35 Running

At noon, John stood outside the dorms with several others listening to Mr. Parker talk. At least 5 people from each of the clubs had been chosen to go, and since he was no longer 1st place John got to stand in the back and dream about sleeping as he ignored the speech. To this point, all he'd done was reiterate what Mr. Carter had already said.

"This is a tradition going back to the founding of the school!" Mr. Parker was saying in his high-pitched squeak and John perked up a bit finally starting to pay attention, "Every year, the top students from the 9 powers will transfer over to Gallandwell High where they compete and interact with each other. This is done to keep the groups from growing too arrogant and cause another Civil War. It's hard to think you're better than all the American's when they kick your ass on a regular basis. Or to think that Cat's are naturally superior to Rodent's when a Lightning Mouse is at the top of the class year after year." Here, Mr. Parker's chest puffed out a bit and it was obvious to everyone he was talking about himself.

"Anyway, we're going to meet at a special training area and compete in some challenges. Those who perform well will earn prizes like free access to the training facilities, weapons, and manuals. If you're really lucky and manage to impress one of the Elder's they might take you as an apprentice or offer you advice."

After he was done speaking, Mr. Parker floated off with the various advisers following him into the forest while yelling, "The first part of the challenge is to keep up!"

John started jogging, passing several stragglers to get close to the front so that he wouldn't be left behind if Mr. Parker sped up suddenly.

"See," Steven's voice said from behind him, "it won't be that bad. I wonder what special award they'll give us since we already have access to the training facilities for free."

"I want permission to use my rifle on campus." Mike said, "It's nice that I'm allowed to keep it with me since I'm a Tool Cultivator, but it sucks to not be allowed to use it outside of the shooting range."

As they were talking, Mr. Parker sped up his hover to the speed of a full out sprint for most of the students following him. John was lucky since he'd managed to break through to the 2nd level of Body Refining so he was able to keep up. Steven and Mike both circulated their mana, activating movement techniques.

Steven lowered gravity around his body and kicked off the ground using a special technique that launched him nearly a hundred feet every time he took a step. Meanwhile Mike floated half an inch off the ground, sliding with increasing speed through the forest. He'd chosen this technique so his hands would be free to aim his rifle while fighting, to his surprise the fact that he didn't have to move his legs gave him an incredibly stable firing platform and he'd begun to integrate the movement technique into his shooting techniques making him even more dangerous.

Watching from the side, John was a bit jealous of their techniques. He'd only been able to afford the basic movement technique that increased speed while decreasing stamina, but remembering how he'd spent the rest of his credits he smiled thinking it'd been worth it.

The group continued to sprint through the forest, with monsters sprinting away from them at max speed. Ever since entering the forest, Mr. Parker had released his aura and nothing in the forest dared to get near him. The absolute minimum requirement to be in charge of a new class at Gallandwell High was to have surpassed the Soul Formation Realm, so it wasn't surprising that the class didn't run into a single monster as they ran out of the safe zone surrounding the school and deeper into the forest.

The further they ran, the stronger the monsters became until John found himself wincing every time one looked at him. He could feel their hunger as they stared at him run by. "Man, that's creepy." Chris said from his left and everyone nodded in agreement.

"I remember this one time, before I broke through to the Body Refining Realm, my dad threw me into a danger zone and I came across a Rank 9 level 1 mouse. It moved so fast I could only see a white blur as it flitted from here to there and I could feel it following behind me as I ran away staring at me with such incredible hunger in it's eyes. The only reason it didn't attack was my dad who kept scaring it off right before it was about to attack. Of course, I had no idea he was doing that so I ran like the demons of hell were after me for over an hour before I collapsed and he had to carry me out I was so exhausted I couldn't move." Mike said, a smile on his face as if he were remembering a good time.

"Seriously, I think we need to call Protective Services." John said.

"That's nothing." Said Quincy who was running ahead of them at the front of the pack, "My mom used to cover me in pheromones and throw me to the wolves, she wouldn't intervene so long as I wasn't about to die. She's a really good healer so I was always fully recovered within an hour, but I still have nightmares about them chasing me on a regular basis."

While the top 10 people in the class were chatting amiably at the front of the group, those in the rear were beginning to tire. None of these had managed to reach the 2nd level of body refining yet and while they were incredibly strong for their age they hadn't focused on movement abilities as much as they should have. The majority of the Maker's club were too focused on their profession to worry about training combat or movement techniques, while the remaining where those who hadn't managed to earn enough Academic Credits to buy a really good manual or who focused on other techniques.

This group was slowly falling behind, unable to keep up the pace as they'd been running for nearly 3 hours at this point. The monsters who'd sprinted away when Mr. Parker flew by were slowly sneaking back, eyeing this group with a combination of anger and hunger. Feeling the increase in malicious intent these students began to throw caution to the wind, using up their energy reserves without caring about how long they could continue to sprint. They picked up speed and started passing those at the front.

Seeing this, Mike couldn't help but shake his head and yell out, "Stop wasting energy, you'll be out within 10 minutes at this rate!"

They didn't listen to him, and John suddenly came to a stop as the background music he'd chosen for the day stopped and he felt a foreign energy trying to invade his mind and send him into a panic. Narrowing his eyes, he reset his nervous system and felt his mind clear. He could hear it now, a high pitched buzzing sound coming from his right and up. Without thinking, John put mana into his hands and pulled out his Spirit Pistols. Over the past couple of months John had spent a large amount of time practicing creating Soul Bullets and so it only took him half a second before he fired twice, hitting two separate targets.

Quincy and several of the others had also been trained in dispelling illusions and so they pulled out weapons as soon as the panic hit them but John was the fastest. Above the group, a foot long mosquito suddenly fell from the air and crashed into the dirt. Working on instinct, Steven grabbed it and put it in a dimensional bag he'd bought using credits from their first hunt as he kept running.

The second shot had gone off a 10th of a second after the first, giving the mosquito just enough time to dodge out of the way, but with the illusion dispelled it was bombarded by several different abilities and Quincy was the first to reach it, ripping out it's core while saying. "This one will go to all of us, the other was John's kill."

No one argued with him, Quincy was both the strongest of them and very easy to like. John had always been wary of him, creeped out by how easy it was for Quincy to make friends but Steven had said it was just an innate ability. Just as Monsters and Beasts have innate abilities, so do some lucky Humans. Perhaps it was because of his constant torture at Dame Eleanor's hands making him more wary and aware of abilities and techniques that affected his mind.

Released from the panic inducing illusion, the group that'd sprinted to the front wasting their energy slowed down, huffing and puffing as they asked. "What the hell was that?"

"Demonic Mosquito, Rank 9 level 4. They have the innate ability to cast illusions that cause panic in their prey while hiding them from sight. They hunt by hiding and forcing their prey to panic, wasting their energy until they can no longer move. Then they swoop in and suck you dry. John was the first to notice them." Quincy said with his trademark smile that made John's skin crawl.