjust.
But what was actually happening?
Derek Su was sprinting wildly through his mind!
Chasing those points of light!
He gradually noticed a pattern in how they moved and evaded him. When he moved, they moved. When he stopped, they stopped. Simply chasing them was meaningless.
The points of light were always faster than him.
So he stopped and stood still.
He looked at the distorted world around him, at those fluttering "butterflies."
Then he closed his eyes.
What is perception?
In his understanding, it meant seeing with the heart, letting his body merge with the surrounding environment.
When he became part of the environment, then even the slightest disturbance would appear as clearly as a tremor on a spider's web.
His breathing and heartbeat gradually calmed.
Until they were almost imperceptible…
Within the mental world,
the version of Derek Su he had formed vanished.
He seemed to melt like wax, blending into the distorted scenery around him.
At that moment, the dancing points of light seemed to lose their direction, as if the wolves lurking beyond the flock had disappeared.
They grew more sluggish.
In that warped space, they looked like jellyfish drifting with ocean currents.
Or like insects that had landed on a spider's web, trembling along with its threads.
Suddenly!
A hand stretched out from the distortion.
It precisely grabbed one of the points of light.
Everything froze.
Then came a crisp snap.
The mental world shattered like broken glass, cracks spreading everywhere as it fell apart, only for a brand-new mental world to form instantly.
Derek Su "saw" Stella standing directly in front of him.
Purple Lightning and Imperial Scale stood to his left and right.
In front of him, a ping-pong ball wrapped in a point of light drifted forward extremely slowly.
Like footage playing at a lower frame rate.
Dragging a long, sluggish afterimage.
He pressed his lips together.
Both his mental self and his real self raised a hand at the same time.
His fingers closed around the ping-pong ball.
...
The basket of ping-pong balls was almost empty.
Derek Su still showed no sign of moving.
Zane stroked his chin, regret filling his eyes.
He was already thinking about other approaches.
At that moment, Stella threw another ping-pong ball. It traced an arc through the air and was about to reach Derek Su.
The unmoving Derek Su suddenly raised his hand.
Zane's eyes widened.
He couldn't quite describe what he saw.
It was like raindrops landing on leaves, like moonlight naturally spilling onto a windowsill as the moon rises. The ball seemed to place itself into Derek Su's hand, rather than him reaching out to catch it.
Everything felt effortless and natural.
Was it just luck? Zane wondered.
But then…
The moment Stella saw Derek Su catch the ball, he became even more excited. His hands blurred with speed as he threw the remaining dozen or so ping-pong balls all at once, like a machine gun firing.
"Hey, Stella, if you throw that fast, how is he supposed to ca—"
Zane stopped mid-sentence, his mouth hanging open.
Derek Su's hands had also turned into a blur.
Two seconds later, everything came to a stop.
Each of Derek Su's hands held ping-pong balls wedged between his fingers. One was clenched between his teeth, and one rested on the tip of each foot.
"Holy shit!" Zane blurted out.
Is he even human?!
His best expectation for today had been that Derek Su might catch three out of ten balls.
An average Techmaster could catch five out of ten. Catching seven would already place them among the top tier.
But now?
Derek Su wasn't even a Techmaster.
Yet his perception alone allowed him to catch all ten.
How was that possible?!
Could Derek Su actually be a hidden Techmaster? The absurd thought flashed through Zane's mind, but he quickly dismissed it.
That couldn't be the case. If Derek Su were a Techmaster, then given his relationship with Mr. Liang, he would have already rescued him.
Imperial Scale and Purple Lightning exchanged a glance, both seeing the same disbelief in each other's eyes, and slowly lowered the ping-pong balls in their hands.
"Um, Zane, do we still need to keep throwing?" Purple Lightning asked hesitantly.
"Ah, no, no need. This is already good enough." Zane waved his hand, the corner of his mouth twitching.
Stella helped Master remove the blindfold and earplugs, clapping excitedly with admiration. "Master, you're amazing! You can even catch balls I throw that fast!"
Derek Su looked at the ping-pong balls in his hands, feeling a bit stunned himself. People can be extraordinary, but there should be limits. Yet right now, he felt like he had gone a bit beyond that.
He looked up at Zane.
By then, Zane had already regained his calm, composed expression, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
"Zane, what level am I at now?" Derek Su asked curiously.
"Uh… so-so. Pretty average." Zane clasped his hands behind his back and spoke with a seasoned air. "Among Techmasters, your perception is at the bottom. It's much better than an ordinary person's, but still… don't get arrogant. You've got plenty of room to improve."
"Oh…" Derek Su felt a bit disappointed.
He had thought he was pretty impressive.
Still, he wasn't too upset. After all, he wasn't even a Techmaster.
From Zane's tone, he was already far beyond ordinary people.
That was enough.
"Derek Su, did you feel anything unusual just now?" Zane suddenly asked. When Derek Su looked at him, he added a bit awkwardly, "I need to judge your condition to figure out what you should train next, so just describe it a little."
"Unusual feeling?"
Derek Su rubbed his chin. "I could see a lot of light points. As long as I caught them, I could see everything outside even with my eyes closed. Then the whole world slowed down, and I could just reach out and grab the ping-pong balls."
Zane was completely lost.
He didn't understand a word.
"Oh, I get it," Zane said, pretending to understand. "At your level, next time try catching marbles. They're smaller and faster. Just don't get cocky."
Derek Su nodded.
Unfortunately, neither he nor Zane realized the truth.
Those so-called points of light were actually psychic energy.
Any Techmaster hearing Derek Su's description would immediately understand and be stunned.
Of course,
they might also kill him because of it.
Geniuses are admired.
But monsters…
are meant to be eliminated.
...
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