The Overlord had been forced to the ground beside him, and the two men stumbled across the rocks, trying to maintain their momentum. After months of superhuman power, this was extremely disconcerting. Sam could only imagine what this might feel like for the other E Rankers, who had been part of the System for decades.
The path slowly narrowed, but to his dramatically slowed senses, it felt like it was moving at the speed of a glacier. For the first time in a few months, fatigue clouded his muscles and mind. Running full tilt for almost a mile would take a toll on all but the healthiest of humans, and he had been reset to the state he had been in before the arrival of the System. He had always been more average than anything else, and although he would hardly consider himself unhealthy, the truth was that he could have done with a bit of exercise.
His only saving grace here was that while his stats and resistances had been lowered to a base human level, his body was still that of an E Ranker. Most of the pain that he felt was a mirage created by the System. After all, he no longer possessed muscles to be swamped with lactic acid, or bones to ache. He pushed past this phantom pain, working to get the most out of his weakened body. He gradually began to speed up, even as his body felt like it was being torn apart. Soon he was cruising along at about thirty miles per hour, only possible because of his willpower and unique benefits as an E Ranker.
Jacob kept pace, albeit not very easily. His build was bulkier than Sam’s, and he was more of a heavyweight fighter than a runner. Because of this, he was losing ground, unable to keep up.
In the time it took for them to reach the halfway point, the leaders among the pack of E Rankers behind them had reached the beginning of the suppression field. A few laughs drifted their way, likely from the more arrogant fighters thinking that Sam and the Overlord had flagged, running out of stamina. It was to Sam’s great pleasure that he witnessed many of the others almost fall off the blocks of stone when they entered the field.
He continued onwards, using their failure to propel himself. Still, he was neck and neck with the Overlord, both men too evenly matched to get any sort of significant lead over one another. They were almost to the end, but it was a race that neither could tell at this point.
Sam pumped his legs for all he was worth, using his distributed stats to their utmost potential. It went to show just how superior the E Rank form was to that of a mortal, as he could eke out far more of his strength than he would have been able to normally. Without muscles to tear or cramp, he could use the full extent of his strength and speed. While a regular human had natural limiters placed on the amount of power they could bring to bear, Sam did not have such things.
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His speed steadily increased, even as his stamina drained. By the end of the track, he was going at a mildly superhuman pace, about the speed of a car on a highway. Every breath felt like razors were being stuffed down into his nonexistent lungs, but he simply ignored the System’s trickery and pushed past. He was fine. As an E Ranker, there was no way that this exercise could actually harm him.
The last segment of the race came into view a moment later, and Sam went all out. With a turn of speed that would have made a cheetah proud, he shot forwards across the finish line, Jacob just a few inches behind. Sam let out a breath of relief as he felt his true power return to his body, and then another as he was teleported back to the 25th floor of the Tower.
The final part of the floor went by in a blur. Sam paid no heed to anything save for the notification explaining what was to come. This was the final challenge of the floor, and he was more than ready for it to be over. He had spent over a month here, at least in subjective time. It was past time that he progressed further into the Tower.
The Overlord seemed to agree with this sentiment, and he adopted a similar state of impatience. As if sensing this, the System started the next event early, barely ten minutes after the last of the challengers returned from the race.
The race had pruned down a decent amount of them, and there were only about five thousand challengers left on the floor. It was a huge rate of failure, and one that really put into perspective for Sam just how hard the Tower was for most people. He had been in awe of the title that he had received for Challenge Mode, but considering how few people actually reached a decent level in the Tower of Transcendence, and the added difficulty of Challenge Mode, it was well deserved.
Although the 200 percent buff that he would receive upon completing the Tower, if he actually succeeded, seemed massive, it was probably the hardest title to gain in this Multiverse. Besides, the A Rankers and other great powers of the realm likely had titles that were just as strong. Sam had gained more power from ascending to E Rank than from any of his titles. The only difference was that it did not appear on his stat sheet.
As the System notification appeared, Sam briefly scanned it, closing it quickly after he got the gist of the message. The final challenge was a boss battle against a high E Rank foe. Its stats would be inflated to the point that it would prove to be an almost insurmountable challenge to any fighter on their own. The idea was that they would have to work together to defeat it. Of course, the leaderboard was based on how much damage was dealt to it.