“Number 8, New Holy City Academy, Quinn!”
“Someone from New Holy City! An expert has finally been called out!”
“They’re one of the 4 A ranked squadrons from our region. What’s more, they evaluated to be a proper A rank, and not pushed up from A- due to a lack of number.”
“The l New Holy City squadron appeared to be more formidable in their ranged combat, while their captain’s considerably powerful with the Holy Crossbow. As for their assassin, there’s not much information out there. This Quinn doesn’t have much fame under his belt.”
“No matter how you say it, they’re an A ranked squadron and possess the strength to contest for the champion in this CHF. How can a person that’s part of their main line up be any weak!”
An expert has finally graced the field, causing many whispering voices to ring out. Interest brimmed in everyone’s heart as they looked towards the somewhat immature youth that had walked forwards. Appearing slightly skinny, he had a slightly pale looking face, as though he was sickly or ill, while a cold and emotionless gaze filled his eyes.
“Number 72, Tianjing Academy, Emily Assassin!”
“Tianjing Academy? Isn’t that the academy that was ranked 1st from the bottom for the 1st elimination round?”
“They’re just a C ranked squadron. Wait a minute? What’s the name of that girl? Emily Assassin? Is she from the Assassin Family?”
“I guess that they just share the same surname. Haha, if she’s really a part of the Assassin Family, she would have been in Saint Mongols Academy.”
“Let me take a look. Fuck, she’s really from the Assassin Family!”
“That impossible, right? Haha. This is embarrassing.”
There were quite a few people present her that was rather sensitive to the surname of “Assassin”, with the curiosity brewing in them not being any weaker than the New Holy City’s Quinn.
The Assassin Family was one of the 2 great families of assassins within the federation. Just toss any one of their names out on the streets and they would attract attention like signboards made with real gold. There’s definitely not too much secrecy in the information about an academy like Tianjing. It was just that there were too little people that were willing to analyse them in detail. Why were they of C rank? That goes to show that they had long been evaluated to possess no chance to contend for the championship. Truth to be told, other than the Giant God Peak ACademy that had made an eye-grabbing performance in the first elimination round, the other C ranked squadrons were too unqualified to make other people research deeply into information about them.
“Ha. I guess that she’s a weakling that has been kicked out from the Assassin Family.” at this moment, Carmel’s result was still ranked in the top 5, leaving him in a rather happy mood. “Being a female coupled with her age, its a reasonable explanation. I hope that she doesn’t get eliminated after her first step. If not, that would really throw the face of the Assassin Family away.”
“In any case, she’s born from the Assassin Family. Although I’ve not seen her abilities, we can make an inference. I guess that if she gives her all, there’s hope for her to reach 50 metres.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’ll be 20 metres at max. Ha. However, now that you’ve mentioned it, after a close look, that little girl appears to be quite beautiful! Is something like beauty also inherited in the bloodline of aristocratic families? It’s always those aristocratic ladies that are the most flavorful.”
After hearing those slightly dirty words, like birds of the same feather, the few people sitting beside him started smiling. Despite hearing those comments about her, Emily gave an appearance as though she had not heard any of them. In the past, she might have turned angry about it, though she truly didn’t care about it at this very moment.
On the contrary, the little old man was brimming with interest as he looked at Emily. Indeed, she had the aura of a member of the Assassin Family. However, what’s very strange was that the negative emotions that were present on her weren’t as thick as the others. Indeed, the Assassin Family was very powerful, especially during the dark era. However, their strength had dropped quite drastically during the recent years. This was precisely due to their training methods and strength being a double-edged sword. They were suitable for the dark era, but not for this current era, leading them to not produce any stand out soldiers for a very long time.
Quinn, Emily and the 2 other participants bent their bodies slightly at the start of the runway, entering a posture to dash out when the signal goes off.
“3, 2, 1, start!”
4 figures rushed along the runway at the same time. The group currently undertaking the test were of a rather high standard. Other than Quinn and Emily, the other 2 members hailed from B+ ranked squadrons. The 4 people had crossed the first 50 metres at seemingly the same instant, with not a single person falling behind.
After a few seconds, they had crossed over 50 metres of the runway. At this moment, the universally similar lightning arc patterns changed suddenly as their difficulty level rose. This continued on till the major checkpoint of a 100 metres when one of them fell due to a misstep.
There’s a threshold at every 50 metres where the difficulty rises by a notch. The intervals between the flashing white tiles would grow even shorter, dropping from the initial 0.5 seconds to approximately 0.3 seconds. The sudden requirement for additional speed had instantly caused the members from the 2 B ranked squadrons to be eliminated. At this very moment, there were only Emily and Quinn left on the runways.
“That C ranked squadron member’s actually able to keep up in her reaction speeds? Fuck! I really have seen a ghost.”
The eyes of a large bunch of people turned wide open, as all of them could see the difficulty of the Lightning Evasion Formation. It was no question if it was Quin that was able to cross the 100-metre mark safely. After all, he was a regular of an A ranked squadron. However, what the hell was that lass from Tianjing?
Bang!
Just the reduction to 0.3-second intervals had already caused Emily to feel the pressure. Her petite and lithe body appeared just like a gust of wind in the runway, appearing yet another 50 metres ahead in the blink of an eye. Moving along via her inertia, her eyes were already scouring for the next place she could land her foot on. However, all of a sudden, she discovered that the next white flashing tile had appeared at a staggering distance of 20 over metres away!
As this was the first time everyone had seen the Lightning Evasion Formation during its last 50 metres, causing them to all suck in a breath of cold air. A step that required one to cross 20 over metres in 1 stride. How’s that even possible? Unless one could fly!
All of a sudden, the figure of Quinn disappeared from the corner of her eye. He had unexpectedly retreated back! Emily immediately discovered there was another white flashing tile present within a 20-metre distance from her, which was located around 4 to 5 metres behind her back.
There were 2 choices she could make. Retreat, or advance.
However, as her focus and attention were all placed on heading forwards, wanting to change all of a sudden and land on the white flashing tile behind her was utterly impossible!
Even the majority of the audience, with their godlike viewing angles, weren’t able to discover the appearance of the other white flashing tile. If not for her sensing that Quinn had suddenly retreated back, Emily might not have even found its existence. However, with her body airborne and her forward moving momentum, how was she able to counteract her inertia and retreat in the short span of 0.3 seconds?
“The observational skill and reflexes of that Quinn are, tsk tsk tsk, truly worthy of being a regular of an A ranked squadron. He isn’t famous or has any of a reputation, yet he is actually that strong.”
“That lass from the Assassin Family isn’t too bad herself. They truly are worthy of being one of the strongest assassin aristocratic families, though it’s a pity that she’s still a tad too tender.”
The people observing by the side were shocked by the terrifying observational skills displayed by Quinn, while feeling pity for Emily. After all, she was the only person other than Quinn to have crossed the furthest distance within the Lightning Evasion Formation. What’s more, she was also an extremely cute and pretty girl.
However, what closely followed was the appearance of an inconceivable spectacle. Roaring flames suddenly erupted out from Emily’s petite and lithe figure, forcibly pushing her back from her airborne position.
Bang!
Landing accurately on the white flashing tile, she proceeded to leap into the air once again! With the accompany of her flames, Emily’s speed was promoted by a large degree!
Flame acceleration!
The expansion of the white flashing tiles present on the last 50 metres of the runway grew exceedingly quick. With only 4 white flashing tiles present, the distance each of them was over 10 metres. Despite that, the flaming red figure had unexpectedly took the lead, crossing the finishing line before Quinn. At this moment, an automated voice read out the results of her performance: “Tianjing Academy, Emily Assassin, 17.3 seconds!”
“New Holy City Academy, Quinn, 17.6 seconds!”
Emily’s chest heaved up and down slightly as she took deep breaths. Although she didn’t consume much of her physical strength, the main source of her fatigue was due to the exhaustion due to the level of concentration demanded from her. During the end of her run, if not for her relying on her fire attribute special ability, she would have already been eliminated at the 150-metre mark. In the end, she was still slightly lacking in her observational skills. Despite being just having a tad bit of disparity, it was a barrier that would prevent a first rate assassin from becoming a top-class assassin.
At this moment, she could not help but to look towards the sickly looking Quinn, who’s breathing was also not quite stable. Clearly, he had given his all in the final part of his run. Seeing her looking at him, he sent a faint smile back. Towards a girl with such strength, despite her using her fire attribute special ability, she had indeed taken the win over him. What’s more, he did not do something along to lines of concealing his strength. Therefore, Quinn had respect for Emily.
This was the first appearance of people that could complete the entire run in accordance to the rules. What’s more, 2 of them had appeared, causing the entire training grounds to buzz with voices and chatter. Truthfully speaking, there was nothing much to say about the performance of Quinn. Being a regular of one of the few A ranked squadrons, him completing the test was still within the expectations of the majority present. However, as for Tianjing’s Emily… one had to know that even the assassins from those B+ and even A-Rank squadrons weren’t able to make it past the great barrier of 100 metres! What more about completing the entire test.