The morning was still dark, Arnos had just gotten out of bed and was getting dressed. He put on a simple shirt and shorts and went to drink some water.
"I'm glad you're awake, Arnos. I will be making sure you do the full 25 laps." A familiar voice said, that of course was Master Romeus. Arnos didn't reply his legs still hurt a bit from yesterday. He grabbed a energy bar and chomped on it. "Blah!" He spat it out, his mind wasn't functioning correctly. 'Haha, I forgot to take off the wrapper.' He thought embarrassingly. He quickly devoured the bar and washed it down with the rest of his water.
He made it to the lake outside where Master Romeus was waiting.
"Alright, get ready the timer will start soon." Arnos was a bit worried, he didn't have the best stamina but he was agile and quick. After all he was quite skinny.
"GO!"
Arnos took off, he did not keep a steady pace and that was his first mistake. After only 3 laps he got tired and started slowing down. Master Romeus shook his head in disappointment. He was sweating a lot by now and he was very tired but he persevered. After an utterly long time he hit the half way mark. He was too tired now and was so slow that he was basically speed walking.
"Pick up the pace. You're on your 19th lap and you have 3 more minutes to complete the remaining 6 laps."
'CRAP. I'm not going to finish!' Ignoring his weakened state he quickened his pace and ran as fast as his feet could carry him.
Why is this so hard. I don't understand! I'm so tired, I'm running as fast as I can but my legs are aching so bad!
After 30 minutes he finished.
"Tsk, tsk to be honest you did better than I expected but you are still so slow. I could've done that in 5-10 minutes. Unfortunately you made a couple of mistakes there. I'll tell you at breakfast. Now go change and have a quick shower, Cold shower."
"Pant, pant." Arnos was too tired to speak and just nodded his head.
Swooshshhhhh the water turned on. It was cold but very refreshing.
Arnos got changed and sat down at the breakfast table. There was some fried eggs, some toast, some meat and some fruit.
"What do you want to drink?"
"Oh, uhhh coffee? No actually can I just have some water."
"Oh then in that case get it yourself."
"Why ask in the first place then?" Arnos grumbled.
"What was that?"
"NO-Nothing."
Arnos got a glass of water and slowly sipped on it. He couldn't help himself and chugged down the whole glass. Suddenly his stomach lurched and his legs got an aching pain. Master Romeus noticed this and sighed.
"Stand up and stretch, you should always stretch before and after you run. Especially if you're not that physical. Also don't immediately drink all the water you have take small sips."
Arnos stood up and started stretching and maybe about a few minutes after his legs felt better.
He sat back down and started eating. He had a huge appetite and devoured everything he took.
"That's good to see you are hungry. You need to get some more fat, look at you, so skinny. As you might already know you made a few mistakes. First, always stretch. Second, do not use your full speed at the start, balance it out through all the laps. Keep a steady pace, that does not mean to be slow though. Third when you feel tired take deep breaths but don't stop running. Fourth, you were too slow today but since it's your first day I'll let you off but tomorrow I better see some changes. When you finish eating wash the plates. You will have a 1 hour break. After exactly 1 hour you must meet me at the front where I'll teach you the basics of being a Silent Walker." As he finished speaking he left.
Arnos was still eating a lot. He was almost afraid that from all this eating he will become obese. Which of course was an overstatement. He had almost ate all the food. Finally he was full and took all the dishes and started washing.
'Wow, I get a 1 hour break now. This will be nice, I wonder what should I do?' He silently went to his room.
'There really isn't anything to do...' I guess I'll just massage my legs a bit. Maybe read a book? Nah books are kinda boring.
Arnos just say there and closed eyes.
50 minutes flew by in a flash. He got ready and went outside to the front. Master Romeus was already there. He was wearing a black cloak with a hood. There hang from his waist was a, a...
"What's that? The sword thing hanging by your waist?"
"This is what we use, it is called a tralent. It is similar to a rapier. This weapon is light and easy to wield. It is made from a strong metal called linamium. It is sharp and deadly."
"That's so cool! Where's mine?"
"Hahahahah, you'll be using a stick for now. You will use a tralent when I think you're ready. The clothing I'm wearing is what we usually wear. Before we start we will focus on getting you stronger." "How bout this if you can land one punch on me without me blocking it, todays training will be over. You can take the rest of the day off."
'Hmph, you underestimate me too much.' Arnos grinned and swung a wobbly right hook at his jaw. He thought he was about to hit him when his hand got blocked. 'Ehhhhh? How!'
He threw some quick punches at him but couldn't land a single one. He was sweating but he refused to give up.
"Well then, you were about what I expected. Your punches are too predictable. Anyhow go lift up that barrel full of water."
Arnos turned around and saw a barrel that was about half his height. It looked easy, as he lifted it up a huge heaviness weighed on him and he dropped it. It was much heavier than he thought.
"I need you to grab the barrel and walk around the house to the lake without dropping it once. You drop it and I'll have you back here and doing it again."
Arnos breathed in and stretched his arms and legs. "Arggggghh" He lifted it up just off the ground and started making his way to the lake. Accidentally, he dropped the barrel. THUD. Arnos groaned and rolled the barrel back and tried again.
One after another he kept dropping it. At last on his 20th try he finally made it and dropped the barrel down.
"Not bad not bad, only took you half an hour. Now we only have about a hour and a half left. Drink some water." Master Romeus threw a bottle at him. He caught it started taking small sips.
"Now I'll teach you a Silent Walker basic skill. It's called Shadow Vanish. So basically you disappear before their eyes and appear some where else, like this."
Master Romeus disappeared from sight just like he said. Arnos looked around and around but couldn't find him, suddenly he appeared behind Arnos. Arnos gasped in amazement even though he's seen him use this skill before.
"The trick to it is to use your agility to be out of sight. You play with their mind, what you do is predict your opponent when he blinks or adverts their attention some where else and quickly use your speed to disappear from view. Now how do you stay hidden for so long? Well, us Silent Walkers are really quick and I mean it so we keep moving and the human eye cannot see us."
"Woah... Can I try?"
"Yes, do what I said or at least try to."
Arnos tried and failed but he kept trying and eventually...
Arnos was in front of Master Romeus's eyes and suddenly disappeared from view but reappeared a few seconds later.
"That was good, good job. If you're wondering why you couldn't stay hidden for that long is because you're still not quick enough. Anyways let's test out your sword skill."
He threw a stick at him and thrust his practice stick at his chest. Arnos couldn't react in time and fell.
"Looks like you have a lot to learn."