Nestor slowly crawled toward the fountain at the center of the training grounds. His whole body was in pain, aching from both the bruises and his tired muscles, strained by the run.

The hot sand surrounding him would occasionally gain a dark stain, as it absorbed his falling fluids. The fresh, water felt extremely reinvigorating, slipping down his throat it cooled down his mind.

'How am I still able to move is a mystery I can only explain through this miraculous fountain. Even if It doesn't give immediate benefits, it must have some kind of passive effects all around as the whole group must be benefitting from it.'

During the second hour of training, Nestor noticed how ridiculous was for non-trained humans to be able to keep running for so long, with weights on their shoulders too.

Thus he thought of the fountain being the culprit behind their enhanced stamina. However, that was simply the most obvious deduction. For once, he wasn't giving much credit to their innate instincts, for survival, to avoid the pain that falling behind would bring upon them.

Even more, he couldn't attribute it to the power of their soul, still slumbering within their bodies, yet somewhat effective.

Nonetheless, everything had a limit, and the trainees started to fall, one by one. The mental fatigue they had accumulated was too much to handle, as they wouldn't experience a short blackout anymore, but instead would enter an indefinite state of torpor.

Captain Cole would often have a faint smile every time one of the cadets entered such a condition. He then would stop bother for said person, leaving them on the ground.

'He gave me the creeps earlier, if someone stayed unconscious for more than ten minutes they would be woken up by a quick lash. Yet know he seems to have stopped doing so, maybe this isn't a simple training after all.'

For him the second and third hours of training had passed incredibly fast, one after the other, increasing the weights on their shoulders and chipping away at both his physical and mental faculties.

The only thing he knew was to keep going. Meanwhile, the group of five that kept him the company had fallen, together with two of the eastern tricksters, only the more robust member of the trio still held on.

Surprisingly enough, the female elf had also suddenly collapsed. The elegant duo had kept on the same pace through the whole race, keeping their distance from both the leading and bottom group. Thus they managed to avoid Captain Cole's whip.

By the pale hue of their skin, one would imagine them being weak to long exposure to the sun. Here there was none, yet the sand was hot and intense lighting had been coming from all around the rack.

Marco and Nessa were at their limits as well, as the small Isaac had a kid-sized leather backpack locked on his shoulders, which would soon enough triplicate his weight.

The young athlete as much as he would now wish to hadn't trained for this type of activity back in the gym. Even if he did integrate cardio into his schedule, he wasn't prepared for such a marathon.

Finally, Nestor got up on his feet, as soon as he felt the weight on his back increase, he got back on the rack, to keep on running together with the others.

Now a new group had formed on the back of the race, while ahead were only two figures, they were the green alien and the male elf.

"Hello, how are you doing. Man, I hope this won't leave scars on your body, or if I was you I would protest to the council. I understand that training must be harsh, but back at the gym, we did not need violence to become stronger.

Well, anyway, my name is Marco. The girl beside me is Nessa, and here over my shoulders is the little Isaac.

They are not very talkative, but still good people you know?"

The cheerful presence of the youth couldn't achieve the desired effect. As Nestor couldn't mind one bit, his conditions weren't as optimal, to say the least.

"This man has quite the willpower, looking at him I wouldn't have bet even a brass coin on him lasting this long. He even bested my brothers, Chong and Hun.

However, at the moment, he isn't very responsive as you can see. My name is Won, I augur you a peaceful dea-...

I'm sorry, my tongue slipped. It must have been the hassle of the training, after all, you had yet to experience our instructor's wrath. In the end, whether you make it, it doesn't matter, we'll all have to end up like them to properly finish the training."

Without much shame for his words, Won pointed at the fallen trainees, showing a surprising expression of confidence. Could it be that this strange individual was already informed of the details of what awaited the group?

'He seems friendly. But I don't trust guys like him, if you are wearing a black cape then in my book you are definitely suspicious. I'll still show him a friendly side, for now, we'll talk more once he gets that damn cape out of the way.'

While still in thought, Marco had fallen behind a few meters from the group, not noticing the punitive justice that was about to strike him in the back.

However, the pain that should have been timely delivered, didn't come. Nestor had quickly intercepted the whip with his Kopesh, blocking the strike for him.

"ARGH!"

Needless to say, a second one had swiftly befallen the tired monk, which he failed to predict this time around. As another gaping wound was embedded on his back.

He had shown his weak side to the knight to protect Marco, yet due to fatigue wasn't swift enough to reposition himself with the group.

Suddenly Nestor felt his legs growing weak, trembling, as his mental fortitude started to weaver he felt his mind dozing off.

Yet suddenly a strong pull momentarily lifted him up. Marco had quickly grabbed him and supported Nestor with his shoulders, helping him to keep running.

"Thank you for your help man, very appreciated. I'll give you a hand for a bit, however, I won't be able to maintain this hold for long as I am quite tired myself."

Nestor silently nodded at those words. Truth to be told, the monk had already reached his limit, he simply thought of helping someone else before giving in. As such a chance presented itself, Nestor didn't expect anything in return, maybe at this point to let himself go wouldn't be as bad.

"Don't give up yet, the longer you last and push yourself, the more your benefits will be when you wake up."

As if to read his thoughts, Won had caught on to what Nestor was thinking.

'As I thought, this isn't simple training. However this guy is still giving me some sort of ominous vibe, I'm feeling hostility towards him. While I don't have any reason to believe, he shouldn't have any to help me anyway.

If he wanted he could have simply warned the whole group at the start of the training.'

The dubious expression plastered on his tired face gave away Nestor's doubts once again.

"Only the worthy are eligible to know. Since I feel like you will probably become the future core of our unit, I'll share some more with you.

You see, the kind of training we are now experiencing won't be the norm in the future.

It is a kind of experience that the inspector won't be repeating. In short, you could consider this as a sort of preparation, to get you ready before you meet 'smiling uncertainty'. "