"Fuck" A hoarse voice rang out of the mouth which quickly went back to panting.

'I hate the sun. Been roasting me for hours now. Never been a fan of sports and physical activities either. Now I know why I hate it.'

'Shit, my thoughts are becoming more random. I am seriously drained right now.'

Noah's pace was close to a crawl as he was carrying a nearly 10 kg log on his back. His shirt was drenched and soaked hours ago. He could even feel the blisters on his hands carrying that big ass thing as well as on the soles of his feet. He was already at his limit long ago. The only thing between him and giving up is the face of the bastard shooting a grin at him from the side. Oh, how much he wanted to just sock that face in. But clearly, the world didn't favor him this time and that rascal was having the time of the day.

'Just wait you asshole, I am going to make your life hell now. This has become personal.'

While Noah was cursing Knight Rylee in his mind who was walking along while smiling at him, Ava and Shaun stood at the far side having worried looks on their face.

"Shouldn't we stop Knight Rylee now? It has already gone on for too long" Shaun asked looking at the miserable appearance of Noah.

"We could try but I doubt he would do so just because we said it. Moreover, this is Noah we're talking about. Just look at him right now. He is being all kinds of stubborn. If we go now, he may even lash out at us for stopping him. The only way I can see this stopping is either one of them backs out. But they're really similar in the way, they are both being way too stubborn and I don't want to join in." Ava said stretching herself after the extra-long obstacle course they had to do after the marathon. Thankfully, they had a break in which they gave some food and water or else they might have collapsed by now. Noah also looked to have had some water but they weren't sure if he had food.

"I get what you're saying but the way it is going, Noah could seriously hurt himself." Shaun said pointing at the two in the distance.

"That would be absolutely true had this been our old world. I'm sure knights must have faced injuries regularly with the kind of training they do. They would surely have something to patch him up. Besides, we are not in the condition to bail him out when we haven't even completed all our tests. We will check on that after we complete this hack 'n slash with the dummy." Ava said picking up the wooden sword.

"I'm not sure what to do. I could see him acting stubborn but leaving him like that also doesn't just sit right with me." Shaun said sharing his concerns.

"Well, you can't just back him up every time he throws shit on people. He kinda needs this. Better now with little consequences than sometime in the future when we could be in danger. The world has changed. We need to adapt to it." Ava said starting her swinging practice at the dummy.

Hearing her words, Shaun looked towards Noah in a resigned manner and picked up his sword to hack at the wooden figure placed in front of him.

Meanwhile, Noah was starting to see things as his vision started fading. He could see 'her' with her beautiful smile on. His spirit improved remembering the memory. Then a mocking voice came crashing his mood.

"You seem to be hanging there all right. Hmm, Want to quit? I'm sure a guy like you who looks like he hasn't ever run properly could do better as a Civilian."

Noah trekked on not paying attention to his words.

At this point, he was out of energy to even glare at the guy.

He just wanted this to be over with. He had enough of this torture. He just wanted to rest and have a bath because God, he was stinking. The blistering heat wasn't enough. He had to deal with the smell too.

But he could endure all of that. The thing he couldn't was just standing in front of him. The bastard was standing in front of him blocking his path. He looked up to motion with his eyes to move over but one thing perplexed him. The smile on his face was gone and was replaced by a neutral expression. Regardless, he had no energy to think about that. He started urging with eyes only to be stunned when his words reached him.

"You are done." Rylee said with no outward emotion.

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He couldn't catch the words. Not because he couldn't hear them or something like that but more like he couldn't believe them.

"The course is completed."

If the previous sentence didn't do it. This one did. All energy suddenly left him and he slumped to the ground with the log sliding off his shoulder. He had no energy left to think. He just stared at the sky taking deep breaths trying to calm his heartbeat.

His body seems to be doing cheers able to relax after that intense period of exertion. He just wanted to fall asleep. He could feel his body loosening and-

"Urgh!" something hit his face prompting him to open his eyes while fumbling around looking for the culprit. He came upon it in the form of a cylindrical box of some sort.

"Put some salve on your arms and legs. You should be up in half an hour. The tests aren't over yet. Join others in their practice sets when you can stand back up." Knight Rylee said that and moved on to the other members of the group who were going through their hacking session.

Noah kept staring at Rylee's back until he became a spot in the distance which didn't take much time considering his speed. He then turned towards the box containing some salve.

Reaching out to it sent waves of pain through Noah's body which elicited a groan from his mouth. He slowly moved his hand trying to endure the sheer exhaustion and pain his body was being wracked with. Finally, he grabbed the box and pried upon the cap with his other hand.

Opening the box greeted him with a herbal scent. He looked to see a semi-solid gel like substance that was mostly translucent with a green tint filled inside the container. Picking up some of it, he applied carefully on his palms taking care not to put pressure on the blisters. He didn't want to feel any extra pain. Shortly after applying it, the area felt warm to him and pain started slowly subsiding. Seeing the effectiveness of the salve, he quickly applied it on the other blisters and small cuts.

Then, he painfully removed his shoes presenting him with the ugly state of his feet. Blisters covering almost the entire area. He went to work applying it everywhere. Once done with it, he just closed the salve container and then laid there on the ground.

The salve worked almost magically as he could feel the pain lessening as the minutes passed by. He welcomed the rest and closed his eyes enjoying the feeling of wind passing over his body.

A little more than half an hour passed by like this. Noah then opened his eyes feeling his body. The pain had become much less noticeable now. Sitting up, he could still feel aches here and there but nothing that couldn't be endured by him.

He glimpsed towards the horizon to see several figures there practicing including Shaun and Ava. He tried to walk in that direction but at first, he could only limp because of the pain. Fortunately, he got used to it and was able to walk somewhat properly.

He reached the source of activity within a few minutes. Moving towards his friends, they stopped their activity noticing and rushed towards him.

"You feeling okay?" Shaun asked supporting Noah's body.

"You don't look too good." Ava also showed a concerned expression noticing his slightly limping gait.

"I will be fine." Noah didn't want to worry them too much and it wasn't like he was lying. He was really feeling much better.

"You should ask for a break. He won't refuse you. Many are already taking some breaks in between." Shaun said pointing at the people resting on the side.

"Sure, I will take a break every now and then. I know how much my body can handle." Noah said trying to reassure his friends but they could clearly hear him not mentioning about having a rest now.

Both sighed at Noah's behavior. Seeing no way to stop Noah, they headed back and proceeded to hack at the dummies.

"Take care. We can't have you fainting on us." Ava said turning her head back before striking the dummy as before.

"Of course." Noah replied with a smile before he took one of the wooden swords and joined the others in hacking.

Everyone took breaks in between all the practicing. Some took more than others but almost all completed the sets. Those who would have given up had already done so back in the first test of the marathon.

The sun eventually climbed directly over their head indicating that time was up. This was also cemented by the loud bang of drums coming from the center of the camp.

The trio along with all others sitting on the ground could see Knight Rylee coming up from that same direction.

"Follow behind me." Rylee didn't say anything more and turned around taking big strides back to center of camp.

The Initiates begrudgingly stood up from resting and ran after him.

Within a few minutes, they could see a scene similar to the morning with a crowd standing in front of the platform with Knight Sanders standing on it. They joined the crowd soon after.

It seems that they were the last group to arrive as Knight Sanders begin speaking after everything settled within the crowd.

"Congratulations, For most of you have completed the tests and emerged triumphant. For those of you who were not able to complete the entire trial, fear not as you will be given plenty of opportunities to prove yourself in the next few days." Knight Sander nodded at the crowd and continued.

"Those who have completed the trial will be given a growth potion to applaud their efforts. Further potions will be handed over on the basis of your weekly performances and improvement. Therefore, I hope you try your best in the upcoming days. All Initiates who will be participating further in the camp are to gather every day here in the morning for the training." He waved at the knights who came forward with satchels in their hands containing crystal potion bottles.

"Now, the knights will distribute the potions after which they will take you back to your Inn for a meal. Then they will finally escort you to the City Hall for you to choose which Profession you wish to take. Remember to memorize the locations as the knights are escorting you just this once. After which you will be on your own." Knight Sanders finished and moved down from the platform.