July 19, 2022
"50 more laps! Hurry up!" A man yelled at the top of his lungs.
Behind the dormitory built of stone, ten individuals were seen in a running track, similar to a one from earth but smaller in scale.
The track was surrounded by buildings similar to the dorm, the walls showed the massive masonry of the Incas at the bottom, crowned with a light victorian superstructure roofed with red tiles.
All of them had three floors except for the dormitory standing at 6 stories.
Despite still being dawn, the boys vigorously ran.
Passing through the foggy atmosphere and freezing temperature. Their breaths were visibly seen.
"Fucking hell." Michael cursed as he squints at the guard.
[ Haha! Torture! ]
'This damn guy..' It was just as he expected, but suddenly, another message appeared and overlapped the previous one;
[ STR: 7891 ]
Michael's eyes widen at the sight.
However, before he could discern the new information, he lost strength and fell to his knees. 'Damn, It uses up too much mana...'
Michael sat down and wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt, 'If only I can actually see how much mana I have...' he sighed. 'I seriously messed up...using a skill while I'm spent.'
"Tired already?" Zack breathlessly grinned.
"What would you expect you, assshole? A person who only gets physically engaged in P.E., gets thrown in a 100 lap run?" Michael snapped.
"Even though it's been three days already?" Zack said as he puts his hand forward.
"It's only been three days?!" Michael exclaimed as he held Zack's hand and pulled him up. "Damn this fucking guard, he's crueler than the gym coach."
"Right? You better get running, since you're the slowest out of all of us." Zack teasingly said as he darted away.
Despite knowing it was just a joke, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Zack was right, he has the slowest growth, the half-assed effort won't cut it. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he'll need to work ten times more than the others to keep up.
He slapped his cheeks and yelled, "I just have to run 50 more times right?!" startling everyone.
"I'll do it! I'll even run an additional thousand!" Michael hyped himself up.
Others looked at him with disdain while the guard grinned.
"That's how heroes should be! Energetic! Now hurry up! Plus ten laps for everyone!" The guard yelled brimming with enthusiasm.
Almost everyone cursed and stared daggers at him.
Though they were pissed, they didn't confront him. Not yet.
Hours then passed on and one by one they finished. The sun rose, Micheal was still running, slowing down considerably every hour.
Despite that, he still ran sluggishly.
He may look hideous and is running unappealingly, but he's tired of always escaping.
He wanted to change. Especially now that he's one of many who will shoulder the world's fate.
But he collapsed at lap 110, there's no way a person like him, who doesn't even exercise every day, can finish 1000 laps.
"Haa...Puff...Ha...Huff...HA..." Michael panted heavily.
"See? What'd I tell you?"
"People like him are just all bark."
This time, they made their remarks purposely heard. But Michael could do nothing but grit his teeth and take it all in.
"Amazing," Zack approached him with a smile.
"Amazing my ass, I didn't even reach half," Michael replied with a sigh.
"If only I tried sports before."
"There's no point of regretting now, here."
Zack throws a spare wooden sword from one of his hands along with a towel and a green pill.
"Restoration pill! Don't we only get one per week? Why're you giving it to me?" Michael asked as he wiped his face with the cloth.
"It's a gift,"
"And besides, don't think I didn't notice you're plan."
"You can't make running an excuse to escape sword practice," Zack added with a smirk.
"Damn, I almost got away too." Michael smiled as he picked up the sword and stood up.
"Bring it!" He yelled as he swallows the pill.
A faint yellow veil then enveloped his whole body after, recovering some of his stamina and healing his battered body.
Michael had worked hard in the past days, he would stay up at night to run laps and carry weights before sleeping.
And with the help of the healing baths the king provides, he can push his body to the limit without worrying about not being able to move the next day.
Without the (Sloth) skill, it's safe to assume he would have the same stats as Zack.
"Don't cry if you lose!" Zack shouted as he dashes in.
"Remember! 1-2 combo for now!" The guard cut in.
Crossing his arms, he added. "Use only basic movements! Winning isn't important right now, it's to get used to wielding a sword!"
Swoosh! Swish! Bam!
Zack swung his sword twice but was dodged by Michael who soon found an opening and countered.
However, Zack was able to retract his sword and block the attack.
"Not bad, the sloth is improving."
"My body's sore, please go easy on me!" Michael yelled as he scraped his sword out of the deadlock and prepared a thrust attack.
Zack saw this and prepared to parry the strike, but it turned out to be a feint.
Michael quickly pulled back his sword to his waist and sliced around Zack's horizontal block, hitting him on the side.
Bam! Thud!
Zack fell over and rolled.
The power of the impact was strong, even so, Zack wasn't fazed and stabbed his sword on the grass to stop his momentum.
"You're turning weak, your hits don't seem to hurt as much as before," Zack smirked.
"Stop with the flattery! I couldn't even hit you before!" Michael yelled running towards the fallen Zack.
"Don't exaggerate!" He replied in a shout as he leaped up and dashed towards Michael with his sword to his side.
Bang! Swish!
Bam!
Swoosh! Swish!
The fight ensued with both sides exchanging attacks relentlessly.
Though it looked amateurish to a spectator, the one's fighting can feel the heavy pressure.
'(Through Analysis)!' Michael called out.
[ Name: Zack Grey ]
[ Almost! Just a little more! ]
'Show me how tired he is!' He shouted inwardly.
At first, nothing happened. But after a few seconds, a yellow holographic message appeared, fading into view.
[ STR: 50 (-32) ]
'Strength? That's not what I asked for!'
Suddenly, just as Michael swung his sword, Zack dodged the strike and went over Michael's weapon, and stabbed his stomach.
Michael fell to his knees and threw up saliva.
'Fuck, I forgot there was no stamina stat..."
"GG," Zack said as he lowered his weapon.
Unwilling to back down, Michael stood up and hit Zack.
BAM!
Zack staggered after the hard hit, but Michael hit him two more times before he collapsed.
Michael realized what he had just done and tried to apologize, but nothing came out of his mouth; the words were stuck in his throat.
All of a sudden, green mist started emitting from Zack, followed by an angry glare.
He stood up with bulging veins on his forehead.
Michael could feel the tremendous force emanating from Zack.
Without hesitation, Michael used (Thorough Analysis) despite his breathless state.
[ ... ]
[ Using: (Goddess's Blessing) ]
'Wha- If I remember correctly that raises all stats by 30%!"
Zack's hazel eyes turned bright green and charged at Michael.
He attacked Michael with wide swings. It was slow and easy to read, but each strike blew his arms away.
Michael parried one of the strikes and used the momentum from the block to push his body away, "Damn! This is 30%?!" he thought.
Before, he would use Zack's acceleration against him to make up for his 20% debuff. But now, he was completely overpowered.
Because of the stat increase, Michael wasn't even able to breathe as Zack closed the distance immediately.
Michael ran backward and blinked, revealing a maroon iris the moment he opened his eyes.
He had used (Through Analysis) again. Longer than he has ever used it.
[ Here! ]
[ STR: 39 (+11), AGI: 30 (+9) ]
[ Hasty, Angry, Confused ]
'The debuffs are gone?!' Michael exclaimed inwardly.
It surprised him to see even more information, but he had no time to think as Zack was already right in front of him, pulling back his sword, preparing for a blow.
Seeing his wide, open stance, Michael thought of striking him first.
He took a big step forward, putting all his weight on his knee and pushing himself towards Zack as he swung his sword.
But Zack already expected this.
Instead of retracting his sword, he brought down his elbow quickly, intending to hit Michael with it.
The guard saw how serious they were.
He didn't want to be punished if one of the heroes got injured, but at the same time knew this would be a valuable experience for them.
They should be trained thoroughly and must not be coddled if they will carry the future of humanity on their shoulders.
And with that thought, the guard crossed his arms and grinned in anticipation.
As the battle was about to come to an end, a message appeared on Michael's retina;
[ Weakened body has reached its limit ]
And with it, his legs gave up and he fell flat down while Zack, who put all of his weight on his arm also fell, landing on Michael.
"What was that for?!" Michael yelled as he tried to get up, but his trembling hands made him face plant the grass again.
"Fuck!"
"You started it you fucker, you sore loser piece of shit." Zack snapped back at him.
"Gh...Well, I was fatigued! How am I going to beat you if I didn't do that?"
"Excuses, excuses!"
"Haa?!"
"I gave you my one and only restoration pill you ungrateful monkey!"
Whilst the both of them argue, their fellows looked at them, amazed. Though it didn't last long.
Clap, clap, clap
"Amazing fight you two!" The guard grinned from ear to ear.
"I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I thought all of you would be wimps so I didn't want to reveal my name, but it seems like I've been proven wrong." He added with a joyous tone.
"I am Duke Hellaris! The 5th Commander of the Reina Kingdom!"