Chapter 3066: Sprinting, Winning Respect

However, Xia Duo was quite open-minded; it was rare to come to the Kingdom of Radiance, and even rarer to participate in a Golden Dragon flight competition, so how could he easily give up?

Indeed, what Xintuosi had told him before was Headwind Racing, and that was what he had prepared for, but he was not entirely ignorant of the Grand Slam of the City.

There are many events in the Golden Dragon flight competition, but they can basically be divided into two major categories—racing and technique.

The Headwind Racing competition, as the name suggests, is about winning or losing based on speed in a headwind environment, focusing more on racing.

As for the Grand Slam of the City, it simultaneously includes multiple racing and technique events, such as Irregular Wind Field traversal, ultra-low altitude flight, large-angle round trips, obstacle avoidance maneuvering, acceleration rings, and so on.

Furthermore, the Grand Slam competition does not just simply and crudely piece these events together, but combines them organically, designed specifically to mess with one's mentality.

For instance, an Irregular Wind Field might be combined with ultra-low altitude flight; one must be extra careful when flying through this, as in a high-speed flight state, if the controlled airflow is lost, one might instantly crash into the ground.

Of course, crashing into the ground does not mean losing, but one will be teleported back to the starting point—"Hero, please try again"—and if one has to restart too many times, it is impossible for one's mentality not to be affected.

After all, other Golden Dragons might have already arrived and finished the competition, while you are still embarrassing yourself in public over and over again.

In addition, the combinations and positions of these events are not fixed; they must be redesigned every so often to avoid aesthetic fatigue for the audience while also vigorously torturing the participants, minimizing the experience advantage of the leaders.

These were all things Xia Duo had learned about the Grand Slam of the City; the actual situation might be even more troublesome, which was the main reason why Xintuosi advised him to give up.

Even though it is in the Shenguo, there is no such thing as a broken Dao heart just from giving up; knowing when to retreat is a virtue, and no one would truly think that banging one's head against a rock is a form of bravery.

If Xia Duo gave up now, it would not affect his reputation in the Golden Dragon City District, and those Golden Dragons he had already befriended would still treat him as a friend, a human friend.

But if he performed too poorly, that would be another matter.

However, after learning the specific details of the Grand Slam of the City, Xia Duo still did not give up; participating and experiencing it was one aspect, but on the other hand, he was not satisfied with just being treated as a human friend.

Just as adults rarely get angry at the behavior of children, it is essentially because they do not treat children as equals.

He wanted to win the true respect of the Golden Dragons, not just superficial pleasantries and politeness.

If asked where his confidence came from, Xia Duo certainly wasn't hiding some supreme secret manual about flying; he had simply seen similar competitions in Saville's memories, and Golden Dragons were so fond of this that even Saville remembered it vividly.

From Saville's memories, he had learned some flight techniques, and combined with his experience of the Golden Dragon body over the past day, he wouldn't lose too miserably as long as he didn't pursue a high ranking.

Xia Duo also had a little calculation in his heart; he was currently a pure flight novice in front of the Golden Dragons, but they didn't know that he actually had quite a lot of insight and experience regarding flight.

The flight techniques in Saville's memories could only be considered as a reference, but Xia Duo's own main body in the Main Plane, after multiple Bloodline Awakenings, still possessed natural flight ability.

Not to mention that he had flown countless times using a Spell before that; after all, flight is one of humanity's ultimate dreams, so how could Xia Duo not practice and experience it more after mastering the ability to fly!

This kind of flight ability differs from that of a Golden Dragon, but at least some experience can be inherited.

In addition, Xia Duo also had experience flying in the Astral Plane, which was actually somewhat similar to the flight of a Golden Dragon, and some experience could also be inherited from that.

Adding all his experience together, that was the only reason he could reach the level of being able to participate in the Golden Dragon Headwind Racing in just one day, and as long as he truly possessed the strength to participate in Headwind Racing, while it was impossible to get a good ranking in the Grand Slam of the City, at least he wouldn't lose too miserably.

This was the source of Xia Duo's confidence.

He set a very low goal for himself: just don't lose too miserably, while Xintuosi hoped he would show something on the field; higher expectations were also why Xintuosi did not approve of him participating in the Grand Slam of the City.

As Xintuosi said, there would be opportunities in the future, which was true.

But this time, Xia Duo did not want to let it go.

Xintuosi would not make the decision for Xia Duo; since Xia Duo insisted on participating in the Grand Slam of the City, he could only support him: "The Grand Slam of the City has a total of seven laps. I will take you for the first lap, but after that, I want to compete for a ranking; at least I can't let Weila surpass me, otherwise, I'll have trouble later."

Xia Duo did not refuse Xintuosi's kindness; since the other party said he could compete for a ranking later, he must have some certainty. If he really lost, then he lost; he would just win it back next time.

"All dragons, prepare! Take off!"

Following the order from Weila's brother, all the participating Golden Dragons took off in sequence. To take Xia Duo with him, Xintuosi gave up his own starting position and chose to depart last with Xia Duo.

"I'll wait for you at the wind field ahead."

When it was time for Xintuosi to depart, he said this to Xia Duo, then folded his wings back and instantly turned into a streak of golden light, disappearing into the distance.

Seeing this, Xia Duo couldn't help but be a little surprised; it was indeed fast. The Golden Dragons of the Main Plane probably couldn't even keep up with one-tenth of this speed. Xintuosi had never burst out with such extreme speed when he was coaching him on flight before.

Steadying himself, Xia Duo waited for Weila's brother to give the departure command. He followed Xintuosi's example, folded his wings back, and then activated the boost function of his Dragon Wing Armament.

Simultaneously supplementing it with his own control over the airflow, he instantly tore through the air in front of him and sped forward at a speed far exceeding a Flight Spell.

The Grand Slam of the City begins with a straight section, which is convenient for participants to accelerate, and it is also the way to the outskirts of the Holy City. The Golden Dragon City District is very large, but if one really flies freely, it would still be somewhat crowded.

After a short straight section, Xia Duo saw the edge of the Holy City, and even saw the Naise Chengqu. However, this was only what he saw; the Holy City that other Golden Dragons saw was different from his, yet at this moment, he was participating in the same competition.

Accelerate!

Accelerate!

Xia Duo kept accelerating and soon saw Xintuosi, who was circling ahead to avoid a drop in speed. At this moment, his attention was focused to the extreme, because right in front of Xintuosi was the Irregular Wind Field.

In the Irregular Wind Field, there are not only areas with relatively fixed wind directions but also areas where the wind direction is constantly changing. To pass through quickly, one must rely on keen airflow control and excellent flight posture adjustment techniques.

Even if one could fly through by brute force, the speed would be greatly reduced, affecting the subsequent race.