Next morning at 4:30 am sharp, the alarms in the corridors blared loudly, signalling the start of yet another academic day.
Hearing the loud sound, Leo practically forced himself to wake up, however, his mind seemed to be reluctant to cooperate.
Feeling as heavy as lead, Leo’s brain resisted restarting, dragging him down into the depths of exhaustion. But with no other choice, he forced himself to power through it, pushing past the sluggish haze of sleep.
—------
(Rodova Military Academy, Physical Training Grounds)
It wasn’t until Leo was halfway through the 100 penalty laps—his feet pounding against the dirt alongside the rest of the class—that his brain finally shook off its grogginess.
He hadn’t wanted to wake up.
But listening to Mu Shen’s colorful morning rant made the ordeal almost worth it.
"Mark my words, boys…" Mu Shen panted between heavy breaths. "One of these days, I’m gonna find a stick—a long, thick one—made of really hard wood, with the nastiest, sharpest grooves and edges you can imagine."
He exhaled sharply, his eyes burning with unholy determination.
"I’m gonna oil it. Kiss it. Cherish it like it’s my life’s purpose—"
Leo raised a brow, already sensing where this was going.
"—And then, when Marvin isn’t looking, I’m gonna ram it straight up his ass!"
Leo couldn’t help it—he burst into laughter, shaking his head at Mu Shen’s outrageously committed vendetta against Professor Marvin.
"Look at that smug bastard—he’s smiling at our misery!" Mu Shen growled, glaring up at Professor Marvin. "Look at him, standing there all high and mighty, enjoying this shit!"
Following his gaze, the others turned to see Marvin watching over them with that ever-present calm, unreadable expression.
Mu Shen scowled even harder.
Experience more on .Côm
"Fucker." He muttered under his breath, making sure the professor wasn’t looking before throwing in the insult.
Su Yang, arrogant as always, exhaled sharply. "At least he did not make us wear the weighted vests today. The run’s not nearly as bad without them."
However, Leo rolled his eyes at that comment.
Maybe it wasn’t bad for them, but for him? It was already hell.
Even without the added weight, 50 laps in, he could feel the exhaustion creeping in—his muscles aching, his breath growing heavier.
But unlike yesterday, there was something different.
At Least today, he knew he could keep going for at least 30 laps more at the minimum, because his body did have the necessary strength to pull that off.
And with Mu Shen’s endless rants and Su Yang’s calm determination beside him, he had hope to cover the last 20 too, as he felt like maybe, just maybe, completing the 100 laps mark wasn’t impossible today after all.
"Skyshard, Shen, we must go faster, the bastards behind us are only a single lap behind.
We must crush them everyday in training, so they psychologically never dare to think they’re equal to us—" Su Yang said, as he increased the pace of his running slightly, much to the dismay of both Leo and Mu Shen.
"You crazy fucker… you need to tone down your obsession of stomping down the Commoners, we are already a lap ahead of them.
And unlike you, I have no interest in giving them psychological nightmares!" Mu Shen complained, as he looked prepared to shove that same stick up Su Yang’s ass that he wanted to shove up Marvin’s.
"You have no vision, Mu Shen, and you don’t have the qualities of a good leader in you.
Skyshard understands me, which is why he is my rival, while you’re just a friend" Su Yang replied, as both Mu Shen and Leo rolled their eyes at his words, before increasing their pace to match his.
"Just to be clear…. I work solo, I don’t want to lead no-one!" Leo said, as Mu Shen nodded in agreement.
"Skyshard has to be the most obnoxious, and clueless individual I’ve ever seen.
Did you see that hottie that came to chat with him this morning? One of the only two good looking girls in the Elite Class?
She invited Skyshard to run in a pack with her, even said it coquettishly while squeezing her boobs, however, Skyshard simply replied ’Sorry, I prefer to go solo–’," Mu Shen mimicked, as this time around Su Yang chuckled out loud.
"Did he really do that? Which one was it? Deryl? Or Gio?" Su Yang asked, as Mu Shen immediately replied "Gio–"
"Mmmm…. That one’s got a serious pair, I’m surprised you did not choose to run beside her, Skyshard, you could have seen quite the view of her balloons jiggling," Su Yang teased, as Leo’s face darkened.
"If she approached either of us, I’m sure both of us would take the offer, but not Skyshard.
Skyshard is a hard man!
When his girlfriend asks him ’Honey? Do you want me to blow you?’, Skyshard shakes his head and replies ’Sorry, I prefer to go solo–’," Mu Shen teased, as both him and Su Yang immediately burst into laughter.
And burst into the uncontrollable kind, which completely messed up their cadence and their breathing patterns.
"Oh shut-up! I’m just a focused man, I’m focused on getting stronger and not on heavy balloons.
Also, she’s not that pretty anyways—" Leo fought back, however, his words fell on flat ears.
Su Yang and Mu Shen simply did not care for what he had to say, and kept laughing and expanding on the joke for the next 5 laps, as they pissed the shit out of Leo.
However, because of how relaxed they ran, joking and laughing with one another, none of them felt the fatigue creeping in, which helped them get to lap80 in a breeze.
"Look at those three at the front…. They’re laughing and running like they don’t feel the pressure at all.
They’re one and a half laps ahead from the rest of us, yet there’s not a frown on their faces—" Noted a student from the rest of the class running pack, whose atmosphere was not as cheerful as Leo and company.
Infact, in stark contrast to what Leo experienced with Su Yang and Mu Shen, the morale of the majority of the class pack was not flying high at all.
As after every couple laps, one of them would drop out, after complaining about feeling dizzy since the past 5 laps.
"Fuck the talented and fuck their friendship with one another.
As if it’s not bad enough that they’re born with more natural talent than the rest of us, now they’re bonding over their talents too, as they laugh down on us!"
"Talent doesn’t determine your physical conditioning.
If they can run 100 laps without breaking a sweat, then it means they’ve lived a life far more difficult than most of us can even imagine.
They have trained for this…. It wasn’t given to them at birth" One sensible student amongst them spoke, however, his words only served as dampening the spirits of the others even more.
It was bad enough to acknowledge that they did not have the same elite level talent as the top students of the class, however, to also admit they did not work as hard as them on-top, really hurt their pride.
"I can’t… I can’t…. I’m dropping. I can’t run like those monsters, 100 laps are not for me!" Said yet another student as he crashed on the running track on the 97th lap, with just 3 more to go—
It was a pitiful fall, one so close to the finish line, however, while he failed, Leo, Su Yang and Mu Shen did not, as the trio managed to complete the 100th lap, while the majority of the class was still on 98th at the end.