Mythshaper

Chapter 75: Evaluation

"Am I allowed to use my levitation boots in the hurdle run?" I asked the instructor, standing at the very edge of the track.

The instructor was taken aback. He eyed the boots and exchanged a significant glance with the proctor overseeing the test. All of them had seen me tear through the valley at tremendous speed with those boots and knew, if I were allowed to use them, the hurdles would be nothing more than paltry tricks. Not even Priam could compete with me, even with his Celerity pushed to its limits.

"Remove them for now," said the proctor. "You shouldn't be too dependent on external items at such a young age."

While there was some truth to it, asking an Artisan to abdicate their craft was akin to asking a swordsman to fight without his treasured blade. But then again, the hurdle run was an evaluation of our physical growth. I removed the boots and handed them to the instructor for safekeeping. A few classmates smirked unabashedly, convinced they could outrun me without the boots. Good luck to them.

Aside from Priam, none of them stood much of a chance.

"All right, everybody, line up," the proctor called.

Instead of changing into a regular pair of footwear, I lined up barefoot. It made little difference with my high fortitude.

"On your mark."

Everyone braced themselves, eyes forward, assuming a sprinting pose. Then the whistle blew. Instantly, Priam's figure shot through the wind, covering dozens of metres in seconds as he approached the first hurdle. The rest of us could only chase after him.

The track around the field spanned about a mile, broken into stages with obstacles. First were the wooden beams tall enough to challenge even the shortest of us, then came the inclined walls that only grew higher towards the finish line. Finally, a couple of pits, large enough that they forced the runners to either scramble through them or leap across if they had the physicality.

The first hurdle barely slowed anyone. Everyone vaulted over the beam without issue. More than half a dozen of my classmates kept pace with me when I reached the second beam. Priam was already at the halfway point, scaling the wall.