"Wuwuwu…"
The next day, early in the morning, a clear horn sounded in the Training Camp.
Immediately after, Liens and the others were woken up and told to quickly gather at the square, which was the same spot as last night.
Liens was now accustomed to using the instance to replace sleep, because as long as he entered the instance, his real body seemed to enter a state of deep sleep.
In this state, the body could rest very well, and it even had a certain healing effect on injuries.
If it weren't for this, he felt it would be really difficult to endure the frequent "practice" of the thugs at the Slave Exchange.
So, although he woke up very early, even before the sun rose, his mental state was quite good, and he didn't feel sleepy.
Arriving at the square, Liens found that there were many more people gathered than last night, not including the guards.
Roughly calculating, there were about a hundred people.
"So, it's not just this batch of Slaves who were brought to this Training Camp?"
Liens secretly speculated in his heart.
He wondered if the others were also Slaves?
Even if they weren't originally, once they signed that contract, they were basically no different from Slaves, right?
Soon, after everyone had arrived, the instructor also came; he seemed to like making a final appearance, and it was the same last night.
"This is your first day of training, so I'll forgive your slowness this time."
"But starting today, as soon as you hear the horn, you must rush to the square as quickly as possible."
"Now, immediately, everyone line up, and then run around the square. You cannot stop until I tell you to."
The instructor stood in front of everyone and shouted loudly, his voice full of vigor and a serious tone.
Upon receiving the order, the crowd gathered in the square promptly formed simple lines, and then, led by those in front, began to run quickly around the square.
Liens's figure was mixed in with the crowd, running quickly with the main group.
However, he quickly found himself unable to keep up with the pace of the group.
Compared to other Slaves, whether it was his physical age or his frail body, he was among the weakest in the group.
It was fine at first, but after running for not long with the group, his body couldn't take it anymore.
The limitation of his stamina forced him to slow down, and gradually, his figure moved from the middle of the group to the back.
However, Liens wasn't the only one running at the back, so his figure wasn't too obvious.
"Thwack!"
Liens was very familiar with this sound; it was the sound of a whip lashing a body. When he was still at the Slave Exchange, he heard this sound almost every day.
Sometimes he heard it from others, and sometimes he heard it from himself.
Immediately after, another sound followed.
"Ah…"
This was the scream of the person being whipped.
Liens looked back in the direction of the sound and saw a figure who had fallen to the ground after being whipped.
The person who wielded the whip was the instructor, who was now whipping the fallen person while uttering brief words.
"Too slow."
"Get up quickly."
"Keep running."
Seeing this, Liens recalled what the instructor said last night about "strict and cruel training." The strictness hadn't fully manifested yet, but he had certainly witnessed the cruelty.
'Is this the physical version of 'fall behind and get beaten'?' Liens thought with a bitter smile, then mobilized his body's potential, forcing his legs to speed up and take larger strides.
As time passed, the running showed no signs of stopping.
Liens could gradually feel his breathing becoming increasingly difficult, his throat felt as if it were being scorched by charcoal, and even his vision seemed a bit blurry.
The sound of whipping slowly approached from behind; he could hear it was already very close.
"Thwack!"
This time, it wasn't someone else; it was a solid whip lash on his body.
Because he was prepared, Liens, after being hit, only let out a prepared, somewhat hoarse scream, and did not fall to the ground.
The scream was to satisfy the abuser's sadistic psychology, which might allow him to suffer less.
This was one of "his" survival experiences from childhood, although sometimes it could have the opposite effect.
Because of the whipping, Liens's steps were a bit erratic, but he quickly adjusted, sped up a bit, and continued to keep up with the group ahead.
In this process of constantly enduring pain, as if every moment was a step towards death, the perception of time was incredibly long.
Liens didn't know how long it had been, and his heavy breathing also masked his perception of external sounds.
He could only see figures running ahead, and he just needed to follow.
Gradually, the figures ahead started to slow down, as if they had stopped?
Liens also stopped, and at that moment, as if a heavy burden had been lifted, he knelt on both knees, supporting himself with his hands on the ground.
Sweat dripped onto the ground, or flowed down his face into his open mouth, letting his tongue taste the saltiness that had been forcibly squeezed out.
"Hoo-hoo…"
This was the only sound ringing in Liens's mind at this moment, his rapid and heavy breathing.
Slowly, his breathing began to calm, the ground in front of him was no longer blurry, and external information re-established connection with him.
He looked around, heavy breathing constantly ringing in his ears.
Many people were like him, their bodies in intimate contact with the ground, as if trying to share their fatigue with the earth.
In addition, there were some low moans; those were the injured people who had fallen behind and were whipped by the instructor or other guards, lying on the ground.
Liens remembered that he seemed to have received four whip lashes as well.
It was just that the feeling of fatigue on his body, as if beyond his endurance limit, made him temporarily ignore the pain in his back.
...
After the extreme running training in the morning, it was breakfast time, and also a short rest period.
Liens took the bread and water he received and ate it bit by bit.
The after-effects of the previous running training continued to the present; the fatigue in his body, the soreness in his muscles, and the stinging pain from the wounds on his back all made him lose his appetite.
But he still forced himself to eat.
Without eating, he couldn't recover his strength well, and without enough strength, he wouldn't even have the ability to force his body to unleash its potential.
Liens felt that he had truly become stronger, not in terms of physical ability, but in terms of his mental fortitude.
His tolerance for pain had increased, which might be due to the changes brought about by "his" memories and residual bodily instincts.
"His" short fourteen years of life had experienced a lot of hardship, so much so that many things didn't seem like hardship to him.
What was being beaten? At the orphanage, because he was reclusive and didn't fit in, he was also bullied and ganged up on by other orphans.
What was starving? The caregivers at the orphanage often forgot or intentionally didn't give the children food, and starving was a daily occurrence in his memory.
What was fatigue? When he left the orphanage to do odd jobs, in order to complete more work to earn enough money to live, he desperately forced his body to work continuously.
Suffering is not worth praising, because it is forced upon oneself by others.
It is the will and ability that can be sublimated through suffering that are worth pursuing.
After eating, Liens found a place in the square where he wouldn't be disturbed by others and lay down.
He planned to enter the instance to put his body in a state of deep sleep, which should greatly speed up his body's recovery.
Of course, Liens would keep track of the time; the rest period was short, and he couldn't let the guards wake him up.
That might cause their displeasure, which could lead to his body getting some extra wounds for no reason.