Chapter 337: Boys Will Be Boys

"What’s wrong? Aren’t you too slow? Speed up, you slow margarine!"

The students were doing their best, but no matter how hard they tried, the training was simply too intense. Their bodies hurt, and their stamina was low. If this continued, they would suffer more.

Head Instructor Ryan kept pushing them hard, not giving them any rest. Still, with the camera continuously rolling, it would be bad for Dermania to continue like this. Eventually, they had no choice but to let them rest.

However, what Head Instructor Ryan wanted was quite simple. He only wanted Auric to suffer, and this suffering would also come from his own people. The students would definitely blame Auric for their suffering as well.

Even though Auric was popular among the girls, his reputation was quite the opposite among the boys, since they were jealous of him.

After continuously running for a few hours with the intense weight, Head Instructor Ryan finally shouted, "Stop! You may get 15 minutes’ rest."

"Haaa!"

"Shit!"

They dropped to the ground, exhausted.

"Why do we have to suffer like this?"

They were complaining. It was even worse when Auric saw them and decided to walk toward them.

"Hey, guys. Good work." Auric brought a lot of drinks from the vendor on the street.

"It’s because of you that we suffer!" One of them said.

The others couldn’t help but agree. At the same time, they wondered if they really should let it out, considering Auric was their ace and Supervisor Jacob had warned them about it.

Auric smiled and nodded with a calm expression. "Right? You may blame me for this, but this is a chance as well. In a group or a pair, if you guys end up showing such discomposure, the entire group might end up getting confused.

"I mean, I complain a lot myself, whether I blurt it out or just keep it in my head. However, don’t show any signs that you’re unable to continue.

"Because when you do, the group will lose one of its members. Even if it’s hard, even if you keep cursing in your head, don’t show it on your face or through your actions. Do you think you’re the only ones suffering from this? Everyone does.

"Instead, you should remain calm and show that this is not over, and you may find a way to make a difference. Bringing hope to others is a good thing." Auric smiled and walked toward the girls, acting as if nothing affected him.

They were also suffering because of Auric, but Auric just laughed it off and joked about it. The atmosphere became less tense.

The boys realized that Auric was also suffering. Although he was hiding it, he couldn’t hide everything.

They noticed that Auric was shaking from time to time. That was right. He was suffering too, but he just didn’t show it on his face.

At least he wouldn’t let Head Instructor Ryan enjoy torturing them.

What they didn’t know was that Lindwurm had caught all of Auric’s acts.

"Suffering my ass. You are not even suffering. You are just acting as if you were also suffering." Lindwurm spat in disgust.

’Hope is a beautiful thing. Besides, you will understand why I am doing what I am doing soon.’ Auric smiled.

Lindwurm turned his head in confusion. Auric didn’t explain further as the break was about to be over.

In the end, Head Instructor Ryan continued to make them run, only allowing a break to avoid earning the hatred of the citizens.

After another few hours, they received yet another break.

"Haa... Ha... This is hard!"

The students started losing their focus. Carrying so much weight and running for hours really drained their stamina, especially with the fact they couldn’t use their energy to lessen the burden.

"You’re still fine, Katarina?" Auric asked, since Katarina was supposed to be the same type as him.

While wiping the sweat, Katarina nodded. "It’s still quite hard for me, but I do run 20 km normally. It’s just that the national training camp doesn’t allow me to do that anymore." Katarina nodded. "I will manage somehow. The problem is the other students. They might resent you for this."

"Well, about that..." Auric smiled.

Nearby, a girl dropped to her butt while breathing heavily.

"Can I really continue..." She closed her eyes.

"You definitely can. You shouldn’t give up." A guy suddenly came up to her, bringing a cool sports drink. "Get something to hydrate yourself so you don’t collapse. In a way, this is a test to surpass our limits.

"When people think they can’t do it anymore, if they’re asked to run for just ten more minutes, they can actually do it."

"Really?" The girl looked surprised.

"Yep. That’s why, don’t give up." The guy nodded to her.

When she received the bottle, she realized that the guy’s hand was trembling. She lowered her gaze and saw that his legs were also screaming with exhaustion. In a way, he also wanted to collapse as well, but he endured it.

"Thank..." She paused. "Wait. Did you fall earlier? You had a wound here. Give me a second..."

She took out a handkerchief. "Please use this to cover your wounds. At least until we’re back and have the instructors heal us."

"Ah! You don’t need—"

"I need to do it. No, never mind. You just stay there. Let me do it for you." She wrapped the wound and tightened it.

The guy felt the pain, but he didn’t react as though nothing had happened.

"There you go."

"Thank you." The boy scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"You’re welcome." She smiled from ear to ear. "Ah! I forgot. Sorry, what was your name again? No, I don’t think we have ever introduced ourselves to each other. May I know your name?"

"Joseph, Joseph Kris. You can call me Joseph. Nice to meet you."

"I am Valentine Lesrey. You can just call me Val. Nice to meet you, Joseph." Her smile made the sports drink taste even sweeter in his mouth.

The boys couldn’t help but notice this.

"Wait? Isn’t that Joseph? That skinny Joseph? He used to fall because he was too weak."

"I knew him. He couldn’t even speak to other girls during the national training camp."

"Did he..."

They suddenly remembered what Auric had said a few hours ago, and Joseph had done exactly what Auric had told them to do.

They realized what was actually going on.

Most of them stood up with determined expressions.

"If Joseph can do it, I can do it too!"

"Just look at me next time!"

"No matter how hard it is, we will be fine. Fuck Dermania. Do you think you can do this to us? This is nothing!"

"Don’t you dare look down upon the men of Esfrata!"

Katarina couldn’t help but notice the sudden change in atmosphere. Even Lindwurm opened his mouth in shock.

"Why are they..." Katarina glanced at Auric. "Did you do something?"

"Nothing much." Auric shrugged. "I just told them what I’ve been doing all this time."

Katarina looked at the drink Auric had given her earlier before realizing what was going on. "You sly boss. Maybe I should give you a kiss instead of a handkerchief."

"Are you going to murder me?" Auric shook his head helplessly.

Katarina chuckled.

Lindwurm gasped. "Your father has never done this before, so I never knew."

’Is that so? Well, my mother is a peerless beauty. I don’t think anyone can fight her charm.’

"No. Your mother was simple. She saw your father looking at another girl, so she slapped him. Of course, your father was completely smitten with your mother, but every time the natural reaction came, she would be there. In the end, he didn’t become a womanizer like you."

’I am not a womanizer.’

"Let’s agree to disagree." Lindwurm rolled his eyes.

Auric glanced at the rest of the boys who didn’t even bother to stand up. Most of them were from prestigious universities. They either had a girlfriend or simply saw no point in doing the same thing.

"Anyway, we need to start running again." Auric chuckled.

"Yeah." Katarina nodded. There was no need to worry about Auric anymore because there was no longer any resentment.

The boys were trying to do the same thing, while the girls were too busy to handle the boys.

At the very least, the atmosphere in the camp was quite cheerful.

When the sun had set, they arrived at the hotel running.

The students from other countries were taken aback when they saw them.

Most of the boys had a resolute face, acting as if they weren’t tired. The girls behind them couldn’t help but chuckle when they saw the silly things the boys would do.

"Did they..."

"Did they finish the torture camouflaged as a marathon run?"

"Did they get a lesser challenge? I need to check their video!"

"No way, right? Dermania and Esfrata didn’t have a good relationship because of the previous incident."

The students were confused and misunderstood the situation. On the one hand, they believed that Dermania was giving them a harder challenge. On the other hand, they thought the students from Esfrata were much tougher than they had originally thought.

Auric was trying his best to contain his laugh the whole time, but he managed to finish the run as well.

When their instructors saw their conditions, they were completely astounded. This was the first time they had seen the boys acting like this. What the hell happened to them during the training?

Of course, it only lasted until everyone retired to their rooms. After that, they started screaming, either because of their muscles or simply wanting to curse Auric for all this torture.

"I am tired." Katarina dropped onto the bed. "Just listen to the other rooms. You will hear faint screams. They were acting so tough earlier, and now they couldn’t endure it anymore."

"Don’t sleep yet. You need to relax your muscles. Let me massage you." Vera cracked her fingers. "Do it for me after this."

"No need, actually. If I want a massage, I will ask Auric."

"Huh?" Vera tilted her head in confusion.

"Auric, you have a solution to this problem, right?"

Vera didn’t understand what was going on, but Auric simply walked over. "Yeah, sure. Well, I guess it’s fine to show it to Vera."

"Show me what?"

Auric released his light energy.

"Wait. That white energy... Is that... light energy?" Vera gasped. "You have a light element as well? Are you perhaps trying to use the healing ability? If you use a healing ability on this, the training will be wasted, you know? It’s best to just have a regular massage. That’s how you build muscle, after all."

"My light element has a low rating, so it has a gentle kind of healing. It’s simpler to think that it aids your recovery rather than healing your muscle directly." Auric smiled.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Wait. You have been doing this all the time?" Vera covered her mouth in shock.

"..." Katarina and Ellia looked away.

Vera put her hands on her hips, disappointed.

"Well, the energy flowing in your body is also changing because of this, so I will fix that energy and use my healing ability to take care of the muscle. However, ask someone else to massage you." Auric raised both hands, not touching his best friend’s girl. There was a limit to what he was willing to do.

"I understand..."

Before Auric could start, he heard a knock on the door.

"Auric, it’s me! Open up."

Auric recognized his teacher’s voice. He rushed to the door, finding his teacher waiting outside. "What’s wrong?"

"The teachers are curious about—" Before she could finish, she noticed another room opening.

A boy walked out while holding his right thigh, but after seeing Maya, he immediately straightened up and started walking as though nothing happened.

"..." Maya was amused. After he passed, Maya simply pointed her thumb to the boy and said, "That’s what the instructors wanna know!"

Auric simply raised two fingers, giving a victory sign. He had a very simple answer. "Boys will be boys."

In the end, Dermania failed to achieve its goal because of simple advice from Auric.

Dermania lost.

The boys won.