Yi Qiang was in his peak mental state as he walked through the corridor. A cool calm had replaced the burning anticipation in his heart as his mind sharpened to its maximum. His movements were more natural than ever. Yi Qiang didn't even need to look to see the arrows perfectly in his mind - conscious thought was not required to respond to them.

Even as they threatened to overwhelm him, great waves crashing against his comparatively small body, the marksman walked forward, unaffected.

Quickly, he reached four hundred meters. The extra 20 points in each stat would prove invaluable as he exploded in movement, focusing more on running past the arrows than dodging them. The occasional projectile would come at him, but the marksman would simply duck or maneuver his upper body, letting the attack fly past him while not lowering his speed at all.

Then came the 450-meter mark. Suddenly, a wall of arrows came at him faster than he could have reacted last time.

Last time.

Deftly, Yi Qiang snatched two arrows out of the air as they flew at him, his new points in Agility and Dexterity paying dividends as they became serpents in his hands. Not one movement was wasted; an arrow that wouldn't kill him or hamper his progress was allowed to strike him. The wounds would build up, but there was no other way - if he tried to remain completely unharmed, the only result would be a quick death.

Littered with wounds, the marksman ignored the stinging pain of movement only aggravated by the limit to which he was pushing himself. Thirty meters.

Twenty meters.

Yi Qiang was a step away from the finish, uncontrollable anticipation rising in his heart.

His foot had crossed over when everything flashed once again.

Warning: you have two revivals remaining for this section of the Cloud Court.

What? What... happened?

Yi Qiang's mind flashed back to the instant his final movement was cut short. Arrows, sky-blue in color, had erupted from his surroundings so tightly packed and at such a speed that they functionally bisected him.

The marksman drew a deep breath to steady his mind. It was a single failure, used to inform him of the final surprise of the section—a worthy sacrifice.

But now he only had three tries left.

Yi Qiang tried to force himself into the same headspace he was in last time, but it was to no avail. Even with his self-control, it was an impossible task to enter a state like that again. All he could do was hope that his feat would be replicable even without the utter selflessness that had guided him the first time.

All useless thoughts were cast out of his mind as Yi Qiang walked forward, dodging the arrows sent at him effortlessly. He found himself at the four-hundred-meter mark without having expended any effort, leaving him plenty of energy to take him through the rest.

And so it began - the real trial of the section.

He dashed forward, ignoring any signs that his muscles couldn't handle the strain as his arms simultaneously worked without rest to create small holes in the wall.

He made it to the end but had to stop himself from lunging out of the hallway as he remembered what happened last time.

Hoping that it was a one-time surprise attack, Yi Qiang extended a finger then snapped it back, intent on triggering the attack and then going through.

The marksman almost lost his finger doing that, but he managed to move quickly enough to avoid losing the appendage.

Wounds were building up on his body, as the flood of crimson arrows had not ceased even as he got closer to the end. As such, Yi Qiang had no choice but to defend one-handed while he triggered the trap, which further increased the rate at which bloody holes appeared on his body.

On his last legs, the marksman couldn't spare the time or energy to check if his precaution had done anything, instead forced simply to fall backward and outside of the hallway.

Only semi-conscious, Yi Qiang was vaguely aware of falling against the ground before everything turned black.

An unknown amount of time later, he woke up, fully regenerated.

This time, though, what lay in front of him was different. Very different.

Instead of a long hallway, what Yi Qiang saw spread out before his eyes was a single race track. It was about 200 meters long and went around the large, circular room. He averted his eyes to the screen in front of him.

You passed the first section of the Cloud Court!

Time Taken: 5 days.

So this is the second part. The goal doesn't seem as clear as last time. What exactly do I do?

It was likely safe to assume it had to do with running, but Yi Qiang couldn't guess any more than that from the surroundings.

He sat up and got onto the track, choosing a random spot - there were no visible indicators as to where he was supposed to start running.

You have begun the second section of the Cloud Court!

Please run at your full speed.

Figuring that this session would likely be more system-intensive than the previous, Yi Qiang did as he was told. It was possible that if he restricted his speed, the system might require less from him. However, the marksman figured that a system capable of sending infinite volleys of energy arrows at him and doubling his power within seconds would be able to notice what was his best effort.

So, erupting into a full sprint, Yi Qiang lapped around the track in 10 seconds. Not a bad time, considering that his stats had been drastically lowered - the marksman reckoned that his improvement in the first section had increased his sprinting speed as well. It made sense, as footwork was an important part of anything regarding movement. If his predictions about this stage were correct, though, his speed would have to increase even further if he wanted to progress further.

Recorded Time: 00.10.03 Goal Time: 00.05.015

Perfect. Yi Qiang thought to himself.

Well, looks like I have to get to running.