"Hehehehe! What's wrong? Hero of the Darkness, don't tell me that's all you got?"
A guy wearing the same uniform as Xiao who was taller but slimmer than him, with a mouse-like face, laughed and mocked at Xiao who was holding his stomach in pain as he crouched on the ground, covered with dirt.
"Hahahaha! Look how far I sent this trash flying," said another guy while laughing, he was tall and fat, like a mini size giant, and he was the one who punched Xiao so hard that it made Xiao tumbling to the ground.
Xiao and this duo are now doing a sparring session, as it was part of the daily drill, it was also the session Xiao hated the most because, for some reason, lieutenant Carl always arranged this duo to be Xiao's sparring partner.
There was no training involved at all, it was a one-side beat up from the duo, with the big guy, who's name is Tom, beat up Xiao while the slim guy, Jerry, cheer on Tom and mock Xiao.
Since the daily drill menu was the same for the last 30 days, Xiao has endured their punishment ever since day one of enlisting into the army. If it was not Xiao's undying skill, he would be ended up dead from the accumulated injury received from them.
And of course, there was no way for Xiao to file a complain or do something about his current situation as he has no friends or allies at here, aside from Owen who was also the same position as him, so he had no choice but to endure the pain.
(Damn it...I think he just broke my rib.....shit!)
Xiao tried his best to get up from the ground, but Tom has already stood in front of him, and without giving him a chance to recover, Tom put his weight onto his left foot and step on Xiao's body.
"PUAH!" Xiao vomited out a scream of pain from the impact as his body sink deeper into the ground.
"HEHEHEHE! Get up! Mr Hero, I know you can do better than this, aren't you gonna save the world?" Hehehehe!" Jerry laughed and continuos mocked Xiao, Tom also joined the laughter while pinning down Xiao with his over 200-kilogram body weight.
(God damn! It hurts!)
Xiao was in so much pain that his subconsciously tearing up and cough out blood as his internal organ got damaged.
(How much longer until this God damn sparring session will end?)
And the sparring session continues for another one hour before the sky turns into orange colour and the whistle sounded that indicates the end of the drill for today.
Everyone has already left the training ground, except for two private soldiers. One of them was Xiao, who's still laying on the ground, recovering from the injury he received from Tom, the other one was Owen, who's still running around the ground, an everyday scenery ever since Xiao joined the army.
For Owen, he was always got a penalty from lieutenant Carl to run round the ground, and for some reason unknown, lieutenant Carl always gave him more laps to, which Owen ended up having to run the ground endlessly until the drill of the day ended.
And because of his personality, Owen never complains, he did it with full focus and obligation.
(This is not training at all, there's no weapon training, combat training or even magic training, it was a God damn hell place in the first place.)
Xiao thinks back the reason why he was put in here, all the expectation he had for being a soldier has shattered to pieces from the day he started his "training", which was running in circle aimlessly, marching training, running again, and finally the "sparring session". There was no practical skill being taught at all, Xiao can imagine that while the other heroes were discussing on the matter of the Demon God and its army, he was wasting his life in this shit hole.
(But what choice do I have, I have no power at here, I am an outsider of this world, and to make thing worse, I am a suspect of a murder case.)
Xiao though by joining the army, things might turn to a better direction, but in the end, it was just another painful day waiting for him to suffer it.
(Screw this, let's just go home and sleep.)
But at least he got a bed to sleep in and a meal ready for him every day, for these two things were the one that kept Xiao from breaking down from the everyday suffering.
The bruise and injury on Xiao have slowly recovered, there was some speck of black particle coming out from Xiao's body while he was recovering, but Xiao did not notice it as he was too exhausted already, and Xiao has gained some of his strength back.
Xiao then gets up from the ground, brushes away the dirt that covered his clothes, and shouted at Owen, who's still running at the distance, with a face so pale that he was going to faint anytime.
"Let's go! Owen!"
Owen didn't catch Xiao's voice, he was too focused on his current action, and he was both physically and mentally exhausted to focus on any other things.
"Oh boy, guess there's only one way to make that idiot stop," Xiao murmured to himself as he readying a tackle stance.
Once Xiao was ready, he sprints towards Owen while shouting:
"Hey! Earth to Owen! When are you going to stop running?! Come on, man! It's time to go back!"
Obviously, Xiao's voice has fallen on deaf ears to Owen, which was why Xiao tackle him down to the ground.
Owen was still looking dumbstruck while being pinned down by Xiao as he was still in dazed from his endless running.
"Finally hear me? Good, time to go home," Xiao said as he softly slaps Owen's face, waking him up from his dazedness.
Finally back to his sense, Owen immediately lay down on the ground, taking a relax form while gasping for oxygen to fill his tired body.
After Owen gained some strength back, both
After going back to the barrack, Xiao and Owen was already dead hungry from all the activities from the day, they quickly headed to the dining hall to have their dinner, only to found out that the usual chicken drumstick with 2 pieces of hard bread and a baked potato meal for each person, was now a half baked potato, 3 and a half pieces of hard bread and no sight of chicken drumstick for the two of them.
Xiao lets out a sigh, he knew that this amount of food won't quench their hunger, but what choice do they have, they don't have money to go out a buy food, even if they do, they are not allowed to be outside of the army ground at this time.
Both of them split the remaining food evenly and immediately wolf down the food, and in a blink of an eye, they finished it while still feeling hungry.
"I'm still hungry, Haha..." Owen embarrassingly said after his stomach growl in hunger.
"It was because!...." Xiao wanted to say that it was Owen's fault for being so late to return to the barrack, which let the other soldiers steal their food, but he stopped his sentence halfway as he thought that it was his choice for waiting for Owen that leads to this, he can't blame anyone for this.
Again, Xiao lets out a sigh and get up from the table, suggesting to Owen that they should just go to clean themselves up and sleep, as the hunger will be deal once they are asleep.
With everything been done, Xiao and Owen were now laying on their bed, with Owen has already fast asleep, snoring peacefully.
Xiao was going to sleep soon too, as his fatigue has already reached the peak, but his mind was still wondering and thinking something, mostly negative stuff.
(Another tiring and pointless day, am I going to be stuck here for the rest of my life? Well, so much for an exciting chance to live in a fantasy and magical world, only ended up to be the lowest rank soldier.)
Xiao slowly turns his head and look around his surrounding, which was a room full of people as the same rank as him, sleeping in their not so comfy bed so they can be energized again for another pointless drill.
(At least they provided my daily meal and a place to stay, and I'm still alive, for now, well, barely, let's just leave all of the worries to me on tomorrow, for now, sleep.)
And just like, Xiao gave in to his fatigue and felt asleep, passing yet another day as a private rank soldier.