The Elusive Book Keeper

None of the students had any particular opinion about the fitness test and it brought a smile to Aaron's face.

He introduced the two men with him. "These are my teaching ȧssistants. By my left is Cale Hale and by my right is Alec Hale. They are both Level 12 snipers so please approach them if you have any questions or concerns."

The two men looked so similar. Both had black hair with a short haircut and black eyes. They were tall and looked incredibly fit even much more than their instructor. The one on the right, Alec grinned at them mischievously.

With that, he led the whole class out to the large training ground. It was much larger than the shooting rink Zane trained in at Cloud city.

The training group had a large swimming pool, a wide shooting rink, a space filled with all sorts of training equipment and a track course. It really redefined the meaning of outdoor gym.

"Mr West, do we have access to the training hall when we are not in class?" Jet's tone was laced with excitement.

"'Sir', You will refer to me as Sir as long as we are in a classroom. And yes, as long as you are taking the course, you can use the training grounds for five hours a day as long as your demerits are under 25. It is best if you train under supervision. Overtraining can lead to the same bad results as not training at all."

Alec Hale whispered something to Aaron and he nodded. He then added, "If you are registered with the Faculty of Combat, you can use any training ground in the faculty for ten hours as long as your demerits are under 25.  My earlier instructions still stand. Train with caution."

Many students let out a gasp of shock. Just looking at the training equipment and suits they were wearing, it was all superb quality. Their eyes turned red with excitement; they could not wait to start training. Alec chuckled, he decided not to add that this training ground was quite poor compared to some courses in the faculty, especially those that were coded orange or red.

Zane just watched his fellow students. Jet was standing next to him so Zane could clearly see him shaking with excitement. Zane on his own part shuddered, there was a difference between fake and real. Apart from the shooting rink, all parts of the training ground made him feel phantom pain from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes. He could not see himself genuinely spending time in this training ground.

"Alright, we will begin now. 100 sit-ups in 2minutes, 100 pushups in 2 minutes, 15 pull-ups, an obstacle rope climb and a ten minute 500 yards swim. You get 2 minutes of rest interval." He pulled up a hologram of the sports band and typed in some instructions.

The gasps this time around were not due to excitement. Even Zane narrowed his eyes, he had not considered this. The training clothes they wore continued to get heavier before stopping. It should be at least 50 pounds.

Some of the students started looking at each other. Was this basic? A hundred sit-ups were no problem for that average warrior but the timing and now added weight was the problem.

Jet chuckled but before the volume of his laughter could increase, a resounding "One" everyone looked over to see that Avery Millox had already begun the exercise.

"One." Almost simultaneously, another female voice called out. It was Olivia Knight, Olive's twin sister.

"Two!! Two!!" The competitive shouts continued provoking others to begin the exercise as well.

Zane looked to his left, Jet had already started doing his sit-ups and to his right, Nate, the boy that helped him in the bathroom was even counting along with Avery.

There was no rush. This was an individual exercise. Zane sat down, grabbed his toes by his fingers, bent his ċhėst and head towards his knees,  and relaxed his entire body. A 45 seconds V stretch would harm anyone.

When he was done, he could hear Avery already at 64. Zane just changed his position and recited, 'one' in his heart.

The grounds soon became a place of grunts and mȯȧns. Aaron and his two ȧssistants moved within the students, adjusting their postures.

The moment he reached hundred, he could feel the vibration from the sports band he wore on his wrists.

He opened his eyes only to see Jet grinning at him.

"100 in exactly two minutes. Not bad." Jet complimented him in the most frivolous and sarcastic tone ever.

Zane grinned, "Talk about hard. Never done sit-ups with weights on before. How many did you do?"

Jet scoffed, "I do it all the time. 145, it is a little poor today."

Zane's eyes gleamed as he looked at him, "Wow!"

Jet kept his face blank as he struggled. The fact that the 2nd rank in the CAT was looking at him with admiration made him almost dizzy. His sports band vibrated and he coughed a little awkwardly, "Wish you luck! One!"

Zane's ears tingled. He did not need to shout so loud.

Zane took his time to observe the students. Avery looked like she would soon be done with her push-ups. His eyes also moved to Olive, the boy did not seem to be breaking a sweat, neither him nor his sister. Zane's lips curved, this type of interesting people were the best.

The results of the class were varied, some were performing well, others were performing poorly. It was a normal situation, there was no school in the world where all the students had equal talent.

"Mr Gilbert, Mr Fawners, Miss Snow, Miss Wane. You are short. Please redo the exercise." Aaron West called out.

Nate Gilbert's face paled considerably, growing dimmer as he heard the instructor's next statement.

"Don't feel pressured, we still have time. You will keep redoing it till you do 100 sit-ups in 2 minutes. I think that that is the minimum for students who are planning to take this course."

Zane made sure to keep the same horrified expression as others, he even added extra and sent Nate a pitying expression. Was he shocked? Not at all.

"Si...Sir, what if we can not finish it?" Each exercise consumed energy, doing it over and over again, was not just asking for death.

"Cannot finish it?" Aaron's tone became serious, "If there is a reward for outstanding results then there is a punishment for underperformance. The penalty is two demerits."

One of the girls, Precious Snow, bent her head as she whispered in disgruntlement, "That's just not fair."

"Fair? You are looking for fairness? Amherst College is the best college in the entire Terra in terms of survival. It has a 70% survival rate. Those are indeed great odds." Mr Aaron chuckled but there was an extremely cold gaze in his eyes that was hard to detect. "The Sniper Class has a 46% survival rate. As Snipers, you would not be close to your team. If you sustain damage, do you think the healer would leave other team members unaided to heal you? Fairness? Such words don't exist. The only thing you can do is survive. Those will mock you for your class, those that will look down on you. The only thing you can do is grow strong, get strong and survive. He who survives, wins. That's all the fairness you need."

The man's voice was soft but it stirred a dėsɨrė within the youths gathered in the hall.

Zane watched them, observing their various reactions. His rest time was soon up and he began his push-ups. Zane's muscles bulged as he lifted his body up. 50 pounds was a little too much for him.

He chose to do the obstacle rope climb first before the pull-ups. That was his favourite ability training exercise so even with the pounds on him, he quickly finished it.

He touched the pull up equipment gingerly. It should be stable, right? The worst way for him to go is through an exercise accident.

His hands shook as he placed it on the bar. His heart kept pounding so hard that Zane did not have any strength to think.

"Don't come down too fast. Swinging puts pressure on the shoulder joints."

"Yes, Sir." He replied.

Zane did not bother to change out of his wet clothes as he crawled out of the water and fell on the floor. He looked next to him. Good. He was not the only one. Other students were littered on the training grounds.

Doing pull-ups with 50 pounds was hell but it had still been the first part of hell. Swimming with 50 pounds on the other hand was the ninth part of hell. He felt like his body was going to collapse at any moment. Breathing felt like a long chore to him.

"You guys have done well." That kind voice began and Zane subconsciously started to shiver.

"Rest well! You have fifteen minutes to relax and stretch. After that, we will begin the marksmanship test."

This person was the devil.. Zane thought as he struggled to breathe.