Don't Waste time

"Mino."

"Hn?" Mino turned his head towards Furloc.

"I will try to help you in matters regarding bullying. And training, if you need my help.

Nothing less, nothing more. Don't expect my help against the generals, I'm scared of

them too. I may seem like an inconsistent coward, but I am not brave enough to face

them. They are that dangerous."

"That's actually more than enough in this place, where everybody charges others for

everything. But I guess, it's no completely unreasonable."

"Jog you dung cakes, jog!!"

Iso's voice echoed loudly, they could feel the voice thrumming in their hearts. Almost

instantly, every one of the boys as well as the girls started jogging. Mino did that too.

[Maybe I'm being a bit too casual. I have to focus on getting my body strong.]

It was still dark, which made Mino wonder about the rotation system of this planet.

But he pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind.

The jog was tiring to Mino, he was sweating already. Furloc noticed Mino's condition

and said,

"Hey Mino! The real exercise hasn't started yet! What the fuck are you doing

getting tired now. It's just a run!"

The moment the word "run" entered Mino's ears, his entire posture changed. He was

running more efficiently than before!

[The heck! I'm losing in a run! I won't allow that!]

But he couldn't help but reflect a bit. This all started just because he was running crazily in hopes of not getting late..

As for Furloc, he tripped over his own foot and almost ended up falling upon seeing

Mino's sudden drastic change in confidence and posture.

[The fuck's with this weirdo!]

After jogging for about twenty minutes, Mino found himself in a familiar place. The

same field on which he had 'spawned'. And the forest, still giving off the threatening

aura.

Mino's body tensed up unconsciously. Beads of sweat gathered on his forehead. Furloc

senses his unease too, so he decided to pep him up.

"Mino, don't be afraid. Conquer your fears, just having control on Mana or a strong

body won't be enough, it never will be."

Mino tried to utter a hasty thanks but froze upon seeing Furloc's grey ears. They

reminded him of the brown wolf's ears.

He started to shiver uncontrollably, rubbing his

hand over his neck which had a dark band, the slave curse mark.

[Damn... the memories are returning...]

"Mino, what's wrong? Feel free to share.."

A voice called out to him from his side, but it felt distant. He felt as if a pair of red eyes

were fixed onto him. When he saw Furloc closing in, he couldn't control himself and

shouted, "Get away!" and pushed him.

Furloc didn't bother to defend, so he was sent a few steps back. But Mino's strange behaviour bothered him.

"Heh! You see! Your self declared friend's now afraid of you!" The usual snide remark

from Zay.

Furloc was unbothered by it though.

*Thump*

Mino's body was growing cold with every passing moment. All of a sudden, he heard a

loud thump, along with a heavy sensation on his back.

Surprisingly, his fear ebbed out

of his body and his previous erratic breathing returned to normal.

The heat from the

hand was warming him from the inside.

"Mino. Furloc's no random canine monster. Face your fears, or else in this dog eat dog

world, you will die in seconds."

Iso provided Mino with some much needed counselling required to get motivated. With

a satisfactory nod, Iso turned towards Furloc and said in a commanding voice,

"I expect you to make him familiar with the exercises."

"Sir yes Sir!!"

Furloc and his gang saluted Iso in chorus. Mino was baffled by the extent of

cooperation.

"Alright then, start the drills. My eyes are on you all. As aware of everyone's limitations

I am, whether of body or of mind, rules are rules and they need to be followed. Or get

punishment."

Saying this, he strode off.

"Mino. You have to exercise and workout for four horas, straight with small breaks in

between."

[Note: Since 'hora', a measure of time, is roughly comparable to 'hour', so hora will be referred to hour from now on. Also, a few chapters later,

the time system will also be properly explained.]

Even though Mino didn't know what 'horas' meant, he was sure he was up for an

impossible task.

"Ok Mino, let's begin with stretchings first!"

A black tailed guy came forward. Of course, he was one of Furloc's gang.

"Haha JeJa, you seem excited! Mino, he's Jesoph Panthra, panther-human! You can

call him JeJa for short too!"

"Oh hi..." Mino breathed out a feeble hello, as a certain chiselled face flashed in his mind, a very popular anime character with nearly same name.

He shook his head to get the weird thought out of his head.

Soon after, Jeja started showing a series of stretching exercises to Mino. He, who was

a newbie, was struggling even though he tried his best.

The hunger was making its

presence even more pronounced as time passed.

He got acquainted with the rest of the gang members.

Eustus Equinel, a tall, bronze haired boy, horse human, with seemingly no horse

features other than a horse-like tail. He was tanned, his skin colour resembled a

horse's fur, but that wasn't a characteristic apparently. Others pointed out that Eustus

really did have some horse features. Mino caught on quickly and decided not to delve

too deep into it...

Clarq Sootpelt, a wolf-human, black , with black hair similar to Mino's. He had very dark

skin. Mino felt tempted to ask, "Are you guys discriminated upon?" but resisted. He

could be easily differentiated from Jesoph though.

Clarq was a bit of the silent and serious type, while the other two were jovial and a little

bit violent.

All of them showed Mino a variety of normal body reinforcement training. They helped

Mino by correcting his wrong postures and movements.

He was apparently doing pretty

well but just one hour later...

"Haaaaaaahhhh....huuuuuuuu....haaaaaaaaa..."

Mino was panting like an orc in heat. His tongue was lolling out, body drenched in

sweat completely. Entire body red, his appearance was pathetic. If not for the

breathing, people would've thought that this poor boy died of heatstroke.

"Oi Mino! Get your silly ass up right now!

There's still three horas left! Also, you guys

have to perform beginners workout with no weapons training. How's it so hard for

you?!"

Eustus urged Mino to get up while after he finished his 500

th squat.

But his aching body won't get up.

"Fur...haaa..loc...haaa...is...there...haaaa...any....punish....haaaa...ment...for...not...completing..."

Mino was speaking like a man in his deathbed.

"Of course there is a punishment. Sir Iso's gonna whoop your ass so thoroughly that

you won't be able to sleep the entire night."

Furloc calmly stated the terrifying words

and passed a pot of water to Mino.

Mino wanted to gulp it down as quickly as he could, to rehydrate his insides. But he

sipped it slowly. Sudden intake of water after brutal exercise wasn't a prudent move.

Especially for a normal human like him.

His status:

Lv: 12

Exp: 1220/1750----> 1400/1750

PSTR: 31

SSTR: 30

PDEF: 30

SDEF: 40

VIT: 64

AGI: 32

He sat down, cross legged, allowing the ever-flowing stream of sweat to drip off.

"Mino. Let me give you some advice. Rest up and recover your stamina. You have it

hard, it's clear. But I am not allowed to be partial, so you HAVE to take the punishment.

But don't mess up in the next tasks. The one who doles out punishment regarding

failure of collection tasks isn't a simple minded person."

Mino almost instantly straightened his back upon hearing the voice. Furloc's gang had

also tensed up.

[Since when was he here!]

However Mino knew it wasn't appropriate to take the warning lightly. Furloc had also

told he wasn't brave enough to face the higher ups.

After taking a few extra deep breaths, Mino regained his composure. And it was at this

moment he heard the same voice he had heard yesterday.

"Don't waste your time Mino. C'mon, I guess you have something important to do? You

are receiving punishment from General Iso either way, then at least utilise the time."

Clarq was gazing at something to Mino's left with a baffled expression on his face,

which was pretty rare. Furloc's mouth was wide open. Nearly all the boys had stopped

doing what they were doing.

Not only the boys, but the girls too. Iso took a momentary

glance, and then went away, eyes closed, a faint smile playing on his lips.