The morning bell rang, signaling the start of first period. Students scrambled through the corridors, rushing to get to their seats before the teachers arrived.
Anthony was walking at his usual leisurely pace, hands in his pockets, enjoying the morning breeze that came through the open windows. He had calculated the exact time it took to walk from his dorm to the classroom, accounting for traffic and obstacles. He would arrive exactly three seconds before the door closed. Perfect efficiency.
"Move it, trash!"
A group of four students zoomed past. They had awakened the souls of Messengers or Runners, granting them superhuman speed and agility. They loved to show off, zooming around like blur, often creating gusts of wind that knocked papers out of other students' hands.
The leader, a boy named Swift, deliberately shoulder-checked Anthony as he passed.
"Get out of the way, slowpoke!" Swift laughed loudly. "Run or get run over, loser! Watch out!"
They zoomed away down the long corridor, their laughter echoing back.
Anthony dusted his shoulder where they had touched him. "Rude. And incredibly inefficient." He shook his head. "Look at their stride length. Look at their arm swing. They are wasting seventy percent of their energy just creating wind resistance. It's like watching someone try to swim through mud while complaining the water is too thick."
Well, Anthony thought casually. Since they are in such a hurry to get nowhere...
Anthony subtly extended his senses. He didn't cast a spell. He simply manipulated the coefficient of friction and air density in the fifty-meter stretch ahead of the group of runners.
Suddenly, Swift and his friends felt a drastic change. The air in front of them turned thick. It felt like they were running through water, or even heavy syrup. Their legs pumped furiously, moving at maximum speed, but their bodies barely inched forward.
"What the hell?!" Swift gasped, his face turning red with effort. "Why is it so heavy?! I'm going as fast as I can but I'm not moving!"
"It feels like... like an invisible wall!" another panted. "Help me! I'm burning all my Qi just to stay upright!"
Meanwhile, Anthony walked past them at his normal pace, whistling a cheerful tune.
"Good morning, gentlemen," Anthony chirped, stepping around them. "Keeping fit? Jogging is great for the cardiovascular system. But don't exert yourselves too much. Health is wealth, after all."
"Help... me..." Swift wheezed, sweat pouring down his face. "It... feels... like... gravity... increased..."
Anthony arrived at the classroom exactly on time, sitting in his seat perfectly composed.
Five minutes later, the four speedsters stumbled into the room. They were exhausted, red-faced, gasping for air, and looked like they had just run a marathon across desert sands.
"How..." Swift panted, pointing at Anthony. "How did you... get here... first?!"
"I took the scenic route," Anthony smiled, opening his book. "Also, I don't try to defy physics. Physics tends to get rather angry when you do that. You should learn to respect the elements."