Victor weaved his way through the ever-changing obstacle course with practiced ease and a satisfied smile. While the treadmill was running faster than when it started, it was still far from a speed that Victor would struggle with, so with a moderate effort he was able to make his way into the middle of the pack.
By this time, around 20 students had already been eliminated, with most of the eliminations caused by the transfer with the high-powered flashlight. Constantly aiming the flashlight at someone enabled him to blind them and obstruct their vision. For many students, their only option was to duck behind the generated walls and pillars to avoid being targeted.
The second most effective at causing eliminations was Kera, who was able to incapacitate anyone who she faced with a mere touch, leaving them screaming in pain. Despite that, her effectiveness quickly dropped as more and more students began to take note and avoid her.
Besides that, the rest of them were considerably less effective due to a lack of range and power with their chosen weapons or because people started taking measures against their abilities. While many of the native students had been caught off guard and were unused to the aggressive approach of the transfers, they were quick to adapt. While many of them lacked combat experience against a foe who had no regard for their life or safety, all of them had fought and trained since childhood, so they were not wholly unprepared. Once they got over their initial reservations, many of them were able to quickly evaluate safe routes to cross the moving floor while evading their aggressors.
Some especially bold students had even directly challenged the transfers to varying degrees of success. While none of the students managed to eliminate their target by themselves, as Victor did, some still put up a good enough fight that the transfers retreated and reduced their aggression. In one instance, two students, fed up with their antics, ganged up on the whip-wielding student. The pair ambushed and pincered their target, making use of their superior movement before ganging up on the whip wielder, stealing his weapon, and giving him a couple of lashes in return.
Within 4 minutes of the test beginning, the transfer students found it increasingly difficult to retaliate and decided to group together for mutual support. The remaining participants entered a stalemate where none of them attacked each other, dodging and weaving between the obstacles as the floor gradually moved faster.
Very soon the group of transfer students began to fall behind due to their weaker physique and lack of experience. Given their inefficient movements and diminished endurance, it was inevitable that they would lag behind the earliest. If it weren't for their sabotage earlier, they would probably have been the first eliminations.
Unfortunately, they had vastly underestimated their opponents, believing that achieving victory would be as straightforward as taking it. After 6 minutes, the second transfer student was unable to keep up and was eliminated, followed by Kera and the 4 others who had attacked the other students. They had bowed out first due to the amount of stamina they had expended attacking their competition or defending themselves against retaliation. It also didn't help that the weapons they carried were weighing them down, increasing the stamina expenditure.
In this situation, the least burdened runners were Rufus and the two transfer students, who chose not to engage in combat but instead focused solely on navigating the course while ignoring everyone else who was either being terrorized or fighting their aggressors.
As a result, the next ones eliminated were those who were tired and had endured various injuries and could not perform at their peak. While Victor had not spent that long fighting Doak, the stamina expenditure was beginning to catch up to him 7 minutes into the run. While usually most students dropped off around the 10-minute mark, many of them began dropping off 3 minutes earlier than usual.
By 8 minutes into the course, only 15 students were still running on the track, and Victor was not among them, having already failed and entered the rest area.
Of the remaining participants, there were still two transfer students, one of whom was Rufus. Victor, having had time to rest and observe the remainder of the competition, felt a personal shock as he watched Rufus run. If he were to bet right now on who of the remaining runners was going to get the first place prize, he would point to Rufus. He didn't notice while he was in the course, and it seemed like no one else noticed either, due to Rufus hovering just a couple of meters ahead of the elimination line, but now it was obvious to Victor. Rufus was significantly better at navigating the course than anyone he saw running today.
Although it was subtle, the way Rufus traveled across the room was like watching a machine move. Every step and every hand placement was meticulous, and they flowed into the next movement without consuming any extra energy. Even the route Rufus traveled was designed in a way that preserved as much stamina as possible. While every native student pursued the same efficiency, Victor knew none of them were as skilled, and they might not match up to Rufus even if they hadn't expended as much energy.
The only major factor holding Rufus back was his stature and physique. Rufus was quite short in comparison to the other students. Even so, that didn't seem to stop him. He appeared to consider his height in his navigation by ignoring the routes taken by the students in front of him and opting for more favorable ones instead. Watching Rufus, Victor suspected he was so close to the elimination zone by choice. There, not only would he have the widest view of the obstacles while traveling across the room, but none of the other students would think of targeting him, as he was so far behind them that none of them noticed him. And even if they did, none of them would look too closely, thinking he was close to being eliminated.
By using all of those factors to his advantage, Rufus was undoubtedly in the best position, and Victor had no doubts about Rufus's victory. Very shortly Victor was proven right, as Rufus was the last one remaining. In response, the various obstacles in the training area quickly turned grey before sinking into the floor, leaving the room completely empty.
Vicor felt something change within him as a notification appeared before him indicating the end of the game. He instinctively knew that change meant he earned an extra white shard.
Victor shrugged before glancing at Doak, who was glaring at him with hostility. While he would have liked to have gotten a higher reward, knowing that he had enraged Doak made him feel like the trade was worth it. Plus, given the animosity between the pair, Victor was sure Doak would have decided to target him at some point. It was definitely better that Victor acted first.
At that moment, Miss Mallor spoke up.
"I'm going to give everyone 5 minutes to recover before we move onto the next activity."
Many students nodded in response before making their way over to various parts of the room. The students who were too injured were long transported to sim-pods and bathed in a rejuvenation liquid. If they stayed in there until tomorrow, they would have already regained the ability to walk, although that did not mean they were fully healed. If they put too much pressure on their injuries, their bones might rebreak or cuts could reopen. Therefore, the injured individuals needed to exercise caution. Even Victor was liable to rebreak his ribs if he was hit too hard, at least for today.
With advancements in technology, it is possible for individuals to fully recover from broken bones or major cuts in less than a week and be up on their feet in less than a day. Which was one of the reasons why Victor was so confused as to why Matt's friends were still missing and why the principal placed such a big emphasis on healing some of them on stage.
Victor shook his head, placing those thoughts at the back of his mind before reaching a fountain, dispensing, and filling a small cup with a liquid meant to help them recover their stamina. Victor was very soon staring into an empty cup, which he quickly disposed of. Before sitting down and listening to the whispers of the students nearby. Of course, he tried not to look over in their direction, because he knew they would all quiet down if they knew he was listening.
Most of the discussion was about the transfer students and their actions. While most of the negativity was directed towards the most fearsome and despicable of the bunch, Rufus also managed to top the discussions. While none of them liked the transfers for fighting them, Rufus also attracted a good amount of flak for seemingly skirting by, having benefited the most from the chaos. Sensing the jealousy and disbelief, Victor glanced over at the main character of the discussion, who stood alone, seemingly unbothered by the commotion.
Victor shrugged, not caring too much about the discussion, but he could admit he was also interested in how Rufus performed much better than those who had much more experience here.
"Alright, time's up." Miss Mallor began. "From here, we are going to evaluate your combat ability."