After Anjing Zhen finished speaking, Kitasan Black let out a stammering cry of surprise after a long while.
"Tr-Trainer, you... aren't joking, are you?"
"Do I look like I'm joking right now?"
As he asked the question, Anjing Zhen put on the protective gear from the truck bed, along with the mountain bike.
A helmet, back support, elbow pads, knee pads—specially made nylon straps looped around the bike frame, while metal buckles fastened across his chest and waist.
Once everything was secured, he reached back and flicked the bicycle wheel hanging at his side, listening to the spokes whir through the air. Then he looked at the stunned Kitasan Black.
"Your stamina and endurance are excellent, but they've never been demonstrated in long-distance races. Do you know what the greatest test in a race like the Kikuka Sho is?"
"What... is it?" Kitasan Black repeated blankly.
"This."
Tapping his temple to indicate that he meant the brain, Anjing Zhen said in a low voice:
"For every additional hundred meters in a race—or even just one more meter—stamina consumption doesn't simply increase. It multiplies.
"Maybe you can recover faster than the others after a race, but when you're giving it everything during the race, your brain will still stop obeying you as though it's starved of oxygen.
"The test of long-distance racing is this: when your consciousness is no longer clear and your vision is beginning to blur, who can still maintain superior perception and judgment?
"Judging where the Finish Line is, judging the condition of your opponents, judging how you should run next."
In an instant, scene after scene from her past training and races flashed through Kitasan Black's mind, and she seemed to feel those moments all over again.
Her forehead felt as though it were clamped in an