The big, special underwater race
This is a story created mostly by my mind game* and is based on scenes from a dream I had featuring a unique underwater race**. Though the actual events that occured are about 70% remembered, and scenes [images] being 99% accurate, I decided to fully expand the story enhancing it with my mind game. The character whom is referenced as "I" is myself as I was in the dream only with the special abilities often used.
This story is one of my top favorites. The story takes place on an island surrounded by pretty blue water that is so clear, you can see the bottom 150 feet below you. The island has a bright yellow-colored sand, approximately D0B890, that lines the entire shore. The central part of the island is of a dense jungle. The island is about 4 miles wide by 2 miles long.
To the south of the island is where the action takes place. This is where a cone-shaped object is that rises about 400 or so feet above the water's surface and is completely surrounded by water. Near where the shore is, there is a small hole of which you can enter and exit the raceway cave about 30 feet above the ocean. The top has a crater about 20 feet deep and a pit in the center.
The weather is very nice. There's a gentle 7 mph wind and just a cumulous cloud here and there, but very few. The Sun was shining bright and the sky was very blue. There was nothing in the way of storms in any direction.
As the story starts, I'm just arriving on the island by a fairly large ship, but quite a bit smaller than a cruise ship. I get off the cruise ship by a 40-foot jump*** and a short glide landing on the shore. I look at the strange cave about a thousand feet away. It looked odd in my opinion.
As soon as everyone got off the ship, the race coach, the leader and director of the race tells of the race in detail. I listened carefully to the race coach.
"Welcome to Orenta Island, the home of the famous underwater race," said the race coach to everyone that was on the ship. "As it seemed, the trip was long, but we had a lot of fun, right?"
Most of the audience shout out something at random. I, myself, didn't say anything. I looked up and saw a large jumbo jet flying 2 miles overhead heading away from the area.
"We came here to do one thing, race until the championships. The champs will arrive in about two hours. The race is short and shouldn't take much longer than 2 minutes to complete. See that cone-shaped cave over there?" The race coach points to the raceway cave. "This is where the races take place. Climbing to the top is a bit rough, but it has been proven to help a bit with the race itself."
"My jumping abilities should make that no big deal," I said to myself mentally.
"At the top, you'll find a crater and a rectangular hole," said the race coach continuing without a pause. "You go down this hole and this is where you enter the racing zone. If we work together, we can do five races as practice then the sixth race will be the championship race. The raceway is a small maze of twists and turns but is of one large corridor that is distinguishable from sidepaths. You just need to follow the corridor all the way through. There are what would be shortcuts, but we have guards in there to make sure you can't use them. Swim as fast as you can then you'll burst out. You'll find a bunch of ledges to help you down to cross over to the finish line on the shore. Any questions?
"Yes," I said thinking of a way to win, "are special abilities like my 90-foot jumps allowed"?
"Any special ability is allowed," said the race coach after thinking for two seconds. "They are allowed as some of the champs use such abilities. Any other questions?" A five-second pause occurs. "Well, let's get the show on the road and let's get a move on."
"Ha!" said one of the bullies, Jester. "90-foot jumps couldn't even be of any use for an underwater race!"
"My gliding can get me to speeds of up to 800 mph!" I replied. "Beat that!"
"Hey! That would be cheating!" said Jester.
"Actually, being confirmed, the race leader guy said that special abilities are allowed," I replied back a little upset. "Though I take over two dot five minutes to reach that speed, I can't use it underwater."
"Ha! You wouldn't stand a chance then!" said Jester very meanly.
"We'll see about that," I replied back. "I'll find some way to win and I do know some racing techniques."
Both Jester and I along with the rest of the group start walking toward the big cave.
"I'll be the first to get there and I'll show you too!" I said meanly to Jester.
I jump up to 90 feet in the air then jump again in mid-air gaining another 90 feet. From here, I start gliding† directly toward the cave picking up speed. Just before I got there, I pulled almost straight up. I land at the top of the cave and oversaw everything and boy was the scenery just beautiful. I was almost mesmerized by it. While I waited for the slow pokes, I jumped down into the crater doing a fall-glide‡. I saw the rectangular opening in the cave and looked down it. I couldn't see much at first, but then, slowly, I began to see very clear-looking water in there. It looked worrysome.
Still waiting for everyone, I began equipping my stats††, mostly toward stamina‡†. Because I was going to be underwater for about 1 minute, I needed to equip some other abilities that could help me out while I held my breath. I checked over my stats carefully and checked them once more and all seemed well. Finally, the group came, but only 7 instead of about 200. Of the 7, Jester was included along with the race coach. I then thought of the flash attack†‡. I could use it as a boost. However, because of it's nature‡‡, I wouldn't want to suddenly spring forward at about 300 or so mph, as I might crash into something very hard and the pressure would be too intense! The flash attack was a bad idea.
The racers all grouped together by the rectangular entrance.
"This is where we start," said the race coach.
The race coach pushes a red button. A noise can be heard, that of a motor running. A short while later, a platform of a dark gray color appears through the rectangular surface and goes up another foot past here.
The six racers get on the platform. The race coach pushes the red button again and the platform slowly descends into the raceway.
"You won't even stand a chance of winning!" said Jester while the platform starts lowering.
"We'll see soon," I said back in a nice way.
"Yeah right, you won't even make it to...." said Jester being interrupted.
"Alright you two," said Ronden, "enough arguing. Jester, control your attitude."
Jester doesn't say anything else. I look over the edge at the water coming up. About two feet from the water, the platform stops. Nothing goes on for a short bit of time.
"Alright, here's how this is going to work," said the race coach into a microphone audible in the area the racers were. "Straight below you are some lights. There are two red lights, two yellow and one green. When the green light comes on, you just jump off the platform and into the water and swim as fast as you can through the main corridor. At the end, you'll burst out of the water. From here, just run to the finish line. All set?"
The lights on the bottom come on. First a red light to the far left, then another red light about four inches to the right, then a yellow light, another yellow light, then the green light. When the green light comes on, the racers, at nearly the same time, jump into the water, including myself. While I head down, I hold my breath.
Very quickly, I swim my way through the course. First, you swim to an area 20 feet below the surface, then you head straight. A little further and you find an area where the path splits into two directions to the left and right. The corridor continues forward without any turns. I was already in last place, but not by much. The next path split-up is where you can continue straight or turn left. The main corridor turns left, so I move toward the wall and make a very sharp turn. It didn't help with my position though.
Continuing on, there was an area in which you had to swim up. I just got into my fall-glide position, which help me gain height three times faster than the others†††. You only went up 5 feet though, so it was hardly of any use. The main hallway continued straight for quite some time. Half way to the wall up ahead, the path split up into two directions. One to the right, and one going down. I continued straight until the wall. At the wall, you could turn left or right. The right turn was the correct way and I hugged the corner to make it.
I saw the light of day shining in and I was almost out of stamina. The other racers by this point, were just a few feet from exitting the area. I simply just continued, knowing that my glide ability would save me. The other racers got out of the water while I was still 30 feet behind. I just continued concentrating on what I was doing. When I reached the end, I used my fall-glide to raise ten feet to get out of the water, which sent me several feet into the air. I finally was able to breathe again!
I saw the other racers already crossing the finish line. Jester was in 4th place and Ronden was just crossing the finish line in second place. I initiated my glide, but, even though I got over 40 mph, I came in dead last still one second behind. I was wondering how everyone got so far ahead of me. I checked my stats and noticed that I forgot to equip for speed. I was dumbfounded about that.
When I landed after a 50-foot drop, I was curious to know what the times were. The others weren't breathless like I was, which also caused me to get further confused. I found out that the leader was two big seconds ahead of even the second place winner. I was 9.3 seconds behind the first place winner. I was big time shocked when I heard about the news. If I didn't glide, I'd probably have been about 20 seconds behind!
This made little sense, but then, knowing that I forgot to equip for speed, that might've been the cause. I equipped my speed pluses††‡ to boost my SPD stat by quite a bit. Thinking about the math, I still don't think that my SPD stat was high enough. I had to think of another way to win.
With one race done with, I thought of ways to get extra speed. The glide ability is only effective in mediums with a density less than 1.4 atmospheres. Water is just too dense, but I could try it just to see if I get any worthwhile effects. Using the fall-glide idea was great. The flash attack seemed like an option, however, it was the force caused from going 300 mph in water that really worried me.
"Na, na, na, na, na!" said Jester. "You came in last! Ha ha!"
"Enough already!" I replied rudely. "If there's a way to win, I'll find it! Excuse me if I forget to equip for speed. That was stupid of me."
"You ready to come in last for the next race?" said Jester with a small smile.
"Jester!" said Ronden loudly. "Stop it already or you'll be suspended!"
"Thank you," I replied to Ronden. "He's starting to get annoying."
"You're welcome," said Ronden nicely.
"The next race will start in 10 minutes," said the race coach who was by the finish line.
What to do in those ten minutes was my next biggest problem. I could try to think of ways to win during that time period, or I could just explore the island. I couldn't make up my mind until three minutes later. I decided to explore the island, mainly along the beaches. I could also, however, try to get up really high, but the only thing around that would be of decent use would be that cave I was just in.
Since the island was just too big to explore all the way around in just 7 minutes, well, 6 by now, I decided to go up really high for now.
Jester watches me carefully while I jump 90 feet in the air. He becomes very surprised that I really could jump that high. But, to surprise him even more, I jumped in mid-air, then again, and again up to five times in mid-air obtaining just shy of 550 feet of height. The views were spectacular, but, I wanted more height. I used the stompࠠ which threw me up to over 2000 feet high. Boy, you could see everything from up there and the area seemed a bit fogged out. It was a beautiful scene and the extent of the race cave was much bigger than I thought. I had no idea where I was as far as the surroundings, but I used my fall-glide to reach the ground.
When I landed, Jester came up to me. Ronden followed.
"That's some jump you have!" said Jester amazed. "How high did you go!?"
"I can throw a lot of numbers at you to show you were I get my 2200 feet maximum from," I said. "Of course, at my biggest potential, I could get over 6000 feet high."
"Wow!" said Jester. "I really underestimated you!"
"You are right that those kinds of jumps are merely useless in that race," I said. "I go scientific to look for ways to win. What I don't get is how the leader of the race got so far ahead. Either his speed stat is 300 or he has a very high strength stat in the, say, 800s." Suddenly, in a burst, I say, loudly, "Wait a minute!" I continue, but speaking to myself. "Ya know, maybe I should cast scan3 on him to bring up his stats. I'd have to be quite isolated for doing this. I'll do it on the next waiting session.
"Time to return to the race course," said the race coach.
The racers then head back to the cave which wasn't far away at all. As I did before, I jumped 90 feet into the air then jumped in mid-air initiating a glide, but headed to the right of the cave. I made a quick turn when I got fast enough. When I got close to the cave, like before, I pulled almost straight up then landed in the crater.
While waiting, I checked my stats again, but this time, much more thoroughly. I made sure I was equipped as necessary for a race. I equipped anything I could think of to raise stamina and speed. I checked the stats once through and, before I went through them a second time, the racers arrived.
"Boy, it's almost like you can fly!" said Ronden to me when the racers arrive.
The race coach pushes the red button again and the platform begins to raise.
"I can't really move freely along the three dimensions," I replied. "I'm still affected by gravity so I have to be careful."
The platform comes up again, and the racers get on it. The platform heads down into the cave.
"Try the best you can, okay," said Ronden in a friendly tone.
"While I waited for the racers," I said, "I made sure I had my stats equipped right and double checked. Yes, it was my fault that I forgot to equip for speed."
The lights on the bottom start to light up.
When the green light comes on, I repeat the race in the same way, only just a tad faster. Unfortunately, even being equipped for speed, I've noticed but maybe a 5% increase on my actual speed. I checked my mind speedometer†‡† and, instead of an average speed of 3.7 mph, I was registering 3.9. The difference, however, was too slight and I still lagged behind in last place throughout the underwater part. About 10 feet before the end of the course, I got a warning saying that exhaustion was a problem. At the end, I bursted out and started my glide a bit sooner than I did beforehand. This time, I saw Jester barely in last place and Ronden in third. I crossed the finish line a tenth of a second after Jester did, thus finishing in last place again.
Just crossing the finish line, I pulled up and got out of my glide. I fell the 80 feet that I had and landed breathing very fast. Strange as it was, the other racers weren't all that breathless as I was. It made little sense. The only thing I could think of is that their stamina was 150-something instead of the 107 I had. I couldn't get that any higher.
The other racers looked at me while I checked my stats. I looked for any way possible to raise the stamina stat. All I could do to help save stamina was to get rid of a speed plus, the weak one of the two, but I couldn't see anything I could equip in exchange. I looked through my plus abilities and noticed an APS plus‡‡†. Since APS was actions per second, it might help, but then, it could make me exhausted. APS is the biggest help toward movement speed. I equipped the weak APS plus. Other than this, I didn't know what else I could think of.
Suddenly, an idea struck my head. Why don't I just cast scan3 on all the racers and study their stats to see if I can mimic them. I, however, would have to keep this secret. To make it secret, I thought of getting a lot of distance. Spells have no limits on range‡†‡.
"We'll retry the race in about 15 minutes," said the race coach.
"15? That's enough time to explore the beach sides of this island!" I said thinking of a way to keep the scan3 spell a secret.
I jump 90 feet in the air then jump in mid-air then glide going around the island in a clockwise pattern. About a mile away, enough distance so that no one can see what I'm doing, I put on the brakes slowing down to almost a complete stop then just dropping out of my glide.
When I land, I sense for the targets' locations then cast scan3. Ronden seemed to be quite a ways into the race, so I scan3'ed him first. To my astonishment, his STA stat was much lower than I thought, only 127, but still, this is unusually high. I didn't see anything else that stuck out except a DEF less than 80.
Unfamiliar with the main leader of the race, I scan3'ed everyone that participated in the race. Their stats only showed a STA no lower than 115, but one racer had 143! The racer with STA at 143 had a STR at 800. He was very powerful. His weakness, however, was his speed. His APS was very high, about 46 (average is about 35). With my APS plus equipped, this only made my APS at 38. I thought that this was the leader. The name of this guy was Lee, also indicated in the scan3 results. The leader's main weakness, when I viewed his secondary stats, was his elemental defenses, but this wasn't of much importance.
Checking the stats took longer than I expected, about 12 minutes. I had to rush back. I quickly jumped 90 feet into the air and started a glide about halfway up. I headed straight back to the race area. I arrived just when the racers were starting to return to the race course.
"So how was it?" said Ronden.
"I didn't bother to look at the whole island," I said. "I saw this huge rock that looked interesting and looked over it carefully. It was a big piece of sandstone and looked as if it weighed around 400 pounds. The accuracy on this estimate is very bad, it's likely from 300 to 500."
"Where did you find this rock?" said Ronden curiously.
"Distance uncertain, but if you follow the beach in that direction," I said, then I point to where I went off to, "you'll encounter it. You couldn't miss the large reddish rock".
"I should go check it out," said Ronden somewhat excited. "I like sandstone."
I became a little worried now. There was no rock as I described. Using a create spell would solve this, but, I'd have to be out of sight to do this. Then it hit me, when I got to the top of the cave, I'd cast create then. Nobody's there as I'm always the first to arrive there.
I do my usual procedure of jumping twice from the ground, one in mid-air, and gliding to the cave. I landed and, as usual, no one was there. I looked around again to be safe. From here, I casted create and made such a rock as I described appear 4/5 of a mile where I mentioned. No one was there yet, so I took a final look at my stats again. I compared my stats to the leaders' stats. The leader was on level 420 whereas I was only on 270, which could help explain some things.
Then, an idea struck me. Why don't I use another of my special abilities and log what the leader sees and does during the race. This way, I can watch his every move. It sounded like a perfect idea, however, it would use up quite a bit of spell power. I took about ten seconds to set it up.
With my newest plan all set to go, and after waiting an additional 20 seconds, the racers arrived for the third run. We only had three tries left and I had to find a way to win this thing instead of being dead last every time.
The race coach gets the platform to rise up again. The racers get on the platform, then the platform lowers. Just when the platform lowers, another idea hit me. At the very end of the race, where you burst out, get some speed toward the finish line initially. The starting glide speed is the speed in which you initially have. It might make maybe 2 or 3 extra feet, but every little bit helps.
The lights below start to light up when the platform reaches the lowest point. Just when the lights start lighting up, I begin my log of what the leader does. The racers dive into the water and start the race. I pay close attention on what I'm doing instead of everyone else. I also tried to do a glide, but I didn't get anywhere so it was of little use. Since there was a place in which you had to go up, I hugged the top wall of the course, then, when I went up, hugged the bottom most of the way through until the very end. At the very end, I went up and bursted out with a small amount of speed toward the finish line. When I bursted out, I already saw the leader stopped at the finish line. Ronden crossed in second place and Jester was in fifth place. I got a hard look at the leader while I glid my way to the finish line a bit less breathless than I was before and I barely managed to get fifth place by only a twentieth of a second.
"Fifth place!?" I said amazed but disappointed. "Boy, what does it take!? Maybe I'm just not suited for this race at all. It's just too complicated!"
Then, I notice something peculiar and strange. Everyone, as before, isn't breathless and, when I race, I start off doing fine, but then I lag behind and get slower and slower. I checked my speed log and indeed, from 4 mph, I slowly slew down to 3.4 at the end even though I was giving my best efforts. Carefully, I checked my log for the leader. He was going about the same speed I was, but 4.1 throughout almost the entire race. That was the answer!
Question is, why was he able to sustain a constant speed throughout the entire course where my muscles just can't take it. His STR was very high, but mine was less than 300, or about 1/3 of what he had. I took a second look at the leader's stats and constantly swapped between mine and his. About all I could say is that he has a special ability I don't have. Scan3 doesn't show you the abilities something else has, and my sense ability is too weak to detect such a thing.
Next, I took a look at Ronden's stats, who came in second place. Ronden was much more like me statistically, however, he, too, was unusually good. My theory is that Ronden's special ability was stronger than the leader's was. I say so because his stats are much like mine and far off from the leader, but came in second. What special ability was this though? Something didn't seem right. Maybe, somehow, they're able to breathe underwater, but, however, this couldn't be possible. It made little sense.
I decided to ask the leader something to try to figure this out. The leader was a tall guy and quite slim.
"Hey mister," I said to the leader, "you do pretty good at this race. How do you keep so far ahead?"
"If anyone knows standard racing techniques, you can create the shortest path possible and just focus on going straight," said Lee.
"I know this technique," I replied, "but I'm still always far behind you and everyone else."
"Hmm. Maybe you need to try to improve your swimming motion," said Lee.
This helped give me an idea. Since I logged his actions, I watched exactly what he did. Strange as it was, I didn't get anywhere with this, as the swimming techniques were almost a match.
"I watched you from behind," I said while I played back what Lee did during the race in my mind, "and it seems as if we have the same method of swimming, but I'm still lagging so far behind. Just when I burst out of the cave, you're already stopped at the finish line."
"Wow!" said Lee amazed. "You really need some help!".
"Yes, I get exhausted so easily and by the time I burst out, I usually end up with a warning saying 'exhaustion' with '92' as the level‡‡†. Of course, it could be from my stamina at 107. I can't raise it any higher.
"Hmm. I couldn't tell. What are your stats?" wondered Lee trying to help.
I started to draw in the sand my stats. Lee watched as I drew them.
"From looking at what you have," said Lee, "The only thing I can think of is that your actions per second, strength, speed, and stamina need to be improved, but I don't know if this would help much."
"I can't get my stamina any higher than it is," I said. "I've made sure I have my two stamina pluses equipped. Yes, I can equip another speed and A-P-S plus, but that's about it. Problem is, when I had both of my speed pluses equipped, I got exhaustion at level 114 which is pretty bad. Having being fully optimized toward speed, I fear that this would end up in the 200's easily, which is quite dangerous.
"Why are you getting exhausted?" said Lee. "Remember, slow and steady will win the race, just like the classic tortoise and hare story."
"Slow down any more and I end up dead last," I said. "My mind speedometer logs 4 mph at the start of the race, but at the end, I can't push higher than 3.4. It's the exhaustion status effect that's causing it. If only I can prevent it. I'll try taking it a bit slower and see what happens. Instead of 4 mph as my target, I'll try 3.8 with what I've got with my stats."
"Well, I don't get that 'exhausted' warning at all," said Lee. "In fact, I don't feel that exhausted, except when it comes to the running part. I wished I could glide like you."
"That is what's bugging me," I said. "No one seems breathless like I am. Because I glide, I don't use up energy from this, so it's not the final stretch that causes it."
"Try what I said by taking it a bit slower and see what happens," said Lee.
With some help from the main leader of the race, I thought of trying what he said. I feared that this wouldn't work, but it was worth a try. I took out my logged video of him and traced exactly what Lee does during the race. It seems as if he gets very far ahead in the water part leaving the others more than 15 feet behind, but he's slow with the running part. The log also showed his second-by-second speed and exhaustion levels. The speed in the water was quite constant at 4.1 mph, but the exhaustion levels was the main surprise. He didn't get much more than even 25! Now, why was I getting close to a hundred whereas he, going faster than I was, had only 25! This was like trying to put a 3000-piece jigsaw puzzle together.
"Let's start to head toward the race course again," said the race coach.
Lee and Ronden watch as I jump 90 feet in the air then jump 90 feet higher from mid-air and start gliding toward the cave.
"Boy, he's got some very good and useful special abilities," said Lee. "Too bad he can't seem to use them for this race except the glide at the end. I feel sorry for him."
"Yeah, I do too," said Ronden. "I wish I could help, but don't know how. He seems so specially suited for land as he can almost fly around freely! He told me that he can top out 800 mph with his glide. That's supersonic!"
"What the!?" said Lee. "If he can go that fast, how come he's coming in last?"
"He told me that he takes over two minutes to reach that speed," said Ronden. "I don't remember the exact number he mentioned, but I know for sure it was over two minutes."
Back in the crater where I was waiting, I viewed Lee's log again and watched the video. I just can't seem to see anything that could stick out that would offer clues. I decided to do a log on everyone for this race. However, I didn't know if I had enough spell power for this. I had to absorb some energy, so I took in some of the energy from the Sun to regain what spell power I used in the last log. I knew there had to be some secret that the other five racers knew that I didn't. Is there something special that they know that I don't? I could only guess.
The racers arrive where I was waiting. I had my spell power fully replenished. The race coach pushed the red button to make the platform raise. The racers get on the platform and the platform lowers.
"Ya know, Ronden told me that you could top out at 800 mph with your glide," said Lee while the platform lowers, "why can't you use that?"
"Gliding only works in mediums of up to 1.4 times the density of the atmosphere," I replied. "Water is just way too dense for this ability to be effective. I also have the flash attack, however, it may blind you as, hence its name, it creates a sudden, bright flash. The fear I have with this is, because of its nature, I may suddenly get propelled 300 mph in the direction I aim it and the drag caused may be very painful, thus it's not an option."
"Wow!" said Lee amazed. "You seem so well suited for air travel. I feel sorry for you."
The lights on the bottom start to light up. The racers all dive into the water and start the race course. Though I start off at my usual 4 mph, I remember to slow down two seconds later. I follow the course using the racing techniques I knew by hugging corners and the such, but, on that final stretch, I noticed my warning level was already 139 and climbing. I couldn't get much more than 3.2 mph and I was still slowing down. I bursted out of the cave at 3.1 mph with a warning level of 154. When I did burst out, I was really gasping for air. This time, all racers but Jester have crossed the finish line. I start my glide and head for the finish line. I then dove downward in my glide to help pick up some extra speed. This idea caught my attention. I crossed the finish line still gasping for air but not as much.
"Wow!" said Lee listening to me. "You really are breathless!"
"Yes, I know," I replied. "Level 154 exhaustion is what I had. It was red-orange in the fifth status‡‡‡!"
"Oh my, we definitely need to figure something out for you," said Ronden.
"Good job coming in last," said Jester making a joke of me.
"Boy, you are such a slow-poke!" said one of the racers.
"Quit it!" said Ronden rudely to the two trouble-makers. "He's just having a hard time figuring this course out and how to win."
"Well, I've noticed two other things that might help. When I glide and glide downward, I pick up speed faster. Instead of being up higher, I could cross the finish line at, like 80 mph! I might get third or fourth place with this. Equipping for speed doesn't affect gliding speed at all. I could have an A-P-S or S-P-D in the trillions and still have the same acceleration and top speed."
"Hey! If that'll work for you, do it then!" said Lee a bit surprised. "80 mph seems a bit crazy though. How do you slow down from that?"
"When I glide," I answer, "I just stick both of my arms out so they form a "T". I slow down at the same rate I accelerate. Another option is to just pull up and let gravity do the work. I can land unharmed from any height and yet, when I fall, I'm immune to drag. Like gliding, the limit is 1.4 times the density of the atmosphere at sea level.
"Boy, I can only imagine what it would be like to have those kinds of air-travel abilities!" said Ronden.
"If I wanted to, I could use my glide ability to reach outer space. To do so...." I replied being interrupted at the end.
"Outer space!?" said Lee and Ronden together.
"Oh my!" said Ronden.
"That's too high for me!" said Lee.
"I'll work out something to win this race," I said.
Then, while I wait, I take a close look at the logs of all the racers. By far, Jester seemed to be the slowest of them all and even worse with the final stretch. Ronden's log shows a very, very close race with Lee. However, the one thing I notice about all the logs was that the speeds were always constant. Curious, I checked the exhaustion levels of each racer. Ronden didn't get exhaustion above 16, not even once! This made absolutely no sense at all. I checked the scan3 results I had from the racers, but they didn't offer anything over another two looks at them. This was starting to worry me. I couldn't only conclude one thing: all five racers had a special ability to prevent underwater swimming exhaustion. It was the best theory I could think of. Nothing else seemed to fit everything.
Five more minutes pass. Ronden and Lee are both speaking to each other. I was too far away to hear what they were saying.
"Let's go on with the fifth and final of the practice races," said the race coach. "The champions will arrive very soon."
The racers start to head toward the cave again while I do my usual thing. In the crater, I check over my stats and equip my other APS plus. Since APS is a major factor in speed and if I get through the course faster, my exhaustion would be less.
The racers arrive for the final practice race. While continuing to wait, I decided to think over my techniques that I need to use. If I used them wisely, I could easily make it at least fifth place, but a chance at third or fourth. I doubted second place.
The race coach pushes the red button to make the platform rise again. The racers get on the platform and the platform lowers.
"I've got a new technique I can use to try to aim for third or fourth place at least," I said when the platform reaches the lowest point.
The lights below begin to light up.
"Good luck!" said Ronden.
"Bad luck!" said Jester.
The green light comes on and the racers dive into the water. This time, I wasn't logging anything, except my own speed. I start off at a very good 4.1 mph, but, as usual, I slow down. For a first in a long time, I actually saw Jester, on the final part in the underwater part, bursting out of the cave, I was following behind at 3.3 mph with an exhaustion at level 77, better than before. I burst out of the cave, initiate my glide and dive toward the ground reaching 40 mph quickly. I then level out and cross the finish line at 80 mph in third place. A half a second after crossing the finish line, I pull straight up. On my way up, I use the flash attack to gain even more speed. I used the fall-glide on the way back down and I watched the huge jungle area while heading back down.
"Did I make third or fourth place?" I wondered excitedly.
"Impressive!" said Ronden. "You crossed two-thirds of a second after I did and 3 seconds behind Lee. You came in third!"
"Third! Wow! So close to second!" I said very excitedly. "If only I can eliminate this 'exhaustion' status effect, I could very well come in first place, even among the champs."
"You did so well!" said Lee. "But, how come every time you're always gasping for air?"
"I have to hold my breath underwater as, as you should know, you can't breathe underwater."
"That's why you're getting exhausted!" said Ronden. "Didn't you hear of the special feature about that cave?"
"Uh, no," I said. "What special feature?"
"I knew you got a broshure about this island and the cave while we were on the cruise ship," said Ronden. "Maybe you just didn't read it or something. Oh well. The water in that cave is extremely oxygenated, so much that you can breathe in it. They have a famous restaurant in that cave as well in which you can eat at. I'm not joking or making this up either. Here, take my broshure and read the part about the famous raceway cavern."
I take the broshure from Ronden and open it. The coloring and photos shown on it are just beautiful and very colorful.
"I didn't know that," I said shocked. "I guess I did all that work struggling for nothing. I knew something was suspicious on how come all the racers weren't as breathless as I was. It could also explain why your exhaustion level, as I'm sensing it, didn't get much into the thirties."
"Now that I think about it," said Rondon, "I think you stand a perfect chance to win against the champions. In the big race, I came in 7th of 25 racers. Lee came in, I think, third or fourth. With your 80 mph gliding, you could easily win the race, now that you know the secret to the water in the cave."
A few minutes later, I see a cruise ship heading toward shore. The cruise ship docks and 23 other racers come out of the cruise ship.
"All right racers, are you ready for the big race?" said the race coach. "The champions are here. Let's all wait for them to arrive first, then I'll give the briefing."
Three minutes pass while I wait for the other racers to arrive. The racers do arrive and stop by the practice racers.
"All right, this is how the race way works," said the race coach. "First, you climb up that large cave there. At the top, I'll raise the platform. You just get on the platform and I'll lower it. On the bottom in the water is a set of lights, two red, two yellow, and one green. When the green light lights up, you all dive into the water and race through the course as quickly as you can. Although there are shortcuts, guards are there to prevent you from using them. The path also splits up in a few places. All you have to do is follow the biggest and widest path of the mall, the main corridor. At the end of the corridor, you'll find an opening in which you can exit. From here, it's just a mad dash to the finish line. Special abilities are permitted. All set? Let's go!"
The racers head toward the cave. I just jump my 90 feet in the air and do a mid-air jump then glide toward the cave's entrace. I land in my usual spot by where the platform is.
While here, I thought about equipping my other speed plus I left out. Since I now know the secret to this cave, going through the maze was going to be very quick, especially with that glide at the end. With my new setup, I could reach speeds of up to 4.2 mph during this course. I checked my stats and checked them once more and all seemed well.
The racers finally arrive and get to where I am. The race coach pushes the red button and the platform begins to rise. All 29 racers get on the platform then the platform descends.
"Well, this is it," said Ronden.
"Boy, hopefully I've got my stats equipped as they're supposed to be," I said to myself mentally.
The platform reaches the bottom.
"You guys ready?" said Lee. "Let's race!"
I look over the edge, but, strange as it was, the lights don't light up. A few seconds later, they still don't. At the top, the race coach is already heading back and quite far from the buttons. He is just starting to head back down to the main ground. I watch him by sensing.
"Hmm, did he forget to push the light activation switch?" I said. "These lights aren't lighting up for some reason."
Ronden, Lee, and myself look over the edge but see absolutely nothing. I stand perfectly still.
"I guess he apparently didn't," said Ronden. "I see absolutely nothing from the usual spot those lights light up. I can see just a small, faint beam of white light coming from inside the course, but that's about it."
I thought I could try to help and figure this puzzle out. With the race coach now gone, or at least that's what my mind radar is showing, there has to be some other reason.
"I could try to help by sensing to figuring out what is going on," I said. "My sense ability isn't all that strong, but it can, hopefully help."
"Yeah right, sensing and ESP don't exist," said Jester.
"I can prove it by telling you of what you're thinking at a given moment," I said. "I can trace what someone does for a short time and actually play back videos in my mind on exactly what you were seeing. I used this special ability of mine to try to aid in winning, but it wasn't of much use. It just only helped to try to solve a mystery I had. I can see what you're stats are at any given moment, but it's often very hard to do. It's rough having only 36 spell power. I wished I had a few trillion!"
"Heh, good luck getting that much" said Ronden. "I don't think it's possible to get even more than a thousand!"
"It is possible," I said, "you just need to level up at a high speed for ages. One of my guardian spirits has a number with 800 zeros on the end, maybe more or maybe less. It's for certain over a hundred. Dumb stats and the hundred nines limit."
"I'm not referring to spirits," said Ronden. "I'm referring to us humans."
"Well, even for humans, it is possible," I replied, "but, like I said, you have to level up for ages. Boy, still not lit! What's going on here! Alright, I'll sense the interior of the lighting stuff for details."
Five seconds pass while I sense the interior of the lights compartment. I didn't find anything off the bat, so I had to trace the wires to the source.
"Hmm." I said after the five-second pause. "Nothing out of the ordinary in the main lights area below. Let's see, trace that wire, uh, which direction? Try left. That wire... traces to.... Ah, the control box."
"What does the control box have to do with this?" said Jester rudely.
"There's the problem! The race coach forgot to press the start button! Now, let's see if I can manage to mentally communicate to the race coach and warn him about this."
I do just as I said. I get two errors initially both saying "sensing error: target could not be found". I carefully sense the race coach's actions and he does respond to what I said to him. The race coach rushes back up to the top of the raceway cavern and looks at the control panel. He does notice that the timer wasn't even running. The race coach pushes the button then waits.
"Ah, he just pushed it, so any moment now the lights should be lighting up," I said feeling relieved.
Suddenly, the lights begin lighting up.
"Man!" said Lee and Ronden together very surprised.
"There's a lot more to him than I thought!" said Lee with Ronden after the "Man!" they said.
"He really does have ESP!" said Ronden with Lee.
When the green light comes on, the race coach leaves and the racers all dive into the water. This time, I follow through the course and without holding my breath all the way through. Throughout the entire course, I was often from 5th to 8th place with the entire group. Jester was dead last. Finally, at the final stretch, I bursted out of the water, quickly dove toward the ground in my glide and speed across the finish line at a record 81 mph. I came in first and lead the race with the first place winner just 5 seconds behind. Lee came in third and Ronden came in fourth. It was a tough and exhausting race.
Just upon crossing the finish line, I pulled straight up, used the flash attack, waited so I accelerated to a full stop, initiated the stomp, which sent me four times higher than I had when I started falling. Just upon starting to go back up again, I used the flash attack to add another 100 mph going up. From here, I could almost get the entire island's narrowest part in my field of view looking straight down. I slowly descended using the fall-glide. Even with the fall-glide, I still slammed into the ground at over 250 mph. It was like my victory maneuvers (like a victory dance, but it's not a dance).
"Thanks for warning me about the 'no timer' problem," said the race coach to me just when I land. "How'd you do it anyway without even being near me?"
"Ever heard of ESP?" I said. "That's how. I just sensed your location then delivered my message to you."
"Ya know, because you came in first with a remarkable lead," said the race coach. "You deserve this trophy. Tell us how you feel!"
"I feel the need... the need for heights" I said with a small laugh. "I just performed my victory maneuvers. Looking straight down, I practically have the narrow sections of this island in my entire field of view. The jungle part, for sure, was in my field of view entirely. However, in honor of the trophy, I think that Lee should definitely be offered something for helping me out. Not just Lee but Ronden."
Finally, Jester becomes clearly visible running toward the finish line very slowly.
"Owee!" said Jester. "I fell down the whatsit and got caught up in a big roll and slammed into the ground quite hard at the bottom."
"That's where you went!" said Ronden. "For bullying us around, all of us, you deserve what you got."
"Congratulations on your fantastic win!" said the race coach. "You may now do as you'd like for, probably, about two hours. Go ahead and explore Orenta Island, but beware of the jungle. Some say that some very dangerous snakes and gators live in there. Go visit the restaurants in the cave you were just racing in. Do whatever you'd like."
As Ronden wanted, he wanted to see the gigantic sandstone rock. Indeed, I showed him the rock. The rock was exactly as I thought I created it. Ronden was extremely amazed about it.
"Hmm," said Ronden looking at the large rock. "An impressive piece of sandstone indeed. About 200 kilos I'd have to say. Very large indeed. I used to be a rock scientist."
"I thought you'd like it," I said. "Well, let's return to the main area where the race was. Just go that way."
I point to where the raceway cavern was. The both of us start to walk back. About half way there, Ronden spots a large alligator heading right for us. Ronden gets scared.
"Alligator!" said Ronden pointing to it.
"No worries with the flash attack or stomp. Just run back!"
Ronden runs back a few dozen feet. I, on the other hand, wait for the gator to get close. When it does, I simply jump up about 10 feet, then use the stomp on it. The alligator is seemingly unaffected by it. I use the flash attack to home in on it, which does some damage, but not much. I jump out ahead of the monster then jump a foot into the air and use the flash attack straight at it. This causes the alligator to go flying across the ocean going over 100 mph. It skips like a skipping stone very far. Ronden returns to me.
"Definitely more than I thought!" said Ronden very surprised.
"With the flash attack, monsters stand little chance against me, provided I use it right," I said. "It's effective even on large elephants, dangerous, charging rhinos, gators as you just saw, just about anything. Other alternatives are available, but the flash attack is usually the most effective. Oh well, let's return back."
Both Ronden and myself head back again all the way and fully uninterrupted.
That day was a day of experience. In fact, I gained a half of a level from all this, but it wasn't enough to get me a unit higher. Later in the day, I went to explore the cavern. I found a Pizza Hut restaurant in here. The table tops with about 4 inches to spare from the water's surface, were out of the water. At least you didn't have to eat fully underwater, but it was a weird but unique experience.
At the end of the day, I returned to the cruise ship I came from. I was rewarded a big ten thousand dollars for winning the race. Because Ronden and Lee helped quite a bit, gave them each 20% of it. Jester was taken to the medics lab and did sustain a fairly large bruise but that was it. In secret, while on the highest part of the cruise ship, I casted cure on Jester which fixed his problem quite well. It was a story that was very exciting and happy as I was in tears from happiness. I wanted to go race in there again, only, with some of the world's best racers for this. It would be just awesome.
A huge party took place on the cruise ship to celebrate my big victory. Absolutely no problems occured during this party, however. Usually, I'm never at parties, so this was also a first-timer experience just like that race, but fortunately not as tough. With Jester and the other racer that bullied me gone or not present, I had a good time, especially with Ronden, who was my favorite.
Footnotes:
* My mind game is my futuristic video-game-like game I play in my mind often. To learn more, read this report
** This story is based on a dream I had, however, because it is so vaguely remembered, I recreated it using my mind game and enhanced it. To read about my dreams, go here.
*** It is quite common in my mind game that 90-foot jumps are involved. Technically, the real height obtained, maximally, is 91 2/3 feet.
† Gliding is a special ability that converts the downward force of gravity into forward motion. It allows constant acceleration of 5 mph per second to up to 800 mph.
‡ Fall-gliding is very similar to the regular glide, only it cuts downward acceleration to just 5 mph per second. It's a good way to keep great heights for a longer periods of time.
†† Equipping stats is a more mysterious idea of mine with virtually no evidence toward it being a real thing, however, it's common practice in my mind game to do so. Details about it can be found here.
‡† The stamina (STA) stat is endurance with physical activity. It's not to be confused with END, which aids in health hit point growth. Further details are explained in section 2 here.
†‡ The flash attack is commonly used in my mind game. It gives a sudden boost of 100 mph in any given direction. It is performed by a simple, sudden jolt of the hands in the direction desired. This causes a very bright flash, nearly as bright as the Sun from Earth. It's called "flash" attack for this reason.
‡‡ The nature of the flash attack is based on simple physics. When used, an extremely pressurized section of the surrounding medium appears in the direction opposite in which you jerk your hands. The "compactness" causes the area to get extremely hot, exploding, causing the familiar bright flash, with the explosion sending you forward. Because water is much, much more dense than air, the compactness is even tighter and causes a bigger explosion which sends you at a much higher speed. This is basically how it works.
††† Remember, the fall-glide reduces downward acceleration to 5 mph per second, about 1/4 the normal amount. Because only you are affected by this, the water remains just as dense. Because of this, buoyancy takes a big role. Just like hydrogen in water from electrolysis (the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen), the fall-glide has a similar function when used in water. You rise up to the surface very quickly.
ࠠ The stomp is a special ability that utilizes the tendency to bounce upon an impact and magnifies this bounce effect. Though it has been varied from 4 to 6 times the acceleration (and thus height), I use 4 as it involves easier-to-use numbers from those square roots involved with the distance-acceleration formula or the speed-distance formula.
†‡† The mind speedometer is something I actually have. When I move by walking or running, I can log my speed and it's quite accurate realistically, about 10% off in either direction. The accuracy decreases as I get faster (at 60 mph, it's about 15% to 20% off), and increases as I get slower (about 5% at 10 mph). With 4.1 being logged, the accuracy is about 4%.
††‡ Speed pluses are equip-only independent abilities that raise the speed stat by a percentage determined by the ability's level. Details about plus abilities can be found in section 7 here.
‡‡† APS pluses (APS means actions per second) are equip-only independent abilities that raise the APS stat by a percentage determined by the ability's level. Further details on plus abilities can be found in section 7 here
‡†‡ Spells use shockwaves as the igniter. At first, one shockwave is sent out slow, then another is sent out a tiny fraction of a second later but faster. When the high points of the two waves meet up together, a sudden "shock" is caused. Because these shockwaves travel near the speed of light, they are virtually immune to gravity. As long as the caster knows the target, like the Moon even, the shockwaves will arrive there whereas conventional weapons can't. Spells have unlimited range, but their effectiveness decreases as distance decreases. Further details on the very nature of how spells work is explained in section 5 here.
‡‡† The Fifth Status is designed to show warnings and to what degree. The level of the warnings range from 0 to up to 510. You shouldn't get warnings above level 150 or you're risking your life. Further details on the nature of the Fifth Status is explained here.
‡‡‡ Not only are the degrees of warnings indicated by a number, they are also color-coded. Yellow, level 0, is neutral. Red, level 255, is bad. Black, the most deadliest of conditions, is level 510. Orange is about level 128 or so. The good side isn't neccessary to know for this part. Further details on the Fifth Status's nature is available here.
