"Huff!"
Ashoka smiled, exhaling vigorously.
'Power keeps flowing in.'
His stamina pool had gone empty, resembling a dried-up well a long time ago.
Although he had trained well, he was just a 10-year-old kid, and running lap after lap around the huge gymnasium would be difficult even for him.
But thanks to the energy circulation method he had learned from Sage Vyasa, he was able to keep on going.
More than that, unlike everyone he was running at a steady pace without rushing, so his stamina consumption and recovery were sort of balanced.
'This is heaven compared to back then.'
When he was training with Sage Chanakya with his brother, Sudhatta, not only were they required to run until they collapse, Sage Chanakya would even add some restrictions like additional gravity field speel, weight debuff, speed debuff, etc.
So Ashoka really felt like the current training was really easy.
"Huff…"
Ashoka looked forward while panting.
The noble children, who were still running at full speed, were certainly exceptionally talented. However, Vikram and Ahmed were different from them; they were steadily running from the beginning, at a constant speed.
Just as he thought that they weren't called geniuses for nothing.
Vikram suddenly sped up. He ran past Ahmed and became the front-runner.
"Eh?"
"Th....that damn bastard?"
"Run! Don't fall behind!"
The children who saw him forcibly increased their speed.
"Hmph!"
As if telling them to catch up, Vikram peered at Ahmed and Ashoka.
Ashoka obviously ignored his taunt ut someone else was affected by it.
{What are you doing right now? Are you going to do nothing when you are provoked? Catch up to him and crush those eyes.}
Draco ground his teeth, glaring at Vikram, but Ashoka didn't react.
'I told you before. This isn't a competition.'
The run was a test to show how much stamina and willpower everyone had, not a competition.
And there was one more person who knew that fact.
'Tishya Raksha.'
The silver-haired girl running somewhere among the mid-group kept her pace as if she didn't have a speck of interest in anything going on around her.
'She is actually one step ahead of everyone here.'
Ashoka could say just by looking that the girl was far more mature and powerful than the kids who were present on the training grounds.
Although she tried to stay hidden among the average children, her beauty was very hard to hide.
He'd thought that they were similar, the girl and himself.
Anyway, he ignored the girl and moved his attention towards the one who is running in the second position.
'Ahmed Khan.'
He was also maintaining a steady pace while ignoring the taunts from Vikram.
Though they both looked to be on the same level, it seemed like Ahmed was mentally superior to Vikram.
Vikram was pretending to be an adult, but he was acting according to his age. If he went onto the battlefield as he was, he would've died quickly.
'That's not something I should care about.'
Ashoka kept running in the gymnasium, following the girl's back instead of thinking about useless things.
"Ash… Ashoka?"
"How…?"
"He… he was still running?"
The noble children who exhausted themself running after Vikram fell behind. They were the ones who were mocking Ashoka before the test had started.
"Huff, huff! Wh… what did you do?"
"Kuh, there's no way…"
As Ashoka ran past them, the children that were panting slowed their steps and sat down on the ground.
Ashoka kept running, using their astonished gaze as a driving force.
'Pathetic.'
It's a fact that those who couldn't stop talking no matter where they went were actually worthless. Since he wasn't interested in them to begin with, Ashoka forgot about them and kept running.
"Huff…"
He kept rotating his mana using the
'The feel the efficiency increasing with each rotation.'
Even though he hadn't run for a long time, the cultivation of
Maybe due to the reason that he was practicing it while going all out, he could feel the circulation becoming easier by the minute.
'It's still incredibly difficult, though.'
The rotating of the mana didn't make the pain disappear.
Ashoka was still panting from exhaustion.
{How pathetic.}
Draco clicked his tongue as he kept running full out.
{I can't accept defeat from you whose body will become mine. Give your body to me right now. I will catch up and completely freeze that blue-haired brat right now.}
'Shut up.'
It wasn't a test to catch up. It was a fight against himself.
{I can't accept defeat as long as this monarch has his eyes open.}
'Then close your eyes. It's already good enough that I'm still running like this.'
It wasn't a lie.
Even though he had the dragon's system, Ashoka didn't get all-powerful, he was still a 10-year-old kid.
{Then give your body to me.}
Draco transformed into the blue flame that he had seen the day before. His anger made him nauseated as it stimulated his emotions.
'Not now, of all times…'
Ashoka bit his lip.
Draco's stimulation felt twice as painful as the day before because of how tired he was.
'It's pointless, so go back to sleep already.'
He kept his calm expression using the
{Kuh! Why does The monarch's power not work on you?!}
Draco kept stimulating the angry emotion relentlessly.
"Huff…"
Ashoka withstood Draco's mental attack with his already empty stamina.
'I'm dying…'
Cold sweat ran down his back. He felt like he would faint at any moment.
Thanks to the balance between the
{You stubborn brat!}
'Give up and piss off!'
"Haa!"
While Ashoka was pushing back Draco's power, Alberad, who was lying on the platform suddenly stood up.
"Everyone, stop!"
The children who were running in the gymnasium stopped as they heard his clear voice.
"Huff! Huff!"
"Kuh!"
"Aww!"
The children could hardly keep their eyes open as they panted, sitting on the ground or holding their knees.
"Huff…"
Ashoka looked like he would die as he panted heavily.
{What a monster.}
Draco ground his teeth and went back to the ring.
'I told you, you can't.'
Ashoka wiped the cold sweat off his forehead.
The test was difficult, but withstanding Draco's attack was even more so. If he'd kept running, he could've really died.
'Life isn't easy… Hmm?'
A new message popped up while he was drinking water.
Ding!
[An extreme stamina-surpassing action was performed.]
[Ability points have increased.]
---***---