Lenin left unnoticed and she was happy about what she saw in the training hall. She couldn't wait to see the results of Rasmus's training of those students of his. She believed that he alone could change the world into a better place.
Rasmus sat down on the bench as he watched Maximilian help Monica walk while Isador helped Aurelia walk. He still had a stoic and cold expression painted on his face when they approached them.
"I'm disappointed with the result," Rasmus said as he stared at them. "I'm not disappointed by the results of the training or by how weak you guys are. I'm disappointed that all of you were feeding my ego and got eaten by my words."
All of them furrowed and looked at Rasmus with confused looks as always. They didn't understand what he meant until he explained it to them. They began to understand the way he spoke and what was the wisdom behind it so they stayed quiet and let him continue.
"I wouldn't be upset if all of you didn't listen to my words, but you all did and it fed my ego and made you do things that you were unable to do," Rasmus explained as he looked at them. "Let me ask you one thing. What did you gain from listening to my order? You made yourself suffer for nothing."
"If you all became the future King, Saints, Leader, and prominent figures that the world looked up to, and you got easily eaten by someone's words without thinking about the benefits you gain from it, you'll end up like this," Rasmus pointed out as he looked at their condition, exhausted and could barely stand. "A gentle push would be enough to make you all fall. You thought that you were proving something, but the truth is you were only entertaining me."
"But you're our instructor. And as your students, of course, we will follow your order," Valari said as he caught his breath while his legs were still shaking, unable to completely bear his weight.
"You should follow something reasonable to you. You know your limitations, and you should know that you can't do it. Don't prove to them that they're wrong, but show them that you're smarter than them," Rasmus looked at Valari.
"You shouldn't have to prove to them that you can outrun and fight a hungry lion, you should show that by simply climbing the tallest tree you could escape from a hungry lion," Rasmus said as he looked at his students. "Don't ever feed their ego or worse feed your own ego because it'll blind you."
Rasmus pulled out the assignment that his students had done.
"You all can rest for now because the training hall is still being used by the other students. Once they're done, we will begin the real training," Rasmus said as he walked to the side and sat down.
All of them had no more strength in their bodies and realized that it was only the warm-up. They all followed Rasmus to the side and sat on the floor, letting their legs rest as they massaged them.
"I told you. Don't follow orders blindly and now you're bearing the consequence of your action," Rasmus smirked as he read the assignment.
Aurelia groaned and slowly she pouted as she massaged her numb legs.
"I can't, and I don't want to train anymore for the rest of the day," Aurelia responded as she stared at Rasmus.
"Then I'll give you an F on your physical examination later," Rasmus smiled mischievously. "I'm still your instructor after all, and this is proving that authority beats anything."
Aurelia sulked and stared at Rasmus with a scornful look on her face, but Maximilian laughed because he found it fascinating. Isador and the others scoffed as they shook their heads after realizing that they were all being played around since the beginning. They didn't know what to do, but one thing they understood was the fact they had the right to complain and if the task was impossible to do, they could report it to Lenin.
Rasmus hummed as he read the assignment about their plans for gaining recognition from the people. He could see which part of the plan belonged to a certain student and which was from a collaboration of an idea.
"Not bad," Rasmus said as he kept reading the assignment. "This is not bad at all, but not good enough," he looked at his students as he showed the paper in his hand.
"The problem with the plan is the fact you're still dependent on people for their recognition. You linger yourself with them so that it will entangle you and stop you from growing even further," Rasmus explained the flaw in the plan.
"Too much attachment will make you lose focus on your goal, and with that being said, don't put too much of your feelings and emotions on those people," Rasmus pointed out.
"That doesn't make any sense at all! If we don't do that, then how are we going to gain their respect and recognition?" Isador questioned Rasmus's explanation.
"As King, just because you love your people, that won't be enough to satisfy them. As long as you give them what they want, and satisfy their needs, you'll be loved. You don't necessarily need to love them, you just need to do what needs to be done for your people," Rasmus answered.
"Then what's wrong if you love them as well? Isn't that a good thing?" Alexander asked.
"It will prevent you from climbing higher because they will hold you down," Rasmus answered. "You can simply break a single weed with your forefinger to reach the other side, but if there were thousands of weeds stacking in front of you, your forefinger couldn't even break them. By the time you managed to break them all one by one, you had grown old and had lost all your power while at the same time lost all the ties you had with the people that you loved," he pointed out.
The thought-provoking discussion started again. After what Rasmus said, it showed them a new light, a new perspective about the way to become a great leader. There was a need for balance in showing sympathy and being pragmatic, something that they still considered a gray area while the truth was that both could be black or white.
They discussed this for hours and Rasmus noticed the instructor had been forcing his students to keep using the training hall. The man was still pissed and annoyed that Rasmus ignored him and tried to make Rasmus and his students waste their time in the training hall.
"Are you still not finished?" Rasmus asked the instructor with a laid-back behavior.
"Oh, we are planning to use the training hall for a whole day," The instructor smirked, hiding his anger and disgust toward Rasmus.
"I see, then tell me when you're done," Rasmus casually responded.
Maximilian and the others noticed that the instructor was trying to prevent them from training on the training ground. They wanted to show their complaints, but Rasmus shook his head with a smile on his face. They realized Rasmus had a plan in mind.
An hour had passed, and the instructor had been glancing at Rasmus and his students. He couldn't believe they could have sat there for hours talking with each other wasting their time.
"Instructor, the students are exhausted, and there's nothing else we can do here," a student said to the instructor.
"Nonsense! Keep training!" The instructor shouted, glaring at the student.
Another hour passed and problems began to arise when a student fainted. Seeing that the instructor didn't care, gave a bad impression of him on his students. The students reported the issue to Julian and she was furious at the instructor for forcing the students out for no reason.
Rasmus stood up as he watched the students leave the training hall while the instructor got a warning from Julian and reported it to Lenin. He was smiling coldly at the instructor when their eyes met.
"What did I say to you?" Rasmus looked at his students as he walked backward to the center of the training hall.
"Don't feed someone's ego, and don't let your ego blind you," Monica smirked, understanding the lesson and how it worked flawlessly.
"Now you have learned how easy it is to deal with a problem without having to do anything!" Rasmus spread his arms to show the whole training hall had become his. "Come! It's time for training!"
Since everyone had recovered from their fatigues, they all stood up and followed Rasmus to the center of the training ground.