From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 55: One Hundred

I woke before the light filtered through my window, my mind racing with anticipation. The Quickstep pattern was burning in my memory, its intricate geometry now as familiar as my own reflection. Today would be different. Today, I wouldn’t just run, I would fly. But first, I needed witnesses to my triumph, preferably ones who had no idea what was coming. The thought of Phinyx’s perpetually calm face cracking with surprise was almost as motivating as the achievement itself.

I dressed quickly. My muscles felt rested, eager, as if they sensed the change that had occurred. Intelligence at level 10 had transformed my understanding of spells and I’d gotten a breakthrough with Quickstep, but I wanted to see how it would transform my physical training as well.

The corridors of the spire were quiet as I made my way down to the training room. Most Ones were still sleeping, enjoying the luxury of choosing their own schedules. Not us, though. Not the survivors of exile. We had purpose now, duties that dragged us from bed when others slept, pushing ourselves beyond limits that once seemed impossible.

The elevator hummed as it carried me down to the vast underground space where I’d spent so many hours forcing my body to adapt, to grow stronger. The doors slid open, revealing the familiar expanse of the training room, illuminated by that strange, powerful light from the ceiling, the thing that powered Argent’s barrier.

Phinyx was already there, sitting cross legged near the entrance, his eyes closed in what appeared to be meditation. He opened one eye as my footsteps echoed across the floor.

"Morning, weapon man." he said, his voice carrying its usual laid back cadence. "Ready for another day of self torture?"

"Always." I replied, keeping my tone casual despite the excitement churning in my stomach. "Let’s see if we can beat yesterday’s record."

Phinyx stood up, stretching his arms above his head. "Your vibe is different today. Very... anticipatory."

I shrugged, hiding my smile as I began my warm up stretches. "Just feeling good, I guess."

"Well, I’m ready when you are." he said, taking up his position at the marker. We’d worked out a system over these past months, him stationed at the starting and finish line, ready to boost me with his vibes when exhaustion threatened to drop me.

I stepped onto the invisible starting line, my feet finding their familiar stance. My heart rate quickened, not from exertion yet, but from knowing what was coming. I’d play it cool for now, run the first seventy or so laps normally, make it look like just another day of incremental progress. Then, when my body would typically begin to fail... that’s when I’d unleash Quickstep.

"Let’s go!" I said, and broke into my steady running rhythm.

The first twenty laps passed in comfortable silence, my enhanced agility making what once was torture feel almost routine. I settled into the familiar sensations, the controlled breathing, the steady impact of feet against floor, the gradual warming of muscles as blood flowed more rapidly through my system.

Around lap thirty, I passed Phinyx for the fourth time. "Energy vibe, fast running vibe." he called out, his hands making gentle pushing motions in my direction. The familiar wave of vitality washed over me, taking just enough edge off the growing fatigue to keep me moving at optimal speed.

By lap fifty, sweat soaked my shirt and stung my eyes, but I maintained my pace. In the distance, I could see Kira working with her vegetation abilities, making thorny vines into complex defensive formations. She glanced up as I passed, offering a small wave before returning to her work.

"How’s it going?" Phinyx asked as I completed lap sixty five, his voice betraying the first hints of strain from maintaining his supportive vibes for so long.

"Getting tired." I replied, which wasn’t entirely a lie. Even with my improved stats, seventy consecutive laps was no small feat. "But I think I can push through."

"Endurance vibe, second wind vibe." Phinyx chanted, his fingers splaying toward me as I passed. The familiar warmth of his ability flooded my system, dulling the ache in my legs and clearing the fog of fatigue from my mind.

As I rounded the final curve of lap seventy five, I slowed slightly, making a show of my growing exhaustion. Phinyx watched with concern, his brow furrowed as he prepared another burst of supportive vibes.

Now was the time.

I closed my eyes for just a moment, long enough to center the Quickstep pattern in my mind. The three spheres aligned perfectly, their complex geometries rotating in perfect harmony. I focused it inward, just as I’d practiced.

"Quickstep." I whispered, the word barely audible even to my own ears.

The world blurred.

One moment I was passing Phinyx, the next I was a quarter of the way around the track, my body having traversed that space in an instant. The sensation was electric, like diving into cool water after hours in the sun. Pure, clean movement, frictionless and effortless.

I heard Phinyx’s startled shout behind me, but it was already fading as I triggered the spell again. Another blur, another massive chunk of distance covered in the blink of an eye. I wasn’t running anymore, I was flowing, skipping across space itself with only the briefest contact with the physical world.

"What the..." Phinyx’s voice cut out as I passed him again, far sooner than he’d expected.

Five laps. In the time it would have taken me to complete one, I’d circled the training room five times. The rush was indescribable, a freedom of movement I’d never imagined possible. Each activation of Quickstep sent me hurtling forward, covering an enormous distance with minimal effort, only to land and immediately activate it again.

Across the room, Kira had stopped her work entirely, her mouth hanging open as she tracked the blur of my passage. Her vines seemed to respond to her shock, curling inward as if trying to process what they were seeing.

"Allaran?" she called out, her voice tinted with doubt. "Is that you?"

I couldn’t answer, I was too focused on maintaining the pattern, on controlling my landings, on pushing forward. Lap eighty, eighty five, ninety, the count in my head accelerated as rapidly as my body. The previous barriers that had seemed so daunting now fell away like tissue paper before a storm.

Phinyx had given up trying to boost me with his vibes, I was moving too quickly, too unpredictably for him to target. Instead, he started trying to track my progress as I blurred past him again and again.

"This is insane!" he shouted, his perpetual calm finally cracking. "How are you doing this?"

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me, the sound strange and broken as I flashed between points in space. The spell wasn’t just changing how I moved, it was changing how I experienced movement itself. Each step contained a lifetime of sensation, compressed into an instant.

Ninety five. Ninety six. Each lap brought me closer to the once impossible goal of one hundred. My head had begun to hurt, a pressure building behind my eyes from the repeated casting of the spell. My legs, while assisted by the magic, still bore the burden of absorbing impact, of pushing off for the next step.

Kira had abandoned her station entirely now, moving closer to the entrance to better witness what was happening. Her expression was a mixture of awe and concern, her eyes trying and failing to follow my accelerated progress.

"Ninety eight." I gasped, more to myself than anyone else. The pain in my skull was intensifying with each cast of Quickstep, but I refused to stop. So close now.

With a final surge of will, I focused the pattern once more. My head felt like it was exploding. "Quickstep!"

The world blurred for the last time as I hurtled through laps ninety nine and one hundred in a final, desperate sprint.

As I crossed that invisible finish line, the spell pattern shattered in my mind like glass.

And so did my consciousness.