MAZE - The Endless Quest

For twenty minutes, Hera did her best to hit as many targets as she could. Yet her score was still in the negatives. The only thing making her feel a bit better about herself was that among the recruits, her score was still in the top 5.

Current score

-175

Score Goal

5000

Mr. Greyson was really ruthless. So far, none of the recruits managed to get a positive score. The closest ones were Alex and Anaya, having - 23 and - 56, respectively. Both of them only got so close to zero because they could sometimes hit the fifth target. Hera even got a glimpse of Anaya missing the sixth one by a second.

On the other hand, Blue and Mark were bringing up the rear. Mark had gone past the -500 points, and Blue somehow was sitting at -760. As much as Hera was dazzled with the two recruits at the top, she had to admit Blue's score was more impressive. Just... the wrong kind of impressive.

Despite all that, Hera was still enjoying the challenge. She wanted to be able to beat them all, but seeing as the whole class was in the same boat made her feel like it was okay to fail this one. It was one thing to fail alone, another to fail as a group. Most of all, she really felt she was improving, unlike the previous day.

Fighting the dummy felt like memorizing the pattern of a video game boss. If you can figure out when you can abuse the enemy, it's easy to beat it. This exercise, however, is more random. It forces her to improve, to adapt, to grow.

Mr. Greyson had a smug smile on his face. He was glad his prediction was correct this time. He assumed one or two would be able to have a positive score at most.

Now every one of them was in the negatives. Even if a couple were close to reaching zero, it was still more than enough to make the teacher happy with his evaluation. However, a bit after they reached one hour since the beginning of the challenge, he frowned while looking at Alex's Arena.

In the past few attempts, Alex was able to hit the fifth sphere consistently. Now each time she aimed for the sixth target, she got closer to hit than her last try. To Mr. Greyson, no recruit would be able to hit six spheres in a row. Not with the target moving around so much.

Hera had almost hit her fourth sphere in a row. But while her arm was swinging towards it, the target blinked red and disappeared. Letting out a long sigh, she walked toward the middle of the arena to start again. While walking, she noticed that Alex was moving faster than before. Hera stopped for a second and started to watch her friend.

Alex hit two spheres almost at the same time. One arm aimed at the target that was glowing and the other aimed at the air. As soon as the first dagger hit, the second target appeared right where her second dagger was moving towards. The girl proceeded to do the same with the third and fourth targets. Even before the fifth target appeared, Alex was already twisting her body and stabbing her dagger in the air, and when it did show up, the target moved in the direction Alex was aiming.

Hera's eyes went wide. Not only did Alex predicted the position where the sphere would be, but even the direction it would move towards. How was that even possible? However, Hera had no time to be surprised. With her focus still on Alex, she watched as the girl hit the fifth target and followed up by slashing at the sixth. There was no way Alex would be able to hit six targets in a row. The sphere would glow right before it got hit, Hera was sure of it. Yet, to her surprise, Alex slashed at the sixth target and, not losing her focus, aimed at the seventh. That, however, was too much. She was halfway towards the sphere when it's glow turned red and it vanished.

After looking at her score, and seeing the 63 points being added to her total. Alex started to jump up and down celebrating. Her score was finally positive. A few other recruits started to clap and cheer, hearing that Alex's face turned red and she stopped jumping. Going back to her challenge.

Still in shock, Hera looked around to make sure more people had watched and it wasn't just an illusion. Aside from the recruits that were clapping, she saw Anaya. The girl had a serious expression, with a cold glint in her eyes. Realizing that Hera was watching her, Anaya waved at the girl and went back to her training.

Hera found that reaction weird, but right now, she had other things to worry about. She drank some more water and attacked her sphere again.

With twenty minutes left for the exercise, Mr. Greyson was irritated. No one was supposed to get close to the goal he had set, and yet Alex an Anaya needed just a bit over 1000 points to complete the challenge. He wanted to say it was because of her talents, that they were special. But the girls had no fundaments, the attacks were a mess. If someone was supposed to be doing well, it would be Leo. The man had formal training. He knew the proper stance and movement for his attacks. Even if it wasn't his usual weapon, he should be able to use some of his fundamentals.

Now, not only he had two recruits getting close to completing the challenge, most o the rest had a few hundred points. His predictions were wrong, and the only variable that had changed was the training method. Could this be better than the old ways?

The man shook his head, it was too soon to tell. They still can fail.

Some recruits were feeling extremely pressured. Hearing Mr. Greyson's mumble, they weren't able to understand all he was saying. They could only hear a few words "useless", "failure" and "mistake". Along with a few curses every now and then, that broke both their concentration and spirit. The worst part was when the teacher would grunt and walk away. They were not sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

In the following minutes, due to Alex's success, the recruit's drive was renewed. Having someone get so close to beating the challenge showed that it wasn't an impossible task.

With five minutes left on the challenge, Mr. Greyson was feeling on edge. Alex and Anaya were just a bit over two hundred points short of achieving the goal. Part of his job was to train these recruits so that can count as a good thing. But at the same time, his prediction was wrong, all because of this weird exercise. A small part of him was impressed with the effectiveness of it. But the rest refused to believe that this modern way can be so much better.

Among the recruits, very few were still trying to reach the goal. Most of them had given up and were now resting in the edges of the arena. The first ones who did this were scolded by the teacher. But during the last ten minutes or so he seemed to ignore them.

With that, most of the recruits who gave up watched the ones that were still struggling. Even giving some advice towards them. Hera wasn't in the mood to give up. She had a positive score, but there was no way to reach more than 5000 points in the few minutes left. She stepped away to drink some more water and watched Alex again.

Now, the girl was able to hit the sixth target with some consistency. Each successful attempt making her get closer to the seventh. Inch by inch, the distance between her dagger and the seventh target decreased. In this attempt, Alex saw the flicker of the seventh target, but her body was in an odd position to attack it. Spinning around to try to reach a better position she saw her dagger about to reach the target, and then the flicker.

That only happened when she would hit the sphere. Alex's heart started to pound even harder. The flicker indicated that the next target was going to appear behind her. Without stopping her spin, Alex slashed at the seventh target. As soon as the glowing sphere vanished, the girl flipped her head around. Not only the eighth target was too far for her to reach, but it was also moving away in a straight line. She wanted to hit it. Just once she wanted to try to move up two steps at a time. Alex finished her spin and threw the dagger at the target.

The dagger cut through the air. Alex, the recruits, and even a few explorers watching held their breaths. Like it was in slow motion Hera watched the dagger spin toward the target. The sphere started to lose some light, but one second before it changed to red. The target was struck by the dagger, vanishing and making a new one appear.

No one minded the ninth target that was just materialized. The training room reverberated with the yells from the recruits and many of the explorers watching. Blue jumped in Alex's arms giving her a big hug while the rest of the recruits cheered. Hera wanted to go there and join in, after all, Alex had just beat the challenge, but there was still a few minutes left. There was enough time to congratulate her later.

During that celebration, Anaya was able to reach the goal as well.

Jumping back to the exercise Hera managed to reach 154 points having, at most, hit the fifth target, even if it was just once. Leo had around 300 points, most of them got during the last half an hour of the exercise. Blue, on the other hand, was close to reaching -3000. She never managed to get a single positive chain.

After a few minutes of celebrating the recruits were interrupted by a clapping coming from Mr.Greyson.

"Congratulations, Alex, Anaya. The two of ye are the only ones to ever beat this challenge." In response to that, Alex gave a warm smile toward Anaya, who just replied with a cold stare.

"The two of ye can go home, the rest start running some laps, Ah reckon 30 kilometers would be fair giving yer accomplishments. After that, ye can go home." He said with an evil grin.

"You want us to run 30km? Mr. Greyson that's insane!" Mark gasped hearing how much work they still had for the day.

"Yer right laddie, maybe Ah should increase it to 45." The second he said that many recruits stared daggers at Mark. "If ye don't have any more complaints start running."

"Ah, man." Mark started to run following the track painted on the floor.

"What the hell ye think yer doing?" Mr.Greyson asked when he saw the man running.

Mark didn't stop running while he replied. "I'm running my laps."

"For f**k sake, that's a figure of speech. We have treadmills goddamit. Other people are training here."

Mark stopped running and looked back, only to see all the recruits walking towards the treadmills on the side of the room. Lowering his head he walked towards then, wanting to bury himself in a hole.