“Same rules again,” said Instructor Aziz. “You’ll all be doing laps, but this time, you’ll be doing ten laps in your uniform. It’s an entirely different ballgame from yesterday, so make sure to stop jogging if you can’t.”

           Gaius looked at the other trainees surreptitiously. Most of them apparently weren’t all that comfortable with the uniforms, and he could understand why. Unlike the standard attire for refugees, these uniforms were made with good quality cloth. They were thicker, harder to move in and retained more heat.

           Although Gaius suspected that the last part was sort of lost on the children. Most of them were displeased with the limitations on their mobility, beyond anything else.

           Aziz looked around. “Today’s menu, however, isn’t just meat. There’s an extra secret ingredient too. Whoever makes it past this morning will get to find out what it is.”  

           After the chatter died down, he motioned for them to line up. “Ready, go!”

           Fewer children started sprinting off the bat this time, Aziz noted. Perhaps Gaius had told the others how to run for prolonged periods of time, or that the others had learnt from their prior observations. Most of them were now keeping pace with the sole winner of yesterday.

           That wasn’t going to be enough, however. The sun was beginning to rise, and if they jogged along Gaius, the heat was going to do them in eventually. Heat resistance wasn’t something one could acquire instantly, so either Gaius already had such experience or he didn’t know the difference between training before the sun was up and after it was up.

           The instructor leaned towards the latter hypothesis. After all, knightly families only started training harshly after their children came of age at fifteen years old. The years before then was to make sure they were acclimatised to training, and had a solid cultivation. Even the harshest Knight family Aziz knew off, the Sangue, only begun heat training around Gaius’ age.

           As expected, around 7.30 a.m., children were beginning to slow down by the droves. The medic he had on-site had to even support two kids into a sheltered area, where he promptly worked some magic to cool their bodies.

           It was worth it to bribe a medic to get up earlier. Instructor Aziz shook his head. Only the stars knew just how many people died from heat exhaustion when he and his squad were training as scouts. And well, the so-called bribe came from the coffers of the camp master, so it wasn’t any skin off his back.

           His repressed grin turned into shock as the minutes continued to tick by. Gaius was still keeping pace twenty metres in front of him, his uniform only somewhat wet from sweat. Instructor Aziz had passed the other kids long ago, but it was impossible to stay that dry after prolonged activity under the sun, given the weather in the Southern Continent.

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           What was going on? Aziz watched blankly as the boy in front of him finished his tenth lap, the only evidence of physical exertion visible on him a slightly dark patch on his back. For a moment, he wondered if he should ask Gaius about the run. But how was he going to ask?

           There wasn’t really any way he could phrase that question without having it sound awkward in the first place, and as an instructor, he had an image to maintain. The last thing he wanted was random soldiers saying every time he passed by, “What kind of instructor would ask a kid on running methods?”

           The stifled instructor turned his attention onto the other trainees. At least they were more normal than the boy that had just finished. After another hour, the last trainee finished the tenth lap to join the resting group of trainees, at which point he promptly blacked out, sending everyone into a fluster.

           His panicked medic immediately rushed over, calling upon qi to create a cooling environment for the fainted boy.

           For a moment, Instructor Aziz found himself speechless at the sight. For the life of him, he couldn’t recall ever threatening the trainees to finish the run or die trying. In fact, he had even told them to stop if they couldn’t... After casting one last critical glance at the busy medic, he walked towards the group.

           “Well, thanks to Triton, who just fainted, we now have an odd number of people right now.” Instructor Aziz shook his head. “Combat training, however, must still continue. Everyone except for…”

           He hesitated slightly. “…Gaius, pair up according to age. Warm up your bodies, and start sparring with each other. No one is to stop for the next hour. Gaius, you’re with me.”

           From the corner of his eye, he could see Jax with a slightly dissatisfied look on his face. Perhaps he was sore about not getting the chance for a rematch, but one day wouldn’t make any difference.

           “Boy, don’t hold back.” Instructor Aziz cracked his knuckles.

           “Mm.”

           “Whenever you’re ready, then.”

           The boy’s expression turned blank for the smallest of moments, and in the next second, he had vanished on the spot to reappear on Aziz’s left flank. The surprised instructor blocked the incoming open palm with his left forearm, and winced inwardly as a surprisingly heavy blow shook his bones.

           If the trainee’s blow had landed on his wrist, the fight might have been over. A broken wrist was a crippling enough injury that in a spar, he would choose to surrender to treat it immediately. Aziz withdrew his left arm slightly to readjust the angle of his next strike, and fired off his counterattack.

           Caution flashed across the trainee’s face, and both hands shot up to guard his face. There was a solid thump, and Gaius was forced to retreat two steps. But that was the extent of it. Without hesitation, the trainee drew close again, taking the initiative by punching out multiple times in succession, each hit bearing his full weight.

           Gears spun furiously in Aziz’s mind as he continued to parry or dodge the incoming punches. There were no feints mixed inside, but even the boy’s glancing blows were rattling his inwards. They were both humans, so why was there such a difference? Or was Gaius’ beast trait actually hidden?

           His mood dipped for the worse as he called out a layer of qi to wrap around his body. It was dirty and pretty much cheating, but instructors could not afford to lose to a trainee.

           Instructors had their own professional pride to maintain, after all.