His voice echoed in the classroom with a deep bass tone as he said,
"The best part of this opportunity is that you can earn a blood pill every day if you consistently put in the hard work. As long as you are dedicated and hard-working, you will be rewarded one."
"So do your best. It is the least you can do if you hope to compete with your mates in the inner court."
"Not to demoralize you, but they have been having medicinal baths every day of their lives, and they will surely have access to better and more pills than this. So if you don't want to be left behind and want to enter a sect, you must be highly dedicated."
His words egged them on. They made up their undeveloped minds never to give up.
Unfortunately, the mind is willing, but the body is weak. Some kids still fell on their butts after their legs gave up. They couldn't even stand, much less put themselves in such a strenuous posture again.
There were 26 in class. Five of them were not new students of the academy. They were kids from last year who were held back. These five were the most stable out of all of them.
In less than ten minutes, the best ten were decided. Five of the older kids took half of the spots.
Instructor Lawson said to them, "You ten are in the lead for now. You have gained one point for this exercise. There are more exercises to come."
This caused them to groan and complain, but Instructor Lawson cut them off with one shout, "Silence!"
He glared fiercely at them, which caused his eyes to glow dimly and a heavy suffocating pressure to descend on them.
At that point, even the most dimwitted of them recognized the danger they were in. They sensed that the instructor was dangerous, so they lowered their heads and didn't look up.
Even Arthur felt his heart palpitating in fear. It reminded him of how he died in his last life.
Instructor Lawson retracted his aura and continued after cowing them into submission. "The first ten in the upcoming exercises will get one point for each exercise. The ten with the highest points will then get the minor blood pill."
"We will repeat this for the year that you will spend here. If you get the blood pill every day, it won't be strange if you reach the third transformation in just six months."
"Now rest for ten minutes. Bar any unexpected events, we will be done in less than four hours."
Arthur wanted to groan again, but he kept his mouth shut. Not only because of fear, but because he doesn't think his complaints will change anything.
He consoled himself by saying, "If I am in pain, then so must the others. I don't need to be exceptional. I just need to hold out longer than 13 of the class. I'm sure I can manage that."
After ten minutes of rest, Instructor Lawson instructed them to do push-ups. They had ten minutes to do as many as they could.
The ones with the ten highest counts would get one point for the exercise. Then they rested for another ten minutes.
After that was planking. They lay prone on the ground while resting their weight on their arms. This caused their stomach to ache. The ten who last the longest got one point.
In total they did ten different types of exercises. Each exercise stressed different parts of their body, so the previous exercise had little impact on the next one.
Squatting, for instance, stressed the muscles of the thigh mostly. Push-ups stressed the muscles of their arms and chest. Then planking stressed the muscles of their stomach.
Each exercise pushed a certain muscle group to the limit. By the time they had finished the ten exercises, every part of their body had been worked to the bone and aching for rest.
It was painful, but Arthur didn't give up. What instructor Lawson said about the luxury that the true sons and daughters were enjoying in the inner court spurred him on to do better. Or at least, do better than the 13 in the class.
He didn't bother to do more than that. As long as he beat out 13 and entered the first 10, he would give up and rest.
It was very difficult for him to achieve because he was disadvantaged. Mountain Sitting Dao might have increased his strength and physique, but it did nothing to cover the disadvantage brought about by his young age.
It is common knowledge that the mental energy and life energy that affect focus and stamina increase with age. It will increase as one grows older until it reaches the limit of their racial potential.
As a seven-year-old boy, his stamina can be rated as 7, while the thirteen-year-olds possess stamina at 13. So he is at a disadvantage of 5.
They have 71% more stamina than him, so they can hold out longer than him. What helped him to keep up is his mental resilience to pain and his pride.
He used to be a farmer in his last life, so he is no stranger to backbreaking work and pain. This and his refusal to allow some kids to beat him made him continue to push himself to the top ten despite the immense pain.
He would grit his teeth and persevere.
When they were done almost four hours later, he was struggling to walk, and his body was shaking like a leaf.
Everyone was openly groaning, but Instructor Lawson didn't mind. The muscular man was all smiles.
He said to Arthur, "Little boy, do you still want to continue? There is no shame in giving up to come back another two years when your body is more developed."
He shook his head and replied, "I'm good. I am sure I can manage a little more of this."
Instructor Lawson nodded. "Good determination. You did good work today and became part of the top ten. You and nine others will get your rank one minor blood pills."