When her wings transformed into a single pair of wings that had 5 long feathers, people thought that it looked pretty cool though they didn’t understand the purpose of the transformation. The other participants who had just arrived or had been returned to the second checkpoint after dying on the third course watched as Maria slowly rose into the air before they were all thrown back with a few falling off of the cliff as they were struck by the sonic boom that she caused.
The loud bang was like the sound of a cannon and everyone in the stadium thought someone had sounded off or fired the actual thing. Then came a high-pitched whistling sound but no one could see what was causing it. The technicians on site actually thought that it was a glitch or something but the casters were on their feet and exclaiming as they shouted, “This is unbelievable but player Maria moving through the course so quickly! Our in-game camera that’s supposed to be tracking the players can’t even keep up!”
“Let’s take a look at the replay just before player Maria took off...yes, right there!”
“Is that...a sonic boom?”
“Yes, this explains the noise and why player Maria is moving through the final course of the race so quickly! She’s actually exceeded the speed of sound within the game and has very precise control over it!”
“Amazing!”
“This is the virtual world and anything impossible in the real world could be made possible! Player Maria has just shown us this absurdity today!”
“We can’t see what she’s doing right now because the camera can’t keep up so we’ll move to an overhead view instead!”
The camera switched to an overhead view that showed the entire course along with Maria who had already moved past the halfway mark of the final course as a blur.
“She’s moving too fast that she’s only a blur!”
“Don’t mind that but take a look at her precise control! She’s weaving through the obstacles so expertly and she’s taking those sharp turns without even slowing down! Now that’s incredible!”
Maria left behind a dark red streak as she moved through the course so quickly. It was very difficult but thanks to her new pair of wings, controlling herself while moving so fast was easier than before. When she passed by the contestants still running the course, all they heard was the loud sound of air splitting apart.
“She’s already at the end of the course, will she be able to stop in time before crashing into the mountain at the end of the map?!”
That worry was unfounded as Maria stopped in midair immediately. She had her entire body covered in the Valhalla Raiment and it was able to help Maria relieve the brunt of the force when she made her abrupt stop. The helmet she was wearing came off by itself and everybody could see the exhilarated and happy expression on her face.
“Heh, I’ll never get tired of doing that.”
Maria’s wings glowed and they returned to the original number that she normally had. She looked back at the course before nodding to herself and saying, “Looks like I won...again.”
She looked around for the portal out of the map but unfortunately, there wasn’t one. She needed to wait for the other contestants to get here before the portal opened up since the medals for winning this side event would be distributed on the spot. With nothing better to do, Maria just began floating around the spot while the caster’s camera panned to her before switching perspectives to the other contestants.
On the screens, a replay of Maria’s swift flight through the last course replayed itself as this time, it was played in Maria’s perspective and the in-game camera that was placed around the map. Up in the VIP booth where Maria’s friends were watching her compete in the race, her family and friends were cheering when she won.
“Woahh! Mary can actually do that! That’s so incredible!” Lizzy cheered.
“The important thing is that she won! I was worried for a second since she had started the final course late because she just had to pick a fight with that starfish!” Amanda said while shaking her head with a smile. “She’s completely stolen the spotlight for today but isn’t there another event she’s going to be participating in later too? I wonder how she’s gonna steal the show in that event.”
“I could care less that she’s stolen the limelight or anything, but how the heck did she become so absurd? We’ve only left her alone for a few weeks, right?” Emily asked.
“Well, she’s always doing something. Whatever it is, it’s good for her and us!” Lizzy said.
She didn’t particularly care how Maria got so strong since all she needed to know was now that she got better. It was good for them anyway since they’d be partying more frequently in the future. With another powerful person in their party, things would become so much easier if they needed to go for a dungeon run or raid a boss monster together. This was good news for Maria’s friends but other guilds and players saw things differently. They either saw her as a potential recruit or a potential threat. The Dark Faction and the Devil League saw her as a strong player they needed to pull into their ranks while the Light Faction and Angel League saw her as a target to shutdown.
Everyone assumed that she was still in the Dark or Neutral faction because of her past affiliations with said factions. They couldn’t forget that she was part of Fallen Angels though that too was in the past. It was confirmed through Maria’s streams that she wasn’t affiliated to any guild though she never answered why she had left the Fallen Angels Guild which was supposedly her IRL friend’s guild.
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With her becoming a prime target for all sides that wanted to recruit or destroy her, Maria was oblivious to it all since she was currently napping. Moving back to the Obstacle Course Race, the remaining contestants were still struggling to get through the course while Maria was snoozing in the air. Going supersonic didn’t come without a price. It exhausted a lot of her SP and this caused her to feel tired, though this exhaustion would kick in a little later. Maria was feeling it so to recover, she decided to sleep after looking at the map and seeing that the other contestants were still struggling to make it to the halfway mark.
A few had passed that and were already close to the end but it would take a while for everyone to finish. Without much to do, Maria just slept. She didn’t see anything wrong with that but it was quite an amusing sight to watch when the caster’s camera panned towards her to see what she was doing right now.
“Oh, it looks like Maria is...sleeping?”
“No disrespect to the other contestants, but they are taking a while. The obstacles on the last course are quite difficult so it’s not a wonder why they’re taking so long to complete it.”
“Breaking past the human limits inside of the game isn’t just anything that anyone can accomplish. It was quite the sight to see player Maria do exactly just that but replicating such a thing is likely impossible without certain abilities and stats.”
The camera panned back to the other contestants and finally, the first one after Maria finished. Following this person were a few others, the celebrity Monique being one of them. She and Maria were the only female contestants for this obstacle race and many actually thought she’d finish last. No one ever thought she’d finish third while Maria came in first. The difference was in their way of thinking. Virtual Reality was very life-like but it wasn’t exactly real. You could accomplish many things your human body wouldn’t be able to do while in VR.
It was this sort of thing that separated the top 3 from the rest of the contestants. Second place was the survival expert guy who was previously in Maria’s group during the test run. He already had a lot of know-how but was quite limited in real life due to his physical capabilities. Once he got over that restraint in VR, he performed very well, not having died even once during the entire race. If it wasn’t because of Maria’s reality-breaking feat of breaking the sound barrier when she flew, this man would probably have finished first in the race.
Once all of the contestants finished, one of the tournament officials and the MC, Yun Chi, entered the game to congratulate all of them before they began handing out the medals aka rewards, for finishing the race. Maria had already woken up when the survivalist guy, whose name was Edward Gryzl, had finished the race. The first thing the man did after finishing the race was to congratulate Maria after seeing her wake up from her nap. They talked a bit while waiting for the rest of the people to finish and they had a really nice conversation.
Yun Chi said a few words which hyped up the crowd outside and played a few of the race’s highlights before saying to the players that took part in the race, “Congratulations to all of you for finishing the Obstacle Course Race! However, just like any race, there’s always a winner!
A screen appeared in the game and it began showing the highlights of the race which was focused on the winner, Maria. The other contestants watched on and couldn’t help but nod in understanding after they saw how she completed the final course of the race despite being held up by the sea monster. That part of the race where Maria attacked the sea monster with her abilities was actually the greatest highlight since it showcased her power while the inhuman feat of breaking the sound barrier was secondary.
“The winner of the Obstacle Course Race is player Maria! Please come to the podium to receive your reward!” Yun Chi said after the highlights were over.
Maria floated towards the first place podium that the tournament official had conjured out of nowhere and waited patiently on top of it. The official brought out a case that held the gold medal and was about to let Yun Chi be the one to place it over Maria’s neck but Maria took the initiative instead. Thinking that she was supposed to grab it or something, Maria extended her chains to grab the gold medal and pull it into her hand.
“Oh?”
Maria looked at it for a moment before letting out a small, imperceptible smile. She was quite happy to get first place since winning was always something she liked doing.
The official waited for a bit before finally asking her, “Is there anything you want to say?”
“Huh? About what?”
Yun Chi immediately chimed in to answer her question, “About the race! Any words for the audience, for your fellow contestants, or anything?”
“Huh...oh well…” Maria thought for a moment before saying with a bright smile, “I had fun!”
“...”
“...”
While everyone was a bit surprised by her simple words, Yun Chi smiled at her and said, “Yes, one should always have fun! I’m very glad you enjoyed the event that the IGC’s developer team had created!”
“Mhm.”
“Alright, onto the next winner! Our second-place contestant is none other than Mr. Edward!”
The award ceremony continued on and while the podium only showed the first through third place winners, Yun Chi announced the winners all the way until fifth place along with the time that everyone finished. Naturally, Maria was the quickest though her run would have been much quicker if she hadn’t decided to attack the sea monster and just focused on the race. Her time would serve as a benchmark for those running the course in the future.
Maria logged out of the game before going to the changing area and getting out of the booth. She didn’t tie her hair or anything and due to her elation, she hadn’t put on her hoodie. Her long hair was cascading down her back like a waterfall and reached just above her heels. The staff member that was waiting for her outside had been watching her throughout the entire race and upon seeing her emerge from the booth, it felt like her in-game character had come to life, minus the large wings and scary weapons on her back.
One of Maria’s trademark features, which was her hair, was shown on the big screen when the camera panned towards her who was walking to the center of the stage to line up with the other Obstacle Course Race participants. Before going back to the waiting room, they would give out their impressions of the race first, and obviously, Maria would be the first to say a few things since she was the winner of the event.
Yun Chi saw her waiting already and her eyes couldn’t help but brighten when she saw her. The MC could already tell that Maria was beautiful even though most of her face was covered. She felt that Maria hadn’t changed her facial features at all when creating her character, and most people watching thought like this as well. Her amber-colored eyes and long hair were practically the same─no, they were exactly the same as her in-game character. It was like her character had been brought to life and this wasn’t just through cosplay or anything. If they put wings on her back, then she’d already look the same as her character.
“Oh my, I didn’t think that our first place winner would look just as cute as her character! It feels like I’m talking to you inside the game but we’re in the real world!”
“Huh?”
Maria had a surprised look on her face before she felt her face and confirmed that she had a mask on, however, she immediately realized that her hood wasn’t over her head so she tried to put her hoodie on but her hair was in the way.
“Uh…”
Before Maria could do something about this, Yun Chi quickly stopped her and asked, “Do you have any impressions on the Obstacle Course Race? Please give the development team some input from your perspective!”
“Uhm...the stages... was fun, but if a seasoned player like me were to run it...it’d be a little too simple?”
“Oh?”
“We have...many abilities. Like my flying which made the last course too easy… Others can exploit...features like this to make the race...easy.”
Maria began to stutter as she spoke because she was really nervous. However, her words did have a powerful point.
“Ah, that is true indeed. You finished the last course so easily that you left everyone literally eating your dust!”
“Y...Yes…”
“Alright, thank you for the input, Maria! Next, we’ll ask our survival expert, Mr. Edward!”