The group neared a building which was entirely black in color, it had no windows whatsoever. Rather than looking like a building it more resembled a giant box. It had 4 meters tall and wide double doors.
The man approached the slit near the door as he took out a token and placed it into it. The double doors opened. Instantly, an extremely eerie feeling spread throughout the group. The feeling of absolute danger and death!
The man was unfazed as he once again ordered everyone to enter. The moment they entered, they saw a person sitting cross-legged in the same black robes like a man who brought them here.
"Instructor Koi, I'll leave them in your care" the man said to a person sitting cross-legged. His back faced the double doors as he simply nodded.
Soon the person who led them here left as double doors behind him closed with a heavy thud.
The orphans were all fidgety except a few. Andrew and the battle-crazed youth.
The room was dark as nothing was visible except that person.
Suddenly, a loud exhale permitted throughout the area. There was stiffening silence since no one dared to breathe loudly.
The man stood up as the darkness shifted together with him as if focusing on his sole figure.
He turned around as a handsome middle-aged man with pitch-black hair and eyes appeared in their view. But the children couldn't care less about it since they were glued to his eyes, they were like gateways to deep abyss, none of them could take their eyes away or even blink as if death was staring directly into souls.
The man blinked, as if death stopped counting how many seconds were left for them to live, all of them collapsed on their butts, except Andrew and the battle-crazed youth.
He took a step forward, the hearts of orphans sank, as if his every step was premonition of their end. Each step was like a death throe of their incoming demise.
Instructor Koi kept closing in the distance as he was quite used to this.
"Hello, children" the deep manly voice resounded as it invoked chills on their backs.
Instructor Koi went through each orphan with his gaze. Mentally pressuring them to their limits. Some of them even soiled their pants from utter fear which they have never experienced in their lives.
"Line up" he said those words as he turned around and walked towards the other side of the room. It was a sports hall rather than a simple room since it had an area of 1 km square and 10 meters in height.
It took a while for orphans to get out of stupor. They soon rushed and took their places by the order of their height ascension, the tallest being Andrew.
After seeing all of them line up...
"Hundred laps" Koi said as he went to the center of the sports hall and once again sat cross-legged. The moment he did so, the unbearable sense of danger returned once again but Andrew didn't chicken out even though his instincts were telling him otherwise.
He took off from his spot as he maintained a moderate pace. The kids soon followed after him but still couldn't take away their gazes from the figure.
The already dark hall became even darker as light focused on Instructor Koi.
Some kids tripped as they miserably fell which caused a chain reaction for other children's fall. Andrew kept moving without averting his gaze from the lone figure that sat cross-legged under the gazes of helpless kids.
Andrew easily completed 10 laps as even a drop of sweat hasn't broken out of his body, but other children couldn't be considered as well off as him. They panted and wheezed as if their lives depended on it. On top of the untrained bodies of children, there was a strange seamless pressure that pressed down on their minds. It affected their breathing rhythm as some of them were on the verge of a panic attack.
But the voice reinvigorated their wills to run in the twisted way.
"Don't stop running even if small bones in your little feet turn into nothing but powder, the meat will come off your bones and your tendons get ripped apart" Koi said as he hadn't broken out of his meditation to issue those threats.
As soon as he finished the last sentence, the pressure doubled on their minds and bodies as even Andrew started to feel a bit misdirected and pressured.
It's as if he was in an illusion filled with nothing but endless darkness. Some children even had difficulty moving their limbs as they couldn't understand what limb they were using. It felt foreign and confusing to the extreme.
After 30 laps under such strenuous pressure, kids dropped one by one like a flock of birds during the hunting season.
Before that, they literally puked their way through each lap as some kids fell because of disgusting and slippery fluid on the floor.
50 laps in there were only several dozen kids left from the original 120. The rest lay on different kinds of disgusting body fluids, ranging from piss to blood.
Andrew was covered in sweat from head to toe but had it a bit better since other kids were sweating literal blood, even that battle-thirsty kid had his savage aura beaten down by a few levels, but he still had his crazed smile on his face.
70 laps in there were only a dozen left...
80 laps in there were only 8 left...
90 laps in there were only 3 left...
And finally, those 3 successfully completed 100 laps!
Andrew, the battle-thirsty kid and a little girl who had a fairly muscular physique.
Andrew was still sweating profusely as he looked at the kids that managed to run alongside him.
The battle-thirsty kid had a victorious smile painted all over his face while the girl was relatively cheerful.
They looked at each other as a sense of pride exuded from their eyes, except Andrew since he could only consider this as an all-out workout.
The next moment, Instructor Koi finally opened his eyes as he exited his meditative state. He first looked at those who failed to complete those hundred laps, then he glanced at those who succeeded.
"Not bad, if you keep up the hard work and your current determination, in the future you will undoubtedly become grand figures worthy of respect" he said as he nodded as a form of acknowledgment.
He really meant those words since not everyone could withstand under his mental fluctuations. Mental fluctuations were just thoughts going outside the mind and spreading their influence on the environment. A mage can influence his surrounding mana with ease, those things that mortals might think as an absolute downright abyss of death were simply influencing the mana around them to send constant negative inputs of energy that disrupted their mental stability.
The trio stood there without making a sound since Instructor Koi didn't instruct them any further.
Andrew was first to take action as he went to the place free of puke and blood, it was near the center. It stayed extremely clean in contrast to its surroundings as bloodied and soiled children were scattered left and right.
No one dared to approach the center in fear of Instructor Koi's wrath, they stuck as much as possible to the sides and stepped on children, blood, piss and many more fluids but still decided to stick to the outskirts of the sports hall.
The battle-crazed kid stood there with his ever-present smile until he dropped down as extreme exhaustion swept over him. The girl soon followed after him as she lay on the floor with her hands and legs sprawled out. They loudly breathed as they slowly closed their eyes to sleep.
Andrew meditated his self-made breathing technique as the sense of exhaustion slowly subsided. He sat in a lotus position with a steady posture as he gradually relaxed.
He opened his eyes and saw Instructor Koi looking at him with evident interest.
"Interesting, you haven't passed out yet, quite commendable" Instructor Koi said with another acknowledging nod.
Andrew nodded back as he wasn't sure about this man's intentions, heck even the whole situation was quite weird.
He knew with absolute certainty that this military institution was made to forge indestructible wills of future mages.
This 100 lap run was aimed to gauge how far the physical and mental capabilities of recruits extended. Many of those children were fit enough to run for hundred laps, but they lacked in the mental aspect. Their wills weren't sturdy enough to withstand the oppressing influence of the surrounding mana.
After all, they were just a bunch of inexperienced kids who really didn't have any kind of ambition or subsequent resolve and determination to achieve their goals.
Andrew went back to meditation as the exhaustion slowly took over as he finally fell into sleep.
The next moment, Instructor Koi opened his eyes once again as he faintly smiled.
"Interesting fella" those were the last sounds heard in the sports hall till the evening since the kids' bodies and minds were so ran down that they couldn't even snore.