The Race

"For today, your training will be to maintain the horse stance till after the sun rises."

Suddenly, six spotlights turned on, their bright lights dazzling everyone. This was the beginning of the first day of military training.

Speaking from the perspective of the students-well, with the exception of Argo- this was the start of a hellish journey.

***** *****

Seven hours later, Only two students were still maintaining the appropriate stance. Argo and Adah. The rest of them were sprawled on the floor like sacks of potatoes.

Adah was trembling and shaking like a leaf in the wind. It seemed like she had reached her limits and would collapse any moment. Even with his absurd amount of stamina, Argo was starting to feel weary. He was not so much as physically tired, as he was mentally. It turned out being in one position for five hours was too boring for a hot-blooded youth lik him. Still, he was smart enough to pretend to be struggling with the horse stance, as he didn't want to shock Rackvelli to death.

Disappointment could be seen in Rackvelli's eyes. The students before him had poor constitutions. The only one that seemed to be a little bit better was the kid with short wavy hair. After all, he had just finished a thousand push-ups before beginning the horse stance without resting. He had been expecting the kid to last only three hours at most, just like the other kid who had to do push-ups too lasted. But to his surprise, the kid persevered till now, and if he had to bet on who would last longer between the kid and the girl, his money was on the kid.

'Pretty good' Rackvelli nodded to himself.

"Alright, time's up. The two of you aren't too bad. At least better than your other companions." Rackvelli threw a glance at the three students resting on the floor. He continued. "Today's training officially begins now. I will be in charge. Now, go and run 20 kilometers as fast as you can." Rackvelli ordered.

When Kenny heard him, he was first dejected, before becoming delighted. Sometimes the greatest happiness came from others misfortune."

Argo and Adah had been outstanding to be able to last seven hours, making him feel inferior for lasting only three hours. This feeling was further magnified when he compared himself to Argo, who had also had to do push-ups like him. Now after seven hours of putting their muscles to work with the horse stance, they had to run 20 kilometers immediately. This was a chance for him to impress the instructor. He had rested for four hours, and was confident in finishing first.

Rackvelli started the timer, and with a bang, the five individuals rushed forward.

Unsurprisingly, Kenny took the lead immediately followed by Harry. Argo, Jared and Adah trailed behind.

Argo gave a smirk. "Jared, there's no point in taking it slow. Let's race."

Jared was startled, and almost missed a step."Race?! After the torture you had just gone through, you still have the energy to race?"

Argo did not answer but explosively increased his speed, furiously chasing down Kenny. Jared froze in shock, but recovered after a moment and sprinted after Argo. In a short moment, Harry had been surpassed by them.

Harry was stunned. As a wind element user, he thought he would surely be the fastest among them. After all, his forte was speed. Now, it turned out he was not even a fast as the clearly 'exhausted' Argo. He started to doubt his existence in life.

Left behind by the others, Adah smiled bitterly. She was thoroughly exhausted, and could only jog along at her own pace. She was not a monstrous freak like Argo.

Rackvelli was first shocked by Argo's explosiveness, before analyzing it calmly and realising that Argo was just pushing his limits. He expected Argo to collapse any minute now.

***

15 minutes later, everyone at the field were shocked. Both the runners and the instructor, even the Principal and the rest of the training camp staffs watching from the control room.

"Mr. Lagos, Are you really sure this kid is just a student?" A bald muscular guy blurted out in shock as he stared at the screens displaying before him.

"He is." The Principal, Lagos nodded absentmindedly. "He's the team's captain."