"Eh, the Mountain of Light, my parents dreamed of going there..." Light Racer muttered as he lowered his head.

Gloria was embarrassed. She knew that Light Racer's parents had died in an accident a few years ago, so it was a turning point in his life, after which he practically stopped training.

"Hey, this might be pretty rough, but you've got to stop concentrating on that! You used to do pretty well, so you just need to pull yourself together! What's more, I'm sure your parents would be happy if you could make it to the Mountain of Light!" Gloria exclaimed as she clenched her hand into a fist.

"Okay. Maybe I'll come next time, but don't be too hard on me." Light Racer smiled.

"Great! With that fighting spirit, you'll definitely be able to catch up quickly!" Gloria exclaimed with a proud look.

"Okay, see you then." The Light Racer said, tossing a stump of apple to Gloria and jumping down.

For a while, Gloria was confused as everything happened too fast, but then her face contorted in anger, and she crushed the apple stump, 'You little asshole... God forbid you don't show up for practice tomorrow... Or I'll shove this apple in your...'

...

The next day the Yellow Lightning group was back at the practice area, led by Gloria. Everyone was getting ready for the race, but someone was still missing, causing Gloria to frown as her eyes bled.

"He tricked me again..." Gloria muttered while clenching her fists with all her might.

"Hey! Gloria, what happened? Aren't you glad to see me?" Light Racer said that suddenly appeared behind her.

"Ich!" Gloria flinched as she stepped aside, "How did you sneak up on me?"

"Hmm? What are you talking about? I just came in here through the main entrance." Light Racer said in a thoughtful manner while holding his chin, "You must have been too focused on training and didn't notice me."

"Yeah... You're probably right... sorry..." Gloria nodded.

The Light Racer smiled weakly, headed for the jogging path, and got ready to run.

The other students looked at him with surprised looks as they couldn't remember the last time they saw him at practice.

"Who do I see!" A muscular guy with short blond hair said while approaching Light Racer, "Did you finally want to run?"

Light Racer didn't say anything back. He continued to warm up with a calm look as he didn't even look in the guy's direction.

"Asshole... You think you can just ignore me like that?!" The Muscular One exclaimed in a furious voice since he grabbed the Light Racer by the collar.

"Hmm? Do you want something from me?" Light Racer asked in a careless manner, "Shouldn't we be getting ready for the race?"

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Gloria exclaimed, "If you have any complaints about him, settle it during the race!"

"Good!" The Muscular One tossed the Light Racer aside, "Miss Gloria, you're absolutely right! I'm sure he'll come to the finish line last!"

Muscular One smirked as he got up to the start. The others did the same, they didn't support Muscular One's actions, but they were sure that Light Racer would show a terrible result.

Gloria stood in front of them as a golden orb appeared in her hand. She threw it in the air, and the orb exploded.

Whoooooosh.

The students kicked off as they turned into golden rays. One of the rays was faster than the others. It was a Muscular One, but one ray seemed too slow compared to the others, it was Light Racer.

"Yes! That's certainly a new record!" Muscular One exclaimed as he raised his hands in the air.

"Huh, you're right." Gloria mouthed while looking at her watch, "One minute and 44 seconds. If you improve that score by 15 seconds by the end of the month, you'll definitely be the fastest in the Seven Lightning Tournament."

Whoooooooosh.

The rest of the students came running almost simultaneously, the difference between them was only a few seconds minimal.

"Hmmm, 2 minutes and 11 seconds, not bad, but you all need to work harder. Anyone else didn't make it?" Gloria asked.

"Yes. There is someone." The Muscular One smirked as he turned around.

"Agh... I'm here!" Light Racer said before stopping at the finish line and started breathing heavily.

"Two minutes, 31 seconds." Gloria muttered with a frustrated look, "That's a pretty low score, but it's probably okay considering you haven't trained in a while."

"Teacher, are you sure that's the reason?" The Muscular One asked, "Maybe he shouldn't be competing in the Tournament with us at all. Can't we find a replacement for him?"

p "You know yourself that's impossible." Gloria shook her head, "You and others Lightnings were the ones who were able to develop these abilities, and now there are equal numbers of competitors on the teams, so there won't be any changes."

"Damn. Then we're in for an inevitable loss. I've seen some of the Purple Lightning and Red Lightning guys, they're real monsters. Even I'm not sure I can outrun them." The Muscular One muttered as he shook his head in a frustrated manner.

"Shut up! We'll do anything to win, or the Elders won't give us the key, and we can't get to the Mountain of Light. We're getting pretty good results, so we'll train as hard as possible next month!" Gloria said with a serious look, "Now, one more lap. Let's go!"

...

As Gloria said, they practiced every day for the next month until they could no longer stand on their feet. Because of Gloria's great efforts, everyone improved, even the Light Racer, but his progress was the weakest.

'Huh, I'm already starting to see golden rays everywhere.' Wain muttered, 'They're actually quite fast, but it doesn't compare to Light Racer's level... however, here he's not as active.'

Wain was confused as Light Racer's behavior seemed strange to him since, unlike the others, he didn't strain, and his legs never shook.historical