"Now is time for the boosts, the important game-changer in Runners; Survival and Glory".
"Pay attention".
The stern-faced Arcadian swiped at the slide, causing another projection to come to the forefront. "This right here is what we call the bounce boost".
He explained. "Most boosts in the game are always enclosed in this pale green slightly transparent ball".
"The only ones not enclosed are the speed surfaces and jump boosts".
"The colored tracks are also a form of speed surfaces; they are boosts too".
"Unlike the enclosed boosts, the others are engraved on track surfaces. The colored tracks are self-explanatory".
"As for jump boosts, they are engraved and enchanted on the ground in a circle with the symbol of an upward arrow at the center of the circle".
This coach looked at all the runners before him. "There are 2 patterns to identifying every boost and I will teach you both".
"The first pattern is observing what is on your track. If you're stuck in the sky with no track under your feet, free-falling and you see another of the pale green balls, know immediately that it is a bounce boost".
"Bounce boosts enable you to double jump in mid-air".
"It enables you to jump into tracks in the air that you would otherwise not have access to in normal circumstances".
"If you are before an obstacle like a barrier with no way forward, pay attention. If you notice a circle on the ground before it, it's a jump boost".
"A jump boost enables you to jump to a maximum 20 meters in the air".
"There are no environmental indicators to indicate meeting a speed boost".
"As for kick boosts, if you meet pole obstacles or glass barriers in a race, there are always boosts placed before them. When you meet them, know immediately that it is a kick boost".
"There are no environmental indicators to indicate meeting a shield boost".
"There are also no environmental indicators to indicate meeting an electric boost".
Coach Tarkur turned to look at his slide. "Now, I will teach you the other pattern to observing boosts, pay attention".
"Apart from the environmental indicators pattern, another pattern to observing boosts is to pay attention to the pale green balls".
"At the center of the pale green balls for bounce boosts, there is an image of a volleyball, mostly obscured by the pale green ball's color".
"If you have good eyes and are observant enough, you'll notice it".
"As for speed boosts, inside the pale green ball, you would notice symbols of a forward arrow indicating increased speed".
"Speed boosts are the singular best boost in Runners; Survival and Glory and they are also the rarest boosts".
"A speed boost lasts just 5 seconds but in those 5 seconds, you run with 10 times your normal speed".
The runners all reacted strongly to that.
Coach Tarkur looked at them. "Imagine the possibilities, you can theoretically run 400 meters in that time with the average speed of runners".
Inside his game suit, Alex felt his body heating up. 'What the hell!'
'That…, that is just a cheat, it will break the game, why is such a thing even allowed in racing as a sport?'
And then he remembered, this was not the 21st century.
Heck, this was the Arcade era.
Alex felt gloomy immediately once the thought settled in his head but he was drawn back to the present as Coach Tarkur continued his speech.
"As for when you encounter kick boosts, you will notice an image of a boost at the center of the pale green ball if you pay enough attention to it".
"Shield boosts are self-explanatory. At the center of the pale green ball, you would notice a slightly glowing blue shield".
"Electric boosts are also self-explanatory. At the center of the pale green ball, you will notice cracking wisps of electricity".
Coach Tarkur clapped, his hands reverberating sharply in this stadium. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is the newbie guide to Runners; Survival and Glory".
"Well, before we go into the training proper, let me give you spoilers regarding the reward for the best 20 runners in Sky Dome Stadium that will make it out of the elimination battle for the world tournament".
Getting to this point, Coach Tarkur finally smiled for the first time. "The reward is full Arcadian civilian citizenship".
"Most of you were just transported to this era through the time machine".
"You don't know much about the world of today nor of the Arcade Empire. Don't worry, with time, through your supervisors, you will learn about the world".
"In that time, you will know the importance of this reward".
"So, boys, run," he grinned. "Run like your life depends on it".
He paused. "Well, once the elimination begins, your life actually does so run like your life depends on it!"
"Yes, sir!"
He glared at them sternly. "Not yes sir, yes coach".
"Yes, coach!"
"Good," Coach Tarkur looked into the distance. "To see if the basic newbie guide that I just explained to you sank into those thick skulls of yours, your first training today shall be a 1600 meters race".
"I will control the Sky Dome Stadium to make all boosts, obstacles, and tracks of the game to be made available except the annihilation flame".
"Let's see how you fare with this new knowledge".
"Don't worry about the chaos of 100 runners competing in a single race, rather, I'll say you should get used to it".
"It's never been done before but with the progenitor's growing imagination and excitement, I won't be shocked to see 100 runners on the track one day all running for one price with the annihilation flame closely behind them".
Imagining that in his head made Alex shudder. 'That mad man…, these mad people!' He gritted his teeth.
"On your marks!"
Alex had no choice; he went to the starting line alongside the other 99 runners of Sky Dome Stadium.
This training race was going to be chaos personified.
"Set!"
Alex sighed. 'Well, here goes nothing'.
"Go!" Coach Tarkur screamed.
Bam!
Alex moved; his instincts engraved into his bones as a professional gold-medal winning athlete in the Olympics helping him to start ahead of a lot others.
Due to their varying speed and acceleration, this would not mean much but no body says no to a head start in circumstances like this.
This would end up being Alex's most grueling training session despite the fact that he already spent more than a decade as a professional athlete in his previous life, training and racing against the best of the best regularly.
Runners; Survival and Glory was simply something else.
It was not just pitting the best of the best of an era against each other, this was a system that transcended eras, even races.
In Alex's old life, sports fans always fantasized about scenarios were they could pit the old-time greats of their respective sports against each other.
Scenarios like prime Muhammad Ali vs Mike Tyson.
Scenarios like prime Lionel Messi vs Diego Maradona.
Scenarios like prime Cristiano Ronaldo vs Pele.
Scenarios like prime Michael Jordan vs Lebron James.
These were scenarios that every sports fan wanted and now, in this new world, in this new game, the unrealistic reality was now playing out before Alex.
In a way, considering that he was an avid racing fan himself, if the element of death was removed from this game, Alex would consider it a dream come true.
No matter how he felt at this moment though, he had a 1600-meter race to finish, so he dug in.
Alex ran.