3 laps around the field in 1 minute.
No need to say it, this would be very tiring for people who rarely touch the grass, let alone 11-year-old students.
But luckily it was only 3 laps. The class next to us, Arthur, was late by a full 5 minutes so they had to run 5 laps in 1 minute.
I have to say, Teacher Riffon is not kind at all. This is just plain cruel.
"Hugh... huoh... hugh... hughh..."
The sound of everyone's breathing echoed. Some breathed lightly, some were panting heavily.
Some people could barely breathe at all.
"E-Everyone... Hughh... Don't... Hughh... Don't leave me..." Tryo, the unlucky student who was told by teacher Riffon to run 4 laps, hadn't even finished one lap and was already this exhausted.
Poor guy. Just blame it on bad luck.
"Phew! What's so hard about this! 3 laps in 1 minute is more than enough."
With a brain full of muscles, it was no surprise that Lucas seemed to be enjoying it.
"Huff... Huff... Don't underestimate me!" Kaiser was also running but looked more tired than the boys. He was now as slow as the girls.
He seemed to be the smart type, not suited to being a muscle brain like Lucas.
Alice was breathing heavily. After all, an 11-year-old petite girl like her wouldn't have the stamina to run 3 laps around a field as big as a FIFA soccer field.
Alvin, surprisingly, ran very well. He still had plenty of energy and was overtaking many people.
Me? I was right in the middle, neither fast nor slow.
Well, my body is like a refrigerator, so if I sweat, it cools down immediately.
Strangely, teacher Riffon didn't say anything when I wore this winter fur coat with a ushanka hat. Do the teachers know about my body?
Thinking about it, it makes sense. Instead of wearing the academy uniform, I wore this outfit and none of the teachers said anything. Maybe they know something about me.
"Puff puff puff!!"
The sound of powerful footsteps rang out.
"Hm?" I turned my head back and saw someone sprinting at full speed.
'That guy looks like... Roster, one of Aelith's first two friends.'
Yeah, he was also the muscle brain type. Why aren't these guys in Beowulf class?
Everyone in my class was surprised to see a student from Arthur class running past them.
Among them was Lucas. He wasn't planning to compete at first, but when he saw someone overtaking both him and his entire class, his competitive spirit immediately flared up.
"Vulcan! That guy dares to overtake us and our class! He's looking down on us! I have to race him!!" His eyes burned with fire.
"PIPII!"
Do you really see everyone as a rival the moment someone overtakes you?
"UOHHHHH!!!!" Lucas roared and sprinted at maximum speed.
"That guy is acting up again," someone said.
"Yeah, hot-headed Lucas is doing what Lucas does," another person added.
What? It's only the second day and you guys already understand Lucas's personality so well?
Roster was running with a smile on his face when he heard someone chasing after him.
He turned his head back and saw a head of bright red hair.
"Damn! Who is this chicken head?!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING CHICKEN HEAD?!"
Lucas ran side by side with Roster, making Roster smile.
"Looks like you're from Charlemagne class. Fine! Let's see what confidence you have to challenge me!"
"Exactly what I wanted, student from Arthur class!"
Oi oi, why do you make rivals so easily?
After that, I looked back and saw Aelith talking with Amila, while Violet was like a stranger, ignoring everything so no one talked to her.
'This is the real rival. Kaiser is doing okay but he's only a mid-tier rival.'
Suddenly Kaiser felt like someone was talking bad about him and looked around with an annoyed expression.
"1 minute is up! Everyone come back here!!"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief but also felt worried.
When they lined up neatly, Riffon looked at each person with a stern face and said:
"Almost no one could run more than 2 laps except Lucas and Roster. It seems this year both of your classes don't have many students with good physical fitness?"
"..."
"No need to worry. Although you are weaker than previous years, you all tried your best. Teacher is not satisfied, but I won't blame you."
"BUT!"
Okay, you don't have to say the word "but" so loudly.
"Weakness is weakness! If you don't train right now, the only ones who will suffer are yourselves!"
"I don't care about excuses. If you don't become stronger now and only rely on your monsters, there will come a day when you pay the price!"
Hearing that, some people complained in their hearts.
If we don't rely on our monsters, what else can we rely on? We don't want to become muscle brains like that redhead and that Arthur class guy.
"Looking at you all, it seems some people don't believe me or don't want to listen. Fine then, teacher will prove it to you right now!"
He then pointed to a window on the upper floor of the school building.
"Look at it carefully!"
"?"
Everyone was confused, not knowing what he was talking about—
Crash!
The sound of a window breaking, along with a person flying out at high speed.
"???"
Thud!!
The person fell onto the field, breathing heavily, tightly holding something in his hand.
Then from the broken window, another person flew out in a standing posture with hands behind his back, and landed in the exact same pose.
It was an extremely muscular man wearing a uniform very different from the students'.
"What's wrong? Can't stand up?" The sharp eyes of that person looked at the one who had fallen.
"Kuhh... Don't joke with me, you dog of the student council!"
"Hm, talking big. After catching you, you will definitely receive the heaviest punishment, even expulsion!"
"Guhh!!" He stood up, took out the card he was holding tightly and raised it to the sky.
"What's the matter? Not summoning?" The man said, glaring at him.
"I summon, KAIJU LORD BYRON DESTRUCTION—"
Bam!
He felt something punch him in the mouth, making him stagger back and accidentally drop the card.
The man's large hand grabbed the card and dusted it off.
"Y-You?!"
He looked at the dog of the student council in front of him. The man was now shirtless, revealing terrifyingly solid and defined muscles that shone like metal.
"Your summoning time was too slow. It was enough for me to tear off my shirt, drink a cup of tea, take a bath, and neatly style my hair!"
When did he even do all that?
The guy broke into a cold sweat, terrified, and immediately got into a dogeza position to apologize.
"I'M SORRY SIR! I PROMISE I WON'T DO IT AGAIN—"
"People like you who steal things think you have a chance?! I, WRIGHT OF THE STUDENT COUNCIL DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE, WILL TEACH YOU THAT YOUR HEINOUS CRIMES ARE NOT WORTH FORGIVING AT ALL!!!!"
Not giving the guy a chance to speak, he charged forward and repeatedly slammed his chest, which was harder than steel, into the guy's face (yes, you read that right).
Then he started using his arms, hugging the guy tightly and pressing him against his masculine and powerful chest.
Several teeth even flew out of the guy's mouth from the pressure.
"Hm!!!" He jumped up, the wind pressure distorting the guy's face.
Then both of their heads pointed toward the ground and slammed down with tremendous force.
"Hmph! Pathetic! You couldn't even handle that move." He stood up, brushed off the dust, and somehow pulled out his shirt from somewhere and put it back on.
As for the other guy, his head was now stuck in the ground.
"BOYSS!!"
Immediately, a group of people wearing similar uniforms moved like PNGs and appeared beside him.
He handed the card to one of them and shouted so the entire academy could hear:
"THIS IS A WARNING TO ALL WHO DARE TO VIOLATE SCHOOL RULES! TEACHERS MAY FORGIVE YOU BUT I WON'T! I, WRIGHT, WILL HUNT DOWN EVERY VIOLATOR TO THE END OF THE ROAD!!!"
"BOYSS!"
With that incredibly powerful introduction, they slid away like PNGs, taking the guy with his head stuck in the ground with them.
"..."
I have to say... the first impression was very, very deep.
"That is Wright, from the student council disciplinary committee and also a student from Beowulf class. You must remember that no matter how good you are at using cards, if you meet someone faster than you, you'll end up like that guy!"
Of course he's from Beowulf. That class is full of muscle brains!!
"That's why you must train your physical fitness! Good physical condition allows you to save yourself when you can't use cards. So whether you want to or not, this is mandatory for survival!"
"But we have magic, teacher?" A student from my class raised their hand and spoke.
"Run another lap for talking back!"
'Whether we talk back or not, you're still going to make us run anyway...' everyone thought.
"Actually, teacher guessed someone would say that. But remember, the great demon king Furnit, who defeated the entire world with one incredibly powerful ability."
"That was Full Magic Resistance! He used this ability to become immune to almost all magic from all living creatures. Even with the cooperation of many races, he was still a nightmare! He had both powerful physical strength and a magic-resistant body, plus strong magic! So even if you're good at magic, if you meet someone with high enough magic resistance, you won't have any chance of winning!"
That makes sense. In future events of this world, there will be many annoying enemies with high magic resistance anyway.
Luckily, monster cards are related to alchemy rather than pure magic, so the attacks of monsters are completely different from spells.
And it was the monsters that caused the collapse of great demon king Furnit's reign.
"Enough talk! Everyone quickly follow this tasks!" He pulled out a board from somewhere and gave everyone tasks.
In order: do all warm-up exercises, swimming practice, gym.
Wait, what? Seriously?
Although gym helps build muscle, developing muscles for children isn't really good...
Even so, the last thing on the list caught everyone's attention and made their eyes widen.
Card duels!
"Are we having card duels today, teacher?!"
"Yes. As long as you finish the previous tasks. After all, we can't deny that the cards you create are your main and strongest weapons."
Hearing that, everyone became excited.
Indeed, card duels were both entertainment and the most powerful weapon. Children love entertainment, so yeah.
"You must duel with everyone from your classes until only one person remains. That person will then duel with the last remaining person from the other class. Teacher encourages you all to compete more!"
What?! It's a tournament?!
Hearing this, everyone's excitement rose even higher. They immediately started training.
One period is only 45 minutes. If they didn't finish in time, they would miss the duels, so they had to do it right away!
"UOHHHH!!!"
"GAHHHH!!!"
"IKUZOOO!!!"
I watched them train like crazy, ignoring their health, completely unaware of what fatigue was.
Sure enough, the charm of card duels. When the greatest entertainment in this world is only one thing, they would throw themselves into it with full force.
Not long after, everyone including me finished the first three tasks.
THAT GYM SESSION WAS SO TIRESOME, I THOUGHT MY ARMS WERE GOING TO BREAK!!
Only one task left...
"You all did very well. Teacher understands your passion for card duels, so I hope you have the best experience."
Then he stomped hard on the ground. Immediately, two full-sized duel arenas rose up from the field.
On each side of the arenas was a place to put a deck, but since everyone only had one card, it became useless.
"Alright, teacher will call names and then randomly arrange the matchups!"
He called out the names of everyone from both classes. After finishing, he wrote the names on two boards.
"..."
I looked at my name written there, next to one person.
Siutsu.
It was the guy with glasses who looked at people with monsters with jealous and annoyed eyes, the one who kept raising his hand in alchemy class and smiled because he outperformed others.
It seemed he also had a monster.
The first match was Alvin vs Tryo.
From Arthur class it was Amila and someone whose name I didn't want to remember.
Both Alvin and Tryo stepped onto the arena and looked at each other.
"Um, I'm Tryo. I hope we have a great match."
"Actually you don't need to introduce yourself. Everyone in class already knows you well."
"Agh... Never mind, let's just duel."
"DUEL!" Both shouted at the same time.
They immediately took out their only monster card and summoned it.
However, it took a full 10 seconds to actually summon the monster.
"So slow," I said.
"Can't blame us, we're just beginners. When we can shorten the summoning chant to 3 or even 1 second, that would be great..." Lucas said beside me.
This world doesn't have duel disks. If there were real duel disks, we wouldn't have to waste energy chanting to summon monsters from cards.
'Maybe I should create a duel disk. It would be much more convenient.'
"I summon Panda Kung Fu Master! Come out!" Alvin shouted.
Panda Kung Fu Master (lv 1)
Type: Fighting
Atk: 100
Hp: 100
Race: Beast
Immediately, a panda wearing a headband appeared on the field. Since I was close, I could see its stats.
However, I couldn't see its Passive or moveset. Probably to increase the challenge for opponents.
"Come out, Slime Hard!" Tryo shouted.
A soft-looking green slime appeared on the field.
...Why does this monster feel familiar?
Slime Hard (lv 1)
Type: Leaf
Atk: 0
Hp: 200
Race: Slime
"Attack the opponent's monster!" Alvin ordered. The panda ran forward in a Naruto-style pose.
"Slime Hard, defend!"
The panda spun around and kicked the slime.
However, the slime didn't lose even a single drop of health.
"What?! Even when defending, it should still lose some health!"
When a monster defends, damage received is reduced.
If it's not a type disadvantage, damage is reduced by 50%. If the opponent's attack type is countered by the defending monster's type, damage is reduced by 75%. If the defending monster is weak to the attack type, damage is only reduced by 25%.
And yet this slime still looked completely fine?!
"You fell into my trap! Slime Hard's Passive allows it to take no damage when defending, as long as the opponent's damage is not higher than Slime Hard's HP. It's invincible!!"
"Such a strong Passive?! If it lands in the hands of a monster with extremely high HP, it would be unbeatable!" Alice's eyes widened.
"Right after that! I activate Slime Hard's skill 'Counter'! It allows my monster to reflect the damage it receives from the opponent!"
"But your monster didn't lose any health?!" Alvin protested.
"It doesn't have to lose health. As long as it receives damage, the skill can be used! Counter, Slime Hard!!" Tryo raised his hand and ordered.
Since the damage Slime Hard received was reduced by 50% due to defending, it could deal 50 Atk.
"Damn it, dodge, panda!"
The panda tried to dodge but Slime Hard had already jumped and rammed into it, sending it rolling three times.
Alvin looked at his panda which only had 50 HP left and smiled.
'Huh? Why is he smiling?'
"I've met the conditions to activate Passive! It allows the panda to always perform 2 attacks at once!"
"2 attacks? But the damage is still only 100!"
"Correct. That's why I activate the skill 'Belly Drum'! Reduce current HP by 50% to increase damage by 50%!"
"W-What?!" Tryo widened his eyes.
'Whoa, that's a pretty good strategy,' I was slightly surprised by Alvin.
"Attack, Panda!!"
"D-Dodge, Slime Hard—"
"Too late!"
The panda delivered two kicks to the slime's face, dealing 300 damage.
Even with defense, because of the Passive, that defense ability became completely useless against a monster whose damage exceeded its HP.
So Slime Hard was defeated, disappeared, and returned to the card.
"NO!! I HAD A MONSTER WITH THE SAME NAME AS THE AUTHOR AND I STILL LOST?! THIS ISN'T FAIR AT ALL!!!"
It's just bad luck, my friend...
"I win," Alvin said with a delighted smile.
I have to admit, card duels are really fun!
"Alvin wins! Please step down so the next two can come up."
And so the matches continued.