Chapter 40

While running, I thought about it.

Estimating a long 10 minutes per lap, 50 laps would be 500 minutes, or about 8 hours. It makes sense that the exam is held in the morning.

Of course, I wouldn't get tired even if I ran for 8 hours, but it seems odd to take an endurance test when I know I won't get tired after that much running.

Well, in the end, there's no choice but to run. This time, I slowed down to avoid falling off the track and turned the corner while thinking.

Come to think of it, I was told to run 50 laps, but I wasn't told I had to run 50 laps.

Also, I remember that I was faster when I flew purely in the air without using my feet compared to my current speed.

...Could it be that my feet are holding me back right now?

I tried floating a bit in the air and accelerating. I could feel my speed gradually increasing. As expected.

The next corner came quickly. It wasn't a problem that I couldn't make the turn; I didn't need to fly along the wall.

I increased my altitude to avoid hitting people, and at a certain point, my acceleration suddenly dropped. It was probably about 2.5 meters above the ground.

When I lowered my altitude a bit more, my acceleration returned. For some reason, this height seemed to be the best for just moving quickly.

Perhaps there's something like the ground effect for airplanes in magic.

However, it doesn't feel like magic is actually causing any wind or using lift.

I accelerated smoothly and probably made the next corner in less than 2 minutes. The acceleration was still continuing.

I turned the next corner without slowing down, or rather, I flew in a semicircle with the outer wall inside it.

If I checked the trajectory with a car navigation system, it would probably look like a track in a stadium.

Well, if the guild's expected route is a track, I'm probably diving into the stands and then returning to the original course.

Since this is faster, there's no choice. I accelerated further on the straight and passed the starting point. It probably took less than 5 minutes.

I checked the card, and it clearly said "2 laps."

As I got faster, the acceleration seemed to weaken, but I was still accelerating. I didn't feel any air resistance, but magic must be using mana to counteract it.

No, if the acceleration is constant, the kinetic energy increase per unit time would rise with the speed. If the acceleration decrease is only due to this, can I accelerate indefinitely?

...I don't want to. It would be convenient if the acceleration stopped around supersonic speed, but if the mana output drops below what's needed to counteract the shockwave when I reach the speed of sound, it could be catastrophic.

The next day's news might say something like "died from severe injuries." If my body and head are intact, there's a chance of regeneration, but I don't want to try it.

Well, I'll keep my speed to about the level of a bullet train, around 300 km/h, which is about 25 laps per hour. That should be manageable. I'll deploy magical armor just in case. At high speeds, even a small pebble can become a deadly weapon.

At 300 km/h, being hit by a stationary pebble is the same as being hit by a pebble moving at 300 km/h.

Needless to say, hitting a tree would be even worse.

I shouldn't take items out of my item box while moving. I've never done it while moving, but if they come out in a stationary state, it would be suicidal.

Conversely, if they come out at my current speed, I could turn the item box into a powerful weapon by filling it with rocks. I'll try that later.

I entered the next lap. It was getting a bit difficult to fly along the longer side of the town while accelerating.

I decided to fly in a more circular orbit, almost ignoring the shorter sides and the road. I could fly over the sea.

The sea was not calm but not rough either, and it didn't affect my flight.

I hoped the laps would be counted properly...

Despite my concerns, the card recorded the third lap accurately. The time was probably faster than before, probably less than 4 minutes.

I continued to accelerate smoothly and probably broke 3 minutes by the sixth lap.

I didn't slow down and finally completed the 20th lap in about 2 minutes.

I still felt like I could accelerate, but it was dangerous, so I stopped.

Now that I had some spare mana, I decided to start killing the monsters.

However, I couldn't use weapons because they were in my item box.

I didn't want to try taking them out at this speed, and slowing down would be a waste of time.

So, I decided to use magic, as I originally intended.

I tried aiming a rock spear at the left side of a tree in front of me.

Looking back, I could see that the part I aimed at was gouged out.

It seems the speed of the rock spear is determined relative to the air at the point of appearance, not relative to me.

There's no such thing as absolute speed in space. Unless the world is geocentric and the universe isn't expanding, it's a different story.

...I don't know the exact definition of space.

Anyway, it's convenient that the spear flies to where I aim without having to calculate my own speed.

However, by the time it hits, I'm far ahead. Therefore, I need to kill them with the first shot.

So, I decided to use the explosive cannonball I used to kill the crabs. Since I'm not collecting the bodies, I don't care if the monsters explode violently.

The monsters I saw here were clearly weaker than the crabs, but overkill is just right. I have plenty of mana.

I orbited with about 10 cannonballs around my body and hit any monsters I saw.

By the time I had 10 laps left, the card read "40 laps, Kill Points: 1524."

I don't know what kill points are, but after killing a Black Wolf, the points increased by 2, so I guess 100 points for 50 kills would exempt me from the E-rank combat exam.

I don't know how many points are needed for D-rank, but I'll keep eliminating them without slowing down.

I continued the laps, and the finish line came into view. On the final straight, I didn't slow down at all and accelerated to the finish, then slowed down.

I started to decelerate, but it took more distance than I expected.

Before I knew it, I had passed the land and stopped about 2 kilometers out at sea. Just as I thought I had stopped, I was launched upward.

Looking down, a fish, about 2 meters long and resembling a fierce tuna, was charging at me. It had sharp teeth.

It seemed to be trying to eat me, but it was blocked by the magical armor. What a nuisance.

I hit the fish with the remaining explosive cannonballs, and it floated up. Maybe I'll have it for dinner.

I tried to store it in my item box, but it didn't fit. It was still alive. I hadn't even made a hole in the tuna's head.

I cut its neck with a magic sword and stored it in the item box, then accelerated back to the gate and returned to the town. It was quite hard and over 5 meters long.

...I didn't accidentally accelerate too much and end up 1 kilometer past the town, did I?

"50 laps are done. I also killed some monsters."

"...Huh? You started running in the morning, right? You're already done?"

Come to think of it, I might have been a bit too fast. About 2 hours for 50 laps? How about you try to catch up?

"Yes, here's the card."

"Really finished... 2 hours and 7 minutes, cutting the best record by almost a fifth. What did you do?"

I didn't cheat. I wasn't told to run. I should announce this straightforwardly.

"I flew at a height of about 2 meters. It's faster than running."

"How much money did you spend? You don't look that rich..."

Huh? Money? What are you talking about?

"I didn't spend any money. Why?"

"Didn't you stuff your item box with magical devices?"

"No, I just used magic normally."

I see. People with less mana must maintain flight that way. It must be tough.

I thought about it as if it were someone else's problem. It is someone else's problem.

"What about your mana?"

"I have a bit more mana, so... My item box can hold a lot too."

I have about 7 more than the average person. But I'm talking about the number of zeros.

"A bit...? I've never heard of a Decibattle person having that much... Even for a Decibattle person, your time is abnormal."

Being fast isn't a problem, is it?

"Anyway, did I pass the exam? Do I need the combat exam?"

"Points... 15000!? Not a new record, but it's the level of a C-rank hunter. What did you kill!?"

"Huh?"

I remember it was around 1500 when I checked. Ten times as much? ...Ah.

"By any chance, are the monsters I killed after 50 laps included?"

"Yes, as long as it's within 20 hours of starting, it's included."

An over 5-meter-long fish that didn't even have a hole from the explosive cannonball, tried to eat me, and felt hard even when cut with a magic sword.

...It's definitely not a normal fish.

"Well, I flew over the sea when I went too far on my way back and was attacked by a fish. I killed it. Could it be related?"

"...You don't mean a fish that looks like a tuna and is nearly 4 meters long, do you?"

This world has a specific name for tuna. Of course, it's due to the translation magic.

"No, it's probably a bit over 5 meters long, and it looks like a tuna."

"Is it very hard and has sharp teeth?"

"Yes, probably."

"Boat Killer... Indeed, a 12000-point monster... Do you have any proof? Even without it, you pass with the points, but..."

Boat Killer. It probably sinks ships and makes them look splattered.

In any case, there's a way to prove it. The real thing.

"Here."

I took out the fresh tuna.

It was heavy, so I used acceleration magic from below to hold it. I didn't want it to get smelly, so I did it through the magical armor.

It's a surreal sight to see a person carrying a large tuna. Maybe they'll use it as a counterweight for an elevator? First, they'd need to freeze the tuna.

"It fits in the item box... Damn, I don't care anymore. Anyway, you pass the exam, and your combat power is recognized as C-rank."

"But, the card only recognizes up to D-rank."

"Technically, the standards exist up to C-rank. No one had ever run 50 laps in 10 hours and earned 10000 points, so it became a dead letter."

But, I'm right here.

"By the way, my item box capacity hasn't been measured yet."

"Oh, we'll measure it now."

--- As expected, when measuring the item box capacity, we ran out of weights, and my transporter card ended up with the inscription "over 275000 kg."

Incidentally, the fish is apparently hard only on the shell, and the flesh is delicious.

...For a fish, it has a shell. Where did the scales go?

Marathon (I wasn't told to run)

The following is additional information about the transporter qualification. It probably won't affect the main story if you don't read it. If it does, I'll explain it in the main text.

In general guilds, the condition for rank advancement is being able to defeat strong monsters, even if it takes some time. Of course, experience in guarding is also necessary, but usually, one's strength doesn't improve so rapidly that it becomes a bottleneck.

In contrast, for transporters, the ability to carry cargo and move at high speed, as well as the ability to defeat or repel moderately strong monsters in a short time, is required.

Therefore, many adventurers who can plan and prepare thoroughly to defeat monsters and compensate for their lower stats with strategy cannot become transporters. As a result, the main group of transporters consists of those with superhuman stats who can adapt to obstacles on the fly.