Start of training

From the following week, Alex realized that he definitely didn't appreciate enough of the free time that he had. His preparation for admission to the Academy of exorcists under the guidance of Father Joseph began right after the completion of the usual lessons and ended only when Alex could no longer move even a finger.

As he already knew, this world was very different from the world in which Alex lived his first life. Training that would have brought him to his grave earlier was one of the few ways to become stronger relatively quickly here. Only by pushing your body to the limit of its capabilities, and this should really be the limit, tricks did not work here, you could ascend to the next step. Contrary to everything else, the training content itself was quite standard. Various exercises for the development of physical strength, speed, proper breathing, also special emphasis was placed on pumping endurance.

The main difference was that, after several hours of intense training, it was time to "increase strength". Every day gave Alex a chance to make a little jump and become a little stronger, but it was really not easy to do it.

- Hmm, - approaching the horizontal bar standing in the yard of the shelter, Father Joseph looked thoughtfully at the boy standing next to him, wet with sweat. – Today you did a good job... do twenty pull-ups and you're free.

- Okay, Father, - nodding wearily, Alex went to the horizontal bar and straightened his gloves on his hands, after a painful second of doubt, still hung on the crossbar. – And one... and two... and three…

At the moment, he was only six and a half years old, and he was not at all sure if he was capable of doing at least one pull-up in his first world at that age. However, everything was different here, now doing this exercise 6-7 times was not a problem at all. The real obstacle was the tired body after training and the fact that it was necessary to do almost two and a half times more.

The first three or four were given to him relatively easily, three more already with considerable difficulty, another of the last forces. And then hell began. It wasn't the first time he had done this and he always thought he would be ready next time, but it wasn't the case. His hands were shaking, and his fingers were literally begging him to unclench them, but Alex stubbornly seemed to pull the crossbar towards himself, already knowing that pulling up his head or shoulders would not be counted. No jerks or foot movements, the exercise should have been performed almost perfectly.

His chin was finally just above the crossbar, and with a long moan, he lowered his body down, allowing him to hang freely on his hands. His hands themselves were no longer just shaking, but almost vibrating with tension, and his consciousness was gradually beginning to fog up. The encouraging voice of his coach was barely discernible behind the growing noise in his ears. Any normal person would have stopped torturing himself a long time ago and let go of the crossbar, but Alex knew perfectly well that if he did this, the whole training day would be wasted. Already thinking little, with an absolutely empty head, he began to stretch again, including every possible muscle on his arms and back.

At the same time, Father Joseph, standing next to him, looked with undisguised sadness at the torment of a child who grew up in the walls of this orphanage. Secretly from everyone, he always prayed to God that he would no longer have to be a teacher of future soldiers of the church. However, fate, as if laughing at him, regularly threw him his new students. He himself had also been an exorcist in the past, albeit not very capable, so he was well aware of the difficulties that stood in this difficult path.

Before his eyes, Alex had almost crossed the line of the maximum capabilities of his body, but it was still not enough. Having pushed his body to the limit of its capabilities, he had only two options. Try to move on, or give up and try next time.

The boy's chin slowly reached the crossbar and there, intolerably slowly, rose even higher. A sad smile blossomed on Father Joseph's face. At least these torments were not in vain. A second after the tenth pull-up was completed, Alex's incredibly tired, half-empty gaze suddenly flashed from the energy that flooded him. Having lowered his body down again, he, as if at the very beginning of his journey today, began to do pull-ups with extraordinary ease. Fatigue seemed to have left his body.

Watching the exercise with the same sad smile, the old teacher involuntarily recalled long-forgotten feelings. He knew exactly what had happened. This was what made people stronger.

In those moments when Alex's willpower overcame the weakness of his body and he "couldn't" do one or even two more exercises, it was as if a second wind opened in him. An extraordinary burst of strength, which allowed him to do almost as much as he had done before. However, there was a second side to this effect. The one that was why the teacher was needed.

Seeing that the boy had already completed nineteen pull-ups and was confidently starting the twentieth, Father Joseph quickly came closer and waited until his chin was once again above the crossbar, with one hand he grabbed Alex around the waist, removing him from the simulator. The boy's eyes were full of sincere surprise, he did not even feel that he had already completed the task. Now his body was still overflowing with energy, but the moment the exercise was interrupted, the effect began to disappear. Fatigue returned quickly.

Putting Alex on his feet and in no case letting him plop to the ground, Father Joseph waved his hand to the girl patiently waiting near the courtyard gate. The man carefully looked at the body of the boy, whom he was still holding by the hand, looking only for signs known to him.

The thing is that the so-called "increase in strength", in addition to everything else, gave a temporarily tangible effect, allowing a person to surpass himself for a short time. However, after a few seconds or minutes, it all depended on the circumstances, this effect began to subside, and the force quickly rolled back, leaving the person completely exhausted if he did everything right, or severely crippled/dead if he overdid it. In the preparation of the future warrior of the church, this stage was the most important.

- Brother!

Asia hurriedly ran up and immediately shoved a heavy mug of water under the guy's nose.

"S-thank you," Alex nodded gratefully, bringing it to his mouth with a trembling hand, he already felt fatigue returning to his body.

- In small sips! – just in case, Father Joseph reminded, still looking at him attentively. – ...And now at a slow pace, around the yard…

Nodding silently, there was simply no strength left for an answer, Alex tore his lips from the mug and, supported by the arm of an excited Asia, wandered forward. Of course, right now his only desire was to fall straight to the ground and lie down for at least half an hour, but he also knew perfectly well that a sharp transition from an incredible load to complete relaxation would not bring anything good.

After walking about half of the measured path, recovering his breathing a little and bringing the rhythm of his heartbeat to a relative norm, Alex smiled gratefully at his sister and finally freed himself from her support.

- Thank you, my angel, then I'll do it myself.

- Brother! – blushing prettily, Asia shook her finger at him. – You can't say that, the Lord will be angry.

- We are all sinners, - Alex laughed wearily, continuing to walk along the route set for him. – I think that he will forgive me such a trifle after all…

A few minutes later, he finally walked around the entire courtyard and returned to his room with the same unhurried steps, where he immediately collapsed on the sofa. The weakness in the body was simply indescribable. Asia sat next to him for a while longer, but then one of the orphanage's pupils came and called her to play in the yard, and Alex did not bother her at all. Left alone, he spent another half hour in bed until he finally got up and wandered into the bathroom. There wasn't much time left before evening prayers and dinner, and he didn't plan to make everyone sitting at the table with him inhale the scent of his terribly sweaty body at all.

Arriving in the bathroom, he devoted half a minute to looking at his tired face in the mirror before the shower water finally warmed up to a sufficient temperature. He hated it when his beautiful blond hair got tangled in sweaty wisps, but he hated warm, not hot water even more.

When the water pressure from the shower finally overwhelmed his childish naked body, Alex again felt how tired he was. Every limb was literally begging not to do anything. His training had been going on for a couple of weeks and the difficulty still continued to increase. However, Alex was determined to move on. Every time he woke up in a new day, he really felt a little stronger. Not as strong as at the moment of the "increase", however, every time he stepped over himself like this, his body evolved, making a small step towards such a sweet and alluring force.