The last words Tiffany Chang said rang clearly through Max's mind.

Get ready.

And he already was.

It would soon begin, in fact... this race...

And as they'd both decided, even though their goals differed, neither would lose.

So, without so much of an applause, Tiffany's character started to move.

In a mere second, she would cross the midpoint, and from that point, Max would start to move.

It was almost as though, and in fact... was true, that they both were at their starting line, even though they were several in-game metres from the other.

Rose: (thinking: Here it comes. Here it comes. Here it comes.)

Luke: (thinking: Good luck, ... Tiff.)

Ken: (thinking: I may as well officiate this.)

Julianne: (thinking: You've got this sweetie.)

And then, it began.

All with a simple phrase...

Ken: Begin.

And Tiffany and Max's character immediately started a fast dash to the nearest giant root.

One of the greatest caveats of the grapple gun was not just the ability to avoid enemy fire... but also a much greater level of travel speed.

That being said, while using the grapple gun, moving from point A to point B with a grapple gun was much faster than moving while simply running from place to place.

So much so, that even a slight understanding of how to swing from place to place, especially without the fear of being shot at the back of their heads, allowed for a player to move from place to place more than twice as fast as a normal player.

Of course, the risk of falling down and straight-up dying remained, but... it would still be much faster.

That was the thing. The reason. The purpose behind using the Dextrous class and one of its many talents.

Moving from point A to point B in a very short time.

And so... to win this race, by all means.... Tiffany Chang had to play this game the Dextrous class way.

There were no two ways about it.

And if she had any doubts about it...

Rose: Oh my gosh, Max!

In his face, one could easily see it.

Cold hard determination.

... he was hot on her heels.

Rose: Max is... so....

Luke: Yeah... (thinking: He's moving way faster than before.)

And that was only the half of it.

Max, not needing to worry about enemy fire, could now prime his mind to focus entirely on movement.

It was an odd feeling.

One he wasn't too used to feeling.

But, in this case, it wasn't a restrictive feeling, but rather an almost released feeling.

Perhaps one could call it an innate desire for a need for speed, one held by all teenage boys, and perhaps by all those born male.

And now, he could move himself, faster and faster, without any restrictions.

In a sense, he felt as though he'd been, in a way, freed.

Like something in him could breathe easier.

But... that feeling did not make him forget what was going on around him. He knew... no matter what, he had to defeat Tiffany Chang.

His pride would not let him lose to her.

And as for his player character's movement speed, it was incredible, to say the least.

Leagues and leagues above anything Tiffany could pull off.

Luke: (thinking: Dang... he's good.)

But that wasn't all there was to the race... after all, Tiffany still had a massive lead.

And, to top it all off, Tiffany was still learning.

Even after all that had happened, she continued to learn.

Four failed swings turned to three... three failed swings turned to two.

Even the movement controls slowly begun to feel more natural.

There was a lot to the girl by the name of Tiffany Chang. One thing being... that she was an incredibly sharp witted girl.

But that wasn't all.

She had also endured incredibly brutal physical training.

Training so harsh it defied what people would call difficult.

However, that training... had left her with something of an understanding of the human body, and even more important, of her own human body.

In a sense, training so hard had left her with an almost perfect understanding of how her body worked, how much effort would be needed for this or for that, how long her legs were, how fast her fingers where.

Simply put, her mind and body worked together like a well-oiled machine.

The result?

She could get used to things at a much faster pace than most people.

A simple example would be watching a chef try to do a trick while cooking in front of guests.

The chef looks non-profound, confused, and a little clumsy.

However, as the chef tries again and again, the chef starts to look like a pro, like a natural.

And this natural... makes tricks look a lot more "fluid," as some would say.

Simply meaning that it is almost as though the art is now a part of said chef.

A similar thing could be said of Tiffany Chang.

Only in her case, this was true of not just her limbs... but also... of her entire body.

And so, even in Max's massive increment in speed, Tiffany Chang still kept improving.

Luke: Well... Tiff ain't doing so bad either.

And he wasn't wrong.

After all, those twos turned to ones.

Max had noticed, but that wouldn't stop him.

Rose: (gasps) You're right!

And as for Ken, the mastermind behind this match..

Ken: (thinking: And I, the entertained, shall simply enjoy this race in silence.)

He happily reclined in the chair, mostly proud of himself for coming up with the idea.

Ken: (thinking: Tiffany Chang vs. Maximillian Hunter. Who will win?)