With that, Asher willed Virelass from his soul, the rapier appearing seamlessly in his hand. In a smooth motion, he slashed across the ground, leaving his third Position Mark there. He currently didn’t know their exact location, as Instructor Mira had been the one who teleported them here. And judging from what Instructor Jane had done the other ti during her first class, Asher was certain that Instructor Mira wouldn’t teleport them back to their rooms.
Besides, who even knew how far their rooms were from this place? Them walking or running over here could very well be part of the early morning warm-up physical training before she threw them into the real training itself, ensuring their bodies were already ward up before the true challenge even began.
Asher was sure that Instructor Mira had given everyone one strike so they could figure out where they were and easily locate it next ti. They only had one chance to try, and failure would not be tolerated beyond that single margin, a strict limitation that reflected the nature of the Academy itself.
Asher’s eyes turned to the side, and there, Finch stood with a huge smile on his face as his businessman side took over. To Finch, this unknown location was a way to earn Academy points. Of course, normally students wouldn’t be willing to spend points and might try to return on their own, but with the training they were about to start, everyone would simply be too exhausted to even walk, let alone find their way back to their apartnt buildings without assistance.
Asher could practically read Finch’s thoughts from his expression, but he said nothing. He simply shook his head as Virelass returned to his soul. He was brought out of his thoughts as Instructor Mira spoke again, her voice cutting through the air with indifferent calmness.
"We shall begin your physical training imdiately; we’ve wasted enough ti," Instructor Mira stated. She pointed her thumb behind her as she spoke. "You see the mountain behind ?" Her question was clearly rhetorical. "Your goal is to climb to its peak. When you get there, you have ten minutes of rest before you begin to climb down. You are to use nothing but your bare hands and legs," she stated calmly, leaving no room for interpretation.
Although she had restricted their Astra energy, so abilities clearly didn’t require Astra energy, like Finch’s and Asher’s soul-bound weapons, so she had to clarify to avoid any form of misunderstanding or exploitation of loopholes, ensuring clear compliance.
The students’ eyes finally registered the mountain that lood before them. Obviously, they knew a mountain was in front of them since they woke up, but they hadn’t bothered to truly observe it. Looking at it now, their eyes couldn’t help but widen in shock. After all, this was the tallest mountain they had ever witnessed in their lives.
Clearly, it was man-made. It seed far too tall and unnaturally wide to have been ford by nature itself, its sheer scale defying what they believed to be natural limits, almost as though it existed purely to challenge them.
They couldn’t help but curse inwardly. If this had been a situation where they still had full access to their Astra energy, they could have reached the peak of the mountain within a couple of minutes. In fact, even without it, relying purely on their physical bodies, they could still complete the task with almost no difficulty. But now, with the overwhelming weight effect holding them back, and being forced to literally crawl upwards, they would undoubtedly suffer throughout the entire climb.
Asher sighed quietly, shaking his head in silence. Indeed, climbing a mountain was about as close as one could get to a full-body workout in a single physical training session. And he understood that the mountain was designed to be this tall and extensive precisely because of everyone’s natural physical capability and stamina.
"Begin," Instructor Mira stated with a stern tone, her voice heavy as it pressed down on them just as heavily as the unseen weight.
At her command, so students imdiately rushed forward, diving straight into the training without hesitation. Others hesitated montarily, but that hesitation quickly vanished as they felt Instructor Mira’s overwhelming presence press down upon their already heavy bodies, forcing them into motion.
And with that, over five hundred students surged toward the mountainside, their hands gripping any holds they could find as they began to push their bodies upwards. The holds of the mountain were firm and hard, strong enough to support their grip strength without crumbling. After all, at their level, even a casual grip could shatter ordinary stones and rocks into fine dust.
Of course, at the beginning, it was relatively easy. Everyone found cracks, edges, and jugs to fit their fingers and toes into as they steadily ascended, their movents still controlled and composed, maintaining a rhythm that conserved as much stamina as possible.
’Truly wicked,’ Asher thought to himself. Normally, high mountains like these had ledges, flat surfaces where people could stand or sit and rest for a few minutes or even hours if necessary. But this particular mountain had none of that. One had to reach the very top in order to truly rest.
And one couldn’t simply hang by the mountainside either. After all, maintaining a hanging position required imnse grip strength and continuous muscle engagent; every second spent hanging would still drain stamina just as much as climbing, making it an inefficient option.
The worst part? Nobody was wearing any shoes. After all, it wasn’t like people wore their shoes to bed or anything like that. Of course, so had worn socks, but they had already taken them off, as wearing socks to climb a mountain was an obviously terrible idea, and no one needed that to be explicitly stated.
Asher was ahead; beside him were a few others, and ahead of him were Teo and Thalric, who had moved first the mont Instructor Mira had given the signal. Of course, Asher didn’t rush to overtake them. There was no competition about who reached the peak first or anything like that; this was purely training, not a race.
Besides... had anyone truly thought about what would happen if soone slipped and fell?
Would Instructor Mira catch them? Or would she simply not bother, allowing Crownstar Life Rankers healder to intervene at the last mont and heal the students back to full health before death could claim them?
Asher shook his head, deciding to stop entertaining such unnecessary thoughts. If he fell and the Instructor didn’t save him, then he would simply use Virelass to save himself without hesitation.
Over an hour had already passed, and Asher was beginning to feel a slight strain in his body... but it was barely more than a faint tingle. He wasn’t even sweating yet, as though his body hadn’t fully registered what he was doing as genuine exertion. His breathing remained steady, his grip firm, his movents efficient and controlled.
But Asher understood that this was only the beginning. He hadn’t even reached halfway up the mountain yet; he was still incredibly far from the peak, and the true challenge had yet to begin, waiting for him higher above.
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