At least a few thousand players were present in the facility. Lots of them came from different places, but they all came with one goal in mind: To test their skills and receive the equipment promised by the US military.

Among Alan and Nims's batch were exactly 50 players, and around half a dozen others were doing the same in the training ground. However, due to the appearance of the Crimson Gunner's name, almost all the people who came to spectate had gone to watch the group Alan and Nims were in.

"Anyone here know the other guy?"

"I thought he was a beginner, but he actually matched the Crimson Gunner!!"

"Any civilian could pay their way to train in any shooting ground though, but I'm pretty sure he's going to suffer in the obstacle test."

"That's right!"

Whispers came from the spectators as they looked at Merle and Alan's scores. Some were doubtful and amazed, while others were simply curious.

****

The second part of the challenge was the obstacle test. It involved running three kilometers up and down the hill with a bag of weight on each participant, and they then had to charge toward a designated area where they will enter and exit a certain building, going past barricades, and shooting multiple short and long-distance targets.

This challenge not only tested the participants' accuracy but also their speed and strength as well as how they would fare under pressure, It's a stress test.

As the two walked toward the starting line, Merle bumped Alan on the shoulder with a confident, taunting look on his face.

"I'll go first. Let me show you how it's done."

As a veteran, Merle had high agility and strength on top of his enhanced perceptions. Because of this, he was able to swiftly dash, climb the hill, and jump the obstacles without the need to stop.

In just a little less than eight minutes, he was able to complete the three-kilometer run on the hill. Moreover, as he entered and exited the buildings on the field, he managed to fiercely hit 28 out of the 30 targets.

In total, Merle only required 9 minutes and 55 seconds in order to complete the entire test, with only two bullets having closely missed their targets.

The crowd immediately became rowdy when they saw the end result. The previous fastest record was above 12 minutes with 20 out of 30 targets hit, and that impressive result was broken with such a significant gap!

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The Crimson Gunner's score came out. With 310 points this round, he now had a total of 890 points.

It was the new highest record in the facility. The spectators were still in shock, and it was clear that the Crimson Gunner himself was beyond satisfied with the result.

Full of confidence, Merle Rooker pridefully walked toward Alan.

"Hahaha. I thank you, school teacher. You made me force myself to reach a new record. hahahah"

Alan simply gave him a perfunctory smile and prepared himself for his turn, which once again annoyed the redneck.

"117 Alan D Angelo, you can start… now!"

Alan immediately dashed forward at a speed that took Merle's prideful smile off his face, causing the Crimson Gunner's eyes to widen in shock.

And it wasn't just him. When the crowd saw the running speed from whom they thought was a beginner, the training ground momentarily fell silent. All their expectations, good and bad, were instantly broken.

"No way!"

With the Rogue job class and the Bat bloodline in addition to his extreme practice before the game, Alan was able to match the veteran in terms of physical speed.

Due to the weight on his back, Alan's E+ strength was definitely a downside that affected his speed. Still, with his D-rank endurance, he didn't need to worry about giving it his best. After all, it was only a three-kilometer track.

The more important attributes in this situation were, of course, his C- agility and D perception. His agility gave him amazing flexibility to smoothly dash through the forest, while his perception gave him the sensitivity to see the subtle movements of the wind, rocks, trees, and the ground he stepped on.

But in this game, all these enhanced attributes were nothing compared to the invaluable experience he had. Here, having high attributes but lacking the experience was akin to a teenager driving a Ferrari.

And as someone who had trained in this place hundreds of times throughout his past life, Alan knew exactly where all the obstacles were like the back of his hand.

He even knew the best shortcut to use.

A little over six minutes into the test, Alan suddenly jumped from a huge fallen tree trunk. He slid down the hill using his flexibility to balance himself and was able to come out of the forest half a minute faster than the Crimson Gunner.

"What the fuck!?"

The redneck's expression was shared among his kin and all the other spectators.

They witnessed with wide-open eyes as Alan beautifully entered a building and rapidly shot bullets at the same time. He didn't even cast a glance at some of his targets.

Through experience, Alan knew perfectly well just how they handled the Styr AUG in his hand. The balance of the rifle, the drawback, and other factors; as a whole, they affected his performance even more than his attributes.

Without stopping for even a second, he continued to swiftly dash toward the designated area, smoothly jumping past the obstacles without breaking a sweat, all while pulling the trigger.

Tar! tar! tar! tar! Tar!

Under the eyes of everyone present, Alan cleared the challenge with only one bullet missed and 40 seconds faster than the Crimson Gunner.

"You're joking…"

"9 minutes and 15 seconds!"

"A new record!!"

Noises of awe and disbelief filled the training ground. This pulled new passersby into the area, and, in turn, pulled their sights toward the unbelievable new record.

Without paying the spectators any mind, Alan walked out of the test area and looked at the screen as the numbers of his score quickly rose.

[Rank 1 - Alan D Angello - 920 points]

[Rank 2 - Merle Rooker - 890 points]

Merle, the Crimson Gunner, was still frozen in place. He knew exactly just how difficult it was to reach that score, and he couldn't stop staring in disbelief.

When the crowd saw the number, they immediately went wild.