Chapter 15: Physical conditioning
Both Rowan and Racheal walked away while I waited on Shin finishing his food. It was fine though, I wasn’t in a rush to meet them yet. To be honest, I wasn’t all too sure how I’d interact with them, so just confirming their status was enough for now.
It was a pity I didn’t get to see Ayo from the Oni clan. The last great clan heir. It wasn’t all too surprising though, she was the most eccentric of the lot.
Unlike Varic or Racheal, Ayo wasn’t exactly heir to the Oni family just yet due to internal issues.
With her presence, all the great noble families had a representative this year. Racheal from House Solaris, Ayo from House Oni, and Varic from House Aurealius.
Colloquially, the three families were known as the gang of three. Their ancestry founded the republic of Bastion after the collapse of the old world. While a republican government did exist, in reality the gang of three were the ones that held true power in the republic. They and their council.
The government tended to be relegated to merely administrative and observatory positions in matters the gang of three had interests in.
It would be immediately obvious how fragile such a system would become if any of the great clans were to come into conflict with one another. That had been the major cause of the civil war in year 3.
For now, the Oni clan, the academy, and a bunch of other factors were holding Solaris and Aurealius from going at each other’s throats. Of course, this could only last for so long.
Apart from the gang of three, there had been a lot of other factors and parties that went into the civil war. The entire thing had been such an abominable mess that I grew a headache just thinking about it.
’Let’s focus on what I can affect for now.’
I couldn’t do jack shit regarding the civil war right now. But there were a lot of other useful things I could do.
I sighed, turning to face Shin.
Fortunately, he was just about done with his food. So we both stood up, picking and dumping our trays in a cart by the side before leaving.
Sky, even though the time on my interface read about ten a.m., the surroundings weren’t all that much lighter compared to when I’d stepped out. Hell, the streetlights were still turned on in particularly dark pathways.
I looked up, only to see the same grey sky and ever-present storm that had greeted me earlier, completely smothering most of the sun’s light behind such drab curtains.
I tightened my jacket around my body to fight the chill before following Shin, who had already begun walking along one of the many walkways.
"Hey, what’s the next class like? The school message said something about practical classes."
Shin gave me a side glance before answering.
"Apparently, it’s supposed to be a shuffle between different skills the academy thinks are necessary for hunters. But only for today since it’s introductory. From tomorrow, it’ll be a theory class first, then a practical after lunch."
That actually made a lot of sense. I’d put it far below me to detail every course back in the novel, only selecting and writing Chapters about courses concerning topics related to world building. It was a rather smart way of internalizing such logic.
I continued,
"So what did you do yesterday?"
"Physical conditioning."
I almost collapsed at the words.
"You said?"
"I said, physical conditioning!"
’Well fuck.’
That was one of the courses I’d written in detail about. There wasn’t much to be said about it except that it was hell. As the name implied, it was to train the cadets to withstand the rigors of the outside world. So in short, hellish endurance training.
’He said it was a shuffle, didn’t he? Since they had physical conditioning yesterday, today should be some other subject, right?’
I could only hope for the best.
The road came to an end at an open field, farther away from the central needle. I could already see some students dressed in clothes similar to the ones I’d seen Maki wearing back in the hospital. A flexible camo shirt, with cargo pants and dark boots. More students poured onto the field from a blocky one-story building to the side.
’A changing room.’
The whole setup gave me a bad feeling. Shin confirmed my fears almost immediately.
"Looks like it’s physical conditioning again."
He gave my uniform a scan.
"You did bring practical wear, right?"
I almost slapped myself at the question.
’I can’t believe I forgot it.’
I’d seen practical session. Of course, it’d require practical wear. Sure, I didn’t have a clue what it looked like before, but that was something that could have been easily solved by a simple search online.
Shin easily read what happened from my expression.
"It’s alright if you forgot it. Most people, including me, forgot yesterday as well. Instructor Shang only gave us a light run as punishment. He’ll probably go easy on you."
Although he was probably being sincere, something told me not to count on those words. Knowing what I knew about Shang, it was definitely more than that.
"If you say so."
He grinned, patting my shoulder with far too much force.
"I’ll be back then."
Then he was off to Shang, leaving me sticking out like a sore thumb in the crowd of people with combat wear.
I sighed, ignoring the stares as I went deeper into the field. There had to be someone that had forgotten as well.
As it turned out, there was. A bit further to the back, I saw a familiar red-haired girl in school uniform scolding two girls in practical wear.
She noticed me staring, and for the first time since I’d seen her she didn’t half glare or toss me suspicious looks. Instead, she seemed genuinely relieved that she wasn’t the only one in uniform.
I couldn’t say I didn’t share the sentiment. Misery loves company after all.
"Cadets! Form up!"
A voice boomed from the front of the field. Immediately the cadets rushed to arrange themselves in ten columns before giving a sloppy salute. I had no idea what any of this meant, so I just followed the crowd as best I could.
At the front of the newly formed assembly, a middle-aged instructor dressed in similar practical gear stood at ease. He had a look of utter disgust on his face as he scanned the formation. Sighing, he began.
"I can’t be too harsh since this is still your first week. But if you still have the gall to show me such sloppy formations by the next tomorrow, yesterday’s punishment will seem like a five-star massage."
Most students seemed visibly disturbed around me, still they replied,
"Sir, yes, Sir!"
I followed their footsteps to a tee.
The man scanned the crowd again before pointing at his side.
"Red hair! Short one! Out now!"
I didn’t even try to deny the title this time and moved to the front immediately. This guy was crazy, like real crazy. I had to be very careful around him.
Song stepped out a bit after me. Soon we were standing side by side facing Shang.
The man scanned us top to bottom before speaking.
"Is this your first time attending this class, cadets?"
"Yes." "Sir! Yes, Sir!"
Shang paused, looking at Song after she only answered normally.
"It would do you well to follow the boy’s lead. Am. I. Clear. On that, cadet!?"
"Sir! Yes, Sir!"
The man nodded at her response before continuing.
"Good, good. I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll go light on you for forgetting your practical wear."
As it panned out, Shin might have been telling the truth back then.
Shang pointed to what looked like an Olympic-sized track located on the far side of the field.
"Fifty laps, or till you collapse. Trust me, I will know when you actually do collapse, so I’d advise you not to attempt faking it, cadets."
Or not.
’Is this what Shin saw as easy?’
All of a sudden, I began regretting not committing suicide a second time.
I found myself collapsed on the track, breathing heavily as my vision swam, twisting the sky above into a sort of gray putty.
My body grew increasingly cold, and I felt a creeping sense of weakness. It genuinely took all I could not to puke on the tracks.
’Is this because of the burden? Ugh... it sucks.’
I’d collapsed before even reaching the tenth lap. Apparently, the stress had been enough to trigger my burden to spike again.
Song collapsed somewhere along her 13th.
I just lay on the cold floor, waiting and hoping the symptoms would withdraw. Eventually, though, they did.
Of course, only in an agonizingly slow manner. I had to have been there for at least an hour before it receded to the extent that I could think properly.
’At least I know stress triggers it now.’