Chapter 156 All Eyes On Fox Boy

Lee Seng turned to look at the line to his right. Some were diverting their eyes away from him when he turned to check who he was competing against. Lee Seng's tail swung side to side. He looked down at the other end of the gymnasium.

'The difficulty picks up not even halfway down the gymnasium length. I wonder how it's gonna be if you have twenty feet between you and the ranged shooter.' Lee Seng wondered. He shrugged and jumped side to side.

"Alright, our last group of runners ready?" Mr. Icarus asked.

"Yes, sir!" The group spoke. Lee Seng readied himself, focusing his attention to the lane in front of him.

"Get ready! Get set! Go!" Mr. Icarus' arm swung downward as the alarm blared. Lee Seng ran forward, body erupting in gold and white wisps. Lee Seng felt himself pick up speed and quickly twirled his body, narrowly missing the bullet and continuing forward.

Lee Seng moved past the ten feet marker and listened as two shots were fired off. Lee Seng abruptly moved left and quickly dropped and slid diagonally right. The first bullet sailed above him while the second one was coming straight for him. Lee Seng pushed himself up with gravity and spun in the air, dodging the second bullet. He quickly landed on his feet and continued running forward.

15 Feet

Lee Seng glanced and noticed the third set of runners were just passing the thirteenth foot marker. Lee Seng recognized the blocking objects were slowly thinning.

'Dangerous territory now.' Lee Seng thought to himself as he continued forward. Lee Seng listened has the training dummy clicked and the gun reloaded. 'Triple shot.' Three quick succession shots flew out down the lane. Lee Seng kept straight ahead, listening to Ritsuka make a comment about him being a 'suicidal idiot.' At the last moment, Lee Seng swung his arm upwards, stopping his run and letting a blast of gravity fly upwards. The bullets abruptly flew upwards and the loud noise of gravity slammed into the roof.

Lee Seng reached the twenty foot marker. The white line quickly passed behind him as he listened for the clicking to intensify.

'Hmm, it changed…?' The sounds of the bullets spraying out of the gun made Lee Seng realize the intensity had increased. The sounds of alarms were blaring to his right. 'The real fight starts now.'

"Shit." Lee Seng moved and pressed up against a thin wall. He listened as bullets whizzed and hit the wall. The wall began to shatter and Lee Seng quickly reinforced it with gravity, watching it groan under his immense power. The sprays of bullets stopped and Lee Seng moved forward.

Lee Seng headed for the twenty-five foot marker when he heard the clicking and reloading. The training dummy released two sprayfuls of bullets down the lane. Lee Seng began to panic and threw his arms up. A wave of gravity bursted out around him and began to slow everything. An alarm blared and his lane turned red.

"Chang, you can't use your powers to create gravitational bubbles! That really isn't a Fighter move!" Mr. Icarus shouted. Lee Seng released the bubble and the bullets continued forward. They slammed into Lee Seng's wispy cloak and Lee Seng went tumbling backwards. He could hear more alarms going and the lane 2 person quickly moved past him.

"You did well to hold your ranged gravity uses." Mr. Icarus hovered above Lee Seng. "But I would like it if you withheld your ranged use while you're in my class, alright?" Lee Seng nodded and pushed himself up and onto his feet. He watched as the second laner made it past the thirty foot marker before the training dummy began to blitz shots down the three lanes. The second laner panicked and got hit by tons of bullets and went flying backwards. Mr. Icarus blew his whistle and everything came to a stop.

"Alright! That's it!" Mr. Icarus shouted. He looked at his tablet and nodded, pleased. "Lane 2 with 30 feet even! Best personal score! The last group did really well and all lasted at least twenty feet! Let's all move out of the side and reset. You can continue running down the lanes for the remaining duration. Anyone who bests thirty feet will be given extra credit." The students groaned and the last runners all started to turn and move back to the start.

"Chang," Mr. Icarus called. Lee Seng stopped and turned. The wispy cloak broke off of Lee Seng and Mr. Icarus watched as none of the reinforced plastic bullets had bruised him. "I thought since you took so many bullets, you'd need some medical attention. I guess I was wrong. Continue your runs and make sure you withhold yourself from using any ranged skills with your ability while you're in my class, alright?"

"Yes, sir." Lee Seng nodded. He turned around and jogged back to the start. Ritsuka and Garcia had concerned looks on their faces.

"You got disqualified for doing what?" Ritsuka asked.

"I threw up a gravitational bubble and slowed everything around me. I'm not allowed to do anything that's 'Glass' related. I don't even know what that means, but the bubble was just panic." Lee Seng shrugged. Ritsuka wrapped his arm around Lee Seng and patted him.

"It'll be alright, dude. Think of this as time to hone in on your Fighter skills so it can be used in tandem with your Glass skills in the future."

"Mmm." Lee Seng simply nodded and pulled away from Ritsuka's arm and sat himself against the wall. Garcia still sat in his spot but curiously stared at Lee Seng.

'He did so well for only having his powers for… a month?' Garcia thought. He quietly pulled his phone out as Mr. Icarus shouted for the first group. The alarm blared and Ritsuka and the other first laners started their runs. Garcia quietly tapped away and pulled information up on Lee Seng Chang.

The Creator's Failed Son at the Numbers Academy

The Failed Son's Powers… 1 Month Later

'They're really recent too…' Garcia's eyes peeked a look at Lee Seng. Lee Seng was watching Ritsuka.

"Let's go, Ritsuka!" Lee Seng cheered.

'How can he act like nothing's wrong after something went wrong?' Garcia wondered. He turned to look at the groups running. They were all making it to the fifteen foot mark and Ritsuka began to dodge and weave. 'How do people push themselves to do better?' The alarm blared as Ritsuka fell backwards.

Lee Seng clapped and stood up. Ritsuka had made it five more feet before he was hit by the spray of bullets. Mr. Icarus called for a reset and Lee seng moved over to give Ritsuka a cheeky smile.

"You cleared twenty feet this time." Lee Seng smiled. Ritsuka rubbed his chest. He could feel the bruising on his chest.

"Yeah, I'm going to need to see a healer after this." Ritsuka told Lee Seng. Lee Seng poked Ritsuka and Ritsuka immediately winced in pain. "Ouch, dude! We aren't all blessed with your absurd amount of self-healing." Ritsuka rolled his eyes and moved to sit on the wall.

The rest of the hour was spent taking turns and doing runs. Team 1 ended up with the highest team average by a mere few points between Team 5. Nobody could beat the personal best of thirty and the end of class ended with Mr. Icarus rounding the group of Fighters together for a debrief.

"What do you think the purpose of running this exercise was?" Mr. Icarus asked. A young woman raised her hand and Mr. Icarus pointed at her.

"The point of the exercise was to show us the disadvantage we have as Fighters against a Glass or shooter. Clearing the distance with our powers must be used well in order to clear the distance and get the advantage." The young female student answered. Mr. Icarus nodded and looked at the rest of the class.

"Anything else to add to that?" Mr. Icarus asked. A male student raised his hand and Mr. Icarus pointed at him.

"Though this was a simulation, the shooter could easily move and give more distance."

"Correct. The ranged combatant is trained to create distance. Remember that when you get into these situations. You want to clear the distance as efficiently and quick as possible, so you can end the fight if you are in this situation. We practice solo situations like this because you will get split from your teammates and have to rely on your own skills.

"Keep all of these in mind as we continue to work with ranged vs close combat strategies. That's all I have for you today, so you're free to change and head back to your dorms. See you all tomorrow." Mr. Icarus waved. All of the students stood up, Lee Seng lagging behind.

"Salute!" A student shouted. The students saluted.

"Thank you for the lesson, sir!" The students shouted. Mr. Icarus saluted and the students all released their salutes and turned to exit the gymnasium and head to the locker rooms.