"Hey kid, wake up."
I got up with the sound of a man's rough voice calling me.
The fatigue still hasn't left my body, but I have to follow their orders.
"Yes, sir."
If I'm not mistaken, this tribe is one of the things I added to the game on my last night working... Shadows of the Night... I really don't like the chief of this tribe...
I wish I could be accepted into the Black Light, but anyway, there's not much difference between them. All these thirteen tribes are from the demonic sect.
So, their ways are almost the same...
I quietly follow the man... After passing through a long corridor, I finally see the light.
"Kid, this is one of our training grounds, though it's not the main tribe. In seven days, you'll be taken there. Over the next seven days, you'll be trained here, along with other kids we bought."
I look down the stairs where a few people seem to be standing.
Honestly, I'm still not used to this new life... but I have to get used to it gradually... after all, this is the only way I have...
Following the man down the stairs, I see a woman dressed all in black standing there. She has long brown hair tied in a ponytail.
I think she's our training instructor... She's beautiful... but since she's a member of this tribe, she's probably very fierce too... If I remember correctly, her name was "Lara."
Lara looked at me from the corner of her eye and said,
"Well, finally you're all here."
Then she looked back at the other kids... There were about ten kids besides me.
They were all around my age... They were all terrified... in shock... but I wasn't... Maybe because of what happened in the fight yesterday or maybe because I had a system to help myself.
Lara's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
"Well, your first training is to increase your resistance to poison... There's a risk of death, though."
With the word death, cold sweat flowed down everyone's foreheads... I'm no exception either... Just yesterday I killed someone to survive... Now, there's a chance I might die in a training?
"Well... Over the next seven days, you'll go through seven basic trainings and the first one is poison resistance."
Then she pointed to some plants on the wooden table...
There were two rows of plants...
"The first row is poison and the second row is its antidote. First, consume the poison and when you feel the poison taking effect, just a few seconds later, take the antidote... If you take it too early or too late, it won't work and you'll die... Now start."
Everyone was hesitant... scared... but well, waiting doesn't help... If I'm going to die, it's better it happens sooner.
I step forward and pick one of the poisonous plants, putting it in my mouth and starting to chew...
[Weak poison detected in your body]
[Poison has been cleansed from your body]
What?
The system cleansed the poison from my body?... This is awesome... but to make sure no one notices that the poison didn't work on me, I decided to act a bit.
I tried to slightly shake my knees as if my legs were weakening.
Lara still watched me with a cold look without saying anything.
To avoid drawing too much attention, I quickly picked one of the antidote plants and put it in my mouth.
"Well, good... Next one, come forward."
After me, a few more kids came forward and fortunately, most of them succeeded... but one person fainted, but it seems, according to Lara, he'll survive.
"Well... now we enter the second stage of poison resistance. In this stage, there's no risk of death, so don't worry."
Then she pointed to some daggers on another table and said,
"With these daggers, make some cuts on your body, try not to make the cuts too shallow."
She paused and then continued,
"These daggers are coated with a weakening agent, but it takes a few hours to take effect. Once you've cut yourself, you'll have to do a few exercises until the poison is fully spread in your body."
This time, unlike the previous round, the kids weren't scared and each picked a dagger.
Following them, I picked one of the daggers on the table and made a not-so-deep cut on my left forearm.
"Ouch..."
It was a bit painful, but if I want to survive these trainings, enduring this wound is the easiest thing.
[Weak poison detected in your body]
[Poison has been cleansed from your body]
I really like this system's ability... I'm very curious to see what the other abilities of the system are like.
"Well, now that you've all cut yourselves with the daggers, put those wristbands and ankle bands on your wrists and ankles."
I looked at where Lara was pointing... Wristbands?... There were several wristbands and ankle bands on an iron table a few meters away.
"So, we have to put them on?"
I walk towards them and when I try to pick one up, I feel a momentary heaviness.
"Wow... heavier than I expected."
I expected them to weigh at most one kilogram... I knew these were heavy wristbands for training but didn't expect them to be this heavy.
"By the way, since you've all just reached the beginner level, I chose light wristbands for you, each weighing only five kilograms, and since you'll wear two wristbands and two ankle bands, you'll be carrying nearly twenty kilograms of weight with you."
Light?
I've only put on one wristband and it's really heavy... Every time I try to move my hand, I feel a significant weight on it.
But there's no choice, I have to do what she says.
I put on the other wristband and the two ankle bands and sit down on the ground a bit so I don't get tired.
"Once you've finished putting on the weights, follow me to start the main training."
Main training?
Isn't putting these on the main training?
"Since it's your first day, I've planned an easy training for you. You just need to run a thousand laps around this area with these weights by the end of today."
What?... Are you kidding me?... I have to run a thousand laps around here?
[System mission]
[Mission: Run a thousand laps around the training ground.
Reward:
1. Your physical strength and bone density will greatly increase
2. 100 system points]
Well, at least the system has a reward for me... but still, this is way too hard.
"Now start."
Damn you...
I try to run, but my steps are so heavy. Even though I'm giving it my all, I'm still struggling to move.
It's really tough, but I have to get used to it.
[System has a suggestion for you]
[Give 100 points and increase your physical strength tenfold. Do you accept? Yes/No]
This damn system is acting just like an opportunistic merchant... but fine, damn it, I have no choice.
"Yes..."
[Your physical strength has increased tenfold]
In an instant, I feel my body become much lighter, and now I can run easily... It's still a bit heavy, though. After all, the physical strength of a twelve-year-old kid who's just at the beginner level, even if it's ten times stronger, still isn't much.
But it's better than being in my previous weak state... At least now I can run easily.
I pick up my pace a bit to finish these thousand laps faster...
While Jin was running, Lara looked at him in surprise.
"How can a weak kid do something like this?"
Lara was indeed surprised. She actually expected all the kids to pass out due to the weakening poison and the weight of the bands, ending today's training.
But to her surprise, two of the kids were still moving, one running at a moderate speed and the other very slowly.
"Looks like we've got some good ones this time."
She said this with a faint smile on her lips.