Farthest Distance

Annoyance seeped through the edges of Liam's lips. He was visibly irritated that the first win of the Concur had gone to Chris's enclave.

…Ivy tugged at the robe of Liam's Chrono Suit.

"Oh my God, Liam, what are we going to do?" Ivy asked, tugging anxiously at her ponytail.

"SHIT."

Liam echoed the word slowly between his lips, consciously averting Chris's gaze.

"Wait... we may have lost the first points, but we still have the second moiety. If we take that, which we definitely will, then..."

Liam's thoughts were abruptly cut off by the sharp beep of the ranging alcoves.

…

The beep indicated the completion of the first section.

Liam slowly raised his head, releasing his hair from the grip of his hands after pushing it backward in utter humiliation. He finally looked toward Chris, his composure returning as the familiar sardonic smile reclaimed his face.

"Okay, fine. Your enclave took the first point, but I wouldn't advise getting your hopes up."

Liam's words carried a smug undertone as a disgusting simper wiped across his face, defacing his expression with pure disdain.

His smile became even more irritating as he continued.

"You see, Chris..."

Liam took about two steps closer to him.

"This is just the first moiety of the first segment."

His smile exuded an irritating mixture of pride and disgust.

Liam took another step forward, bringing his face to within roughly three inches of Chris's.

"So I would rather you not believe you would win."

He raised his right index finger to the level of both their eyes, occupying the narrow distance between them.

Then he slowly swung the finger from left to right.

"Th... th... th..."

The nasty clicks of Liam's tongue echoed between them as a sneer crept across his face.

THOOM!

A burst of compressed wind erupted from the top of Chris's clenched fist.

He had aimed a jab directly at Liam's jaw.

But Liam dodged it.

The dodge was sharp.

Effortless.

Composed.

The iris of Liam's eye shifted from the center, moving sharply toward Chris's arm as it cut across his face.

"Hey, that was a nicely executed punch."

Liam's irises slowly returned to their original position.

He casually used his right hand to gently shift Chris's arm away.

Chris forcefully pulled his arm from Liam's palm.

"Hey, Chris. Next time..."

Liam's eyes widened with disgust.

"Don't raise your fist to someone who could kill you."

His voice darkened, carrying a sharp grimness and unmistakable severity.

A light, choked cough escaped Chris's lips as he used the back of his palm to shield his mouth.

It was a reflexive reaction to the sheer sharpness of the brief pulse of Liam's Aura he had felt.

"Kill? Don't make me laugh. Before you do that..."

Chris used his arm to signal Rhys to forget it.

Rhys gritted the left side of his teeth in anger, his expression tightening as he stared at Liam, but he complied.

Liam stepped toward the center of their designated section.

He released a light cough.

"As of now, Chris's enclave has obtained two points, which puts them in the lead."

A sneering smile seeped across his lips.

"That currently puts them in the lead, so without wasting much time, we move to the next moiety, which is the fixed speed, farthest distance."

Liam's grin widened.

"This part simply depends on the thrust you input on the arrow at the beginning. So, without further delay, both archers activate the synaptic holographic interface and hit {NEXT}."

Liam sneered before walking back toward Braylen and Ivy's side.

…

Cia and Freya did exactly as Liam instructed.

With the press of {NEXT}, the ranging alcove brimmed back to life.

The electromagnetic whirring filled the area with a smooth mechanical resonance as the top and bottom layers began spinning, dovetailing precisely onto the stationary middle layer.

…

The anthropomorphic grippers hoisted the ranging alcove higher as the Nanobots, endless in number, began impeccably and immaculately knitting a brand-new design for the gallery.

The gallery emerged with a sharper, more distinct shade of grass, every section thoroughly woven together by the Nanobots.

This time...

The gallery had no end.

It stretched as far as the eyes could see.

…

The left ranging alcove propelled slightly forward, indicating that it would begin this part of the moiety.

Liam sneered.

By now, the expression had practically become his signature whenever he stood before Chris and his enclave.

"Now we begin the second moiety of the first section of the Concur."

Liam said with a smirk resting on his lips.

…

The fifth IPM illuminated.

{FIXED SPEED, FARTHEST DISTANCE}

{FIXED SPEED: 30,000M/S}

…

As the flagpole-like embrasure contracted and dilated to the appropriate size, Freya steadied her Compound Bow.

…Freya's bowstring was fabricated from the effulgence of her Aura, but the bowstring she manufactured this time was different from the last.

…The bowstring was thicker, with three variant layers of Aura swirling around its edges. The string resembled serpents brimming with life, constantly shifting around its surface. At the center of the bowstring was a circular variation of Aura rotating at high speed. From what Cia could observe, this bowstring was far more powerful and probably more devastating than the last.

…Freya shifted her body toward the left axis of the ranging alcove, her right foot planted at the front while her left remained at her side. She tilted her hips toward the left axis and lowered her bow until it rested on the same nexus as the upper part of her hip.

…She pushed her chest forward slightly as she elevated the cylindrical pore of the Compound Bow upward, facing the center of the flagpole embrasure.

…Freya's renal projector had its top layer projected forward while the bottom and middle layers fused together. The top layer continued spinning, highlighting the most appropriate angle from which she would fire the arrow. It spun so rapidly that it resembled a vibrating lens.

…Freya chuckled as she pulled her bowstring with as much force as she could muster. The bowstring elongated from the nexus of her hip toward the center axis of her back.

Her triangular-prism arrow once again manifested, its fletching carrying a sharp flagpole design.

…Cerulean electromagnetic strands attached themselves to the arrow through the cylindrical pore. As Freya dragged the bowstring farther, she finally reached her anchor point.

…She released the arrow...

WHUUUM!!

…The arrow burst through the flagpole embrasure.

As it zinged through the opening, the electromagnetic strands propelled it forward with even greater intensity.

…The burst of Aura accompanying the arrow's release and propulsion was absurd. The Aura pressure was condensed, thick, and powerfully inputted into the arrow, producing such an enormous outburst.

…A circular pod formed at the front of the arrowhead, from which three swirling streams of Aura emanated. All three curved around the arrow like bright, living cerulean serpents.

…The swirling Aura propelled the arrow forward as its speed reached a staggering 30,000m/s within the first kilometer.

…

Liam let out a sadistic chuckle, deliberately ensuring that it reached Chris's ears.

Chris shifted his gaze away from the monolith and glared at Liam.

Liam's sadistic chuckle widened as he stared directly into Chris's eyes.

"You see, Chris, this moiety is nothing like the last. In the previous moiety, you needed momentum to push the arrow to astronomical speeds, which Cia excelled at, surprisingly."

Liam shifted his gaze from Chris to the monolith, then toward the ranging alcoves, before finally returning his eyes to Chris.

"But you see, my friend..."

The sarcasm in Liam's tone was utterly disgusting.

His disgustingly proud simper appeared once again.

"This section is different. When they say fixed speed, what comes to your mind would probably be: No matter how I shoot it, the speed will always remain fixed."

His simper widened.

"If that's your thought, then I'd expect nothing more."

…

Chris jolted slightly at Liam's explanation.

He drew himself deeper into his thoughts, trying to figure out exactly what Liam meant.

"Shit... what the hell does he mean? If the speed is not fixed, then what's the catch to this?"

Chris looked up at the monolith.

His gaze slowly lowered back toward the substratum as he placed his chin between his thumb and index finger, stroking his chin while he continued thinking.

"What does he mean by the speed is not fixed at the beginning?"

The question echoed through Chris's mind as he tried to piece the puzzle together.

"Shit."

The word escaped his lips quietly.

…

Chris's eyes widened slightly.

His thoughts began arranging themselves into sequences, one after another.

Then...

Realization struck him sharply.

"Wait... if it were to start at 30,000m/s, what exactly would be the deciding factor? Therefore, if it does not start at exactly 30,000m/s, then it should mean..."

Chris continued piecing his thoughts together, desperately trying to determine what exactly Liam meant.

Two kilometers.

Three kilometers.

Four kilometers.

…

The IPM displayed the maximum fixed speed attained.

{LEFT RANGING ALCOVE ARROW SPEED: 30,000M/S}

…

The black obsidian screen of the monolith disseminated the arrow's image as it gracefully propelled itself forward at abnormal speed.

The swerving, living, serpent-like Aura emanating from the cylindrical pore tightened, the width between the serpent-like streams gradually narrowing as they continued to coil around the speeding arrow.

Absolutely, bro. I’ll keep the same manuscript, same lore, same events, same terminology, and same dialogue intent, while mainly fixing grammar, tightening pacing, and magnifying the prose to roughly 1.4×. I won’t add new story beats.

Five kilometers.

Six kilometers.

Seven kilometers.

…The arrow forced its way through the gallery at terrifying speed, the axis along which it blitzed remaining as accurate as possible.

…As Chris watched the monolith with intense concentration, the answer suddenly clicked in his mind.

"Damn, it just clicked. The last moiety required you to add outstanding momentum to propel the Aura at terrifying speed through a fixed distance... but this one is different."

…Chris's thoughts aligned bit by bit as his eyes trailed toward the IPMs.

"Farthest distance and fixed speed. If the first one was about momentum to keep increasing the speed, then this should..."

…His thoughts began falling into place.

…

Rhys and Elisa kept their faces fixed on the monolith, watching it detail by detail, while Chris stared blankly at the display, his head resting between his index finger and thumb, clearly indicating that he was deep in thought.

…Liam looked at Chris for nothing more than a split second before swerving his head back toward the monolith.

He snapped his tongue across the top of the inner lining of his mouth, allowing a slight mocking sound to escape.

…The sound barely caught Chris's attention. He remained deep in thought, still trying to crack the pointless comment Liam had made earlier.

…Braylen and Ivy, both situated at Liam's side, simply stared at the monolith with intense concentration.

"BINGO!" Chris exclaimed within his mind.

"If the first required momentum, the second simply requires thrust. In this case, simply a push achieved through the application of great force, which would propel the arrow to any speed below the fixed speed or exactly the fixed speed."

…Chris thought intuitively.

…

Chris slightly tilted his head to the right, still deep in thought.

Elisa and Rhys stood a slight distance away from him, Rhys positioned at his right side and Elisa at his left.

…Both enclaves stood opposite each other across their respective ranging zones, surrounded by the large monoliths and IPMs.

Liam's enclave occupied the left side, while Chris's enclave occupied the right.

…The Apex Range hummed with life.

Galleries were being erected, constructed, altered, and dissolved at different points across the boundless range. The beauty with which the Nanobots constructed and maintained the entire range was nothing short of immaculate.

…Chris's eyes contracted slightly, his face clearly showing that he was still deep in thought.

Elisa's gaze shifted from the monolith toward Chris.

She noticed the considerable squint in his face.

She slowly stretched her hand toward him, almost nudging him, a reflexive action born from concern for her friend.

But as her palm drew closer, she folded her fingers midair and quickly withdrew her hand to her side.

"He looks like he's thinking of something important. Let me not interfere."

…Elisa thought to herself.

She stole one final, lingering glance at him, lightly biting the lower right side of her lip as concern settled across her face before her gaze drifted back toward the monolith.

…Rhys, on the other hand, remained strictly focused on the display, watching the arrow swim through the gallery.

Eight kilometers.

Ten kilometers.

Twelve kilometers.

…The pathway along which the arrow traveled had begun to smooth out as it cleared each kilometer at overwhelming speed.

"So that means... if the thrust applied at the beginning does not push the arrow up to the point where its speed reaches the maximum, the sustainability of the arrow would be significantly damaged. And with its sustainability compromised, its ability to travel through various distances is greatly affected."

…Chris finally understood what the sneer on Liam's face had implied earlier.

"Eureka."

…Chris spoke the word so lightly that no one but himself heard it.

"Wait... if it took me this long to figure this out, has Cia probably already caught on to the principle of this part of the moiety?"

…Chris's eyes trailed toward Cia inside her ranging alcove.

…

Cia stood poised at the center of the ranging alcove, her eyes completely fixed on the gallery before her.

She analyzed every little detail that had changed from Freya's previous archery style.

"Something is different about this moiety."

…Cia asked herself intently, never taking her eyes away from the speeding arrow before her.

Fourteen kilometers.

Sixteen kilometers.

Eighteen kilometers.

Twenty kilometers.

…The arrow maneuvered through the gallery with impeccable precision.

It swerved through the endless pathway smoothly, beautifully, and sharply, maintaining its trajectory as it continued tearing through the distance.

…Cia kept her eyes fixed on the gallery, her thoughts using the image before her to comprehend the significant difference between the former moiety and the one she currently had to complete.

"First off, her bowstring is different, and so is the fletching of her arrow. She did not employ the same stance or technique as she did before."

…Cia thought, her eyes still fixed on the arrow.

Twenty-one kilometers.

Twenty-four kilometers.

Twenty-seven kilometers.

Absolutely, bro. I’ll keep your wording, terminology, dialogue, and sequence of events intact, while mainly correcting grammar, punctuation, sentence flow, and making the descriptions read more smoothly. I’ll keep the expansion restrained. 🔥

…The finesse with which the arrow glided through the gallery was exquisite. It was truly a beauty to behold.

“Okay, man, I really have to admit, that arrow’s movement is beautiful as hell.” Rhys said, his eyes firmly fixed on the monolith in front of him.

“You’re right, Rhys. It really is beautiful.” Elisa said in a warm tone.

“If the first principle was momentum, the second should be...”

…Cia’s thought was interrupted by the electromagnetic vibration coming from her acoustic transducers.

Bzzz.

Bzzz.

Vummm.

…Cia hovered her hand over her haptic wristlet as the holographic interface appeared before her.

…The interface displayed a transmission from Chris Moonstraught, which she immediately accepted.

“Yo, Cia.” Chris said lightly as he spoke into his nanoring.

“Hey, Chris.” Cia replied, her tone as posh as ever.

“You’re probably wondering why I had to place this transmission across.” Chris said, his tone as smooth as always.

“I really don’t mind. I actually like hearing from you.” Cia said, a slight smile curving across the right side of her lips.

“So, you know how in the first half of the moiety, momentum was needed to sustain and amplify the speed of the arrow? This is different.” Chris spoke mellifluously.

“Yeah, that’s what I was currently analyzing.” Cia replied, her tone slightly rushed.

“Well, let me save you the stress by telling you that this moiety is completely different from the last. The first required momentum for speed amplification. This requires thrust.” Chris said, his tone sharp.

“Thrust, you say?” Cia asked, her voice carrying a slight note of confusion.

“You know how momentum amplifies speed? Thrust is simply applying great force to—”

Chris was about to complete his sentence when Cia finished it for him.

“The arrow. If enough, or the right amount of thrust, is applied, the arrow’s maximum speed can be sustained, allowing it to cover larger distances.” Cia said, her tone exhilarated by the fact that she had completed the underlying puzzle.

“Wow, you got it. As clever as expected.” Chris said with a chuckle.

“No, I did not. It’s all thanks to you, Chris. Seriously, thanks.” Cia said, the gratitude in her tone as visible as ever.

“Hey, no problem, Cia. You’re my friend, and I’d do anything for my friends.” Chris’s words warmed Cia’s heart deeply.

“Thanks so much, Chris. I will win this.” Cia said, her voice as resounding as ever.

“I trust you, Cia. And in the scenario in which you don’t, I know you will, but if you don’t, know that you are always welcome with us.” Chris spoke, his silver tongue striking every emotional tune within Cia’s heart.

“Thanks, Chris.” Cia said as both of them ended the transmission.

“So, you spoke to Cia, I presume?” Rhys asked, his focus shifting away from the monolith as he spoke.

“She needed assistance cracking the principle guiding this moiety.” Chris said.

“Well, that would certainly make things easier for her.” Elisa said, her soft voice as beautiful as ever.

“Yeah. I certainly hope it does.” Chris replied, his tone concerned.

…His eyes traversed toward Cia, his expression filled with concern, before his focus eventually settled back on the monolith.

Thirty kilometers.

Thirty-five kilometers.

Forty kilometers.

Forty-five kilometers.

…The speed of the arrow never wavered. Rather, the arrow continued propelling itself forward at high speed, its distance increasing exponentially.

“Well, look at that. Freya has surpassed the previously set distance for the first moiety.” Liam said, facing Braylen, his eyes eventually falling on Chris.

“The previously set distance which troubled a particular someone.” Liam added, his voice as disgusting as ever to Chris’s ears.

“Yeah, the previously set distance you could not beat.” Elisa said, folding her arms across her chest and swinging her head slightly, the sarcasm in her tone almost hilarious.

“Ptth.”

…A slight laugh sprouted from Rhys’s mouth.

Fifty kilometers.

Sixty kilometers.

Seventy kilometers.

“No bloody way.” Rhys exclaimed calmly.

“How the hell is that arrow still moving like that?” Rhys asked, his annoyance clearly tangible in his tone.

…The serpent-like Auras at the edges of the arrow tightened, their swirling forms becoming increasingly condensed around its body.

“No way.” Elisa exclaimed, her voice rising to room level.

“Um, Chris, look at this.” Elisa said, slightly nudging Chris.

…Chris turned to face Elisa as she pointed toward the IPMs.

“No flipping way.” Chris said, staring at the IPM in shock.

His eyes suddenly fell upon Liam, whose gaze was already fixed directly on him.

Liam’s simper had become sharper now.

“Hey, Chris. We’re done playing games now.” Liam’s tone was even coarser, his simper more disgusting.

“We’re going to take you down.” Liam drawled, articulating every word individually, slowly and sharply.

…Liam’s words were accompanied by a shallow pressure of Aura around him, his sneer as repulsive as ever.