Physical Limits

After having talked with Alvin a little more over lunch, Yune had decided to set his doubts to the side as this wasn't going to help him in any way. Now, with only determination to get stronger in his mind, Yune made his way over to the practical class after changing his uniform to a comfortable and loose sport attire as instructed.

Now standing side to side with the two thousand students in an open field, a tall and muscular male teacher began his introductory speech, which reminded everyone of Gerald Moyer's introduction.

"Hello students, I am the teacher of practical class five, Noah Cain. Every day, starting from today, I will teach the practical classes from 13:00 till 17:00. With the two thousand of you being the weakest students, I will need to start teaching you from scratch. With your poor performance, it isn't worth teaching you anything about mana usage yet. First of all your bodies have to become stronger, only then can you effectively start learning about mana and how to use your powers. Having said that, this first day you will be training your stamina. So start running till the end of the class!"

Having heard this, the students became rowdy again. They were looked down upon in the theoretical class and now also in the practical class. Even the students who had gained motivation to become stronger started complaining as they heard that they wouldn't be thought about mana usage.

All but one person that is. Upon hearing that one needs to build up stamina first so that he can effectively learn mana usage, Yune didn't hesitate before running off to the track, fully trusting the teacher.

The practical class teacher having seen this couldn't help but form a grin on his face. 'There is an interesting student this year. This is going to be fun.'

Looking back at the students, who were still complaining, the teacher's whole demeanor changed. "What are you doing?! Get your asses moving, or else I will help them move! Understand!?"

Hearing how angry the teacher had gotten, a few students got scared and started to run to the track. And when a few of them went, the rest soon followed.

Having gotten a head start of around half a minute, Yune had quite a lead on the other students, but as he looked back, a horde of students was quickly approaching him. Yune's body was so frail and out of shape that even running for a few meters was a hard task for him.

No matter how determined Yune was, there were limits to his body. After not even having ran a hundred meters, Yune's body began to slowly shut down and his speed began to decrease drastically as he started panting for air, oxygen leaving his body quicker than it can replenish, until finally Yune couldn't walk a single step anymore.

Falling to his knees, Yune put his hands to the ground desperate to catch some air. Struggling on the ground, his heart pounding, Yune could hear footsteps approaching him, increasingly becoming louder until a herd of footsteps passed him. Looking up, Yune saw that, without fail, all two thousands students had overtaken him despite his head start.

"I am pathetic." Yune whimpered as doubts started to fill his mind again, slowly drowning out his determination. 'Maybe I should just give up…'

With this thought flooding his mind, Yune could faintly hear footsteps coming towards him again. "Hah, am I going to be overtaken again? I really am pathetic." Yune whispered to himself.

"Indeed you are. In the state you are in now you absolutely are pathetic." A loud and unwavering voice suddenly said in front of Yune. "O yeah, and you will not be overtaken again, you will be getting lapped any second now. Overtaken means that you are in front of someone, but you are dead last."

Looking up to see who was talking to him, Yune looked the practical teacher, Noah Cain, directly in his stone-cold eyes. "You are right, I am pathetic. I am sorry sir." Yune said, his voice starting to become emotionless again, not caring for anything.

"Hmm, that's weird, boy. If I am not wrong, you were the first student to start running, so why are you so down right now?" Noah Cain asked, having had a lot of hope for Yune.

Hearing this, Yune remained emotionless, not giving the slightest reaction. "Can't you see that after a mere hundred meters I couldn't run anymore because I was exhausted already? I am weak. It doesn't matter if I started first, not even within a minute I became dead last. I am miles behind every student, what is the point?"

Noah Cain stared into Yune's eyes, but couldn't determine what he was thinking at all. Not knowing what the best thing to say was, he remained quiet for a second.

"Well, first of all, you aren't miles behind. The other students are only a kilometer in front of you. Second of all, it doesn't matter if you are weak now, the only thing that matters is getting stronger. You don't look exhausted at all anymore, I bet you could start running again. Even if it is only for a hundred meters at a time, it will still improve your stamina. I don't care how much you run, walk, or even crawl, as long as you are pushing yourself, you are getting stronger, more than that I can't ask for." Noah Cain said in an attempt to motivate Yune.

Compared to how Noah Cain was just a few minutes ago, screaming at the students, he had now completely changed when talking to Yune.

Noah Cain wasn't simply screaming at the students because he was an angry man, but because it was the best option to get the defiant students running.

But now in front of Yune, Noah Cain had changed completely, talking gently to Yune trying to encourage him as he thought this way would be the best way to help his student.

This approach seemed to have helped as Yune got back up to his feet, a spark of determination returning to his eyes. "Thank you sir, I won't disappoint you!" Yune said, before running off again.

Now once again, after roughly a hundred meters, Yune had run out of breath and started panting desperately, getting the urge to fall down. And despite trying to fight this urge to the fullest, Yune's body simply couldn't keep up, and fell to the floor again.

But this wasn't enough to stop Yune this time. With a flame of determination rampaging in his mind, he started crawling forward.

Noah Cain having seen this couldn't help but smirk a little. Not because he found it funny, but because he didn't expect anything else from Yune, even though he had just met Yune, he instantly felt like Yune was going to make it far.

While crawling, Yune managed to slowly catch his breath, and once he did, he started running again. Continuing this with sheer willpower, Yune had managed to complete his first lap of one kilometer after more than fifteen minutes.

"Good job boy, here have some food and water." Noah Cain said with a proud smile on his face as he handed Yune a box of military rations and water.

Taking a handful of military rations in one hand and a bottle of water in the other, Yune stuffed his mouth full of food and quickly got back to running again.

Maybe unnoticed to Yune, but after every time he fell down, crawled, and got back up again, Yune managed to run the slightest bit further. But after two hours, Yune finally started to notice this change himself after he had managed to run an entire lap of one kilometer without stopping.

With this realization, Yune's flame of determination seemed to have fully returned to him. But he wasn't satisfied yet as he was still far behind everyone else. Knowing this, Yune was set on working harder than anyone else.

After barely having rested for a few seconds after he had finished yet another lap, Yune continued running again as he stuffed his mouth with more military rations.