Vampire's Blood Ascension-Chapter 26: Lack Of Control

The next day, Rudy and the divers of Path of Life stood before a group of veteran cadets.

Unlike the divers, these cadets didn’t possess rare attributes; instead, they had experience and were here to impart that experience to them.

Although Elena Gold was more experienced, she couldn’t train all of them by herself, and the same was true for the instructors of each group. Therefore, they were provided with a team of veteran cadets as assistants.

"This is the third day since you found out about the program and the future you all have. I won’t sugarcoat my words and say it straight. The way you are now, you would die within a week in the old realm."

The divers shivered as Elena’s words echoed in their ears.

Rudy’s face darkened as well, and he thought smugly, ’Who would have thought that a world full of dreadborns is dangerous?’

Seeing their reactions, the corners of her lips lifted, and she said, "But in the next five months, I’ll make sure to turn all of you into gold."

As she said the last words, her gaze drifted to Rudy, and a shiver ran down his spine.

’Shit!’ He cursed in his head and thought, ’Was all that surveillance not enough that now I have a breaker on my ass as well?!’

Rudy didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Elena was an exceptional breaker, and her teachings could make him way better than he was, but he didn’t want any personal connection within the syndicate.

He already had to keep his guard up to make sure no one found out about him being the hegemon of Blood Path, and such bonds could easily make him slip up.

’Well, I boarded the ship on my own, so I can’t get furious at the waves.’

He let out a silent sigh and looked at Elena with determined eyes.

Seeing the flames in her not-so-little student’s eyes, Elena’s smile widened, she clapped once, and said, "Let us begin."

The divers nodded seriously and walked to the diver training wards.

Once they reached the first ward, their eyes fell on a running track with various objects placed along it.

Near the start, it had short walls to jump over; after that, narrow passages to duck and crawl through; and, lastly, sharp turns.

It wasn’t just a running course; it was built so that no matter what obstacle, their feet never stopped.

"Get running," Elena commanded, and buzzing filled the ward.

Everyone checked their halobands.

[Running Course Statistics]

[Distance: 0m]

[Tries: 0]

[Jumps: 0]

[Crawls: 0]

[Other obstacles: 0]

[Rating: F-]

’How much stuff have they added in their halobands...?’ He genuinely wondered.

A chime rang throughout the ward, and the liquid LED lights around the course turned green.

All the divers moved to the starting point and began running.

’This will be child’s play,’ Rudy thought as he sprinted towards the short walls and jumped over them.

However, his sense of distance was off by a few meters, and he crashed into the wall.

[You have failed.]

[Try again.]

He blinked a few times and mumbled under his breath, "I can’t jump..."

"No, you can." Elena’s voice reached his ears.

He turned towards her, and she added, "I checked your data. After finishing your trial, your body has transformed."

"What you lack is better control and understanding of your body. You could say your situation is similar to that of a mecha pilot."

"Your body is advantageous in the aspects of reach, strength, and toughness, but it fails in agility and stealth. Which is why I had decided to do this instead of simulation combat like other groups," she stated as she looked at him with a calm expression.

’She did it for me...?’ Rudy fell silent and stared at her with a baffled expression before he rose to his feet and said, "Thank you... master."

Elena smiled. "Why are you thanking me? I am just taking care of my personal student."

The corners of Rudy’s lips curved upwards.

He nodded and returned to the starting point.

He took a deep breath and ran forward; this time, his eyes were fixed on the course, and his mind was clear of all thoughts.

Just like before, he failed, but instead of degrading himself, he stood up and tried again.

On his fifth try, he crossed the first wall but failed the second.

Many of the divers managed to clear the course within a single try, but even after ten tries, Rudy was still failing. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

They watched him fall with wide grins and murmured loud enough for him to hear.

"What’s the use of such a body if he can’t even complete such an easy course?"

"I bet he’ll crash again."

"Haha! You are saying it as if he hasn’t been crashing from the start."

"He’ll do better as my stress reliever."

"Me too!"

Elena ignored them, not because she didn’t wish to punish them, but because she wanted Rudy to get used to such behavior.

He also ignored them and just focused on the course before him.

While fighting the dreadborns, he hadn’t moved much because his arms had provided him with enough reach to take them down, but now he had to move and twist his body in various ways that he hadn’t even done with his old body.

’I can do this,’ he chanted in his hand and continued running.

A few hours passed by, and Rudy still hadn’t completed it.

A disappointed sigh left Elena’s lips, and she mumbled under her breath, "Did I make a wrong investment?"

She shook her head, turned around, and announced, "That’s all for today."

Afterwards, everyone left the ward — everyone except Rudy.

The next day, Elena and the divers stood in the main ward. Seeing that Rudy wasn’t there, she frowned and asked, "Where’s Vlad?"

None of the divers answered because none of them was close enough to know.

She sighed, tapped on her haloband, and placed it beside her ear as she mumbled, "Where’s diver Vlad Belmont?"

A monotonous voice replied, "Diver Vlad Belmont is at the first divers’ training ward."

She furrowed her brows and mumbled, "He is where...?"

"First divers’ training ward."

She lowered her hand and strode towards the first ward with a furious expression.

"What is he trying to do? Just because he couldn’t do it yesterday doesn’t mean he can go there whenever he wishes," she muttered with clenched fists and reached the ward.

She tore her gaze towards Rudy, and her eyes turned furious as she spat, "You—"

But just as her eyes fell on the holographic screen of his haloband, she froze in her steps and whispered in disbelief, "What...?"

[You have succeeded.]

[Course completed.]

[Running Course Statistics]

[Distance: 118,420 m]

[Tries: 403]

[Jumps: 892]

[Crawls: 276]

[Other Obstacles: 511]

[Rating: D+]

Disbelief flickered in her eyes as her gaze shifted towards his drenched body.

All of a sudden, Rudy’s lips parted, and he spoke in sleep, his voice no louder than a whisper.

"I’ll come f..."

A baffled chuckle escaped her lips, and she mumbled with a smug smile, "I never make wrong investments."