"What the hell?!"

When the reflected projectiles suddenly crashed into the defenseless backs of the participants who were completely unaware of the sudden activation of the secret mechanism, they felt an indescribable searing and piercing pain assaulting their senses. Immediately after, despair and an unknown fear that they have never come across filled their heart as darkness seeped into their vision diminishing the brightness in their youthful eyes.

Thud!

They collapsed to the ground the very next second. Before they knew it, the space around them rippled mysteriously. They seemingly vanished from the track and were teleported to the spectator's platform.

"Hurry up and heal them!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Following the instructions of instructor Kayle, the healers immediately went to work their magic on the poor souls, and as their hands glowed golden, the wounds on the disqualified participants started to heal at a speed visible to the eyes.

"As expected, the secret mechanism was the real danger of this race." Redness crept over the eyes of Vincent as he immediately avoided the incoming projectiles from behind and in front. "Glad I was always on alert and kept my guard against the sudden activation of the secret mechanism. Otherwise, I wouldn't have fared much better than the others."

The average students were not comparable to Vincent and a few others. The secret mechanism installed in the race tested the participant's response to sudden threats. Although every participant that has advanced to this stage was valiant, some possessing nice observation skills, their sense of awareness was lacking compared to Vincent and the remaining participants.

Within a few minutes, most of the students were hit by the projectiles and were fatally wounded.

"Geom 13: Eliminated from the race!"

"Firestone: Eliminated from the race!"

As a lot of them met one of the conditions to be eliminated, the fatally wounded participants were instantly evicted from the race, and they suddenly appeared on the raised platform where the healers were seemingly waiting for them to arrive.

"..."

The healers rushed to their aid once they saw their miserable conditions.

Their hands glowed in a gentle golden and milky shite glow as mystical words that calms the soul escaped their mouth, healing the injured souls at their mercy.

As the participants dropped left and right, Nevis and Vincent gritted their teeth, ignored the fact that their stamina was fatally low and that their thighs and legs were burning due to being overused, and kept on going forward, covering several feet in the split of a second.

As the finish line was reflected in their eyes, they didn't want to give up unless their bodies fail them.

A few units of battle energy were still reserved in the body of Nevis, while Vincent has used up all of his battle energy.

"Seems like it is only you and me now. Buddy, it's time to decide the best among us, so I won't hold back and use every fiber of my being to win this race," Nevis said as he increased his speed by infusing all of the remaining battle energy in his body into his legs without thinking about the possible consequences, and he then exclaimed, "My name is Nevis. I am this year's fastest examinee!"

As he was several meters ahead of Vincent and his speed too suddenly increased, there was no doubt that he will win the race first and score the most in the test of agility. That's why Nevis already considered himself the fastest examinee.

"That is, if I don't use the remaining cards up my sleeves…" Vincent's gaze flickered with a mystical light as the pictures of many projectiles appeared in his mind: "The reflecting boundary will soon propel two projectiles towards the center of my back. After that, they will reach me in some seconds at the same time. The force generated by the projectiles crashing on the center of my back will increase my current speed by a lot."

Vincent planned to gain a sudden and massive increase in speed by using the explosive force of the projectiles. After that, it'll be a piece of cake to overtake Nevis at the front. However, he frowned as he wasn't sure whether or not he will be fatally wounded.

"I can use blood manipulation to harden my blood and increase my defense. That will massively decrease the chances of me being fatally injured or it will at least delay it. Besides, I can take this risk as I won't die even if I am injured to the brink of death! After all, the moment I am fatally injured, I will be evicted out of this place, and the healers outside the track's boundary of race will save my life."

"Let's do this," Vincent's murmured as he utilized his special racial ability to manipulate the blood residing in the heart located in the side of his chest.

‹ 30 units of blood has been consumed ›

‹ Sangue Heart: 10/50 units of blood ›

‹ You've used your vampire's blood manipulation ability to reinforce your lower limbs ›

‹ A solid blood plate has manifested behind your back ›

‹ The blood in your blood vessel has temporarily hardened to a somewhat solid-state ›

‹ A skin made out of crystallized blood has overlapped with your skin ›

‹ Your defense has increased significantly! ›

‹ Blood Manipulation skill proficiency has increased to 35% ›

"Come at me!" Vincent exclaimed, before bracing himself for the impact with gritted teeth.

Bam*

The eyes of the spectators opened wide as they looked at Vincent with an expression of bewilderment. Why did he let projectiles crash on his back when he could have dodged them?! What the hell is he happening? Maybe he was too tired and couldn't even dodge?!

What they saw next, however, answered their questions.

Whoosh!

As soon as the projectiles crashed on his back, all of his defenses shattered simultaneously.

However, he has achieved his goal.

He was instantly propelled forward at a much higher speed compared to before.

"Despite using abilities to reinforce my lower limbs, I feel like my legs are going to break. Still, why? Why am I smiling?"

Vincent's lips thinned into a smile as the scarlet glow in his eyes intensified. Every fiber of his being was jumping up in joy and excitement as he moved at the fastest speed of his life.

The spectators stared at him with wide eyes filled with momentary bewildered before an expression of amazement and awe blossomed on their faces.

"He is insane! Let me correct myself, he's an absolute lunatic. The likes of which I have never seen in my life!"

"No, he is the epitome of perfection. This is how one should perform a last-second sprint!"

As Vincent's feet slammed on the ground hard to push him forward, he moved so fast that the eyes of most of the spectators couldn't catch up to his movement.

In a few moments, Vincent overtook Nevis as his body rocketed forward towards the finish line.

Left behind and gazing at his back, Nevis eyes opened wide with his mouth touching the ground, and he said, "You gotta be fucking kidding me…"

Meanwhile, Vincent passed the finish line as the wind kept whipping past his pale cheeks. He was moving so fast that he only came to a halt after a few moments.

‹ Congratulations, Vincent Sangue! You're the first examinee to complete the race! ›

‹ Earned 450 points ›

‹ Your Agility grade is 45 ›

The automatic system announced Vincent's result for everyone to hear. At that very moment, the pleasant notifications that Vincent has been anticipating ever since the start of the race popped up in front of his vision.

‹ Mission has been completed ›

‹ You've passed the test of agility excellently! ›

‹ The maximum reward for completing the mission shall now be allocated to you ›

‹ You've obtained +7 body constitution stat points and +7 agility stat points ›

‹ Your Constitution has increased to 53 points ›

‹ Your Agility has increased to 57 points ›

Vincent's eyes squinted and he dropped to his knees with his hands wrapped around his body as sultry tears streamed down the corners of his eyes and blood trickled down the corners of his mouth and also streamed out from the ugly and vicious wound on his back.

His plan has indeed worked just as intended.

However, his plan was never without massive risks.

He was injured far beyond what he calculated.

"Ugh…" Vincent's expression twisted as a bone-piercing pain assaulted his senses and he retched out mouthfuls of blood.

As darkness slowly clouded his vision, the space around him rippled. Immediately after, he was evicted out of the track's boundary and got teleported to the raised platform.

A few moments later, once Nevis reached the finish line, the healers started to heal Vincent's severe wounds.