Laps

|| Agility +0.1 ||

Ragnar and Noah were in the midst of their exhausting endurance training when a single notification window appeared in front of Ragnar.

Seeing the notification, a thrilled expression appeared on his face as he propelled himself further, catching up to Noah, who ran ahead of him.

This was their second lap around the Hamlet; the first lap took less than half an hour to complete as both of them ran as fast as they could for the first five or so minutes, reducing the duration of the journey.

While it was exhausting, none of them was willing to relax. A voiceless competitive mood was set between the two, erasing their option to quit.

"Ahh... ahh..."

Ragnar's breaths were heavy from overexerting himself. On the other hand, Noah looked rather settled.

'He is running faster than I am, and he looks the calmest—his breathing even more stabilized!'

"How are you this settled?" Ragnar could not hold back his curiosity.

Noah tilted his head slightly and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Your breathing is so stable compared to mine, and you look so calm even though you're exerting yourself more than me," Ragnar responded.

"That is because you're not controlling your breathing," Noah revealed. "Breathe slowly and gently; maintain a stable breathing rhythm, and you won't get tired easily."

"Oh..." Ragnar exclaimed.

'How come I never thought of that?'

As he ran, Ragnar began to stabilize his breathing.

Because he was already too exhausted and breathing really fast, stabilizing his breath became almost impossible. But he kept trying.

Noah accelerated and left him behind.

Ragnar kept running at a normal pace while struggling to maintain a proper breathing rhythm.

"This is more stressful than it seems," he remarked.

One hour and two more laps later, Ragnar's breathing was still as ragged as it was at the beginning.

After running three laps, Ragnar began to sweat profusely. His legs began to ache, and he could even hear the sound of his bones shifting.

His breathing was still ragged and unstable.

Ragnar lifted his eyes, now covered with sweat, and spotted Noah far ahead of him. The gap between them would take at least thirty seconds to close.

Ragnar gritted his teeth and propelled himself forward, even though it hurt his leg.

Because Noah was running at a stable pace, he was able to catch up to him.

Once again, to his surprise and dismay, Noah's breathing remained settled.

Although it was less calm and gentle than before, it was still a hundred times better than Ragnar's.

Noah turned to look at him, smiled, and accelerated once again, leaving him behind.

'Fuck!'

Ragnar cursed inwardly and simply continued running at his current pace. He would collapse if he attempted to accelerate at his current pace.

"Wait! I can take painkillers!" Ragnar's eyes widened.

If the pain he felt right now reduced, his running speed and overall state would increase.

|| Host is advised not to take painkillers. Not only would it make the host a cheating loser, but he would also lose the chance to increase his attributes. ||

Once again, his dreams were quenched by the distasteful, robotic voice of Onyx.

Ragnar felt like tearing up at that moment.

"Big brother Ragnar!"

A naked little boy ran toward Ragnar. It was the same rebellious kid who refused to take his bath and wounded his stomach.

The little boy was full of energy as he ran toward Ragnar.

This only made the temptation to take a painkiller stronger.

"Big brother Ragnar, are you two racing? Why are you losing? Are you weak?"

The little boy approached Ragnar and began running with him. Then he struck a conversation and succeeded in annoying Ragnar.

Ragnar refused to answer him and continued running instead.

"Big brother Ragnar is very tired—he can't even speak. Big brother Noah is cooler."

Hearing his comment, Ragnar gritted his teeth and ran even faster to create a gap between himself and the loud-mouthed kid.

"Big brother Ragnar is slow," the little boy caught up to Ragnar easily and even ran in front of him. He began to tease the already annoyed Ragnar.

Ragnar did not know how to react at this moment—Not only was he losing to Noah, but a little kid had even managed to surpass him!

"I'll accept defeat today! But tomorrow, whatever training we have, I will make sure to surpass you!" Ragnar swore in his mind and continued running.

Ahead of him, the naked little kid continued teasing him and praising Noah.

"Ouch!"

Much to Ragnar's excitement, the little kid fell on the ground face-first after running and hitting his leg on a stone he failed to see as he taunted him.

"Waaa!" The little kid opened his mouth and cried out loud, "Big brother Ragnar! Help me with your painkillers! Waaa!"

Ragnar decided to ignore the little kid for his teasing earlier and continued running, even ignoring Onyx's comment that called him childish for ignoring him.

Time went by gradually as the endurance training between the two youths continued and evening quickly arrived.

At the moment, Noah had already completed his targeted laps.

On the other hand, Ragnar was still twenty minutes away from completing his final lap.

He could be seen limping along a bushy path.

His body was drenched in sweat and dirt, his feet dirtied by dust, and his eyes drowsy and tired. His breathing was now so ragged that he felt like he could faint at any second.

|| Agility +0.1 ||

|| Physique +0.1 ||

Two different notifications popped up.

Following the notifications, Ragnar felt a slight boost in speed and stamina, but it was short-lived as his tiredness quickly overpowered it.

"Just a little more! I can survive this!" Ragnar muttered to himself, suppressing the impulse to collapse on the ground.

His vision had become blurry thanks to tiredness and the sweat covering his eyes. But he still continued forward.

Few minutes passed and he drew closer to the finish line.

The tiredness in his body became even more intolerable.

"Let me help you."

Just then, a familiar voice was heard and he felt an arm on his shoulder.

"Just a little bit and we would arrive at Old Man James' house, completing our endurance training for today," Noah said.

Ragnar heaved a sigh of relief and accepted the support. Both of them moved as fast as they could and after a few minutes they arrived at Old Man James' compound, where the old man was already sitting outside, waiting for them with a smile on his face.

Ragnar was already too tired.

Once he arrived at his destination, he fell on the ground and zoned off.

Noah and Old Man James lifted him and placed him on the worn-out bed inside the house.

"Ragnar is truly incredible," Noah said in a soft tone as he looked at his sleeping friend, "I was only able to complete three laps on my first day but he managed to complete all five on his first trial."

"What do you expect? He was resurrected by the ancestors for a reason, haha," Old Man James laughed.

"Yeah," Noah simply nodded.