Mario was on his knees, his shoulders slumped and his eyes devoid of any fire. He couldn't believe what happened to him. He didn't win first place like everyone thought he would. The worst part about it was that he couldn't even keep up his pace and ended up stumbling on the ground, letting the other racers pass by him.
Not only did he lose, he lost spectacularly. Everyone saw him deliberately try to pull on Jorn's sleeves just because he was passing him by. This was blatant cheating.
At the start of the race, everyone was rooting for him to win. He was the expected winner, given that he was part of the very famous Ruobber company. However, things completely turned on their head in the end. He completely sullied the reputation, not only of himself but also of the company he was under.
"Congratulations to the new winner for this race, the underdog Jorn Kjellberg! He is now given an automatic 100 on his Physicality Test, making his record extremely appealing to those who want to hire him in the future."
Everyone was clapping for Jorn, congratulating him on his win. Nobody ever believed that a nobody like him would win the race in such a dominating way. He started a full 8 seconds behind the rest of the competitors! Yet he still won by a large margin at the end.
They would have expected this result from a famous inheritor of a large company or a young master of a powerful family like the Sunverk Company. However, they just learned from the announcer that Jorn was an unknown kid who didn't have any family or famous relatives backing them. He didn't even have a Teqx a few days earlier!
"Oh! And what's this?! It looks like this race is not the only exciting part of today's Physicality Tests. I strongly urge everyone to put their eyes towards the Fame section of the event!"
Once the announcer said that, the large broadcasting television that hung high up in the air changed its channel towards the said event. With this broadcast, even those who weren't in the school could watch what was happening in the test. Practically everyone in the city was watching it.
It then showed a long muddy track, with all kinds of grime, oil, and mucus pooled all around. The participants all had to trudge through the disgusting path. There were parts in the track where they had to go on all fours and crawl through the mud, forcing them to dirty their clothes and faces.
Everyone in the stands was given a remote. They could vote for who they liked the most. This was a very basic popularity contest.
This event was specially designed to show who among them could transcend the physical barriers and show off their charisma. There were lots of beauties and gentlemen who looked great in a controlled environment, but completely showed a pathetic side when they were faced with the disgusting and smelly pig stye in front of them.
However, there was one transcendent participant there. He was riding an animated ink drawing of a majestic ox with well-defined muscles and horns–and he did so with the temperament that could only be described as "hard-working elegance".
Even though he had dirt and grime on his face and all over his shirt, his expression was calm and cool, showing off his natural handsomeness. He didn't seem to care about anything. It felt like he was just going through his normal routine.
When everyone looked at him, they got the feeling that he was a handsome immortal who, after years and years of bloodshed, decided to retire to a small farm and tend to his crops. Paired with his handsome face, everyone could immerse themselves in his story.
The votes kept coming in. He was slowly rising through the ranks and became the most popular participant in this race.
"His name is Roni Shangguan. And you won't believe this, but he also only received his Fame Teqx just a few days ago! Can you believe it?" One of the announcers looked over to his partner to validate his emotion, but it turned out that this guy wasn't paying attention to Roni's event.
"What are you looking at?" The announcer followed his partner's eyesight and saw that he was looking at the Money route event of the Physicality Test.
"Oh, my Supremes! Not only do we have two, but three transcendental talents! Everybody, please look at this!"
The announcer then ordered the cameraman to look at the smithing competition. The objective of this test was to see the design and product of each participant's powers. All of them were subjected to a gravity accelerator that turned their surroundings 10 times greater than normal gravity! They had to make precise smithing and production under these tough conditions.
The only good thing was that everyone was allowed to bring their designs and materials. Most of them brought the best metals they could afford: graphene, tungsten, and even Damascus steel.
Their prompt was to make an egg-shaped object that could withstand great force. The participant's egg who withstood the greatest force would be declared the winner.
At this stage of the event, the force reached up to 10 tons of force! There were only 2 participants left. One of them was a famous inheritor with lots of money. And because of that, he was able to procure a 10-fold Damascus steel as his material for the egg.
Surprisingly, the guy he was up against only used iron as his material.
In this final match-up, 20 tons of force was subjected to the Damascus Steel egg. And just after impact, the egg quickly exploded into millions of shards, surprising the audience. Everyone expected the Damascus steel to withstand that much, but it didn't even last a few seconds under the pressure.
The inheritor was disappointed, but he was still confident. If his Damascus steel egg got destroyed in a second, then his competitor's iron egg would surely get destroyed.
However, as the hydraulic press bore down on the iron egg, nothing happened. Everyone expected it to shatter into a million pieces or crack under the pressure, but instead, it stood still, completely intact.
That's not all. The hydraulic press continued downwards obscuring the egg. Everyone held their breaths. As soon as the hydraulic press whirred upwards, they were stunned to see the iron egg completely intact, with no scratch or dent on its surface. And if they looked closer, they'd see that the hydraulic press had an egg-shaped indent on the bottom!
It was able to withstand 20 tons of force?! Dom blew the competition out of the water.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO WAY THAT ANOTHER DARK HORSE WON THE COMPETITION! THAT'S THREE FOR THREE! "
One of the announcers parsed through his paper and compared all of the individual reports of those three winners. His eyes widened as he saw a connection between all of them.
"Listen to this, everyone. I found out what made all of these competitors special. They were all lackluster students who didn't have any prospects ahead of them. And because of their desperation, they joined the Ruobber company hoping that they'd get lucky and get a Teqx from their internship program.
However, just a day ago, they suddenly quit their internships and disappeared. When they reappeared again, they suddenly gained powerful Teqx powers and transcended everyone in their own levels!"
They all couldn't believe the announcer's words. If what he said was true, then it was clear that those three gained fortuitous encounters. As for what that was, nobody knew what or who it was.
Everyone had their guesses. Maybe they found a secret society and gained powers by sacrificing their souls. Maybe they got recruited by an up-and-coming company that needed recruits. Maybe they all encountered the end of the mystical Rainbow, where it was rumored to rain all kinds of high-class Teqx.
But there was one thing in common in all of their thoughts. They only got lucky after they left the Ruobber company.
"Hmm…if people got extremely lucky after leaving the Ruobber company, then they are bad news," an aspiring astrologist said.
"I don't like the Ruobber company. If they are willing their companies to cheat in a simple Physicality Test, then who knows what kinds of bad things they're doing."
"Hey, son. Don't go to your job interview with the Ruobber company tomorrow. They're a bad company." A worried mother immediately called her son who planned to join the internship.
Soon after their events were over, Roni and Dom both walked over to Jorn. And since their victory in their respective events was extremely impressive, they still had lots of eyes over them.
Everyone was abuzz to see the three dark horse winners suddenly converge and talk amongst each other. And not only that, they all seemed friendly with one another?!
This proved to everyone that their win was not a coincidence. They must have all gained this new power from someone extremely powerful, like a hidden hermit in the mountains.
Everyone wanted to know if they were all a part of a new mysterious company. Will they see a new unicorn rise through the stratosphere?
Many more students felt inspired by their stories. They were also unimpressive in their school performance. They didn't have any prospects, like them.
Their eyes burned with yearning. They wanted to be like them. They also wanted to know how they became so powerful in such a short amount of time.