The morning sun is quiet and elegant and without a noisy atmosphere, people feel calm and relaxed. The soft sunlight soothes tranquilizes the mind. But it was not the case for the twelve students that arrived early to the classroom. Thinking of the training that the teacher would arrange for them makes them shudder.
They were all gathered in the training area waiting for the teacher.
Max and Raven also arrived earlier as instructed by the teacher. But unlike other's gloomy mood, Max was standing there with a calm face. Under the eyes of the students, Marcus arrived to the training zone while dragging a heavy bag on the floor along with him.
"Good Morning, Instructor Marcus!"
Everyone bowed their heads in greeting while Marcus nodded lightly in return.
"Today, we will start the first phase in our training. That is improving your physical fitness and stamina."
"Physical strength is very important for a Star Knight. You may not know but the more strong your body is, the more star power you can bear. As your physical fitness increases your cultivation speed will also increase though it may not be noticeable.
Even for a Support Star Knight, physical training is very important. You must be able to escape from the enemy if he were to target you. Now without a strong body and stamina, it is not possible to run from the enemy. You will lose your life just because your low physical fitness."
Marcus looked at them very seriously. Max also agreed with his idea. If he cannot endure during a battle, even if he has star power, without stamina to fight it is all a waste. You will be easily exhausted.
He asked them to run a lap around the area for warm up.
As they were running, Marcus opened the bag he brough earlier and dropped a few metal bands from it. Every time an object fell from the bag, dust sprang across the area along with a huge thud.
Everyone finished the lap within a few minutes and stood before Marcus looked at the objects with curiosity. The objects looked like bracelets made out of some metal. As they were wondering why he brought these things, Marcus instructed them.
"These are weights made by blacksmiths using a heavy metal alloy. Every one should wear four of them across your four limbs and start running. The weights on the left pile are for the Support Star Knights while the remaining for others. Wear them quickly and start running. You should finish 30 laps before the noon."
"Hiss!"
All the twelve members took a deep breath.
"Since this is your first day, I did not seal your star power. You cannot use star power while running. But you can use star power to recover your condition."
Everyone could only pick up their weights in dismay and start running. As Max picked up the weights and wore them he felt a little heavy. The total weight of the four combined was 20 kilograms. Looking at the weights wore by the Support Star Knights it only looked around 10 kilograms. Max also started running.
This time everyone did not rush too fast from the start. They learned from yesterday and started running at a slow pace just as Max did.
Time quickly passed. As the number of completed laps increased, the breathing of the running students gradually became rougher. The physical fitness and endurance of the students was revealed at this moment. Every one stopped once in a while to recover their body with their star power.
Max also gradually adapted to the weights as he ran at a constant pace. As two hours passed everyone completed running 20 laps. Marcus was looking at them with an expressionless face.
There was still an hour before noon. Max was running his 22nd lap while Raven and Dukas completed 21 laps.
"Brother, why don't we rest for a few minutes before running. The instructor did not prevent us from taking rest. He just told us to complete the task before noon."
Raven suggested as he stopped running and panted heavily.
"Alright."
Max nodded as he was also a bit exhausted. Though he had a strong physical strength due to the body art, he cannot continuously run for so long with those weights. Even with his physical fitness, he only had a limited stamina.
The remaining students also followed them and started to lay on the ground to take rest. Max only rested for a few minutes before he picked up his laps. He thinks once the momentum is lost, it is difficult to adapt back to the condition before. He read it once in a book during his retirement. It was called inertia.
As Max started running once again, the remaining students also began to resume their laps.
There were still fifteen minutes before noon. Marcus opened his eyes, looking at the students, he saw Max sitting on the ground near the finish line and meditating. He looked at him in satisfaction. Then he glanced around the training area.
Raven and Dukas also finished running and sat near Max, using star power to speed up their recovery. As the time passed only six people completed the laps including Max.
"Stop running. Everyone assemble near the finish line."
Marcus shouted as everyone walked towards him with their bodies covered with sweat, and uneven breathing.
"Six of you leave the classroom."
Marcus pointed to the six people who did not finish their laps. Few of them changed their faces. They thought he would not notice how many laps they completed as he had his eyes closed the whole time. They did not expect him to find them.
Those six people left quickly for fear of angering the teacher as they could be expelled directly for deceiving a teacher.
"You can rest now. Keep those weights with you till the training ends. Remember, you will have to pay for any damages caused to the equipment. The first phase of your training will continue for a month."
Marcus explained to them and left under the eyes of the tired students. All of them did not leave the training ground to their dorms but removed the weights and slumped on the ground to take deep breaths.
Max did not remove the weights as he sensed the Titan Body art which had no response ever since he broke through the fifth level activate a little. Although the increase was negligible, he felt that if he continued to do his daily training, not limited to the class, while wearing the weights he can get a significant improvement in the Titan Body Art in long run.
As everyone returned to their dormitories, Max also returned along with Raven. He looked at Raven who was sleeping in the midday and shook his head. He still felt his body a little heavy after wearing the weights. He could not adapt to the weights normally. But Max did not remove them thinking he would slowly adapt to them and one day wear them without feeling any heaviness in the body.
Thinking of the training today, that was effective to his body art, the corners of his mouth raised into a small arc. He felt that the teacher was truly competent. May be there would be more surprises in the future.