novelraw Chapter 248 248: Trial by Speed [1]
Chapter 248 248: Trial by Speed [1]
Lyra grinned, setting her phone down on the counter with a soft click. "That depends. How fast are you?"
The guy smirked, his posture relaxed but his eyes sharp. "Fast enough."
Riven raised an eyebrow, her expression somewhere between skeptical and amused. "Fast enough is a pretty vague answer. We need specifics if you want us to take you seriously."
The guy shrugged, his hands still in his pockets. "Alright, alright. I can get from one end of Waython Hollow to the other in about three minutes if I push it. I've dodged plasma fire before, outrun security drones, and I've never been caught when I needed to disappear. Good enough?"
Lyra tilted her head, considering. "It's a start. Now tell us your name."
The guy straightened slightly, his smirk turning into something that might have been an attempt at charm. "Veylan," he said, his tone smooth. "Veylan Kross."
Veylan Kross?
It was crazy how humans had gone a century and many decades in the future to use weird names that the ones used before were almost nonexistent.
Riven snorted softly, clearly unimpressed by the delivery. "Alright, Veylan. How old are you?"
Veylan hesitated, just for a fraction of a second, and then he shrugged again. "Does it matter?"
"Yeah, it matters," Lyra said flatly. "We need to know if you're experienced or if you're some kid who just discovered he could run fast and thinks that makes him invincible."
Veylan's face tightened slightly, and then he sighed. "Twenty-two. I'm twenty-two."
Way older in a way than both ladies…
Riven nodded, making a note on her phone. "And you've been using your ability for how long?"
"Since I was about fourteen," Veylan said. "Woke up one day, grabbed a pair of running shoes from a shop, and the System activated. Been fast ever since."
Lyra exchanged a glance with Riven, and then she leaned forward slightly. "And you're okay with the fact that this job might be dangerous? Like, actually dangerous. Not just 'dodge a drone' dangerous. We're talking life-or-death stakes here."
Veylan's grin widened, and there was something reckless in his eyes. "Dangerous is fine. I'm fast. Dangerous things can't catch me."
Lyra blew another bubble with her gum, popped it with a sharp snap, and then smiled. "Alright. Sit down. Let's talk."
Veylan dropped into the chair across from them, his posture casual but his attention clearly focused.
Riven pulled up a document on her phone and started asking more detailed questions, where he had worked before, what kind of situations he had been in, whether he had any combat experience, how well he handled pressure.
Veylan answered each question with the same mix of confidence and casualness, his responses suggesting that he had done a lot of running but not a lot of actual fighting.
After about ten minutes of back-and-forth, Lyra set her phone down and looked at Riven, who nodded.
"Alright," Lyra said, turning back to Veylan. "We're going to test you. See if you're as fast as you say you are."
Veylan's grin returned. "Sounds good. What do you want me to do?"
"Follow us," Riven said, standing and heading toward the door.
They led Veylan outside, through the corridors of the Red Crest Clan base, and out into the open training field where fighters usually sparred and drilled. The area was large, flat, and marked with lines that divided it into different zones for different types of training. Right now, it was empty except for a few guards standing watch along the perimeter.
Lyra pulled a small, sleek device from her pocket as they walked, a pair of glasses with a translucent, slightly glowing lens on one side. Torvan had given it to her earlier that morning, along with a set of instructions. The device was designed to study movement, track speed, analyze balance and coordination, and feed all of that data back to Torvan's systems so he could run a full analysis later.
"Put this on," Lyra said, handing the glasses to Veylan.
Veylan took them, turned them over in his hands, and then slipped them onto his face. The moment they settled into place, the lens flickered to life, projecting faint lines of data across his field of vision.
"What is this?" Veylan asked, his tone curious.
"It's a tracker," Lyra explained. "It'll monitor your speed, your movements, your balance, all of it. We need the data so we can figure out if you're actually good enough for what we need."
Veylan nodded, adjusting the glasses slightly. "Got it."
Riven pointed toward the far end of the field. "Alright. Here's what we want you to do. Run from here to that marker over there, then back. Do it as fast as you can. After that, we're going to have you do some evasive maneuvers: jump, roll, dodge, the kind of stuff you'd need to do if you were avoiding an explosion or dodging enemy fire. Understand?"
"Yeah," Veylan said, already shifting his weight onto the balls of his feet, his body coiled and ready. "Easy."
"Then go," Lyra said.
Veylan exploded into motion.
He was fast. There was no denying that. He shot across the field like a blur, his legs pumping, his arms swinging in tight, controlled movements. The distance between him and the marker closed in seconds, and he reached it, spun on his heel, and sprinted back just as quickly.
But as Lyra and Riven watched, they started to notice things.
His movements were fast, yes, but they were not smooth. His footwork was imprecise, his balance slightly off, and every few strides, he would stumble just a little: not enough to fall, but enough that it was visible.
When he reached the halfway point on the return sprint, his right foot caught on something, maybe a divot in the ground, maybe just his own momentum, and he nearly went down, his arms windmilling briefly before he recovered.
He made it back to the starting point, breathing hard but grinning, clearly pleased with himself.
"How was that?" Veylan asked, his chest heaving.
Lyra did not answer immediately. She was watching the data stream into the glasses, the numbers and graphs updating in real time. Riven was watching Veylan himself, her expression unreadable.
"Alright," Riven said. "Now the evasive stuff. We're going to simulate a scenario. Imagine there's an explosion behind you. You need to jump forward, roll, and come up running. Then we're going to have you dodge left and right like you're avoiding plasma fire. Got it?"
Veylan nodded, still catching his breath. "Yeah. Let's do it."
Riven stepped back, giving him space, and then she shouted, "Go!"
Veylan launched himself forward, his body twisting in the air as he attempted the jump. He hit the ground hard, rolled, and came up, but his footing was off, and he stumbled again, his arms flailing as he tried to regain balance.
He managed to stay upright and started the dodge sequence, weaving left and right in sharp, jerky movements.
But he fell. Twice. Once when he overcorrected a turn and his legs tangled, sending him sprawling onto the dirt. And again when he tried to change direction too quickly and lost his balance entirely, hitting the ground with a grunt.
By the time he finished, he was covered in dust, breathing heavily, and looking significantly less confident than he had at the start.
Lyra and Riven exchanged a glance.
"Alright," Lyra said, her tone carefully neutral. "That's enough. We've got what we need."
Veylan pulled himself to his feet, brushing dirt off his clothes, and walked back over to them. He was still grinning, but there was a faint edge of uncertainty now. "So? How'd I do?"
"We'll get back to you," Riven said, her tone professional but not unkind. "We've got a few more people to interview, and then we'll make a decision. You'll hear from us in a couple days."
Veylan nodded, though his expression suggested he was not entirely sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "Alright. Thanks for the chance."
He handed the glasses back to Lyra, turned, and headed toward the gate, his posture still confident but his steps a little slower than they had been when he arrived.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Lyra and Riven turned to each other.
"He's fast," Lyra said, pulling up the data on her phone. "Faster than average, definitely. But did you see how many times he stumbled?"
Riven nodded. "Yeah. And he fell. Twice. In a controlled environment with no actual threats. Imagine what happens if we send him out there and he trips while he's being chased by the Obscuron's forces."
Lyra frowned, staring at the data. "Torvan's going to analyze this, but I'm already not feeling great about it. Falling that much could be really bad in the scenario we planned. If he goes down at the wrong moment, he's dead. And if he's carrying the device when he falls, we lose everything."
Riven crossed her arms, her gaze distant. "Yeah. We need someone better. Someone who's not just fast, but stable. Someone who won't fall apart under pressure."
Lyra sighed, pocketing her phone. "Alright. Let's see who else shows up. Maybe the next one will be better."
They turned and headed back toward the base.