Sky Dome Stadium was unlike anything that Alex expected.
"What the f*ck! Is this how stadiums in the future look like?"
The first thing that caught his attention was the ridiculously large spectator stands. At one glance, Alex could swear that there were at least 1 million spectators watching this single race of his.
Heck, he never experienced anything remotely close to this before now. When did racing become this popular?
But this was the least of his worries.
The spectators may have caught his attention first, but the sight of them definitely didn't affect him as much as the sight of the racing track of Sky Dome Stadium itself.
'Is this a game?!' This was the first thought that entered his mind.
Sky Dome Stadium did not comprise of a grass field and a racing track surrounding it like stadiums that he was used to.
Instead, this was a stadium tailor-made for racing.
There was a neutral pale white track that started immediately after the starting line which was the room. But there was not just one track.
In the distance, the neutral pale white track branched into multiple tracks and among them were colored tracks.
There were 2 different colored tracks corresponding to the 2 contestants, a red track and a purple track.
In the distance, sometimes, they coincided with the neutral pale white track while at other times, they were separated from the normal track.
Yes, the track of Sky Dome Stadium was not just a straight-line track.
There was a universal track that led through the ground till the finish line which Alex could see from here; it was another room like the starting line room.
Apart from the universal track, there were other tracks that led into the air.
Yes, tracks that led into the air!
"…!" Alex felt like he was living an unrealistic dream. 'What the heck!'
The tracks curved into the air, forming arcs before curving back down in different shapes and designs. There were even tracks that went in circular shapes, forming a spiral in the air.
The crazy tracks were not the most unusual things in this racing track though, the weirdest things that Alex saw in his first glance of this stadium were the obstacles.
'This was supposed to be a normal race, not a f*cking hurdle!'
'Who puts obstacles in normal races?!'
'And even in hurdles, when had there ever been such ridiculous obstacles?' Alex felt like he was going crazy.
Alex saw long poles blocking some tracks, and even what felt like thick glass barriers.
'What the f*cking hell man!'
'This is a dream!'
'This must be a dream, right?'
All these mind-blowing discoveries in such a short time threatened to overwhelm him, but the new virtual projection that appeared in the air forced him back to reality.
***
{Newbie trial race has started!}
>9/800meters<
{The annihilating flame has been unleashed!}
{Run time of the annihilation flame is 5 minutes!}
{WARNING! You must run the 800 meters trial race in less than 5 minutes! Outrun the annihilation flame or die!}
{The first contestant who arrives at the finish line survives!}
{Run for your life!}
***
'What do they mean by annihilating flame…?'
Alex paused when he suddenly felt a searing heat from behind him.
Inclining his head slightly to glance backwards, he almost had a heart attack.
Behind him was a barrier of annihilating flames that stretched all the way to the sky of this massive and weird stadium, and it was moving, towards him!
Alex had no delusions. 'If that touches me, I'm dead'.
'This is a dream, right?'
'Then why don't I f*cking wake up yet?'
Despite really wanting to believe that he was still inside a dream, Alex was too paranoid to rely on that. He didn't care much about the fact that this was an 800-meter race that he was entirely unfamiliar with.
Instead of thinking and worrying about that, he would run.
He would run for his life.
And then, he dug in.
Thud!
The race picked up amid excited cheers from the spectators.
Alex gritted his teeth, feeling a need to curse them but he ignored them, forcing himself to focus on the multiple tracks in this race.
He ran through the straight-line neutral pale white track.
'The key to long-distance races is to control my energy and stamina, right?' This was his thought but as he ran, Alex felt that something was different.
It nagged at the back of his mind, and then he remembered. 'The attributes'.
'The suit interface said something about attributes, right?'
"Suit, show me my attributes".
Immediately after he demanded it, they appeared.
{Runner attributes: Runner 87}
{Race Attributes:}
{Speed: 4/15}
{Acceleration: 5/12}
{Strength: 4/18}
{Intelligence: 11/15}
…
{Life Attributes:}
{Health points: 50/50}
{Stamina: 12/12}
Perhaps, it was because of the threat to his life but at this moment, Alex's brain was working in a hyperactive state.
Immediately after he saw his attributes again, he arrived at conclusions. 'The race attributes are fixed!'
'But the life attributes, they likely fluctuate according to my condition'.
He finally understood why his body felt so invigorated inside the suit as he started the race. 'I won't feel tired right, so long my stamina doesn't hit 0?'
'To be on the safer side, let's keep it higher than 5'.
'What of my health points, what is it used for?'
As he thought of these, he remembered the fact that his opponent also had attributes just like him and they were all displayed at the start of the race.
Alex had retentive memory, he remembered.
But then, he grimaced. 'If I remember correctly, he's stronger than me in every attribute. The only attribute where I'm superior is the intelligence attribute, f*ck, how is that fair?'
Right as he thought of this, it happened.
He started ahead of his opponent, the suited Tiger but at this moment, with higher acceleration and higher top speed, the Tiger gradually breezed past him.
Alex's eyes widened. 'F*ck!'
Despite the scarily disappointing situation, he didn't stop, he continued running, wondering how he could turn his situation around.
That was right when the inexplicable happened ahead of him.
The suited Tiger was running at a rapid superior speed until it finally left the neutral pale white track and entered a colored track, or was it a mixed colored track?
The tracks finally branched, turning into 3 different tracks.
Apart from the universal track that was on the ground, a second track appeared in the air that led higher into the sky. The second track was purple.
There was a third red track that started higher in the air and led even higher into the sky of this stadium.
The universal track on the ground turned to a mixed colored track, alternating between red and purple colors every few milliseconds.
This was when Alex observed something. Every time that the track turned to red, the Tiger's speed decreased exponentially and every time that it turned to purple again, its speed increased again even above normal.
Considering that the color changed every few milliseconds, a normal person wouldn't have noticed but Alex noticed because he had been running all his life.
His full life was bred and experienced on the track.
'Running in a same-colored track increases speed, while doing the opposite decreases speed?' It was just a hypothesis but Alex bought into it.
He resolved to avoid the tracks that were opposites of his color.
Before he could get to where the tracks branched though, the suited Tiger already left the mixed color track. Right after leaving that vicinity, meeting the neutral pale white track again, it met its first obstacle.
The suited Tiger's first obstacle was a long blue pole. Right before the blue pole, there was a pale green slightly transparent ball hovering in the air that seemed like a mirage. The suited Tiger conveniently ignored it.
Alex paid attention. 'What will happen?'
Bam!
Just like he expected, the suited Tiger crashed head-first into the pole. The pole shattered but a shockwave force erupted that pushed the Tiger back as it fell to the floor.
Not just that, something inexplicable happened.
A virtual projection appeared directly above the Tiger's head.
{-3 HP}
'Huh, it lost health points due to that?'
Finally, Alex arrived at the place where the tracks branched.
On arriving, his eyes gleamed sharply. He already made 2 observations, what was he going to do about it?
Alex jumped.