Chapter 63: The Right Weapon.

So he ignored the worm and started the second round of smashing clubs into a tree stump. Smashing 200 times with 11 clubs meant he had to swing clubs a total of 2,200 times. It was only a hundred times less than the 2,300 times he did earlier, so it took another hour of his life.

After the second round, they narrowed the choices from 12 to 6 clubs. But Frank had him swing each one 500 times, so he would be swinging the clubs a total of 3,000 times.

By now, his stomach was doing as much work as he was doing, rolling around in his stomach and making him hungry, but he still ignored it and picked up the club.

This time, he spent an hour and a half on the third round. That made a total of three hours and 40 minutes spent choosing a suitable weapon.

The result of his effort was that they had narrowed the clubs to three. One large wooden club, one medium spiked metal club, and one morning star.

Frank said, “This should be the final round. You will swing them a thousand each before you make your final choice.”

“Finally,” Alexander said, sighing in relief.

But Frank said, “You can call it a day here, if you want. Go and eat your lunch or something.”

Alexander looked at him, confused, and asked, “Why would I stop training now? It isn’t even midday yet. We’re still in the morning.”

Frank replied, saying, “I like the enthusiasm, but this much work so soon is not good for your mental state. So take the time off to do anything to relax and take your mind off of the hunger.”

“I don’t need to relax. Training takes my mind off the hunger,” Alexander said, shaking his head and reaching for one of the three clubs.

But Frank pulled the club away and said, “Seriously, training will make you hungrier. It will bring you closer to losing control.”

“You’re a fresh Apostle, so it is very easy to lose control. And knowing what it is you like to eat, no one wants to see you lose control.”

“See,” Frank said, pointing at where Barnabas and Robert used to be. “They are gone.”

“When did they leave?” Alexander asked?

“They left sometime after the second round,” Frank replied.

“I know what it feels like to have endless energy. But it will come at a terrible price to your mental well-being. So for the sake of your mental health, take some time off.”

“After you get used to this level of intensive work, you will be able to manage six hours straight or more of physical labor without wincing. But it needs time to get used to.”

‘What could be worse than feeling someone crawl through my mind like a maggot infesting rotten flesh?’ Alexander asked himself before he said, “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”

Then he reached for the club again.

This time, Frank didn’t stop him. But the Small Boss chuckled and said, “What’s the rush?”

Alexander had an answer to that question, but he didn’t offer it. Instead, he shrugged and said, “I just don’t want to waste my time.”

“If I don’t spend at least half of my day training, I’ll feel unfulfilled,” he said as he turned to leave.

Behind him, Frank asked, “Is it for the competition in one month? It is not worth it. Slow and steady wins the race.”

But Alexander said nothing more. He went up to the tree stump, raised the medium metal club, and brought it down heavily, smashing it into the tree stump.

He smashed three clubs against the tree stump a thousand times each for a total of 3,000 times. He spent an hour and a half doing it, making a total of 5 hours and 20 minutes of training.

He woke up around 4 am and stalked Jessy for two hours, contemplating whether he should eat her or not. Of course, he didn’t crouch in front of her the whole time. He wasn’t that helpless.

Instead, he had slowly made his way to her while warring with his hunger. It was at the final moment, when he got too close to her and startled her, that she woke up.

Jessy woke up at 6 am prompting him to do something else with his time or finally decide to eat her. He finished his bath and got ready in 20 minutes. Then he went to the mess hall.

He spent about 30 minutes eating in the mess hall. 10 more minutes were spent looking for Tessa. Another 10 minutes went by waiting for her and having a short conversation with her.

After their conversation, he spent 5 minutes walking over to the training field. 5 minutes discussing with Lancelot. Then another 5 minutes talking about his training plan with Frank.

All in all, he spent 205 minutes, or 3 hours and 25 minutes, from when he woke up to start training. So training began at 7:25 am.

After 5 hours and 20 minutes of training, the time was 12:45 pm. It was midday, and he was ready to call it a day.

He took the final weapon, the morning star, up to Frank and said, “This is it. Are we done?”

Frank shook his head and said, “No, we’re not done. You have to start over again with all of them.”

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Alexander asked, confused.

Frank chuckled as he said, “I said you need to restart with the 23 weapons. You need to swing them again until we narrow it down to the right weapon.”

“But why?” Alexander asked, still confused. “I did everything you asked me to do and already have the right weapon.”

He presented the morning star once more, saying, “This is the right weapon.”

In response, Frank spent a few seconds examining the morning star. First, he examined it with his eyes from afar.