Chapter 64: Physical Training

Julius ran hard. A lot of the students were simply jogging at a pace they were comfortable with. But Julius was here to improve, and how would he improve his physique if he wasn’t pushing himself?

He wasn’t the only one with that mindset.

There were a dozen or more students who were with him the entire way. It had only been a minute or so but Julius could already see that there was a distinct divide in mindsets. In the front group, were students who were obviously Tier 2 already, based on their auras and their physical capabilities. Then there were the Tier 1 students who were pushing themselves, trying to do their best. Following them were the ones who jogged with reasonable urgency but fell behind. However, then there were the ones who were even further behind, running with no urgency and who didn’t care about the class.

It was no surprise that Julius saw many of the kids who were late in the pack in the back. Most, if not all of them were nobles if their expensive jewelry, perfectly manicured appearances, and nonchalant attitude were any hints.

There were several students who were way in front. One was a tall boy with a lean frame. Another was a cute brunette girl who was around Julius’s height, standing at about five foot nine. Then there was a big boy who looked like he could be Edgar’s younger brother running alongside them. After him, there was a young boy who looked average in every way, whether in height, looks, or frame. Finally, there was a girl with red hair who was tall and ran like a cheetah, outpacing the others.

These people Julius suspected were some of the more talented close combat fighters in his year, just going off of their physical condition. They all felt like Tier 2’s and were miles above everyone else when it came to physical ability. Julius had gone through a body transformation already, but these people were much faster than him. Leaving him and the other Tier 1 students in the dust. It was impressive and reminded him that he wasn’t the only talented person there. Goldencrest was well known for a reason.

However, Julius wanted to follow through with his plan of appearing to be an average or slightly above-average student. He clearly couldn’t try to keep up with the Tier 2’s but he also shouldn’t be keeping up with the other top Tier 1’s. That would give people the impression that he was on their level, at least physically.

But Julius had an idea in mind. He pretended to flag a bit, as if he had used most of his energy at the start and now was getting tired. Ever so slowly, the other students put some distance between them and him.

Professor Edwards said they couldn’t use any enhancements to help them. Still, Julius had seen some students try regardless.

That didn’t mean Julius couldn’t use something that would actively hamper him. He was thinking about one of those weighted vests that many people used back on Earth. While he didn’t want to draw too much attention by overperforming he also didn’t want to waste his time here. He came to this school to get stronger, not to just act weak, acting weak was just a precaution.

Julius did have an idea though. He was able to enhance how fast his body moved with kinetic energy and was able to somewhat absorb kinetic energy from enemies. So he thought that it might be possible to restrict his movement with kinetic energy. That way he could push himself but his “results” would not appear to be out of the ordinary.

With a new idea in mind, he started to try to see if it worked. He slowly siphoned some of the kinetic energy while he was running, just like he would against a troll. He immediately felt his body become more difficult to move. It was like he was running straight into a headwind. It was perfect, Julius stopped pretending to run slow and started to go all out.

He had to adjust and play around with it so that his maximum speed was just high enough to be above average but not enough to be exemplary. It took some time and maneuvering, but he got it down. Julius noticed Professor Edwards’ gaze was following him. The professor obviously could tell that Julius was using mana to do something. But he didn’t stop Julius. He must’ve determined that Julius wasn’t doing anything that increased his speed. So with one last look, the professor completely ignored him and went back to observing the other students.

That was the main concern Julius had about doing something like this. The professor showed that he was able to detect students using enhancements, so Julius was worried that the professor would see him using kinetic energy to slow himself and come to the conclusion that he was enhancing his physical abilities.

He was lucky that the professor didn’t call him out, Julius just hoped that he would keep it to himself and that the professor just thought of Julius as a weird child.

Julius and the other students had to run for almost half an hour. Even after ten minutes in, Julius saw many students already exhausted. They were obviously not well-conditioned or used to running. The students in the front continued strong the entire time, showing that they were used to physical exertion like this. Even the slackers with their low efforts were showing signs of exhaustion and Julius saw some of them completely stop running. It was kind of sad in a way.

Professor Edwards ordered those who completely stopped to at least keep on walking. Honestly, Julius was surprised at how relaxed the professor was with the slackers. Julius had half expected the man to yell at them like a drill instructor would. But he didn’t. Professor Edwards clearly saw a portion of the class not even trying, but stood by and let them. Julius couldn’t understand why.

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After the thirty-minute run, Julius was exhausted. He hadn’t used [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] to heal himself. He had come to the realization that the skill wasn’t able to help his endurance. If he didn’t push his endurance to the limits and used [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] to recover, then he wouldn’t improve his endurance. He would only heal himself after the day had ended or after he had recovered sufficiently on his own.

Professor Edwards had them sit down on the field and let them catch their breath. Even the others who had ended the run very far ahead of the others were worn out.