223. A different solution?

[The Dueling Exam: Arc 11]

[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Examinee's Keeping - Fortune Tunnel (Middle Row) - Friday 11:20 a.m.]

About 332 examinees have already dropped out and only 668 were still in this challenge.

"Already 332.... this is actually getting dangerous..." Claimed Hideki, moving next to Kylin and Sakami. "And we've only ran for about 14 kilometers, this one last kilometer, so many people dropped out, duo to their stamina depletion and their weakened bodies.... it does make me worried that we won't be able to reach the end of the first test... besides, there is still 136 kilometers left.... can we really do it?" Wondered Kylin, finally getting a bit worried. "Yeah. This is giving me some strange vibes.... as you remember the first goal was 100 kilometers..... however, now it's 150 kilometers to reach... there is something that I absolutely despise and is giving me strange thoughts...." Claimed Hideki, thinking. "I am realizing it as well... 100 was written on the web.... but 150 was told by the person leading the first test.... could there be something that will make people's thoughts to just give up, or is this truly what we must go through?" Wondered Kylin. "Not just that. The tunnel is supposed to be constantly straight no further interactions with different paths...." Sakami added. "Some people behind us and in front of us seem to have simmilar thoughts.... it gives me some worry that this tunnel is not what we see...." Kylin answered. "Hmmm.... good thinking.... maybe there's just no end to it? Or is it really just a test of your stamina, I don't believe that.... there is something else, bothering me..... but I can't think of a solution to what it is..." Claimed Hideki. Kylin nodded.

A few meters before Kylin and the rest two, Shin and Shoji continued to move on.

"This is so annoying, why would anyone need to run for so long? I mean, I know it's a test of stamina, but not even in fight you use so much of your stamina...." Thought Shoji. Shin, however was thinking calmly, moving. "Yo! Shin! What are you now thinking about, god?" But Shin finally gave in and looked at Shoji. "....Nothing.... except that there is some weird sensation of the earth.... something that cannot allow me to feel, something that nobody can see...." Shin though, sighing. "So now you're thinking that there is other solution to beating this test?" Questioned Shoji. "Somewhat yes.... I believe that there is something special about this tunnel that nobody could foresee... I think, that there is another path, the absolutely correct one, but nobody here is aware about...." Thought Shin. "Hm, think you can figure that out before we reach the 150 mark?" Wondered Shoji. "Yes, I could, but to be clear, when the examiner said a number over 100, I believe, that might have been a hint that everbody should be aware about for them to succeed...." Sighed Shin and thought deeply. "I guess.... but how is that a hint, the examiner just told the saying of how far we must run, never mentioned anything connected to a proper hint... numbers are.... y'know... just numbers...." Shoji talked what so curious. "For now, we should focus on reaching the 150 kilometer mark..... and besides, remember how they told that we are not allowed any technology, but they did let us keep our Zero Watches, this is the only item that everybody absolutely needed to take on this exam.... anyone who had not gotten it or bought it would be unable to take on this exam.... there is another hint to why our watches might be important...." Claimed Shin.

"Now that you mention it, you're right. They told no tracker of time, but as you can see, the watch tells us the exact time.... meaning, we were bound.... to keep it or buy it..." Said Shoji. "I've already said that.... but I don't believe they are of any use to us just yet.... all it can tell is to how much distance we covered, and we've exactly covered 14567 meters...." Explained Shin. "We should keep in mind about it...."

[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Examinee's Keeping - Fortune Tunnel (Back Row) - Friday 11:50 a.m.]

"This is getting kind of hard.... we've got to 15 kilometers, and I feel as if there was no end to this run..." Sighed Kanji, thinking. Midori at the same time also thought. Codey was currently awake and was listening to others. "Let's say, an average speed of a human run is 9.4 kilometer per hour is logical and we run at slower pace, of about 5.5 kilometer per hour - means we've pretty much reached the 15 kilometer mark quite fairly, the examiner hasn't sped up either. And usually the calculations of 9.4 kilometer per hour is around 1 hour and 50 minutes to reach 15 kilometers.... we've done it in 2 hours and 50 minutes, for the speed we're running at, this would pretty much take 3 hours and 10 minutes.... and there were moments that people slowed us down. Of course, that is for the ones at the back row, the ones all the way at the front have probably reached 16 kilometer mark already...." Claimed Codey, doing weird calculations. "Yeah, you do have a point, the crowd of course is getting smaller and smaller than it began with, but then again, time won't tell us the ending, I think several people have came to a thought that there is another solution to beating the first test... for example, look, the ones ahead of us are thinking simmilar, I'm sure of it.... they are looking at their watches, being quite certain that there is something else that we must do... not yet probably, but remember how he said about 150 kilometer mark, and the goal was to reach 100 kilometer...."

[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Examinee's Keeping - Fortune Tunnel (Front Row) - Friday 11:55 a.m.]

".... this means that there is something we must do at the 100 kilometer mark..." Explained Ayuka, Tim, Kazuko, Yutaku and Sora finally stopped arguing. "So, with your thoughts.... you're saying that the 150 meter mark is some sort of a trap? If it's so, the examiner did describe death.... but everybody believed that it's just because of how long they run...." Spoke Yasu. "Yes, this is why they let us keep the Zero Watches, so that we keep some kind of scoring to reach 100 kilometer mark..." Spoke Ayuka. "Yeah, that made me thinking and a bit suspect. I couldn't understand what exactly was that thought, but now that you're bringing it up, there is something at 100 meter mark that is waiting for us..." Tim faced bac to the front. "When you mentined 'death' and 'trap'. Does the 150 kilometer mark got anything to do with it?" Kazuko wondered. "It pretty much does. Of course, I won't understand that yet until we reach that mark.... but we'll just have to wait and get surprised..." Mentioned Ayuka while the rest nodded. "This is why many people will fail and fail in future too..." Yutaku added.

Kyou and some of the rest Duelists were still moving at the rear front, following the examiner, however, Kyou seemed to smile, knowing that there is something off about this test. ("Just what exactly is your plan, examiner?") Kyou spoke, smiling and licking his lips once again. ("Oh well... guess I'll just adore this run while I can.... of course.... that is, unless I get spicy....")

[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Examinee's Keeping - Fortune Tunnel (Back Row) - Friday 12:03 a.m.]

Another pair of people dropped when Kanji, Codey and Midori ran by. "Midori, we've reached the 16 kilometer mark, correct?" Codey asked, just to make sure. "Yes, that's right. Which means that the front row is always 1 kilometer ahead, just look at this line, it's getting wider and wider, freeier and freeier every so often.... we can almost see the middle row.... which are between the 16 kilometer mark and 17 kilometer mark." Explained Midori. "I can tell that. So this means, wherever Tim and the rest are, they will reach the destination before us, and if they don't know about this, they are doomed!" Called Codey, worried and stressing. "This is why we should at least begin moving toward the middle row, maybe from there we'll have somewhat better source of view." Claimed Midori, seriously. "Yeah, you're right. Let's hurry up." Kanji added as both of them, Midori and himself ran forward. "Ah, come on! God, this running is making my body heavy every hour!" Codey bursted after them and continued to move past the people, and many of them were already lying on the floor from exhaustion. "Wow, so many people have already dropped out that we weren't even aware about.... this is getting quite populated with tired people...." Kanji talked through. "Yes, and let's hope we don't find our allies in the same state...." Midori answered. "You don't need to worry about Tim and the rest, they won't just drop out because of a singular run.... trust me, they are probably at the front row if not in the middle." Codey answered, seriously.

[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Examinee's Keeping - Fortune Tunnel (Middle Row) - Friday 12:03 a.m.]

"Hold on.... Shin, was there a reason to why you do not wish to move to the front row?" Wondered Shoji, facing up at Shin. "Yes, there is... I've told you about my senses shared through earth. I have a length limit. I picked the middle row, just so that I could have an entire idea to what people are dropping out and which do not. If I was at the front row, I could only feel the ones at the middle, if I was in the back row, then I'd also only have the sense on the middle, because of this specific reason, I wanted to stick at the middle, so that I keep score on both sides. My senses are strong, but they are not shared further than a 600 meter mark...." Explained Shin. "So that's it.... I see you had a reason to stay in the middle.... you knew you will never lose sight or senses on the examiner even if you were at the middle, I bet you must be wanting to keep sensing his movements..." Claimed Shoji. "That is correct as well...." He admited. "Valuable skill you have right there." Smiled Shoji. "So, if you won't mind. How many is there left?" Wondered Shoji. "Currently, 627, many have fallen ahead of us while we talk...." Claimed Shin. "Huh, soon we'll go below 600, man, the examinee's crowd is getting so much smaller, and soon, once we reach below 500 dropped out units, we'll be below 50%, meaning we'll have less successors than failures....." Shin confirmed to that as well.. "We only have 62.7% of examinees left in this test.... not high at all." Sighed Shin, quite interested in how the ending will be brought.

"Only 62.7%? That's really something we should look at.... why did so many people take on this exam, they knew the first test was 100 kilometer run, in our case 150 kilometer as we know...?" Wondered Shoji, thinking loudly. "Well, I believe 100 kilometer is the distance we absolutely must cover.... meaning, we will not need to go further than that.... but let's see just what will happen...." Claimed Shin, calmly and curious.

"Yes, this first exam is already cruel to so many people, I hope we'll figure out the state before we fail...." Shoji wondered as Shin believed. "Not just that, already at 17 kilometer mark, so much more people drop out, another 17 have just dropped out, leaving us at 610.... yeah, no doubt about it, we will lose more than 50% of our examines before we get to the second exam.... it's a warning, I believe not many people will reach the end.... I only have a few people on my mind that might reach this entire exam's ending...." Shin thought of Tim's allies and his own allies too, at the same time, about Kyou.

To be continued...