Number 1

Arriving at a point where I could faintly see the forest, I noticed instructor Philip and the other instructors huddled together having conversations near the entrance.

It seems that they were discussing something important as they all looked serious looking at each other, so I didn't want to disturb them. I hid my presence as much as possible by standing still at a certain distance and limiting the noise of my breathing. Thinking I was doing a good job, I checked to see whether or not they noticed me already but was startled when my eyes met with that of instructor Philip's.

{...As expected of a professional I guess.}

Giving me a slight approving nod, Instructor Philip upped his sleeves and checked his watch.

With a sighing expression, he started giving out orders to the two brown uniformed instructors and proceeded to enter the forest with the other instructors while beckoning me with his hands to follow them.

The two instructors also noticed my presence after being face-to-face with one another and each gave me a slight nod. Returning their gesture, I bowed towards them as they walked past me and started heading in the direction of the cafeteria.

Walking faster to catch up to the instructors, I once again entered the forest and smelled the scent of leaves. The refreshing scent of nature and the feeling of abundant oxygen calmed me down too much that my body started to feel tired. Do in mind that I just ate, so me becoming sleepy in an extremely comfortable environment such as this was normal.

As I was Letting out a yawn my breathing was suddenly interrupted as if I choked on something. Just a bit further from me was Chao Yuchen himself, the man who was considered the best among the participants, sitting on a rock.

{I thought that I was the first to arrive, but it seems like he got here first. Did he immediately head here after finishing his meal?}

"Yuchen, follow us as well."

"...(nod)."

Standing up from his position, Yuchen also started walking behind the instructors. This was fine and all but because of this we were both walking side by side. Neither of us wanted to initiate a conversation so the trip to the arena was as awkward as it was silent.

{Now that I've gotten a closer look at him, he is clearly different from your typical child. Rather than a child, the pressure he gives off is somehow more similar to that of an adult, and it felt weird looking at him. Is it related to his gift or something?}

While deep in thought, although I didn't notice it, it seemed that I was staring too much as Yuchen's eyes suddenly turned my way. Not wanting to make eye contact, I nervously tried playing it off by looking in the opposite direction.

{ah crap.}

And that was how the journey to the arenas went. With me trying my best to size up Yuchen, and him responding with questioning glances.

----------

[1:03 pm]

Whether it was combat or non-combat, everyone was gathered at the arena in the middle of the forest.

Each of our advisors took out a tablet and started doing roll calls to see if anyone was missing. After confirming that there wasn't, they gave a go signal to instructor Philip, who then started to speak loudly.

"ALL RIGHT EVERYBODY! This will be the first combined class you'll all be taking, Physical Training. Although some of you non-combatants might be wondering why you are required to do this, having a strong and healthy body is a requirement for ANY member of the organization.

Each member, whether it be a soldier or a cleaner, is entitled to be physically fit, that is the rule and we plan on strictly following it."

{Now that I think about it, I haven't really noticed a single organization member having an unathletic body. The chubby ones among them didn't look fat and slow at all, but rather swollen and big.]

As Philip started typing on his tablet, a hologram-like map of the entire forest suddenly appeared behind him.

"The combined physical training will be quite simple actually; do you see these marks?"

Philip asked as he pointed to 4 red circles on the map located at the North, South, East, and West of the forest.

"These are called checkpoints, in that location, there will be a metal pillar that if you touch, will immediately send us a signal indicating where you are. All you have to do for this course is simple really, for the non-combatants run at least 10 laps around the forest, and for the combatants run at least 20 laps around the forest within the course's time. You are all to start North and do a clockwise rotation while touching each pillar. Once you reach north once more then that will be counted as 1 lap, and if we notice that you skipped a checkpoint then your total lap count will return to 0."

"..."

"..u-um-"

A kid was about to raise his hand when he was suddenly cut off by Philip's next words.

"Oh and no using of active gifts, get it? I mean what would we be the point if you'd just take the easy way? There are cameras installed everywhere so don't even think you can cheat."

"..."

"Seeing as no one has any more questions, let's quickly proceed."

Leading us North, the instructor of NC-1, Harper, said a few words of encouragement as she prepared to give us a go signal after we positioned ourselves.

"There are marks on some of the trees so just follow them if you think your lost, okay then everybody, on your marks! Get set! Go!"

Bang! * (tournament pistol)

Hearing the signal, everyone simultaneously started running. Some gave it their all while just starting while others played it smart and saved their stamina.

I was already used to running long distances as my stamina is my most impressive physical trait, so I was fairly confident in accomplishing the course. But just when I thought it was going to be easy, what I did not expect was that after my feet landed on the ground I ended up stepping on an uneven step leading me to slip.

"Wha-! Yowch!"

Bumping my butt to the ground hard, I started caressing it gently to drive the pain away. With slight tears in my eyes, I looked around and saw that I wasn't the only one having this problem.

Some tripped-on roots, while some were slipping from either the uneven ground or the moss.

"hahh...I knew it wasn't going to be that easy. No wonder they went out of their way to build a forest, to think it was for this."

{Without proper balance, weight distribution, and limb-eye coordination, running at full speed here is impossi-}

Whoosh! *

Just when I was about to think about how impossible it was, a gust of strong wind passed me by as I felt a slight push on my right.

Looking forward to see what it was exactly, I found myself staring in disbelief as I saw the back of a dark-haired boy getting farther and farther

"N-no way."

It was Number 1 himself, Chao Yuchen.

Every step he took was firm and steady, he also wasn't limited to running on the ground as I could sometimes see him use a tree's trunk or branch as leverage to move further. This proved his superior balance and coordination compared to the rest of us, but what shocked me the most was the speed he was going.

In terms of speed alone, it felt as if he was as fast as a car. And that's already taking into consideration the undesirable conditions he was running on.

"Wh-what kind of gift did he managed to get?"