BXBX NOVEL Chapter 56: Chapter 56 – Beating the Record [2]
"It\'s been five minutes and 52 seconds… 54 seconds now." Doctor Ardi answered as he looked at the small screen above his smartwatch. It showed a stopwatch that he started when Max started the test.
"And he\'s already in the eighth test?" Once again, Mr. Taka questioned. His eyes narrowed in disbelief, but his lips betrayed his expression. It was full of happiness. "How are his vitals?"
"Only his heartbeats increased more than normal. However, that\'s due to his adrenaline and excitement. So I must say that there is nothing wrong with him. All vitals are green."
"Really?" A surprised voice escaped Mr. Taka\'s lips as he looked at Doctor Ardi. He got a nod from the doctor and heaved a sigh, returning his attention to the screen. "Is he a human? No… How could he be so calm at this kind of test? Newbies usually feel pressure under expectation."
"Maybe he was used to it?" Doctor Ardi added a suggestion, "Flexy\'s vitals were also normal earlier."
"That guy doesn\'t count. Among all the streamers I know, he\'s the most carefree and energetic one. Something like pressure is nonexistent in his dictionary."
"Hahaha, you\'re so harsh to him."
"I praised him." Mr. Taka said. His hands couldn\'t help but tremble in excitement as he watched the screen, "Breeze has just finished the ninth test… Only the hardest one remained."
***
Swoosh!
The scenery around Max changed for the tenth time. He began to get exhausted from the test, but his movement was still the same as before. There was nothing different, and he finally reached the end.
\'Now I really need to be careful.\'
The first to ninth tests were designed to determine a person\'s capability, starting from their dexterity, agility, reaction speed, balance, and other stuff related to how well one moved in the VR world.
However, the tenth test, the hardest one, was different. It tested everything and mashed all tests into one, creating a test room filled with traps and obstacles that needed to be passed without getting killed.
The tenth test was just a straight 300-meter hallway with tight ropes, strong wind, and a pitfall trap. Added with some flying knives that would appear randomly and a fire that could burn one to ash immediately.
And yes… All traps were randomly placed depending on RNG to make the test fair without any chance for people to remember the most efficient path.
It was no wonder this test was designated as the last one.
One thing that became Max\'s saving grace was two.
\'There is a wall that I can use, and there is no time limit for this last test.\'
After looking at the path for a few seconds, he started to run at full speed. He couldn\'t waste any more time and needed to finish the test as soon as possible to set the record.
And the time he had left might not be enough to cross the tenth test, as even he didn\'t believe he could finish it in one try without memorizing the trap\'s location.
When he crossed the 10-meter distance, a fire suddenly surged from the ceiling and hit him. It took him by surprise and gave him no time to react, killing him immediately.
Max\'s avatar was teleported back to the start point with a blue light. He couldn\'t move for 3 seconds as it regenerated, so he used this time to remember what had happened earlier.
\'10 meters, a fire trap. Activation method seems to be the tile I stepped on.\'
On the second try, Max didn\'t hesitate and ran again as soon as he was able to move. When he reached the area where he died earlier, which was marked with a skull mark, he jumped and dodged the trap activation device.
The sound of wind being split by a fast object echoed as soon as he landed. From the end of the hallway, an arrow was moving at a fast speed toward him. However, as it came from a distance, Max had no problem dodging it as he kept moving forward.
With his speed and agility in dodging obvious traps, Max managed to reach the 100-meter line without any problem.
At that moment…
Zap!
The floor suddenly disappeared, and he fell into the hole filled with spikes. His body turned into data once again and returned to the start.
\'Damn, this is harder than before.\' He thought as he prepared to go at it once again, \'The activation is automatic. I need to jump to dodge that pitfall in the 100-meter line. The skull mark will help me determine when it gets activated.\'
It was already a minute since he started the tenth test. As expected, this was the most time-consuming one among the others.
Once again, Max was already prepared to it. On the third try, he managed to dodge the pitfall by jumping and rolling on the ground. To reach the 100-meter line, he needed around 20 to 23 seconds, depending on his movement.
But it wasn\'t enough.
\'Faster.\'
Many traps activated at once when he passed the pitfall. Axes moved vertically, and some spikes appeared from the ground.
For other people, it was a hard trap to pass by. They needed to time correctly if they wanted to get past.
Yes. That was for other people.
\'Looks easy.\'
Max didn\'t need to time it because the trap was only on the ground and the middle of the hallway. When he got close to the spike trap, he jumped and began to run into the wall, avoiding the two traps altogether.
He kicked the wall and moved like a ninja. Gravity seemed to be non-existent, and he continued running on the ground once he passed the 200-meter line.
The hallway shrunk to half its size. It was now only 1 meter wide to the way to the finish. A golden button was waiting to be pressed on top of a red pedestal.
Projectiles were shot toward him, aiming for his whole body. From darts, knives, to even arrows, it didn\'t stop pouring from the end of the hallway.
Of course, it wasn\'t impossible to dodge, just really difficult. Max died once more, impaled to the head by an arrow. He respawned once again and tried again.
For the record, Flexy needed 8 tries before crossing the 300-meter line and pressing the finish button. He was an experienced streamer who enjoyed playing VR games and had more than 5000 hours of total playtime. He was used to it.
As for Max…
\'A little bit more!\'
He was faster with each try, and the finish line was just on the sight.
At that moment, many projectiles were shot at once. Only a small gap could be passed.
But that was enough. Max jumped without hesitation and spun his body midair, dodging the incoming projectiles. His hand was stretched to the front as much as he could.
Then… A loud cheer erupted as he pressed the golden button.
[Ding ding ding!]
[You have finished the Synchronization Test!]
[Final time: 00:13:51.]
[Final Time Worldwide Ranking: 1]
Hearing the notifications that came right after he pressed the button, Max broke into a big smile.
"FUCK YEAAAAHHH!!!" He shouted loudly out of the excitement that he cursed. "I did it!!"
But the notification wasn\'t over yet. There was something that hadn\'t appeared yet.
[Ding! Synchronization Rate is calculated… Finished.]
[Synchronization Rate is…]