Days passed by as the hellish training continued. Over these days, Ben could feel himself getting stronger. Not just physically, but also…spiritually? Mentally? Ben couldn't really describe it, but he was pretty sure that his body was going through a qualitative upgrade.
'This isn't just simple physical training, there's more to it!' Ben realized. Although the improvement was minimal, it was still enough for Ben to observe it. It was rather hard to compare his current state with how he felt when he first transmigrated, but he thought his mind felt clearer, his vision got slightly better, and he had more energy.
'That could also just be me adapting to this world though. Again, too little information!' Ben lamented. Where's the old sensei that would explain everything to him? Where's the chatterbox friend that can't stop gossiping and explaining everything that happens?
"Day 4 motherfuckers! Haha, I've seen some of you try to quit and run away! Weak! Despicable! As a punishment, everybody has to run 10 laps around the island! Chop chop, go get your weight vests!" The hellish instructor didn't pull any punches and dished out hell.
"Number 28, switch to the 50kg vest! Number 25, switch to the 40kg vest! Number 18…" After observing the performance of the cadets, the instructor would adjust the weight of their vests.
"As for number 1…we've recently developed a 120kg vest just for you." The instructor brought out a large, black vest that didn't look too heavy.
'Material looks like foam lined with metal, and red speckles are dotted around the chest. Looks comfy and durable. This is definitely high-quality stuff!' Ben praised the design of the 120kg vest. He looked at his own vest, which looked light and dull in comparison.
'Looks like this place invests more resources into the strong. Makes sense, and also a good way to incentivize us to work harder.' Ben analyzed.
"If any of you lag behind, I'll kill you personally!" An instructor threatened and started to lead the group. He was the same bald instructor who overlooked the push-up exercise. An instructor was at the rear as well, with a lean body, sharp eyes, and neatly combed black hair.
Ben was closer to the rear, as the higher numbers were placed at the front.
'At least the instructors have to run as well,' Ben thought. 'Let's see how large this island is.'
The cadets ran in 3 lines, with 12 people in each line. The bald instructor led them through forest trails, beaches, and even some mountainous terrain. Ben controlled his breathing and tried to pace himself, preparing for the long run.
'Haha, long run.'
The road seemed to have been run on countless times before, making it slightly easier to navigate. The tears, sweat, and blood of previous generations of cadets paved the road for these new recruits!
'Fucking hell this is heavy.' Ben had trouble dealing with the 20kg increase. That's like 4-5 healthy babies!
"Ow! Shit!" The person in front of Ben tripped and seemed to sprain his ankle. Who knew if it was an accident or intentional.
"Number 25, come with me." The instructor at the back commanded. "Since you broke your ankle, we will be doing another exercise. Prepare yourself."
Hearing this, anybody who wanted to opt out by injury immediately got rid of that thought. The instructor left with number 25, leaving the group to run without an instructor at the rear.
"Hey, dude, want to run away? We can hide away for a while, then join again when the group's run some more laps." Number 31, who was behind Naeron, whispered to number 32.
"You sure we won't get discovered? What if they make us run more laps‽" Number 32 whispered aggressively.
"Heh, if you're too pussy to do it, I'll go by myself." Number 31 was just about to desert when another instructor popped up at the back.
"Where the hell did he come from? And why is he back? Didn't he go train Miles?" Number 31 was surprised that the instructor with neat hair was back, and also slightly relieved he wasn't caught deserting.
"Haha, dumbass." Number 32 made fun of number 31. "That's instructor Yairel, and the one who left was instructor Zevrov. They're famous twins, and you can tell them apart by how neat their hair is.
"What? Did you research the personnel in this program?" Number 31 was incredulous. "And this guy's hair clearly looks the same?"
"Heh, not only are you ignorant, but you're also stupid. Yairel's hair may look neat at the front, but it's an absolute storm at the back! Flat as fuck! Bedhair type shi—"
"Sounds like you want to run some more laps, Number 32." A stern voice came from the back.
"Uh, no sir! Sorry sir!" Number 32 responded. It was now number 31's turn to snicker.
'Fuck is this comedy act?' Ben felt exasperated at their interaction, although he did secretly enjoy it.
'Are they the comedy relief characters? Wait, is it weird if I have too many meta thoughts? Would that break the story's immersion? Or does the author filter my thoughts and only show some of them? Surely none of my weird thoughts are shown, right? Am I talking too much? Nah, the more thoughts, the more material the author has to work with…' Ben started having random thoughts again. Any transmigrator would have main character syndrome after all.
They kept running at the same pace, around 8-10km/h. Ben could probably run at this pace for 15 minutes on Earth before needing to rest. And that's without a weight vest.
'We're exercising like peak athletes on Earth, some of us even surpassing that standard. Who knows if this is the norm, or if we're a special group.' Ben pondered.
"Lap 1 done! Nine more to go! Haha, keep up the pace!" The bald instructor at the front shouted.
'That took like 2 hours. 10 laps is going to take 20 hours then. Holy fuck. Since we ran the circumference of the island at around 8-10km/h, the circumference is then 16-20km. That's…sort of smaller than I expected.' Ben made sure to observe his surroundings, gaining more information about the world he was in.
Hours passed.
"Lap 2 done!"
And again.
"Lap 3!"
And again.
"Lap 4!"
Again.
"Lap 5!"
At this point, everyone was tired, sweaty, and stinky. Some of them even started to miss the sea. Running for 10 hours straight was brutal, both on the mind and the body. Although the island scenery was nice, anything could get repetitive after a while. Some of the weaker ones who couldn't keep going took off their weight vests and were forced to keep running.
'I walk a lonely road…the only one that I have ever known. Don't know where it goes…' Ben was running on autopilot, playing random songs in his head. Although everyone was careful running on the natural terrain at first, they were now used to it.
Monotonous. Boring. These thoughts ran through the teenagers' heads. In fact, the instructor stopped shouting since lap 1, and they were running just fast enough that they couldn't catch their breath and talk to each other. At least not now on lap 5.
They started early in the morning, and now on lap 5, the sun was especially annoying, shining relentlessly. This only amplified the suffering, and on the forest trails, people would often get bug bites. The latcher bites from day 1 had just healed for most people, so new bites were especially irritating.
'Why am I here…just to suffer. Can't anything interesting happen? My feet got blisters, my back is aching, my hip is dead, and my brain is fucked! They should've transmigrated David Goggins instead.' Ben complained, if only to keep himself sane.
As if heaven heard Ben, something interesting did indeed happen. An intense pain hit his crotch! It was like his balls were giving birth!
"AGHHHH!" Ben collapsed and started spasming, barely holding onto his consciousness. He actually wanted to black out so he didn't have to deal with this pain, but his body wouldn't let him!
The pain spread throughout his body, as Yairel, the instructor with the semi-neat hair, came to check up on him.
"Oh…looks like someone finally advanced to Tier 2." Yairel smiled. Other than the number 1, this was the first Tier 2! And it was number 28 of all people!
Everyone was jealous and stopped running to check out the commotion, yet the person in question didn't even know he was advancing. He was too busy screaming his lungs out to hear anything.
Ben felt like he was being dumped in lava and hammered from all sides. And he meant ALL sides. His muscles were being torn apart and rebuilt, his bones were shrinking and growing sporadically, and his nervous system was expanding and becoming stronger, amplifying the pain! The heart was beating crazily, pumping out so much blood that it felt like an infinite blood generator that was about to explode. Stem cells were produced rapidly to replace the dying cells in his body.
"Fuck you all staring at? Did I tell you to stop? Keep running, you maggots!" The bald instructor reprimanded the cadets, causing them to grumble and leave Ben behind.
After around 3 minutes, Ben finally stopped spasming, and his body calmed down. He still felt like he was burning, but now, the warmth felt comfortable instead of scorching. With a stabilized structure, his body was now repairing any broken parts and adding finishing touches. Euphoria came after the suffering, washing away all the pain in his body.
'Did I…just give birth?' Ben thought while lying on the ground. It felt like all of hell week was condensed into those 3 minutes.
"Well, well, well, look who advanced to Rank 2." Yairel grinned. "Looks like you have some potential after all."
'Well well well these nuts, fucker. Wait…'
"Rank 2?!" Ben yelled in surprise. Observing his body, he did indeed feel stronger, smarter, and better. It felt like he had been carrying training weights his entire life and finally took them off. Speaking of weights, this 50kg vest wasn't too bad anymore.
'An extra 3 weeks to live, and I can finally catch up to number 1!' Ben was overjoyed.
"Well, even though you hit Rank 2, number 1 hit that a month ago. You still have some work to do if you want to get to the top of your class. Wait here for a while, I'll fetch a heavier vest for you." Yairel left, leaving Ben stunned.
'Huh, this instructor's quite nice, he doesn't shout all the time,' Ben thought. 'Number 1's dominance also makes sense now. He's a rank above everyone else, after all.'
Ben took off his vest and took a deep breath. The pleasant smell of flora entered his nose, along with the smell of sweat, making Ben choke a little.
'A week after I transmigrated, and I've already advanced. Hehe, maybe I should wish for interesting stuff to happen more.' Ben was being way too comfortable in his euphoric state, making him forget the pain that just happened.
…
"Bro, how the hell did that guy advance? Aren't you supposed to eat Godflesh to rank up?" Number 31 asked.
"Probably got some good stuff from Elder Sky, who knows." Number 32 responded in between breaths. Both of them recently took off their vests, allowing them to have more energy to talk.
"Man, wish I could advance and skip this training," Number 31 complained. "Actually, now that the instructor behind is gone, I'll actually leave this time. Come with?"
"Pretty clear that someone will replace Yairel soon and figure that we're gone, dumbass."
"Well, fuck you."
"Gay."
"Fu—" The moment Number 31 opened his mouth to curse, something impossibly fast flew into his mouth and ripped open his throat.