The exercise technique was a series of movements that had to be done together with the breathing technique in order to maximize the effects of the two of them.
It was more of a weird dance routine. The posture and balance of the body were forced to shift from one stance to another in one fluid motion until the dance was done. Then the dance was repeated until the body got tired.
Instructor Canes and the whole class performed the dance together. Instructor Canes set the pace while everyone copied her movements.
The pace that she set was slow. It forced the body to ensure being in some unnatural states for long periods of time.
He didn't have a problem executing the moves. He could do it quickly without breaking a sweat. But he had to break a swear when forced to do it slowly.
The main reason why it was so exhausting was that the body was forced to be in an unbalanced state for most of the time. Either he was leaning forward too much, or backward, or sideways. But he had to maintain this strenuous posture for a while without falling down.
That turned out to be impossible. He couldn't stay upright throughout the routine and fell down many times. He just wasn't used to the kind of movements that he was forced into.
The new girl also fell down, but not as much as him. He also got tired faster than her.
He got tired before everyone else because he was the youngest and the most unfamiliar with the breathing technique. Even the weakest of them have had one year of training with the breathing technique. So they were better at using it to replenish their stamina than him.
He has only had three months of training with the breathing technique, and he is just seven years old. He is seven years younger than the youngest of them, so he was quickly huffing and puffing into the exercise.
The exercise was intensive aerobic exercise that worked out almost every part of his body and pushed them to their limits. The rigidity that he gained from repeating the same exercise every day was beaten out of his body until his muscles were crying.
Unfortunately, the exercise lasted for one hour and thirty minutes. Together with the one hour and thirty minutes that the fighting took, they had spent at least 3 hours for the class.
Only the best 30 who didn't fall down and lasted throughout the whole exercise with instructor Canes will get a point that will qualify them to get the rank 1 major blood pill. But he didn't give up even after getting disqualified. He tried his best to follow them to the end.
He failed and fell down many times. But he always got back up soon after to continue the exercise.
When they were done, he plopped on top of his mat and began breathing intensely. Instructor Canes saw him and frowned.
She called out to him sternly, "Arthur, watch yourself."
"Sorry, instructor. I lost myself."
She didn't stop looking at him until she made sure that he had returned to using the breathing technique. Only then did she check the others.
She found that they were all breathing using the breathing technique instead of erratically like he was doing. Even the new girl was using the breathing technique to recover.
The sight pleased Instructor Canes. She nodded and said, "Rest for ten minutes. The fighting training will start after that time."
Arthur groaned inwardly and thought to himself, "What use is longevity if I kill myself trying to achieve it?"
He wants to live forever. But these daily painful exercises are starting to get to him.
It has only been five months, but he feels as if he has been training his whole lifetime. He can't believe that people have to train for at least ten years straight before they can reach the tenth transformation of the body forging.
The main thing keeping him going is that intense physical exercise will end after transcending the first mortal coil. He is looking forward to that day and hoping it will come soon.
He encouraged himself by thinking, "That's why I can't slack off or that day won't come soon. The more I work now, the shorter time I will have to spend in the first mortal coil."
Ruff also encouraged him by licking his face. It made Arthur laugh.
Eventually he couldn't hold back anymore. He turned to the new girl and asked, "What is it? Why have you been staring at me for so long?"
She looked away from him. Then she said, "You're very young. You're like my little brother. It is very strange to see someone so young like you in the same class as me."
He said, "Oh. I thought that maybe there was something on my face."
She didn't say anything to him anymore, and he too ignored her. Instead, he used the breathing technique to recover his stamina while playing with Ruff.
As time passed, he felt his body cool down and become refreshed. He had the illusion that he could perform the previous exercise again without breaking a sweat. But he wasn't fooled by it.
He thought to himself, "This breathing technique is magical. I wonder who came up with it."
The breathing technique supplements the resources in his body with mana from the environment. So he recovers his stamina faster, requires less food, and grows the vitality of his body faster.
It also has a mild improvement on healing. All of these meant that in ten minutes, he was ready to exercise again.
Actually, his body was looking forward to it since it was soon full of energy. Only his mind was wise enough to feel apprehension.
He has never performed the fighting technique, but he has seen the senior trainees and his mother do it, and he has never envied them. Now that he has to do what they do, he is already thinking of how to fail without looking too pathetic.