Chapter 58: Dead Weight

Coach Merrick blew the whistle, and Class 1-A started moving.

Twenty jumping jacks became thirty. Thirty became fifty soon it became an exercise that left the students already shiny with sweat under the gym lights.

Coach Merrick paced the edge of the formation with a bored expression, watching some of the students breathe and wheeze. When he decided they had suffered enough, he blew the whistle again.

"Form three lines. The Center line should move to the far wall," he called. "Your’re doing laps. Steady pace. If you sprint the first two and die on the fifth, you’re doing it wrong. No abilities. That means you, fire girl. That means every clever idiot thinking about shortcuts."

Lila clicked her tongue, Nora’s expression did not change and Marcus soon began running with a smug grin like he felt that this was child’s play.

Aria on the other hand, ran like the concept of fatigue was optional.

Ethan scoffed. "Show off." And started running.

For the first lap it was fine. By the time he reached the second lap he was still alive. By the third, his lungs startes to burn. His breathing ragged as the pace he had kept till now started crumbling.

Fourth lap. Fifth.

By that time, breathing was probably the most expensive thing he was doing.

He was not last, that was the only mercy. A handful of students were worse.

He dragged another shallow breathing and moved... In a dungeon he could rearrange the odds on the battlefield with corpses and a well thought out plan but on a polished gym floor he was just another first-year discovering that his body was lagging behind the power he had spent several weeks building.

Footsteps heavier than student shoes fell into pace beside him.

It was Coach Merrick...

Up close the man was even broader, dark athletic shirt damp and straining over muscles he could swear would break a coconut. He matched Ethan’s struggling pace with insulting ease, his dark eyes glued to his face and studying the way Ethan was struggling to stay alive.

"Shaw," Merrick said, just loud enough tthat nearby runners heard the name. "The Necromancer everyone’s been talking about. Even some of the instructors included are talking about you."

Ethan was barely able to word an answer. "Coach."

Merrick studied him for a moment. "You were first place in the dungeon evaluation. The noise is all over the place. You have decent power in battle, from what the reports imply." His mouth flattened. "But if your body can’t keep up, you’re dead weight. Rank doesn’t carry you when your lungs fold. Corpses don’t matter when you can barely keep yourself standing after thirty minutes. I’ve seen powerful hunters die stupid because they thought their class alone was enough."

The words landed harder than anything Ethan had heard that day.

’Dead weight’

In that chamber he had been the one on his knees, the one coughing blood, the one Lila and Nora had to stay close to while the Alpha charged in for the kill.

"I understand," he breathed.

"Don’t understand. Fix it." Merrick’s pace still looked effortless. "You want to survive past first-year, build a body that doesn’t embarrass the power you’re stacking. The gym block is open at dawn. Use it, or don’t. But keep in mind that corpses won’t jog for you in here."

He peeled off without waiting for a reply and barked at a student cutting corners on the turn.

Ethan ran the remaining laps in a hotter kind of quiet.

Lila finished ahead of him and waited at the end, barely spent in a way that could make anyone question how someone who hated fitness was still able to do it almost effortlessly.

She watched him complete the lap with his jaw clenched.

"You’re pissed," she said with a teasing smile.

"Don’t."

Partner carries followed. They were meant to carry each other in fireman style across half the court, switch, then return.

Lila took Ethan’s weight first and moved with a pace that made him question whether or not he had any weight ar all.

When they switched though, Ethan felt every bit of her weight in his already-cooked legs as he wobbled a bit.

’Heavy...’

Even though he was this close to getting squashed, he refused to put her down early merely out of pride.

If he gave out now, he would be less of a man. Halfway back his vision narrowed at the edges but he finished anyway.

At the edge of the court, Lila handed Ethan his water bottle and watched him drink like he hadn’t drank anything in days.

"Wow, you suck." she said.

"I’m aware."

"Good. At least you know that part." She laughed. "You can raise all the monsters you want and still lose a race to people who barely have combat experience. That’s a problem."

Ethan looked at her. "Without any combat experience? Isn’t that a bit harsh?"

Lila gave him a flat look and looked towards the rest of the class. Ethan was the only one on the ground half alive.

He looked away in shame. "I see your point."

Ethan sighed in resignation. This wasn’t a shocking discovery. After all, he never exercised in his past life. All he did was work and take a few walks on the weekends. He didn’t really care about exercising because it added no flavor to his life.

What he didn’t know was that the academy was going to make that decision backfire so hard on him...

He had Death Energy, four ranked corpses at his command and a four chamber clear under his belt. Sadly, none of it shortened a lap.

Across the gym, Nora tied her hair tighter, Marcus laughed at something in his circle and Aria left without even looking back.

He stood up an shaky legs, took a moment to catch his breath, and headed for the door. When he reached for the handle the system appeared in his vision.

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[Exp: +20]

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