Weekly Competition

Ayan had faced the taunts and disdain from his friends before. But this was the first time someone expressed a strong animosity towards him without any real reason. The feeling of a strong challenge was weighing on him.

"I'm sorry. This is my fault," Camilo apologized. "Ember, that red-haired guy was easily beating everyone except Sara and he always humiliated us, showing off his powers. I told him that if you were here, you'd easily beat him."

Ayan raised his eyebrows. "But how can you be so sure that I'd beat him?"

Camilo explained, "The weight of his clothes had just reached 20kg and I knew you already had 25kg when you started. I thought you were stronger than him and provoked him with your name."

Ayan realized that though he was still wearing the dark blue robe, he couldn't feel the pressure anymore. Surprised, he tried moving around a bit but the robe didn't have much effect. With this, he felt more confident about tomorrow's challenge.

Recalling something, he asked, "How many days have passed since the training started?"

"It's been thirteen days since the training started," Camilo nonchalantly replied.

"What?" Ayan expressed his surprise. "You mean I was unconscious for 12 days."

Camilo nodded. "They said you were being treated in intensive care. Tell me, how did you get so seriously injured? Did you fail that obstacle course?"

Ayan thought of the explosion and the shady machine but he chose to keep it to himself for now. "I don't know. I completed the obstacle course, then went inside that strange dark room, and suddenly blacked out. The next time I woke up was today."

"You mean you got injured in that second test? That test was definitely spooky but it didn't seem dangerous enough to hurt anyone," Camilo said, raising an eyebrow.

Ayan hesitated and stated, "It felt like I got hit by some explosion before losing consciousness."

"An Explosion?" Camilo echoed, thinking for a moment. "Maybe there was an accident in a nearby lab and you got caught up in it. Thank goodness, we finished quickly otherwise we also might've been injured," Camilo guessed.

A glint flashed in his eyes as Camilo asked, "What did you experience in that test before you passed out?"

Ayan thought for a moment and replied, "I saw an illusion… of a beautiful woman."

Camilo burst out laughing. "So, you're afraid of beautiful women?"

"What do you mean?" Ayan asked, puzzled.

"All of us experienced our deepest fears in that illusion test," Camilo said with trepidation. "Honestly, it was even more difficult than that obstacle course."

He chuckled. "But you—you're weird being afraid of beautiful women! I can't help but wonder what you'd do if you ever had to fight Sara in the weekly rankings. That woman is ice-cold, beautiful, and terrifyingly strong."

"What's this about weekly rankings?" Ayan asked, still confused about this repeated term.

Camilo facepalmed. "Right. I forgot that you didn't experience the training for 12 days."

Ayan listened intently hoping to find out what he missed as Camilo continued.

"Every day, we go through the obstacle course, which of course changes sporadically. In the exhausted state after that, we endure a series of pain & resistance training, ending with the illusion in the dark room."

"Wait, what's pain & resistance training?" Ayan asked.

Camilo gave a strange smile. "You'll know it soon. I don't want to spoil the fun."

"But the real kicker is the weekly combat competition. The lowest-ranked male and female will have to clean the toilets, bathrooms and these dormitory walkways for the week on top of the strict training schedule. And tomorrow is the day for the next ranking competition."

"Aren't there any prizes for the winner?" Ayan asked the obvious question.

Camilo nodded. "The top ranker gets a special food designed to improve your physical abilities. It's not like I want to keep your hopes down, but it's better to forget about that prize."

Ayan raised an eyebrow, prompting him to continue further.

Camilo sighed. "It's always taken by Sara. You haven't seen her fight yet, but I'll strongly warn you—if you get paired against her, just quickly resign. Nobody lasted more than a single blow from her. Even Ember, who acts tough, got one hit K.O.'d by her. Whoever tried to stand before her, ended up with several fractures and internal injuries."

Ayan said doubtfully, "Fractures and internal injuries? But that Ember looked fine just a few minutes ago."

Camilo grinned. "You might not know but the treatment here is superb. Even serious injuries that are difficult to treat outside are healed just in a few days here. That's why I wonder—how severe your injuries were for you to need 12 days of healing."

Ayan's eyes narrowed as he thought about it. There was definitely something more than what meets the eye.

"I just remembered," Camilo said suddenly. "Sara wears an indigo-colored robe, which means her capacity is over 100kg. But you said yours was only 25kg. So, how come you have a different colored robe?"

Ayan explained about his unusual readings and technical problems with other robes.

Camilo's face twisted with jealousy. "So, you got to wear this cool robe because of such strange reasons? They said that black robe is made of the lowest material and the speed of improvement with other robes is exponentially higher."

Ayan said in a bitter tone. "Because of the defect, they'll always set the weight far higher than my body's capacity."

Camilo shook his head, recalling Ayan's sluggish movements before. "I'd rather slowly improve than go through the obstacle course with turtle's pace like you."

"Wait for me. I'll quickly change clothes and let's head to the cafeteria. Maybe, you'll get a glimpse of the prized food from the weekly competition," Camilo said, heading to his room.

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Camilo led him to the cafeteria. "The food here tastes great. I feel pity that you missed them for so many days," he said.

Ayan looked around, noticing the clean place and quiet environment. It felt more like a restaurant with neatly arranged tables and chairs. Camilo dragged him to the counter to get food.