By the time Simon did about six hundred push ups with the five thousand kilogram (5,000kg) vest on him, he was beginning to feel the strain throughout his body.
It wasn’t serious and was just a light discomfort for now, but it was there and Simon knew that it was going to increase with time.
Running thirty laps around a mountain, then doing a thousand push ups while wearing a five thousand kilogram vest was a lot of training, and Simon could see that none of his classmates were wearing a vest that was as heavy as his.
Some minutes later, Simon finally did the last push up, and he turned to the side and plopped to the ground.
He panted and lots of sweat could be seen dripping all over his body. His entire clothes were soaked with sweat, and he felt extremely dirty.
’I neee to take a bath.’
Simon looked at the five thousand kilogram vest, then he removed it from his body.
The moment he removed it, his body screamed in relief and Simon forced himself to roll so that he would not be resting on the vest.
"That thing is ridiculously heavy. Who created it?"
Simon then forced his body to sit straight, then he removed the top half of his robes and became shirtless, revealing his sweating and sexy body.
He was sweating a lot, and he needed some air.
He regulated his breathing despite the exhaustion, and a few minutes later, he heard the sound of a familiar set of footsteps.
It seemed Instructor Emith was not done with him.
She stood in front of him, her gaze observing Simon like a hawk observing its prey from afar. Her eyes lingered on his god-like physique for a few seconds before she eventually spoke.
"Rest for ten minutes. After that, we’ll continue with a different exercise."
Simon nodded, and she walked away.
’At least she gave me ten minutes to rest. That should be enough to recover some of my stamina.’
Because he was a demon, his regenerative abilities were far higher than a human’s regenerative capabilities, which was why Instructor Emith could push every single one of them beyond their limits and not be worried about severe injuries.
Eleven minutes later, Instructor Emith called for everybody to come together, then she called for everybody to follow her to a particular mountain.
All of them including Simon was confused, but when they entered the mountain, they were surprised to see that the inside of the mountain was wide and hollow.
There was a wide circular opening that was as wide as the tracks of a stadium of Earth.
Simon and his classmates could also see formations and arrays on the walls and floor of the mountain, and they were intrigued and confused.
Why were there arrays and formations?
What were they to do inside of a mountain?
She grouped them in groups of six and told them to run ten laps around the interior of the mountain.
Many were even more baffled, shocked, and wary the moment they heard this.
Just ten laps?
With a distance that was not even up to half of what Simon ran?
Many believed that there had to be a catch, and many cast disbelieving gazes at Instructor Emith.
What surprised them even more was when she told them that first to third place of each batch of six would be given rewards and more time to rest in the next class.
And she also told them that they could use their demonic energy in this training.
To Simon’s slight frustration, he was part of the first group along with Sunless and four other classmates he had no idea who they were.
"Go."
The moment Instructor Emith gave them the signal to run, the four other classmates ran at full speed, their desire for the rewards of first place to third place could be seen in their eyes.
Especially their desire to have more rest in the next class.
They were far ahead of Simon and Sunless who jogged at average speeds, but both of them did not care for their own personal reasons.
’There has to be a catch in this. There’s no way this instructor would give us something as simple as run ten laps in this ’small’ space. But I wonder what it is.’
’It has to be in these formations and arrays, but I don’t know much about formations and arrays, so I can’t come to a right conclusion.’
Simon then shifted his gaze from the arrays and formations to his classmates who were running at full speed.
’As for them, I can reach them and overtake them at any point in time. So, I’m not too worried about that.’
He then took a glance at Sunless who was jogging right beside him.
’But what about her? Why is she jogging at the same pace as me?’
Simon furrowed his brows, but in the next moment, he heard a scream.
"Hmm?"
He looked at his four classmates who started with full speed.
What he saw made him baffled.
He saw one who fell when he was not looking at them but was now struggling to get up, almost like an invisible weight had been placed on top of him.
Another one flew forward and was nearly six foot above ground, almost like something had launched him into the air, then he fell and tumbled a few times.
As for the remaining two, they were okay at first, but they experienced something similar and they both stumbled forward and fell on one knee.
’What?’ Simon frowned deeply, then his expression changed the moment he was about to take a step forward.
He felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
The moment his feet touched the ground, the gravity around him suddenly vanished and he was sent flying forward and above the ground, almost like he had jumped forward.
But he hadn’t.
And he instantly knew why the arrays and formations were present since what he was feeling reminded him of Akaza.
’Gravity!’