The head master of the college led Amasa and Kuro into their personal class the next day to properly introduce them to the rest of the students, all except one greeted the two politely. The one being the one and only crazy chick, Iris, her pitch black hair and pure white eyes made her look like a black owl, if those even exist, her gaze was strictly on Amasa, it never changed nor faltered, she was dead set on him, on the other hand, the ice heart, Rosa Alimardia stood without a care, though she had respect for others, it was clear she only showed respect to build a source and not a connection, though the gaze of Iris caught her attention, but she regarded it as nothing important.
"Alright, students. This is Amasa and Kuro, the two who had been away for the past few days. Seeing as you are all now in class, I would like to have you all compete in a friendly sparring match!", Amasa was caught off guard by the sudden announcement of a competition, "Huh! I just got here!", "You did say you were doing duel Cultivation with Kuro, No?", "Uh. Yeah . . . But-", "Enough! The stage of our class, there is no obstruction in sight and the walls, floor and roof are all reinforced to withstand even the hardest known strike of the nascent soul techniques!", Iris spoke, her gentle yet unnerving voice cut through the head masters voice like a sharp knife, "I would like to spar with Kuro.", "Oh. That is alright.", meanwhile, Amasa was scanning the building for exits as well as trying to figure out what Iris was planning, Kuro sighed and stepped forward, before she could do much, Iris had unleashed her own Qi, engulfing the class in a blanket of cold, and ice spear formed In front of her, which she gently twirled around her body before pointing it at Kuro, "Amasa is mine."
"Amazing, To think a disciple of mine would master spiritual weapon creation at such a level. It seems close to a Gold core formation, maybe High Core formation phase weaponry.", "Hmph. Really, you have to use weapons to spar, Iris? To think Amasa is scared of you." Those words sparked a reaction out of Iris, she froze, "He . . . Fears me?", "Yeah? Look at him." The man in question was close to a fire exit, his hand was already prepared to open the door, this broke Iris, she threw her weapon away and the cold had faded along with it. "I will fight you another day . . .", "Scaredy cat.", ". . ." Iris quietly stepped back and fell silent, the head master was left confused, "Uhh . . . Was there not about to be a battle?", "No . . . Not yet.", "hm . . . Alright, guess it's a no show for the competition. I did not think anyone would participate anyway, I just wanted to see if there were some competitive people, after all, those are the ones who tend to be more motivated to improve. Anyway, All I have been teaching you guys is the basics of core formation since you all started, only because two of my students were absent. Keep this in mind, if even one of you does not attend the class, the whole class can not move on. So be sure to attend regularly! Aside from that, let the true classes begin!"
The head master suddenly had a board behind as well as chalk and a ruler, the board already had notes of Qi gathering, Foundation establishment, Core formation and even Golden core formation requirements based on specific needs, conditions and expectations, the master was truly knowledgeable about his work, "Alright! As you can all see, these notes are all you will need to advance to the golden core phase! However, you must not follow them completely! You are not the same person these notes derived from. With that in mind, be sure to use these notes as a guide line and not your true way to achieve your goal! Each year I personally update my own journal-" he proceeded to pull out a comically large book out from a small pocket in his pants, he placed it on the ground and laid his hand on its cover, as he poured his Qi into it, the book multiplied into four copies, the master took the original and placed it back into his small pocket somehow, "every year after a student achieves the Golden Core phase. This ensures that research is much easier for you lot who will not have time to go around asking people what their methods are down to the last detail. Take care of the knowledge within those books, and it will carry you to heights even higher than your goals." He suddenly pushed the chalk board away, revealing an open door behind it, beyond the door was a large stretch of land, it went on further than their eyes could see, "For today. I will be having you lot do part of even all of my daily training!" Amasa took a deep breath in, suspecting a terrible day ahead of him and everyone else. "Chop chop. On to the other side!"
As the student went to the other side of the door, behind them the classroom had vanished, even the entrance they once came through, this was a from of teleportation seal, to where they had been taken? Only the head master knew, he smiled like a devil as he looked at the students, "Today, I will make your lives a living hell! For starters, we are exactly two HUNDRED KILOMETRES away from the college! And if you lot don't get back there in less than four hours, I'll be making you all do this again and again until you can get there! Oh. And you must run, no jogging, no walking, no crawling, no flying, no using Qi and no martial arts! I will be watching you all. Now Go!" Everyone was still for a few seconds before the opportunist, Rosa, sprinted off in the lead, expecting something extra if she could get there first, "She had the right idea, whoever gets there first will get a free ticket to the buffet in the exclusive caffateria!" Berthealam, the hungry idiot, sprinted ahead of the others, interested in the food more than anything, this caused a chain effect as the rest were forced into a race they never agreed on. As they ran, Amasa went over the rules again, not using Qi was definitely going to suck, and what even are martial techniques that helped with running faster or longer. The only thing that seemed a little bit unclear was the only running rule, how does he expect them to run that far without stopping and what is even considered running, as he pondered, The head master ran up behind him and lightly tapped his head, "Focus. Just run, they are leaving you behind.", "Damnit." He put all his strength in and began to run faster to catch up the rest, he had even gotten past Iris and Kuro, though their stamina was already running out.
As that happened, he even pondered what stamina truly is, is it not just air in your lungs, or is what drives the muscles in one's body, what does drive the muscles? The brain, can't be, that doesn't get tired or wear out fast, the bones? No, they also don't wear out fast and It's kinda weird to think of bones as batteries, is it the muscles themselves? All that thinking while he ran had a positive effect actually, he had forgotten he was running, forgetting to get tired and also forgetting the strain, he finally came to a conclusion after a few more minutes of thinking, however, in that time frame, he had passed Rosa, this caused everyone to get competitive and only think of getting ahead of Amasa, which in turn also caused them to forget about their exhaustion, Berthealam, the ever hungry one, began to think of all the food he could eat, what could be in the buffet and what he would love to eat first if possible, Iris only thought of Amasa, as to what about him she thought about, we do not know, Kuro had started counting seconds to distract herself and Rosa had used the rhythm of her own strides to create an odd song in her head.
Four hours had passed, their thoughts had derailed from their original ones, but they were only twelve kilometres away, meaning they had failed, but none of them even noticed that. The head master was the only one who did, yet he was smiling, approving of the class. Kuro had stopped counting seconds and had started counting how many steps each person took. Iris . . She was the only one that kept the same thoughts honestly. Berthealam had stopped thinking about the buffet and had started thinking about his home and family, even going as far as to talk to them in his head. Rosa went from making music with her rhythmic strides to planning major companies and various components for each, Amasa had derailed from. What defines running and stamina, to what is the universe and what truly made it, going into explanations only heard of by scientists who had been consumed by their own genius. Another 30 minutes had passed by before they got to the college, the head master yelled, "We're at the college!", right after he said this, the students realised what they just did, with that realisation, their minds focused on the pain they had been forgetting the whole time, it hit them all like a truck. All of them fell to their knees, exhausted, in pain and their minds now mixed up, the run had not only caused them physical pain, but mental pain as well. "You all failed, but not as badly as I thought you would, I was fully expecting you all to drop dead at the fifty mark."All of them let out a tired and defeated growl, Berthealam spoke first, "No food?", followed by Rosa, "No food.", then Kuro, "We'll just make food.", Them Amasa, "Can you even stand.", finally Iris, "I can order some food.", Rosa, Berthealam, Kuro and Amasa all spoke at once, "Please!", with that, Iris began to use a scroll to contact a nearby restaurant for Amy food they had to be delivered, she didn't even bother about specifics and just ordered the first four things on the menu.
The headmaster was pleased with today's events, "You lot can bug off to your homes. You do not look like you can do anything else today.", they all responded, "Thank you!", but they didn't move yet. As time passed, the food was delivered to the spot they had collapsed on, which they were still there, talking to each other, bonding over the run they had, the headmaster was seen smiling in the distance, this was a plot to get his students to get together, even if it meant making himself their enemy, he felt that for one to transcend above the heavens, the will need allies who can mend your wings if they ever break.