Hellish Training (II)

"Damn, these weights are really heavy..." the first person to put them on said with a frown. Everyone could see he was not faking it. Even his movements became slow and sluggish.

"You rascals, what are you waiting for? Come and put them on," a stern shout from Instructor Charles was all it took for everyone to put on the weights.

"I am really carrying two times my weight..." Damien felt a bit restrained after putting on the weights.

"Now, everyone follow me," Instructor Charles said, leading them out of the training hall. They followed him to a large field.

"Line up," he said in a totally military-sounding voice.

"What now?" they complained but reluctantly formed the line.

Instructor Charles walked through the line and stood behind them.

"Okay, now run eleven laps around the field."

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed in shock. Even Damien and Velina were shocked. The entire field had a length of 400 meters. A lap around the field would make it 1.6 kilometers, but that wasn't a problem for them considering their abilities. They could finish it in under a minute. However, eleven laps were no joke, especially with these hand and leg weights that restricted their movements. Moving around a distance of about 17.6 kilometers while carrying twice their weight was pure torture.

Everyone swallowed while subconsciously looking at Instructor Charles.

"What, you're not going?" Instructor Charles smiled, and suddenly a pale grey light covered his hands as he swung them.

Damien felt his hair rise as Charles swung his hand. A wave of grey light flew out, blowing all the students backward.

"What the fuck was that?" someone cussed while spitting blood.

Damien clutched his chest and looked at Charles in shock while thinking to himself:

"It seems he was holding back the last time we fought."

While they were looking at Instructor Charles in shock, he smiled again, but to the students, that smile seemed to come from the deepest running.

"Eleven laps, no less. Anyone who falls behind will get to receive one of my attacks."

Without another word, they all began the run. Before the end of the first lap, they began to fall down, but no one dared to remain on the ground because following behind them was Instructor Charles with a devilish smile.

"What? Instructor, he's clearly an Otherworldly monster hiding in human skin!" Even though they grumbled, no one dared to stop because once they stopped, an attack would follow.

By the third lap, no one even had the strength to complain anymore.

Under Instructor Charles' supervision, they finally completed the eleven laps somewhere near sunset.

Instructor Charles looked at the students lying on the ground with a satisfied smile.

"Everyone should be here by dawn. Two extra laps for anyone who is late." Instructor Charles chuckled and shot into the air, quickly flying into the distance.

---

In an office in a building of the academy, two figures were chatting while drinking tea.

"Oh, Charles is at it again," one of them, a blue-haired middle-aged man, said while casually sipping his tea.

"I must admit, he has many ways of torturing those new students," the other man, an old man with a lean build and an ordinary aura, said.

"But I must say, his methods might be a little cruel, but they're quite effective," the blue-haired man said.

"Cruel? Myron wants them to go for the Demon Hunting Expedition by next month. When they encounter Otherworldly monsters, they will truly understand what cruelty is. By enduring this cruel training, they will be strong enough to face the Otherworldly demons," the old man said, looking into his tea.

"His Majesty wants them to go for a Demon Hunting Expedition next month? But such a thing has never happened... it's too soon," the blue-haired man complained.

"The Otherworldly demons are planning something... we don't have much time. These children need to mature quickly," the old man said with a bitter expression.

The blue-haired middle-aged man sighed and looked into his tea.

As for his identity, the blue-haired man was the vice dean of the academy, and the old man—perhaps only he dared to call the emperor by his name on the entire continent. He was the Dean of this academy.

---

Damien dragged his sore body to the dorm. It was the first time he was this exhausted, given his supernatural strength.

He didn't even have the strength to practice. He directly fell asleep, but he didn't notice the blood-red runes that flashed quickly on his back and disappeared just as fast.

The next morning came quickly.

Charles had them start with Force Training, but this time he didn't make them reach their limits before instructing them to stop.

Then they went through all sorts of torturous training till they could barely move again. However, today after the training, Charles separated the boys from the girls. He made them go for a bath in two separate pools.

Damien looked at the pool curiously. The other students could not see, but because of his magic affinity, he could see a lot of mana particles floating around the pool, particularly the Light element particles. They had covered the entire pool.

A chilling sensation hit his body as he entered the pool with the others after taking off their armor. However, when this sensation entered their bodies, it transformed into a warm energy that traveled around their bodies. They no longer felt exhausted but relaxed, and their muscles and tendons seemed to be repairing each other.

"Woah, this pool is magical..."

"I've heard of it... one of our seniors mentioned it. It's a Restoration Elixir Pool. It's super rare in the academy. I never thought I'd be able to enjoy something like this," someone said.

Damien was deep in thought.

"If I absorb these Light element particles, will I be noticed?"

"What if I absorb them in small bits?"

He closed his eyes and began to absorb the mana particles, but he controlled himself so that he was absorbing them in small bits.

An hour passed, and finally, Instructor Charles came to call them out of the pool.

Damien looked at his mana field. The previous Light element vortex had been replaced by a huge ball of white light. The other vortex was still the same. Damien was excited.

"Will the third page appear?"

He would have to go to the dorm to find out.

"Strange... the pool was just refilled today. Why have the mana particles reduced so much?" Instructor Charles thought.