Not A Long Race

This race course is 23 kilometers, why are they even calling it race, it should be called marathon instead. If my turn is at number 3, this would take a while, should I take a nap or something, there are enough cheers for Natalia other than me.

But when the race started, the reality hit me. I forgot that the ones competing are students from all over the empire. In just a moment of time, so many of them were way ahead, they had the type of skills which helped them to fly themselves at highspeed. Even Natalia was using her black wings, which gave her a very high speed from the get go, I never knew that she could fly so fast, and to add more speed to it, she used her blood strings like elastic rope to hold onto the pillars which gave her an extra speed.

**whoo** wohoo*

The audience was going mad on the display of superb skills. But then I noticed that not all of them had skills good enough to help them even keep up with the others. This race completely differentiated the ones with and talent and the ones with useless skills. Out of 1200 people, only 100 to 150 candidates including Natalia were the ones who completed the race in few minutes, 23km round distance in such a short time whereas most of the people who were normally running a little fast weren't even half finished, some were so close to the starting line that they started crying because they knew they are failed. They never expected that this would be such a short race given it's length. This was the reality that this race is not so long.

The first one to complete the race was The first to cross the line was a guy with a calm expression and blonde hair, smaller and more slender in build compared to the others. As soon as the race began, he shifted effortlessly into a falcon, his body morphing into the sleek, powerful bird. With a burst of speed, he soared through the air as if the wind itself was his ally. The race went on until 500 candidates successfully crossed the finishing line, the remaining were asked to return their band and leave immediately, the coordinators completely ignored how the students who have failed must be feeling, it's not because they are heartless it's because they are used to it. I was wrong, coming 500th in this race is not an easy task, my skill won't help me in winning, I have to think of something quickly or I would fail.

The commentator announced

"The winner for the first race is Kento Eki with the skill "Animal Transformation"

So his skill allows him to transform into any animal, and wait how does they have that much data on us. In the form, they didn't ask to paste a photograph or something, so they shouldn't be able to identify our faces. They didn't even do anything to verify if all the candidates present are the registered ones. Did they had a hidden camera or maybe some one among them have this kind of skill. I don't know how their mechanism works but it doesn't matter, I have to stop wasting time and think of some strategy.

"Let's not waste time and continue forward to the next race" was announced

Some students who were sitting around me got up, they must be wearing no.2 band, the candidates from the first race came back to the audience area. The ones who won were allowed to sit in candidates section whereas the ones who got failed weren't recognized as candidates anymore. So they returned to their guardians, most of them left to go back to their homes as they were really sad and there was nothing left to do here for them.

"I am back, Peiji-kun" it was Natalia

"Oh congrats Natalia"

"Congratulation, Natalia-chan I knew you would have won" mom called from really far away 

"I performed well right, then give me a reward" she pouted her lips as like asking for a kiss

All the guys around me gave me a death stare, they were really jealous. I wouldn't have done it if I had kept it as a secret but the cat is already out so it wouldn't hurt to amplify their anger towards me. Take this you losers

*chu* then I kissed Natalia on lips

[Hahaha, it feels so good, they might be controlling themselves by biting their tongues. Natalia stated it as a reward, everyone desires a hot and cute natured girlfriend like that.]

"Damn, damn" was all I could hear from the guys around me but then

"Hey, wait, there is still hope, that elf there looks like a complete goddess" a guy said while pointing towards the starting line

"Huh, goddess, where where, I wanna see the beauty" other guys replied with some of them practically drooling

I also got curious so I followed the lead. The elf girl they were talking about was Olivia, I was so glad when I saw her, we were only apart for less than a week but it felt so long, I really missed her, she was the girl who took my virginity after all, not to mention she was the reason I got my first real skill. She looked even more stunning than before, her beauty amplified by the elegant outfit she wore. The attire seemed fit for royalty, with a white inner garment that hugged her figure, starting just below her chest and ending mid-thigh, followed by a flowing skirt. Over that, she wore a striking red coat with green sleeves, intricately laced up the front and cinched at the waist with a dark green belt. The whole ensemble gave her the unmistakable air of a princess, regal and graceful in every way. I just want to pin her down and fuck her again, I have only did it one time with her after all.

Natalia noticed me, it was the first time I was captivated by someone else beauty in front of her which made her really jealous

"Peiji-kun, I will color my hairs blonde if you like that" she held my hand and said with an innocent face while looking into my eyes

"Shut up, you bitch" I replied rudely

"Ye-yes"

"Natalia-san, you see I would have never treated you like this, just leave this trash person for good. You are the only one I have in my heart, I wouldn't have look at some elf if had you."

Ah I forgot that krudo guy is still being a pest to us, he deliberately sat right behind us and has been trying to butter up Natalia since then, his number is 3 like me too. Oh but I saw him almost crying when he saw me kissing Natalia, that was a great moment.

Natalia wasn't paying attention to krudo or anything else right now, she was actually in her own world thinking 

[Ahn, master-sama looked so hot and cool just now when he scolded me "shut up, you bitch" with that angry face and glare, oh no I think I am gonna cum.] Peiji doesn't know yet that Natalia is a masochist.

"Let's begin the race no.2 now. Are you ready"

*yay* audience going mad in enjoyment

Now that I think about it, how would Olivia win with her "perfect archery" skill, that skill won't help her to be fast. But when I looked at her, she was standing there all expressionless, boys trying to approach her were being fend off by the other elf girls around her, she was giving off this vibe of an unreachable cold beauty, I have something nice in my mind I will try later.

"Get set go" commentator started the race with the sound of bell just like before

I was excited to see how she will pull this off, maybe I will get some ideas for myself too. The moment race started, all players used their skills to be as fast as possible, among the elf girls who were surrounding Olivia as if protecting her, one used her skill to make herself and other 3 including Olivia fly in the air, from my point of view it looked like some wind related skill. They flew so fast, even faster than that falcon guy and completed the race in less than a minute, but stopped right before the finishing line.

The other elves bowed and let Olivia to cross the finish line first so that she would be declared first, now I was sure that Olivia has somehow became a big shot in the fliendar, good for her and me too.

After some time, just like before 500 candidates passed the finishing line and the rest failed the exam.

"The winner for the second race is "Olivia First" with her skill "Perfect archery"" was announced

Wait wait, why did she put her last name as "first", is it because I told her she was my first (first one to have sex). I don't even know what to say to that.

"Now then let's move onto the third race. Are you enjoying this" nope nobody was

Why are you even asking, it's exams, not a tournament, the cheers earlier have already calmed down because they are scared to fail like others including me. I stood up, that krudo guy too

"Natalia-san, wish me good luck" he said to natalia

"Good luck peiji-kun" but he was completely ignored

"I will now show you the difference in our abilities" he provoked me but I also ignored him

When we were going towards the race course, winners from second race were coming back, at that time my eyes met with Olivia, she looked at me like wanting to say something but she didn't, she must have also be really missing me.

When we reached the starting line, a coordinator started giving us instructions

"This thick white line is your starting line, please step back from it. When the race starts and you cross it, it will become the finishing line"

Huh, won't that make it really easy to cheat. I can just lie that I have already finished but the instructor continued

"At the halfway, you will receive a stamp on your hand, and then finish the race, it won't count unless you have the stamp on your hand. Understood?" 

Yup, obviously they have a way to counter the cheating. I looked at the guys in my surroundings, some of them were really confident and calm while most of them were really scared and tears already dropping from their eyes. Seems like no one expected that test would include something related to speed, they might have some amazing explosive power like rito but it won't help them.

The same goes for me, gotta do something about this, I don't wanna fail at least on the first round.

"Let's begin the third race, get set go"

With the sound of bell, third race began