Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening

The sport complex was so large it occupied the whole floor of one of the mountains occupied by the base and they were about to see one of the reasons why.

Entering a corridor, that just eleven rooms in them.

"You should enter each room in groups of ten."

The instructor said, his lazy tone back in play, but at least this time he wasn't taking pauses like he just woke up.

Executing his orders, the recruits entered each room in groups of ten, Kieran finding himself in the fourth room.

Once again, he saw some thing similar to what he did in the library. Inside the room was a large space housing a full running track, it even had seats for audience. It was like a small stadium.

'Hmm? Its her.'

Looking around to see the faces of the recruits he had entered with, Kieran noticed the red-haired girl he had seen coming out of the room directly opposite his.

After that encounter, they had never crossed paths again. Feeling someone's gaze on her, she raised her head to see a cold faced Kieran who gave a small nod before withdrawing his gaze.

'It's that guy'

She thought silently to herself.

Once all the recruits had entered, occupying a total of eight out of the ten rooms, the instructor entered the last room which had various monitors displaying footage of the recruits from each room.

Taking a seat in front of the screen, he rested his legs on the table into the microphone he had picked up.

In each of the rooms, the recruits all looked up hearing the now annoying voice of the instructor coming from the speakers at the top.

"Ahh, this position feels better…...Ok, before you start, you need to put on the weights and belts with tyres attached to them."

Kieran gazed at the belts the instructor was talking about. It would have been more appropriate to call them vests as covered their upper body, it had two thick chains that extended from the back to the big, heavy tyres on the floor.

Beside the vests were small sandbags, the weights they were to attach to their wrist and ankles.

Picking a lane, he put on the vest first, feeling the jingling of the chains before attaching the sandbag weights to his wrists and ankles. Feeling the heavy weight bear down on him, Kieran wondered how they were to race twenty laps in this condition. Even one lap was going to be challenging.

'This is really going to be tough.'

Kieran thought to himself. This thought was probably running through the minds of all the recruits.

Staring at the recruits who had all geared up through the screen, a look of delight and craziness appeared in the instructor's eyes.

"This should be really entertaining. Hehehe."

He muttered, laughing like a deranged person.

Back in the rooms, the instructor's voice was heard again

"It takes an average 'intermediate' runner around six minutes thirty-seven seconds to cover a distance of one mile, which translates to a time of thirty-three minutes for five miles."

He started and the faces of the recruits of the recruits darkened considerably

'The people he was talking about weren't carrying weights like them!!!'

"Hehehe. Why the miserable expression? Don't worry! As the caring instructor I am, I'll be doubling that time roughly. So, you have one hour and…...ten minutes to cover that distance!"

He stated, thinking out that last part.

"Since, you're all in position, don't disappoint me. START!"

He said and the recruits moved immediately.

'He's crazy.'

Kieran thought before moving.

Starting off a little slowly, Kieran tried to adjust his breathing to match his pace.

Looking at the recruits who went into a sprint that could be considered slow because of the weights, Kieran shook his head.

'This isn't a race to see who comes first, it's a battle of endurance'

Kieran thought, having partially discovered the intent behind this exercise.

After the first few laps, the recruits who had sprinted ahead had run out of stamina and couldn't take it anymore, sitting on the track, panting with tired eyes, their hair sticking to their face like they just had a bath.

Kieran, moving at a medium pace could feel his shoulders hurt from the load the sandbags didn't make any easier to move, each step, each raise of his hands and legs was a burden, but unlike those who sprinted forward, he hadn't reached his limit.

His stamina was some thing he was proud of, so he was sure he'd be able to run the race. What worried him was the time, if he kept up his current pace, he'd definitely be eliminated before he could make it on time.

Looking around him for the first time since the race started, Kieran was shocked to see the red-haired lady keeping up and even speeding up.

As weird as it might seem, the female recruits were at a disadvantage. Their natural physique wasn't meant for heavy lifting like them.

'I should speed up, I've still got seven more laps to cover. It feels like forever.'

Kieran thought, pushing his arms and legs that felt as heavy as lead, speeding himself up, running past those who were slowing down, garnering that surprise that he could still speed up.

Kieran's stamina was depleting rapidly, his core hurt, same as his arms and legs.

He wasn't even sure if he could feel them anymore, all he wanted to do was to complete the race. He still had two laps left.

"Ten more minutes!"

The instructor's delighted voice was heard once more and Kieran almost stumbled.

'Ten minutes??'

He actually had no idea what time he had left, he had lost track of time, but he didn't expect it to be so short.

He wasn't confident he could make it in his current condition, but he was going to see it through. So, emptied his mind of thoughts and did the focused on the one thing this exercise was about, running!

"Times up!"

Kieran heard and his body collapsed on its own, he had managed to make it past the finish line. A little further back, the red-haired girl had a dissatisfied expression on her face.

'I little more and I would have made it….'

She thought, also falling to the floor, laying in exhaustion.

Back in the observation room, the instructor stared at the screen with a crazy aura around him, you could tell he was smiling widely under the mask.

"Good, Good! Some of them actually managed to finish, that's a pleasant surprise. I hope they don't break easily."

He muttered to himself, clenching to the armrests of the chair, leaning closer to the screen like a deranged person.

On the screen, the recruits could be seen, most of them having a red tag on them but a handful stood out with the green tag on them. Kieran was one of them.

On the other screens, the white-haired guy, the guy with the savage aura, Jack, even Richard and some others had a green tag on them.

"You have three minutes, meet me back in the gym"

The voice of the instructor was heard, garnering groans of pain from the recruits before they started to vacate each room, returning to the gym.

Back in the gym, the instructor awaited the recruits who entered and arranged themselves in a manner more sluggish than his.

"Hmph! A simple run and you're all at your wits end."

The instructor said, inciting resentful looks on the faces of some of the recruits, they felt like cursing him, but they could barely stand, talking was out of their range.

"Huhu? Seems like some of you still have the strength to ask questions, shoot!"

The instructor said, noticing the expression on a female recruit in the middle.

Having been called out, she asked what she had been holding back.

"I don't think this was fair, the weight was definitely easier for some because of their builds."

"Hmm? Why do you think that? To me, that's just part of their advantage. As a soldier you don't complain about the others have, they either worked hard for it or were born with it, so you do the only thing you can, build up your own advantage. Do you have anything else to this?"

He asked in a serious.

Feeling the serious gaze of the instructor that had been lax so far, she kept silent.

"Hmm? You haven't answered my question recruit. Do you have anything else to say?"

He asked again in a cold tone.

"N-No sir, I don't"

The recruits answered feeling embarrassed.

"Good! And unlike what you think, they didn't have it easier than you. The vests have microsensors connected to your suits which had been collecting data on each of the moment you put it on."

"With that data, your maximum lifting capacity was estimated and the weight of the vest was adjusted accordingly, so each of you had different weights according to your capability. The aim was to make you feel like you were at your limit with the load, and I'm pretty sure that goal was achieved."

The instructor said looking at those who had unconvinced expressions.

"This is the first and last time ever going to explain anything so deeply. You are recruits training to become soldiers and it isn't a soldier's job to question the order. It's his job to carry it out."

He added, reverting to his lazy demeanour.

"That's all for the day, you're all dismissed"

He concluded and they dispersed, returning to their dorms or where ever they had the energy to go.

Returning to the room felt like he was running another race with weights to Kieran, His body felt heavy and sluggish, feeling pains in places he didn't even know was possible.

Arriving at the door of his room, he met the red-haired girl again, this time he actually got to see her face, not her side profile or back like the other times. She seemed to have passed a different route since he didn't meet her on his way there.

Staring at each other, Kieran thought,

"This is so awkward, it's just like the other day."

"That's because you don't know how to start a conversation, all you did was stare."

She said, laughing lightly with a small smile, exuding a gentle and graceful aura.

"Huh?"

Kieran wondered in confusion, before realising that he had thought aloud, the faint red tone on his cold face betraying his embarrassment.

This was the first time he actually felt embarrassed since he got to the camp.

"Hmm? That's rather cute."

She said as if noticing his embarrassment through his cold face.

"My name is Ruby, you seem to be rather guarded, so I won't ask for yours."

She said walking into her room.

It wasn't until he heard the sound of the door being shut did Kieran snap out of his daze. He had his first conversation with a girl and all he did was stare like a retard.

'Shit!'

He thought, closing the door of his room.