Landen sprinted with everything he had. It felt fast to him—but compared to everyone else, he might as well have been standing still.
At first, when he saw the white-haired boy move with such ease, he assumed it was some kind of ability. But now, seeing that everyone else was also moving close to his speed, he realized that this was normal here.
Back on Earth, this level of speed would've been unbelievable. If anyone had seen this—seen students sprinting, leaping, and changing direction with this kind of precision—they'd call it inhuman. Superhuman.
But here? This was the baseline.
"You still have unspent stat points," the system reminded him.
Landen gritted his teeth. "I know."
It was so tempting to add the points to his agility now. But he was already committed to finding a baseline. Also, he felt he didn't need it. He was confident that he would be able to figure something out.
Not far away, Professor Kael and his assistant Maris stood at the center of the course, tablets in hand. Landen tracked their gaze.
"Pull up information on number 11," Kael said. He watched a smaller girl with blond hair tied into two tight, bouncy pigtails, moving about effortlessly through the obstacles.
Maris checked her tablet. "Elara Vesperine. Age sixteen. House Vesperine."
He looked over at Maris. "So one of them finally enrolled here."
The infamous Vesperine family, known as a noble house specializing in covert operations and security. However, everyone knew the truth. For generations, House Vesperine had produced some of the deadliest assassins in history. And here was one in the making.
They watched her.
Elara didn't rush. Instead, she flowed—pivoting lightly, stepping where others leapt, adjusting her balance mid-motion with subtle shifts of her shoulders and hips. Wisps seemed to wander into her basket, as if drawn by her calm precision. Her posture never broke, even as she traversed narrow beams and angled walls.
Maris marked a star next to her name.
Then Kael pointed to someone in the distance. "Number seventeen—who is he? "
The boy had a leather headband pushing back dark hair, and eyes that held a focused, predatory stillness even in motion. He looked exceptionally fit, clearly trained.
"That boy is Silas Vance," Maris said. "He appears to have no family record. A simple commoner."
"A commoner with exceptional skills," Kael replied, watching Silas dash around, his eyes nearly keeping up.
Compared to Elara, Silas was a different breed entirely. If Elara was a breeze, Silas was a bolt of lightning. He ignored the lower, easier wisps and went straight for the rafters. He sprinted up a slanted wall, grabbed a dangling chain, and snatched five wisps out of the air in a single pass.
Throughout their entire conversation, Landen hadn't moved at all. He was also too busy staring at Elara and Kael in amazement.
"They're like characters straight out of a video game," Landen said. "I bet I can do that too."
"Is that an order to add points to your Agility?" the system asked.
"Stop it," he said, hitting his head.
Landen genuinely believed he could do what they were doing. After all, Bob had prepared him for this moment. He hadn't been teleported here in his old body. It was a new one, optimized into the physique of a peak athlete. He was built for this. At least, that's what he wanted to believe.
He tried running again, but something was wrong.
His stride wobbled, like his legs weren't fully listening. Each step landed half a beat too late. When he threw a punch, it dragged. Even jumping felt off, like gravity had suddenly increased.
Landen slapped his legs in frustration. "My mind and body aren't syncing. I need practice. I need time." He stood. "But time is the one thing I don't have."
"I have a suggestion," the system chimed in. A menu opened up in front of him. "You can use the training facility within the MOBA system."
There was a tab that read [ TRAINING ] that was pulsing in and out.
Landen exhaled sharply. "I literally just said I don't have time. "
"Well, actually—you do," the system replied. "Within the MOBA training system, you operate at the speed of thought rather than the speed of your body. One hour of training there equates to approximately six minutes in reality."
Landen went very still.
"...What?"
He looked up at the clock. Twenty-five minutes remaining.
One hour of training… for the cost of six minutes. Was that enough?
He ran the math, then ran it again. His fingers curled slowly at his sides. If he kept going like this—stumbling through the course, a civilian-ranked embarrassment in a room full of prodigies—he was dead weight. A cautionary tale. But if this worked...
A new prompt materialized before he could finish the thought:
|| Quest: Explore the MOBA Training System ||
|| Reward: 10 EXP ||
His eyes lit up at the small reward.
He grinned. "Five minutes to pay for training and free experience points. Let's do it."
"System," he said firmly, "enter the MOBA training system."
"Right away."
The world cut out.
Sound vanished first—then color—then everything else. For a brief moment, there was nothing but silence and the faint sensation of falling inward.
Then—
Endless, blinding white stretched in every direction. No walls. No floor. No horizon. Just a space that felt both infinite and contained.
"Welcome to the MOBA training system," the system chimed, sounding quite pleased with itself.
"…This is it?" he said, looking around, unimpressed.
"Don't be so quick to judge."
Landen crossed his arms—still very much judging.
"I am capable of generating any training scenario you can conceive," the system continued. "Environments. Enemies. Conditions. Limitations. All tailored to your needs."
Landen raised a brow.
"Anything… huh?"
His eyes sharpened.
"Then let's see what you can really do."
— — —
Back in reality, Kael and Maris continued to monitor the students. Maris noticed an oddly particular student.
"Sir," Maris said, gesturing in a certain direction.
There, they spotted a lone boy sitting cross-legged on the ground. His eyes were closed, his posture calm and completely unmoving, as if he had forgotten he was in the middle of an exam. Wisps floated nearby, yet he made no attempt to collect them.
For several seconds, neither Kael nor Maris spoke.
Out of every bizarre thing they had witnessed during academy examinations over the years, this might have been the strangest.
"Number 28 is Landen Knight," Maris said. "Essence Level: Civilian."
Kael narrowed his eyes. He recognized his face. "He is the boy from the classroom." He shook his head slightly. "What a disappointment."
The test continued.
Moments later, Landen finally woke up, back in the real world. For a brief moment, his mind felt disoriented. He had been training nonstop for 30 hours. It really felt as if he had truly lived through an entire day and night inside the system.
Yet when he glanced at the clock, only five minutes had passed.
The discrepancy was absurd. Inside the MOBA Training System, he pushed himself relentlessly, refining his coordination, reactions, and control over his new body. Originally, the system's estimated ratio had been one hour inside for every six minutes in reality. But Landen had somehow exceeded the system's expectations.
The reason was simple—his mind didn't function like a normal person's.
His thoughts moved at terrifying speeds, processing information far beyond human limits. The faster the user's mind operated, the more efficiently the system could compress time perception.
And now, it was time to test his training.
The results were undeniable.
A step forward—steady.
A turn—clean.
A jump—light.
A punch—sharp, effortless.
No delay.
No stiffness.
No disconnect.
For the first time since entering this body, it felt like it belonged to him.
Landen let out a quiet breath, a faint grin forming despite himself.
Now, he was ready.