The entirety of the students moved, running through the field in the union, under the teacher's watchful gaze. Zaroth was one hand's distance from Zack, so he asked him,
"So, other than how strong a blessing is, can you see something else about a person? For instance, their class or something similar?"
Zack smiled, as though unbothered by the constant pressure of running, and answered, "Unfortunately, no, but maybe I will be able to in the future as I get stronger. Who knows?"
'Good, he won't be able to see that I'm a Beast Tamer.'
After they completed the first lap, the teacher shouted, "Alright, you can run as fast as you want from now on! The first twenty people that finish will get a reward!"
Upon hearing that, about half of the students sped up, while the other half slowed their pace. The reason was clear, this exercise was about to test whether the class of an individual was in the knight or mage category.
Zaroth, being a Beast Tamer, was also part of the mage category, but despite his peers, he didn't slow down. No… he sped up, matching Zack's speed, who continued to look unbothered.
'Breathe in, breathe out,' Zaroth was running with everything he had, trying to match Zack's speed, and it showed, his breathing was irregular.
Zack noticed the fact that Zaroth was trying to match his speed. With a smile, he said, "Let's see if you can keep up," and then immediately sped up, placing himself at the front of the students. With a silent curse, Zaroth followed.
'Luna was right, I really have neglected my stamina!'
His muscles ached badly, but he continued regardless of that.
Shifting his gaze to Zack, he thought, 'Considering the stamina he shows, his class must enhance his body, so he is of the knight category… It's stupid to compare myself to him, but for some reason, I don't want to stay behind.'
After the tenth lap, there was a clear order. At last place was a group of about 40 people clearly struggling with the challenge; they were of the mage category. Next was another group of around 40 people. These ones were much farther ahead and didn't seem to be giving it their all.
In fact, no one seemed to be giving it their all, with one exception…
At the front of everyone were two men running. One was on the shorter side, with white hair and green cat-like eyes. It was clear that he was giving it his all. The way he moved seemed as though he was about to pass out, but he simply refused to fall behind.
And at the very front, a tall man with raven-black hair and white eyes was running with a bored expression, clearly showing that he didn't count this as an exercise at all.
The only time his expression changed was when he would glance back to see that the white-haired boy continued to follow him, not wanting to give up.
'Don't stop now! You wanted strength, didn't you?! This is the perfect place for it! Now you are training the most important thing after your mana core, your stamina!' Luna said in Zaroth's head, trying to keep him motivated.
'I've run 25 laps already! Isn't that enough?!' Zaroth complained. His body was on the verge of shutting down.
Glancing back, he saw that already dozens of students had given up and were resting on their backs while the teacher was looking at them with disappointment.
'Tell me, why would I need so much stamina?!' Zaroth was becoming irritated, not only because he was exhausted, but because the entire time, Zack was in front of him, running. It looked like the man hadn't even dropped a sweat, as if running this much was nothing to him.
'Zaroth… you know I'm a greedy woman…' Luna commented during their conversation. Zaroth was too exhausted to even communicate with her, but deciding it was better to distract himself somehow from the pain, he answered.
'What… are you even saying?'
'What I'm saying, dummy, is that once your mana core becomes strong enough to allow us to sleep together, I don't think your current stamina will be enough to satisfy me...'
Zaroth's face became red. He wasn't sure if it was because of embarrassment, anger, or both. 'I'm going to kill the gods, aren't I?! I will not let a measly half a marathon stop me!'
A bit more than an hour after the running began, Zack finished in first place, and Zaroth not much behind in second place.
Zaroth was now lying on his back, breathing heavily, while Zack stood tall next to him, seemingly unbothered by the physical energy they had just exerted, drinking from a bottle of water.
"Thirsty…" Zaroth whispered slightly, watching Zack.
"Hm?" Zack raised an eyebrow. "Do you want water?"
Zaroth nodded slightly, but he was too tired to move. Seeing that, Zack picked a new bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, and poured the cold liquid over Zaroth's head.
"Ah, heaven!" Zaroth might have complained in another situation, but now most of the water was entering his mouth, while some of it was falling on his forehead, cooling it.
Zack burst into laughter as soon as the water bottle ran out of liquid.
"What is it?" Zaroth asked. He felt a bit better now that he had drunk something cold.
"Nothing," Zack responded, still holding his stomach. "It's just that it's clear your class is of the mage category, yet you kept my pace." He continued as he held out his hand, intending to offer Zaroth support. "So I wonder how well you can use your mana, rival."
Zaroth smiled slightly as he took his hand. "You haven't seen even half of what I'm capable of… rival."
There were about thirty minutes until the end of the lesson, but the teacher decided to let them go so they could take a shower without having to sacrifice time from their lunch break.
'This is what I call a good teacher!' Zaroth thought, seeing his teacher in a new light.
Now the men were in the shower room, of course, separated from the women. Naturally, when you are about to shower, you had to take your own clothes off. Zaroth used that time to get a better representation of the fitness level of the students.
'So… I was right…' He had trained for some time, so he had some muscles, but there were some who had simply absorbed a level of musculature, and Zack was one of them. But one other notable thing was that Zaroth was the leanest.
Which wasn't surprising considering how much time he had spent without food, but he was so lean it was considered dangerous. His veins were visible on his abs.
'I guess I really need to bulk up…'
*****
After the shower, Zaroth and Zack went to the dining area. It was a huge place, but despite that, there weren't almost any free tables. After finally finding a place, they sat down.
Zaroth let out an exhausted sigh. His muscles' soreness was just starting to hit him, but despite that, he was smiling because the reward for finishing second in the race was in front of him… a steak!
Zaroth had never seen, much less eaten, something that was supposed to be reserved only for the richest. He was about to dig in until a male voice came from his side.
"Hello, is that seat available? If it's okay with you, can I sit here?"
Zaroth shifted his gaze to the tall man. He had a handsome face with blonde hair and blue eyes... 'Wait, haven't I seen him somewhere?' he wondered until he remembered.
'Wait, isn't that the guy I approached on the day of the test? How was he called… Roran?'
Before he could respond, a voice came behind him.
"It's available… you can sit here." It was Zack.
With a nod, Roran pulled the chair back and sat at their table, while Zack watched him with a smile, his white eyes shining with a dangerous intensity.
"To think… there was a third one…" he muttered under his breath.