Chapter 75: Evaluation

"Am I allowed to use my levitation boots in the hurdle run?" I asked the instructor, standing at the very edge of the track.

The instructor was taken aback. He eyed the boots and exchanged a significant glance with the proctor overseeing the test. All of them had seen me tear through the valley at tremendous speed with those boots and knew, if I were allowed to use them, the hurdles would be nothing more than paltry tricks. Not even Priam could compete with me, even with his Celerity pushed to its limits.

"Remove them for now," said the proctor. "You shouldn't be too dependent on external items at such a young age."

While there was some truth to it, asking an Artisan to abdicate their craft was akin to asking a swordsman to fight without his treasured blade. But then again, the hurdle run was an evaluation of our physical growth. I removed the boots and handed them to the instructor for safekeeping. A few classmates smirked unabashedly, convinced they could outrun me without the boots. Good luck to them.

Aside from Priam, none of them stood much of a chance.

"All right, everybody, line up," the proctor called.

Instead of changing into a regular pair of footwear, I lined up barefoot. It made little difference with my high fortitude.

"On your mark."

Everyone braced themselves, eyes forward, assuming a sprinting pose. Then the whistle blew. Instantly, Priam's figure shot through the wind, covering dozens of metres in seconds as he approached the first hurdle. The rest of us could only chase after him.

The track around the field spanned about a mile, broken into stages with obstacles. First were the wooden beams tall enough to challenge even the shortest of us, then came the inclined walls that only grew higher towards the finish line. Finally, a couple of pits, large enough that they forced the runners to either scramble through them or leap across if they had the physicality.

The first hurdle barely slowed anyone. Everyone vaulted over the beam without issue. More than half a dozen of my classmates kept pace with me when I reached the second beam. Priam was already at the halfway point, scaling the wall.

After clearing a few more of the chest-high beams, I hit that first wall. A surge of kinetic force from my lower body launched me upwards, helping me scale the wall in one clean movement, where many of my classmates were slowed down. Now, only Markus and Charis were keeping up with me, with Eran remaining slightly ahead.

Outrunning someone with Celerity was impossible, especially when Priam was only one Aether root away from Noble Class.

I guess I'll just compete with my best friend for the second spot.

"Did you miss me?" I said, trailing behind him.

My friend didn't even glance back, his eyes fixed on the next hurdle. The pit ahead stretched over fifteen metres and was several metres deep. Even the longest jump couldn't clear it. I was employing kinetic force, bracing myself for the jump, when Eran launched himself forward. He didn't quite make it across, falling short by a couple of metres. Thankfully, his deft fingers caught the far wall so he could haul himself up, wasting no time. Our rock-climbing practice undoubtedly paid off.

Once again, my shaping skills compensated for my weaker physicality. By the time we topped the next wall, which was even higher than the last, Priam was already waiting at the finish line, claiming first place.

Winded badly, Charis failed to scale the second wall on the first try. Only Markus lagged behind me, his breathing laboured, but unwilling to lose out to me.

The rest of the run proved uneventful. I crossed the remaining hurdles, slightly breathless, and reached the finish line, only behind Eran. In the last phase, his pace accelerated to the limit, not giving anyone a chance. Eran must have invested all his unallocated points into agility before the evaluation.

Sweat covered his face by the end of it, even though he barely seemed to be winded.

"Not bad, eh?"

Eran smiled, tension easing from his face. "I should have practised more," he said. "You were disturbingly close to pushing me to third."

I shook my head. "Don't sell yourself short. If you keep up the intensity in the duels, you could easily win a vial of Essence Tonic."

Of course, that was easier said than done. Eran's gift still wasn't as effective in combat, which meant that only by putting his absolute best would he have a shot at the top four spot.

"Congratulations on second and third," Priam sneered, a broad grin on his lips. "Although if I had continued my run, I could have lapped you both without an issue."

"I'll see you at the duels," I replied, matching his sneer.

His smile fell off. "Just because you beat me months ago doesn't mean you can beat me again."

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The next test was archery, and it held no surprises. A few of us earned full marks, but the real test would come afterwards. If we ranked each test by point value, duels stood as the most important, followed by gift appraisal from the headmaster. The hurdle run, endurance test, and the written exams—which would be carried out on the following days—carried equal value. Archery stood at the very last, along with any other talents.

The headmaster and several other instructors oversaw the duels. Having prepared well beforehand, they divided the forty-odd students into eight groups. Only the winner from each group would advance.

Thankfully, Eran and I weren't placed together. The instructors had been careful to separate the top performers, ensuring they wouldn't eliminate each other too early.

The students performed far better than they had in their early days. I did manage to defeat my first couple of opponents with barely a move or two, but those were either uninterested in combat or lazy. In the round of eight, my opponent was a girl named Eli.

Her gift was the common Enhanced Strength. Unlike Markus's Harden, which focused entirely on defence, her gift provided an all-around boost, be it in physical strength, toughness, or agility. While it sounded better than Harden, or even Celerity, it was a different story in practice. With her current capacity, her gift only allowed about a thirty percent boost, whereas Priam could raise his speed three times over, if not even further.

It had been a while since I'd fought in the institution, so I couldn't gauge how skilled she was now. I expected it would be challenging and ventured cautiously.

With Enhanced Strength, Eli could rival Eran in physical prowess. Unfortunately, she wasn't as good at fencing. The match took only a few minutes, though that was only because of my cautiousness. The final score was 12–3.

I kept my essence reservoir full for my duel against Priam.

By finishing my battle early, I got to watch Eran in action. He was up against Markus. Among the few talents that developed through training under the instructors, Markus stood at the very front. Standing at the fifth step of the common Class, he could now utilise Harden for several minutes. The instructor also introduced him to a war door shield, doubling his defence, while he took up a battle axe for his weapon of choice.

But most importantly, Eran had to earn twenty-four points instead of twelve to claim victory.

They were in the final phase of the battle. Eran had already scored twenty points, though his opponent wasn't far behind with ten. You could say they were evenly matched, except that Eran seemed like he was on the brink of exhaustion. His pace had slowed tremendously, sweat soaking through his clothes, his face a mask of sweat and concentration.

But it wasn't only Markus who had improved. Other than his sword forms, Eran had progressed most in strategising.

He had kept one trick hidden, knowing it would come in useful later.

Relying on a kinetic charge at point-blank range, Eran threw his opponent off balance and scored a couple more points with strikes to the head. He hadn't held back in the slightest, so much so that a crack appeared in Markus's helmet. If not for that blighted war door in his hands, Eran might have finished him already.

Eran charged forward, flowing between the swift forms of Whispering Gale and Tidal Wave. It didn't look effortless or sublime, but his strikes carried all his weight behind them.

He gained one point with a feint aimed at Markus's shoulder, then followed with a piercing strike toward the head. Markus evaded it and countered with a strike of his own.

Eran took the blow on his shield, his sword swinging toward his opponent's neck in a brutal arc.

"Hold! One final point to Eran," called the proctor. "Victory goes to Eran, 24 to 10."

The moment the battle ended, Eran collapsed on his back, the wooden sword falling from his grip. His chest heaved, breaths coming in ragged gasps. He failed to even remove his helmet.

Eran had spent everything in this duel. He didn't have the strength to even fight evenly against whoever his next opponent would be in the top four. Luck wasn't on his side either; the draw had paired him with Priam, while my opponent was Charis. He was one of the few who got full marks in archery. Well, his gift, Heightened Perception, was made for sharpshooting.

Charis wasn't half bad at fencing, either. His high perception allowed for swift and timely reflexes; even so, he was a far easier opponent than Markus. Eran might have stood a chance against him if he had been given some time to catch his breath.

But against Priam, he barely earned a single point before being defeated. He couldn't even withstand half-hearted blows, his limbs trembling.

I guessed the rest was on me.

They cleared the entire inner gymnasium for our duel. I was about to step forward when I turned towards the headmaster.

"Am I allowed to use my boots now?" I asked, hiding a smirk.

Headmaster Larius blinked, his eyes darting to the white boots I wore. "Obviously," he said. "Other than weapons that could harm your opponent, anything is allowed."

I couldn't conceal my smirk anymore and sized up my opponent.

Let's see how fast you are.

The duel began, and Priam immediately disappeared from his spot, his form blurring in a streak of light as his sword came slashing towards my head. Although his speed had risen, he hadn't changed much, it seemed.

Before his sword could strike, an invisible force surged from my boots, launching me upwards. The duelling cane missed me completely, and the Levitation was only running at second gear.

Priam's face twisted as he lunged at me. I used my left hand to spin around, evading his blow. The second gear seemed to match his Celerity almost equally.

Such exchanges continued a dozen times, with none of his moves finding its mark. I simply flew around the gymnasium, Priam chasing after me.

"I wonder how long you can keep this up," I said with a smirk.

An ugly scowl settled on Priam's face. "As long as it takes to beat you," Priam said condescendingly, though his performance showed no improvement.

Even pushing his Celerity to the limit, he could only keep pace with me, while I simply needed to time my movements to evade his strikes.

"My boots have enough charge to last half an hour."

"You're only running around like a coward," my opponent growled. "So what if you can flee for half an hour, or even all day? In the end, you will only face defeat."

That old trick of calling a kid a coward seemed to work almost every time. Who am I kidding? It is even effective on some adults.

But I was above such a nonsensical ploy. I could just—

"Come down and fight me, coward!"

As if on cue, his entire sycophantic friend group began shouting. "If you have guts, fight him with your own ability."

"How long are you going to run?"

There were even some zealous suck-ups who acted as if they were his myrmidons, calling me a coward nonstop.

Now, I might be above getting riled by such petty tricks, but all that shouting grated on me far too much. Even after Instructor Delric silenced the crowd, I felt like they needed to see a good demonstration to finally shut up for good.

"Fine," I said, slowly landing on the wooden floor. "I won't waste any more time with you."

With that, I adopted the stance of Whispering Gale.