Chapter 108: Agility
With a deep rumble, walls began to rise from the stadium floor, partitioning the vast space into a series of smaller rooms.
In the Songyang High School rest area, Zhang Yu watched in amazement. “Purple Cloud High’s stadium can actually transform? Compared to this, what is our school’s stadium but a glorified sandpit?”
The faces of most Songyang students around him darkened at his words. However, considering the 4.95 physical strength that had just earned him fifth place, no one dared to openly rebuke him. Even He Dayou, the Son of the School Director, could only pretend he hadn’t heard the slander against their school.
After all, at Songyang High, scores were king, and a physical strength level like the one Zhang Yu had just displayed was the king of kings. He was at a level where a single glance could shatter the soul of a lesser student.
Wang Hai quickly changed the subject. “The athletics meet doesn’t just test physical strength. The next events will test agility, speed, and power.”
“Agility is worth 75 points, speed is also 75, and power is worth 150. Every event is crucial. Anyone who specializes too much won’t get a good rank, because this meet tests a student’s comprehensive physical abilities.”
“Pay attention, they’re explaining the rules now.”
An animated video began playing on the big screen, demonstrating the next trial.
In the video, a single competitor stood alone in one of the small rooms on the field.
A ring of light with a three-meter radius illuminated the ground beneath the competitor’s feet.
Of course, the ring’s size would be proportionally increased for larger competitors.
Then, the video showed the room’s four walls beginning to shoot high-speed steel balls toward the competitor.
Simultaneously, the ring of light on the floor would begin to shrink, steadily increasing the difficulty of dodging the steel balls within its confines.
The trial would end the moment a competitor was struck by a steel ball; stepping outside the circle also counted as a failure.
A competitor’s score for this event was determined by how long they could last inside the ring. The longer the time, the better the score, and the one who lasted the longest would take first place.
Any competitor who failed to place in the top twenty in this event would be immediately eliminated, barred from even participating in the next round.
“Everyone understand?” Wang Hai asked. “It’s very similar to the agility training I usually have you do, just much more extreme.”
Zhang Yu stroked his chin. “In that case, bigger competitors are at a huge disadvantage in this round. They’ll have to dodge more steel balls at any given moment.”
Wang Hai added, “A larger physique has its advantages. It allows one to excel in the later power competition, so it naturally has its drawbacks, like being an easier target in this agility trial and being at a disadvantage in the upcoming speed event.”
“The athletics meet is designed to test all-around physical fitness. Even with certain focuses, it won’t allow heavily specialized students to achieve high rankings… power, speed, and agility are all indispensable.”
The video then went on to explain some of the finer details, such as the prohibition on circulating magic power during the competition, which would be monitored by a mandatory magic detection patch.
Zhang Yu nodded, understanding that he would have to temporarily halt even the passive breathing exercise of his Celestial Cycle Qi-Gathering Method.
And since it was an athletics meet testing physical prowess, spiritual roots were also forbidden.
For that reason, Bai Zhenzhen had kept her spiritual root completely suppressed since she had boarded the bus that morning, with no intention of letting its power manifest.
Once the detailed rules had been explained, Bai Zhenzhen spoke up. “The event officially starts in ten minutes. Come on, Yu-boy, let’s hit the restroom so we don’t have to hold it during the competition.”
The two of them headed for the restrooms together. Along the way, they saw teams from the various high schools making their final preparations, which, of course, primarily involved taking alchemical enhancers.
They watched students from ordinary high schools inject unmarked, unpackaged syringes into their acne-ridden arms.
They saw students from White Dragon High, confident in their physical might, downing cans of brand-name potions in front of any nearby cameras.
They observed the dark-skinned monsters from Red Pagoda High injecting needle after needle into their veins.
They witnessed Le Mulan and Lian Tianji from Purple Cloud High performing intracranial injections after their intracardiac ones, enhancing their all-around capabilities…
After seeing all that… well, Zhang Yu was no longer as shocked as he used to be. He wouldn’t ask naive questions like, “I thought the athletics meet was only supposed to test physical ability? Why aren’t enhancers banned?”
Now, if someone were to ask him that, he would explain with righteous conviction, “When testing the body’s various capabilities, that naturally includes its drug resistance. That’s just how things are in Kunxu.”
They arrived at the restrooms and split off toward the men’s and women’s facilities.
Although Zhang Yu had sampled many a restroom in his life—including, but not limited to, those at Songyang High, Red Pagoda High, and White Dragon High…
He was still shocked by what he saw now.
This place actually has a sideboard? And there’s a box of chopsticks and a box of spoons on it?
And since there was a sideboard, the sight of a dining table next to it wasn’t quite as surprising.
But when he saw the sign taped to the table that read, “Urinating on the dining table is prohibited,”… he fell silent once more.
What the hell… are the students at Purple Cloud High this uncivilized?
However, after reading a notice posted on the adjacent wall, he realized his understanding had been slightly off.
Due to an excessive number of students suffering from mental breakdowns, the school’s profits had declined in the previous quarter. As a result, they had implemented a “Care for Underachievers” policy.
Not only had they installed dining tables and sideboards in the restrooms to allow underachievers to eat in comfort and peace, but they had also banned all forms of bullying within the lavatories.
I see, so it’s to care for the underachievers… but that somehow makes it even more like the work of a devil incarnate.
Meanwhile, outside the women’s restroom.
Bai Zhenzhen was curiously inspecting the… other doors besides the standard men’s and women’s rooms.
One of them was labeled: Le Mulan’s Private Restroom.
A private restroom for the top student in the grade?
Bai Zhenzhen wanted to try going inside, but she found the door had no handle. It seemed to require some form of identity verification to open automatically.
A flicker of envy crossed Bai Zhenzhen’s eyes.
“Songyang High is so lame. They should really learn from Purple Cloud. Wouldn’t it be great if they built private restrooms for the top three students?”
A few moments later, the two returned to the competition area.
Just before entering the field, Bai Zhenzhen consumed a vial of an intellect-enhancement agent to improve her focus during the event.
Zhang Yu also took a stimulant to increase his reaction speed on the field.
Although he was following a path of natural body tempering, if a little help could earn him a few extra points, he wasn’t stubborn enough to refuse it.
Then, they both drank a few bottles of a neural filler to ward off any drowsiness during the late-night competition.
Soon, all the competitors entered the arena. After a magic detection patch was affixed to each of them, they were assigned to their individual rooms.
As the ring of light on the floor flared to life, Zhang Yu’s nerves tensed.
The next moment, with a sharp whistle, steel balls shot out from the surrounding walls at high speed.
Not bad… much slower than the Body-Piercing Sword Qi Zhen stabs me with.
The stimulant had fully kicked in, and Zhang Yu’s muscles were primed. His reactions were incredibly swift. He watched the incoming steel balls and moved his body fluidly, dodging each one.
As long as the circle is this big, I don’t need to use full concentration yet.
The state of full concentration was the level-ten effect of his Heavenly Martial Heart-Tempering Art. It focused his mind to an unprecedented degree, to the point where the world seemed to slow down.
But full concentration had one drawback: it couldn’t be maintained for long.
When he had first mastered it, he could only hold it for a minute.
Now, with the growth of his Dao heart and the strengthening of his martial will, he had extended that time to a minute and a half.
But since I can still manage in my normal state, I’ll wait until the circle gets smaller and dodging becomes more difficult before I activate full concentration…
In the stands.
The influencer Gang Shan watched the field and began his commentary. “In this round, as the circle continues to shrink, the difficulty will increase dramatically. It tests not only the body’s reaction time and speed, but also the endurance of one’s mental focus…”
Just then, the first eliminations began to occur.
A high-speed steel ball slammed into the leg of a student from an ordinary high school, causing him to stagger.
As his movement faltered, more steel balls shot toward him.
The student’s mind was already in a panic; his physical conditioning and mental reflexes were completely overwhelmed by the barrage of projectiles.
Is the competition this much harder than our usual school training?
The next moment, as a volley of steel balls rattled against his body, the student coughed up blood and collapsed.
After being removed from the field, he stared at the big screen, at the images of those still competing, his expression a mixture of envy and jealousy.
Are these guys from the key high schools and the three major high schools all monsters? How can they last this long?
Similar scenes were unfolding in every corner of the arena, as a large number of competitors from ordinary high schools were eliminated, many of them injured in the process.
Gang Shan directed his viewers’ attention from the eliminated students to the competitors from Purple Cloud High, who were dodging with composed ease.
Inside his circle, Lian Tianji seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, making small, precise movements to avoid the incoming steel balls.
Nearby, Le Mulan appeared even more relaxed. She strolled within her circle as if taking a leisurely walk in a garden, letting the blurs of the high-speed projectiles pass right by her, as if they were dancing in unison with her graceful steps.
Gang Shan sighed. “The gap between them is just too vast. Nearly all the students from the ordinary high schools have been eliminated, while those from the three major high schools are still far from their limits.”
Le Jingchen looked at the eliminated students with a sense of disdain.
Spending a few thousand or tens of thousands a month to try and become a cultivator?
Le Jingchen couldn’t understand why these poor people tried so hard to cultivate. In his view, it made little difference to their lives whether they cultivated or not; forcing the issue was just looking for trouble.
But, of course, Le Jingchen would never voice such thoughts aloud. Otherwise, how would Purple Cloud Supplements make so much money? How would his family acquire so many resources?
So, for the live stream, Le Jingchen said, “Actually, the gap isn’t as large as it seems. I believe that ordinary high schools also have students with extraordinary aptitude. The reason for the large performance gap we’re seeing is often just a lack of access to information.”
Before the competition, the three major high schools had kept their technological breakthroughs a closely guarded secret while probing each other for weaknesses.
Now that the competition was underway, Le Jingchen knew there was no longer a need for secrecy.
He continued, “Take, for example, Purple Cloud High’s super-metabolism surgery, or the slightly inferior demonic muscle surgery from White Dragon High. If students from ordinary high schools knew about these technologies and underwent these procedures, they might very well have a chance to compete with the likes of Le Mulan and Song Hailong.”
With that, Le Jingchen pointed toward Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen. “Look, Gang Shan. After those two students from Songyang High received the new body tempering technology, aren’t they now keeping pace with the students from the three major high schools?”
Since he had sensed that Songyang High was trying to make a name for itself at this athletics meet, Le Jingchen had no qualms about using them to promote the new body tempering technology.