The Ranch

Miscalculation 2x (2)

Instructor Kane was confident in his ability before the moment he looked above.

He sees Tih crawling the metal bars like some creepy demon. His limbs bending and twisting like they have no bones. Instructor Kane watches the spine-tingling image of Tih maneuver around the bars like an acrobat.

Putting aside his bewilderment, the instructor realizes Tih has already passed the half-way point. His grip tightens as his pace increases, trying to catch up to the child.

Fifty percent effort, no chance in distance.

Eighty percent effort, slight decrease in distance.

Maximum effort, they're now neck in neck.

Sweat drips from his forehead, wetting his white hair. His muscles are in pain as he powers his way up the structure.

There's now only a couple feet before they reach the top. Not wanting to let his pride fall, Instructor Kane exerts one-hundred and ten percent effort to surpass Tih by a small margin and grabs the flag.

He wobbles as he forces himself to stand, using the thing that was holding the flag to support himself as he balances on the bars. He looks at the child across from him who's still breathing lightly through his nose without any signs of exhaustion.

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This...this kid is a monster! I never could have expected... hah, well it looks like I won't be taking him in as an apprentice. If I did, I'd probably become the student and he the teacher. This kid has crazy natural talent. I should introduce him to those egotistical bastards. I can laugh in their faces when they lose to this shrimp.

Ahh...I really lost a lot of face here, didn't I? Although I managed to get the flag in the end, I tore a ligament. This is going to take a couple weeks to heal, good thing I already took the trial. I should have enough time to recover...

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Instructor Kane looks at Tih,"Well, *huff* looks like I won kid. *huff*"

Tih stares at the heavily panting man in front of him as he stands on a singular bar with his hands in the pocket of his recently received hoodie. Tih finds having somewhere to put his arms pleasant.

Instructor Kane looks at the boy who's somehow managing to balance on the bar without any movements to adjust his balance. The child stands completely still like a sturdy tree. "Let's...go down. You can head down first, I'll be right behind you, I just need to put the flag back."

Listening to the instructor, Tih steps off the bar, flying straight down. He pull one hand out of the pocket to catch a bar in front of him, using the momentum to do a backflip mid-air, barely missing some bars. His body flexibly twists around bars as he flies down at a crazy speed.

After making his excuse, Instructor Kane watches as Tih's figure gets small enough, before his legs cave in. He overexerted himself and there wasn't enough blood circulating in his legs. Instructor Kane couldn't feel anything in his legs except for the pins and needles. He was only able to stand in front of Tih out of sheer willpower.

Waiting around ten minutes, Instructor Kane finally gets enough feeling in his legs to traverse back down. When he reaches the bottom, he meets us with Tih, who has been standing in the same place for the ten minutes in silence.

The group from early had noticed him and had made their way over to the front of the structure. They were talking amongst themselves until they saw Instructor Kane," Woah...Instructor Kane? Are you good? Your face looks a little pale?"

"I'm fine." The instructor wasn't about to lose his pride in front of these soldiers, so he feigns ignorance.

Hearing him say it's nothing, the group quickly change topics," Have you guys seen any promising newbies?"

"I heard about this one newbie that electrocuted all the other newbies during their trial."

"Rumors are already spreading around about Phillip picking up a newbie. I kinda feel bad, at the others knew what they were getting themselves into."

"Apparently, one of the newbies..."

"Did you hear about the two newbies that fought in colosseum one? And they were caught by Instructor Maddox of all people! Super unlucky!"

"Oh! I heard a newbie managed to get on Instructor Maddox's good graces! Lucky him."

"There's a really smart newbie in group..."

"I heard one newbie that hacked into the train capsule!"

"Oh! I heard a group of newbies highjacked the bus!"

Although not all of the rumors were about Tih, over half of them were. The boy in question stood at the side, listening quietly.

" So, who do you think will win the newcomers tournament?"

"Fighting in front of Instructor Maddox takes a lot of guts, maybe that kid can win."

"Hey! So does highjacking the train or bus!"

"Exactly! Even if you have guts, if you don't have the strength to back it up, it's just plain arrogance."

"That's why I'll bet on electro boy! He'll be able to use his ruthlessness to his advantage."

Instructor Kane joins the conversation," That's only if they join the the tournament in the first place." He glances at the boy.

"True, that hacker sounds like a brains over brawn type."

"But it's the Newcomer's Tournament? Do you really think any of the newbies can resist the prizes?"

"If they're smart enough. Of course, there's always some with brains and brawn."

"Ahh, right those freaks."

The group sighs in envy.