After what seems like a few minutes, Metcalf started getting slightly impatient. From her screen she sees that Lance is steadily filling out the contest criteria on his platform. It’s just taking a lot of time. Watching them from across the thirty foot squared pit she sees that each selection is met with a great deal of discussion mostly among Lance’s companions.
Most of the time, Lance was staring at the computer as though it would fill itself out. He would turn to ask a question from time to time. His friends would respond. Perhaps telling what they knew about the point trade system. Lance only submitted information when his face showed some hint of confidence. He was a guy that wanted to know exactly what he was getting into.
Every now and then Lance would point down into the pit at the river stone. They were too far away for Metcalf to know what they were talking about. However, his pointing into the pit never got a positive response from his friends.
For all she knew it was Lance’s first drill, ever. It made sense that it would take him more time to understand what to enter into the system. Though it was trying, Metcalf tried her best to be patient.
After about a decade, filling out the drill criteria was second nature for her she finished in a few seconds. She remembered back when she first started gambling Academy Points. Naoh and Koh filled out the criteria for her to “make things faster.” The criteria they set didn’t always benefit her. So, she understood Lance’s desire to know everything about everything. This was taking a bit of a long time though.
After another few minutes, Lance was finally ready. His face didn’t beam confidence she was used to seeing but his light was green. That was good enough for Metcalf. She had waited long enough, quite long enough to strategize.
After checking the competitors one last time, the drill guard sounds the bell. It was time to put her strategy into play. Gripping the railing tightly she stares at the stone from her platform. The air in the Training Center slowly stills, replaced by the grinding screech of the river stone sliding on the pit’s cement floor.
Metcalf traded the motion in the air flow to move the stone. Not to push it back or forth but to twist it so that more of the large imperfectly shaped stone would be in Lance’s territory. Then it was time to counter Lance’s attempt to twist the stone back.
After just seven seconds, Metcalf started sweating and got a minor head ache. Lance had to be struggling too; she knew better than check. She had to keep her focus on the stone if she wanted to win. The stone was steadily moving the way she wanted it to. As in any contest, it was a struggle.
This push drill felt very different than the others. She seemed to have more ambient motion to work with. She was using all that she could. The air was borderline stagnant. Even with the extra resources, the stone was barely moving.
Her plan was worked; to a point. The twist was too much for him to counter and now more of the stone was in his area. She didn’t have to get the whole stone into his zone. Just end the time with more of the stone on his side. Granted, she gets more points if the stone is further in his territory. She had no time to think of that now though. She only needed to push harder.
With twenty of the thirty seconds gone, her head was beginning to pound. Her focus was weakening. Her temperature was rising; she’ll be sweating a while after this contest. All the effort she was putting in and almost nothing was happening. She started to wonder if she was doing anything at all; then the stone started to crack a little from the pressure.
At twenty-five seconds, the time for strategy was ending. Fancy tactics at this point only caused trouble. This was where champions thrive. It was time to refocus her strength and push as hard as she could. Again, the stone moved oh so slightly but it stayed Lance’s area. Good enough for Metcalf.
At the final bell she had won. The large stone almost moved three centimeters into Lance’s area. Her prize was about three hundred of his Academy Points; plenty of points to end the day. After the hardest thirty seconds of her life she needed a rest.
Resting by the platform she sees Lance talking to his friends from across the pit. He wasn’t very upset; then again they were definitely disagreeing. It doesn’t seem like they come to an agreement but Lance sends a message to Metcalf’s platform.
Metcalf answers the page and hears, “Could we go again?”