Chapter 8: Training-1 (It's Hard)

"WAKE UP DIRT BAGS" shouted Bones before the sunrise the next day. Allen checks his watch 'It is just 4:00 AM. Will others be able to wake up he thought.

Allen used to wake up by 4:00 every day. He was already awake when Bones shouted. Others woke up and left and arranged their beds half-heartedly and got ready.

Their morning drill was hard. They had to run around the training camp 5 times which was equal to 30kms. Allen was able to get the names of other trainees as they were running around the camp.

The boys were Sam, Kumar, Sanjay, Abdul, Kris and Joshi. The girls were Tamina, Kriti and Arti.

The trainees can feel their stamina getting drained. They become exhausted at the beginning of 3rd round and started to fall unconscious. Kirti was the first to go down followed by Kris and Joshi.

Allen and Arti were the only two trainees to complete 5 rounds. Allen came to know that all of the trainees are from villages just like him.

After the running, they were forced to do regular exercise till breakfast. The trainees started to feel the pressure of military training from the first day.

After breakfast Bones allowed the trainees to take one hour of rest and gathered them by 10:00 AM. They went to the archery range for target practice. They were provided with a grade-1 bow and quiver with 37 arrows. They practised till noon and they went for lunch.

After lunch, the trainees went for archery training again. But this time they were practising moving targets. They continued their practice till 4:00 PM.

After 4:00 PM the trainees were gathered for close combat training since the archers are sometimes forced to engage in close combat. Allen was the only trainee who had previously trained in close combat.

The trainees trained using a grade-1 two-handed sword. Allen was able to handle it with ease.

After 2 hours of training with the sword, Bones took them to the centre of the training camp saying they will have to train in mana exercise. All the trainees know about this exercise as it is dubbed "Hell's exercise" because of the pain it causes.

Hell's exercise has 20 moves in one set and when each move is performed, it will pain like hell. Once the 20 moves are completed, they will have to start the second set which will be more painful than the first set.

The total number of trainees in the Poyesion camp was around 1,000. All the trainees focused on the video that was projected in the centre of the camp. The video displays an army soldier explaining the moves of the mana exercise.

After the explanation, Allen and the other trainees started the exercise. The mana exercise is not a physical exercise. It is related to mana flow inside the body.

First, they have to focus on the mana inside the storage cylinders and take the mana and move it in a specific way. Each move allows the mana to go across every nerve that is related to the mana.

Allen focused on his mana and was shocked to see that even after continuously purifying the mana for a week, the purity raised only 0.5% and is currently at 17.5% purity.

He started doing the mana exercise after he got over his shock. He started the first move and felt like a needle poking his body.

Halfway through the first move, he felt like thousands of needles poking his body and the pain increased when continuing the moves. He completed the first move with difficulty but fell on the ground immediately.

Sweat covered his entire body. He looked around and found that all trainees were in the same situation. Out of thousand trainees, no one was able to start the second move. The hell's exercise was that much painful even for the close combat trainees.

After taking rest for fifteen minutes they were asked to do it again. Even the second time had the same result. None were able to stand the pain and collapsed to the ground at the end of the first move.

After some time they were ordered to return to their respective barracks. Allen was unable to find Kim since there were a thousand trainees gathered and all close combat trainees were wearing armour same as the archers.

Allen went to the barracks wondering what happened to his pet, Serina. Before the training started early in the morning, Bones came along with another Master Sergeant trainer who asked for all the pets to follow her for different training. He hasn't seen her since.

Once the trainees reached the barracks, the girls went to their designated shower area to clean themselves. Allen also went to the shower designated for boys to clean himself. He only saw Abdul hit the shower as the rest of the boys collapsed on their beds as soon as they entered the barracks.

After showering, Allen went to bed and closed his eyes to sleep. After some time he sensed Serina coming near him exhausted.

He took Serina to shower. She likes to shower since it makes her feel fresh and energetic.

They both hit the bed. Serina tugged herself alongside Allen. She always sleeps next to him on his bed. He reminded her to get inside his chest as the pets have to enter at least two hours a day.

This will help both of them to relax and increase their strength by a little.