"You also need a little help getting in?" James asked with a devious smile.
"N-no..." Aerie denied frantically shaking her head.
"I'll go in on my own," Mike said before getting inside with only a shiver.
"Man, I wished I was a meat sack like you." Owen laughed through his gritted teeth while jumping in and out of the water to keep his body warm.
It was Issac's turn, but he somehow lost his footing, causing him to tumble into the water, splashing water everywhere. A wretched scream came out of Issac while finding his glasses. But thankfully, Mike found it for him.
Alex, Aerie, May, and Levi all took each other hands and walked toward the edge of the pool as if they were going to die.
"The fuck you doing?! Get in already!" James shouted with an evil smile as she pushed them in with a kick of his foot.
"Aurah?!" They screamed as they came in contact with the water.
"T-this is too much!." Aerie yelped, trying her best to climb out of the pool with a face full of terror. But Ellia grabbed her shoulder and stopped her from doing so.
"It's okay... it's okay..." Ellia soothed while hugging Aerie's body. She was shaking unfordable, her teeth chattering and her eyebrows twisting from fear.
"This is a bit too much." Ruth voiced her concerns.
'I know, but she has to endure just a bit, then she would at least get a bit used to it.'
A similar event was going on with Levi, and it was Owen and Mike who were stopping him from escaping.
Alex also tried to flee, but Ellia stopped him, even going as far as dumping his entire head underwater. It was clear she was still pissed about what happened last night.
May was the only one who had some general concept of magic, so she cast a small fire spell to keep herself warm. But, of course, such things didn't go unnoticed.
"Magic is forbidden for a week," James said while positioning his index finger and thumb together. Then with a clean snap, the fire in may's hand disappeared.
May didn't have the energy to ask how in the world James did that. She was too busy clutching her body from the cold.
"Alright, now endure for fifteen minutes," James said, staring at his stopwatch.
During those long, cruel thirty minutes, everyone was focused on moving their body's so they could create a natural source of heat within their bodies.
The moment fifteen minutes was over, instructor James gave the green light to come back out, and the second he did, the whole squad rushed out without any thought.
The hair and eyebrows, anything that soaked up water, were frozen like a popsicle. All their teeth were chattering like crazy people.
Aerie and Alex were just about to speak up and bail out, but James didn't give them a chance or rest.
He made everyone one across the whole 32000 acres of pine forest five times, ten times for Ellia and Mike because of their inhuman strength. If they didn't do that much, then it wouldn't even be called training.
Ellia had to admit it herself. Running laps around such a vast place wasn't easy for her at all. She initially thought that it would be a breeze or a heavy gust of wind at most, but she didn't expect it to be a hell hole of a blizzard.
Wet with cold mud and water didn't go well with running. Water would freeze up their uniforms in a span of five minutes, and mud stuck inside the boots, making it feel like they were stepping on shit.
And that went on for an hour, and even when it was all over, James sent everyone running towards the sea again.
There they performed a series of physical training for another three hours, and of course, James made Ellia and Mike do more.
Ellia had lots of physical training in her previous life but not as hard as this. What she was going through was ten times more painful and harder than what she had ever experienced.
She was wondering how Aerie and Alex were still holding up. And truth to be told, they were still holding up, barely.
With pain, shrieked faces, and trembling arms, everyone was trying their hardest not to fuck something up as it meant more training for them.
After four hours of pure torture, the squad finally had their first meal. To them, those five hours of training probably felt like an eternity, so when they recover their plates of food, they practically burst into tears.
The meal itself was like a holy grail rich with proteins and calories, and since they were given unlimited access to food, everyone ate till their bellies burst.
 But it would be on them if they threw up everything when they trained again.
"We're going to throw a damn party when we're finished with this shitty training!" Owen yelled as she took a massive bit out of his chicken drumstick.
"Yea!" Issac and Levi shouted while throwing their cliched fists into the air, making a vow.
"We're going to be partying like crazy!"