Training

"Now let's get changed."

Once he said that, many started getting undressed, making some women and men raise their hands.

"Yes. What do you want?" The sergeant asked in annoyance.

The longer they took to change, the shorter they had to train. And the higher-ups were getting frustrated with how many zombies are running around. If the sergeant didn't get them to a satisfactory level by the time they gave him, he would get demoted.

"Do we have to change in front of the men? I'm a little uncomfortable with that." One woman in the back asked.

"Yes. Yes, you do. Look around you. Men and women both are changing. They certainly aren't animals who'd be horny enough to rape you in front of soldiers. So please hurry. I'm running on a tight schedule and I don't want to waste any more time."

The women and men who had their hands up put them down and started changing.

As the sergeant said, none of the men attacked them. Some took glances, but that was it. They weren't rapists, and most weren't even virgins.

After a minute, everyone was dressed in the same uniform, whether they were a man or a woman. A green shirt and green army-colored pants.

Once everyone was done, the sergeant nodded and turned around.

"The twenty awakened follow me." Johnathan and the others did as they were told and followed him.

'Luckily the shirt and pants fit nicely.' Johnathan thought.

The soldiers gave them a size that they thought would fit. And since Johnathan was a little on the chubby side, the soldiers gave him a larger size.

'Hopefully, by the end of this training camp, I'll have a rock hard six pack.'

While walking, Johnathan imagined a fit version of him stopping time and killing zombies.

His daydream didn't last long. "We're here everyone."

The sergeant said, stopping outside a door.

Turning the handle clockwise, he pushed the door open.

"Follow along."

Johnathan and the rest followed closet behind like ducklings. Looking around, Johnathan noticed they were outside. A small track field was in front of them, along with weights.

"Since you guys have eaten crystals, your base strengths increase immensely. Because of this, you won't be using those weights." He said, pointing towards the dumbbells and other normal weights.

"You'll be using those."

Everyone looked towards where he pointed.

'Tires, and bins filled with garbage bags.'

Johnathan was surprised. Were these supposed to be a challenge? He doubted.

"I see those looks. Don't worry, these are heavier than you think. But before we get to those. Let's warm-up. Run one hundred laps around the track in less than fifteen minutes. Those who can't do it will get a punishment."

Johnathan's eyes widened in surprise. Before he could ask if that was possible, he shut up and started running.

'Stopping time was supposed to be impossible too.'

Once he took off, others slowly started following behind.

Since he's eaten six crystals so, he was faster than most of the people behind him. Though some were exceptions.

Of course, Ivan and Danny were closing in on him. He wasn't surprised about that. They ate the same amount. What surprised him was that there were four more people behind them.

A dark-skinned man with short hair dyed blond, an Asian man with a buff physique, a Caucasian man with dark brown hair with a skinnier build, and finally a Caucasian girl with shoulder-length hair tied in a make-shift ponytail.

'So it's not just us three that have faced a good amount of zombies.

However, Johnathan didn't give up. He pushed through and kept the small lead he had. Ten minutes in, he was still at the front, having completed 79 laps. He was already panting. Jogging wouldn't have been a problem, but he had to keep sprinting. If he slowed down, he knew that completing a hundred laps would've been impossible. Luckily, though, he didn't use any mana. If he did, he would've been even more tired.

Looking behind him, he saw the others were doing much better, and some even dropped out of the race.

After another four minutes, he was on his 99th lap. He was still in first place but suddenly three people caught up. The dark-skinned man, the Asian man, and the girl.

'I've already gone this far. I don't want to lose first.' He thought, increasing the strength in his strides.

However, unfortunately for him on the hundredth lap, he finished third.

First place was the dark-skinned man, second, was the Caucasian girl, and finally him.

'Fuck.'

In disappointment, he cursed. But he quickly turned his frown upside down and smiled. Before this, he didn't know his limits. But now he could easily figure why he came third. 'If they are the same amount or even one less, the only explanation is their physique. The dark-skinned guys fit and the girl is light. While before this, I was on my PC every day with a little exercise in between.'

"Good job, kid. You're fast as shit." The dark-skinned man said, walking up to him.

"Names Antwon." He said, putting his hand out.

"Johnathan. You too, man. I thought I was gonna win with little trouble but you guys came along." He responded with a light laugh.

Antwon laughed out while the girl who took second looked towards them and chuckled.

"Name's Emma. Nice to meet you guys."

Before they could continue, the sergeant spoke.

"Good job, guys. Eight people did what I asked while the rest failed. This tells me a few of you are a lot more capable than others."

He took a minute to look at the top three, who finished the race before continuing.

"Now then, let's get to the meat and potatoes."

"But before that. Those who failed to complete the laps, get up and do it all over again. This time there's no time limit. However, if you stop or fall over, you start the laps over from one."