Mountain Race

Mikhail gazed around him, observing the participants.

And he was disappointed, if he had to be honest.

It had not even been 10 minutes since they started the test.

And yet, he could already see multiple tired faces around him.

While it was true that they couldn't be blamed for a sudden rise in the weight from 70 to 120 this time, it was still a disappointment.

They were cadets.

They had to be used to unexpected situations.

And 120 wasn't even all that much, at least not for Mikhail.

Even with all the weight on his back and the sharp incline of the hill, he had yet to break a sweat.

He was feeling as perfect as ever.

Among the 150 to 200 cadets that were running right now, he wasn't that far behind.

Almost between the 120 to 140 mark.

He had intentionally not chosen to break forth to the top right from the start.

This was his usual strategy every time to crack the competition.

By staying behind first, it saved both his stamina and gave him time to assess the traps ahead.

The ones at front acted like dummies to test most of the traps anyways.

Unfortunately, Dragma and offensive use of magic wasn't allowed.

Mikhail didn't even dare to find a loophole since he knew the overseer was Daniel this time.

That guy's awareness was on another level.

Moreover, he didn't feel the need for his Dragma as well.

Magic use was allowed for evasion of traps and pre-spells were enough for this.

Focusing upward, Mikhail now started to increase his pace.

He saw people staring at him with wide expressions at how calm he was even with all the weight.

Most of them didn't bat an eye though, they were already used to Mikhail.

They already knew what kind of monster he was.

In fact, when discussions were carried out for the results of Physical tests, the positions to be debated were always counted from second.

There was never a discussion or debate for the first position.

Because the holder's name was already set in stone on that position.

Bending his knees, he focused his power on his toes, stopping his motion for a second.

The next moment, he shot straight up the mountain, through the trees like a meteor.

Grabbing branch to branch from trunk to trunk, Mikhail advanced through the terrain as if it was his home.

The flexibility in his body left even the most acrobatic of cadets speechless.

It was just a result of all the training Mikhail had put into his body.

Step.

Suddenly, as Mikhail's foot landed on a branch, the twig snapped under his weight.

Losing balance, Mikhail started to fall down where a large hole opened in the ground.

A multitude of spikes shot out, intending to impale through him like a knife through butter.

But Mikhail's expression betrayed his situation.

It was completely calm.

Placing his hands in front of him, he wasted no time to cast a spell.

"Cindralic Bormis."

Within a second, a trail of fire shot out from his hands, towards the spikes.

Using the reactive force, Mikhail skilfully maneuvered himself in the air to dodge the spikes.

They passed harmlessly from where he was before, meanwhile Mikhail had already moved ahead.

Cancelling his spell, Mikhail now landed on the ground.

But the moment he did, he felt a rope close around his leg, pulling him into mid-air.

'The number of traps have increased.' Mikhail noticed.

Spinning on his heel, he tried to quickly force break free from the trap.

But the moment he tried, he suddenly felt a suppressive force on his body.

Losing his balance at the sudden force, Mikhail almost fell on the ground if not for his quick thinking.

"Aqualic Bormis."

Blasting a stream of water on the ground, Mikhail propelled himself into the air again.

Barely dodging another volley of spikes that awaited him if he so touched the ground.

'That old man..'

Mikhail realized.

There were some traps intentionally laid out for him, to make it difficult and test him at the same time.

But he didn't feel frustrated.

Rather, Mikhail felt excited for this challenge.

'Alright, bring it on.'

Currently, he jumped straight to at least among the top 50 cadets with that sudden leap in pace.

The faster he finished, the better it was for him.

It had been almost 12 minutes.

His record time for the whole Physical Tests was 42 minutes with a score of 78.

He didn't know if he had to beat the time or the whole score.

Regardless, he would just do both of them.

'Time to pick up the pace.'

He gazed up at the mountain, seeing a couple of cadets ahead of him advancing steadily through the traps.

For the first time in these tests, he was feeling a little thrilled.

This was why he liked Physical Tests and what the old man often gave him to challenge.

Standing on the ground, Mikhail looked at the bandages on his arms and legs.

These bandages weren't just for fashion or show.

They were training equipment given to him by Daniel.

Each of these bandages around his arm, added at least a 10kg weight on one side.

In total, he was carrying at least 50 KG extra weight more than everyone else.

But the most shocking part was that he had been doing this for months.

He had gotten so used to the weights that it didn't even feel weird with the additional pressure.

Not just that, but the tight bandages also served to restrict his flexibility and momentum.

It was to restrict and make him challenge the attack head on more times than rather evading it.

But there were often times that Mikhail used to untie them to relieve himself of the weight.

And for some reason, this time just happened to be one of them.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Mikhail loosened the bandages around his arms and legs and let them fall to the ground, producing a loud thud.

That's how heavy they were, which also casted some strange stares from him on the side.

But Mikhail didn't care about that.

Right now, the only thing he was focusing on was the top of the mountain.

Immediately, the effects were felt by him as he felt a new sense of freedom and flexibility to his body.

Doing some light stretches and cracking his bones, Mikhail bent his knees, placing his hands over the ground.

Stretching his legs as far as he could, he pushed himself at full speed in the next second.

And the result…

Was a blur crashing through the trees at a break-neck speed.

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