NOVPUB
Chapter 35: Obstacle Course
Thempetition began, and one by one, we started the obstacleurse. I would be the 23rdmpetitor out of the 24mpetitors in total. The beginning was slow, as no one managed to pass the snd checkpoint with the 180-pound bag until the eighth challenger.
The obstacles leading to the first checkpoint were on a relatively flat area, though bumpy. There were some holes in the ground, but they were manageable if you watched where you were going. The worst injury youuld get here was a twisted ankle.
The path to the snd checkpoint was where things got tricky, requiring us to go down a steep slope while carrying 180 pounds of weight. One slipuld send you tumbling down, risking serious injury. So far, only one person had managed this obstacle—a boy from class B, name Lucas Bellheart.
After clearing the snd checkpoint, he went on to tackle the third, carrying 350 pounds up a slope. It was at the fourth obstacleurse that his exhaustion began to show. As he struggled toward the fourth checkpoint, he was met with cheers from everyone watching. Even some of the teachers joined in, offering euragement along the way. But just before heuld reach the checkpoint, he fainted.
After that, no one came close to finishing the snd obstacleurse. Sarah was the 15thmpetitor and barely managed to clear the first checkpoint.
When Leto's turn came, he cleared the first checkpoint without even attempting the snd. I noticed that he doesn't like to stand out. Even in his class, he doesn't hold any important role. He always does the bare minimum to avoid being a bother; I might be the only one who knows what he's truly capable of. Though there were some benefits of him having no friends—no one will miss him when he's gone.
Ava was the same; she onlympleted the first checkpoint. I was sure sheuld have performed better, but she was probably being lazy. One look at her, and youuld tell she didn't enjoy manual labor. Even though we were living on a mountain, she somehow managed to maintain her physical appearance.
Next was my turn. I managed to clear the first three checkpoints with little effort. The fourth obstacleurse was where things got tricky. It was difficult to maintain balance while ascending the slope. The challenge lay in not falling, as the loose rocks created unstable footing. I heard shouts and cheers as I made my way up to clear the fourth checkpoint, but I ignored them and stayed focused. 𝓷ℴ𝓋𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝒸𝓸𝓶
After successfully clearing the fourth checkpoint, I moved on to the fifth obstacleurse, which involved carrying a 700-pound bag filled with boulders through a swamp. The weight of the bag wasn't the problem; it was the soft, spongy ground that made everything feel uncertain. I had to be careful with each step, testing the ground beforemmitting my weight.
With the added weight of 700 pounds, it was nearly impossible not to sink. Eventually, it came down to how quickly Iuld make it out of the swamp before I became stuck. Considering this, I dashed through the swamp, bouncing off any solid surface Iuld find, and eventually crossed the checkpoint.
The next obstacleurse was the shortest of them all, just 50 meters long. The challenge was that I had to carry 1,000 pounds while crossing a raging river. I had to exert a bit of energy to pick up the bag. The water level was right up to my chest. To reference, the last time I got my height checked, I was 185 centimeters. I felt the rocksnstantly slipping beneath my feet, causing me to trip. My arms were also getting tired from the weight.
The river crashed against my face, practically waterboarding me. Regardless, I pushed through, and Iuld see the other students staring at me from across the river. I was so focused on getting across that I barely noticed when I crossed the checkpoint,mpleting the entireurse.
The other students stood in awe, watching me. Theyuldn't believe that I had managed tomplete all the obstacleurses. Some of them looked ashamed that a student from class D had outdone them.
"You did it!!" Sarah screamed, wrapping her arms around me in a hug. "That was sool! You looked like the MC straight out of a manga!"
"Oh, thanks"
The lastmpetitor, a tall blond boy from class A, was sitting on a chair shirtless, fanning himself while reading a magazine a teacher must have left behind. When he heard his name—Barron Werewood—he exasperatedly got up from his seat and walked over to the obstacleurse.
"I wasn't planning on taking this seriously, but I can't let ammoner outdo me."
To everyone's shock and dismay, he effortlesslympleted the entire obstacleurse, barely breaking a sweat. While everyone seemed bewildered, his classmates didn't appear surprised at all; it almost looked as if they expected it.
When he finished all the obstacleurses, he approached me.
"This school has seriously gone to the gutter, handing out noble points as if they were nothing. To think I actually had high expectations for this place! It's nothing but a madhouse where nobles disgrace themselves by losing tommoners."
"Enough of that, Barron," Ava said, speaking to him with an air of familiarity. "Aren't you tired of spewing the same nonsense over and over?"
"Ah, Ava, the biggest disgrace of them all. Your family must be so ashamed of you. You belong to a tier 3 noble family like mine—the highest level of prestige a family can have—and here you are, chasing aftermmoners like that gutter rat Liam and now this guy."
"Don't talk about my family or Liam for that matter!"
"Yes, certainly. I'm done talking. I'll demonstrate just how far the gap between nobles andmmoners really is," Lucas said before walking off.
I'm not exactly sure how, but I somehow managed to make another enemy. Though I don't mind; I'd much rather have an enemy I can deal with. I'd prefer facing someone like him over Famine or any of the other four horsemen of the apocalypse.
The rest of the day went well as we managed tomplete the training regimen, which included a tug-of-warntest in E1 and a weightliftingntest in G5. We successfullympleted today's regimen and were now resting in preparation for tomorrow's challenge.
