Six

"Kon, good to see you," Mathis said as he walked into the training room, clapping Kon on the shoulder. The older man looked in better shape than the last time Kon had seen him, cleaned up and in fresh clothes, looking well rested as he peered around the gym.

"Squire Mathis, I'm glad you were able to safely evacuate. My condolences about Knight Bosch," Diur said, bowing her head slightly. Kon simply grasped the man's forearm in a tight clasp as Mathis's face grew solemn at the mention of his former commander.

"She died a hero. I don't think there's any other way she would have preferred to go out," Mathis said. Kon believed him when he said it, Mathis having spent who knows how long as one of Bosch's squires.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Mathis said, switching subjects as quickly as he could.

"Waiting for the squires to arrive. Knight Jurgen said we were detrimental to the other cadets performance," Kon said. Mathis snorted and shook his head as he looked around the gym as the last squires slowly trickled in. Knight Jurgen walked in from a doorway in the back with the same technician who had been working with Kon last time. The Knight had a determined look on his face as he looked them all over.

"Squires. I will be honest with you. Your contracts are being evaluated and bought as we speak. We will push you here to see the full physical extent of your abilities. Later you will be tested on knowledge that you should have. Depending on how you perform your contract will become either more attractive or less for the larger, more well financed chapterhouses. Do I need to tell you why you wish to be at a larger chapterhouse than a smaller chapterhouse?" Jurgen asked. Not a single squire raised their hand.

"You will be assigned a technician who will inform you which exercise you shall perform. Your recent tribulations will be taken into account. Work hard and perform well," Jurgen said, finishing his speech and waving his hand at the rest of the technicians who came into the gym behind Jurgen and Kon's technician.

Jurgen immediately broke away from the line of technicians and started toward Kon. Mathis slowly inched away from the duo as Jurgen closed in. Kon didn't blame him, Jurgen was intimidating.

"Cadet, are you ready to perform?" Jurgen asked. That presence he brought started to exert itself, pressing on Kon, urging him to move and exert himself.

"Yes, sir," Kon snapped. Jurgen smiled thinly, a dark look that sent a shiver of fear down his spine.

"Unlike your fellow cadets, a high performance may invigorate these squires. The two of you shall perform to the fullest of your ability." Jurgen spun on his heel and lead them to a treadmill and waved a hand at it.

"Full speed for one kilometer!" Jurgen barked and Kon felt himself leaping to obey, landing on the machine and starting to run. It started slow at first and Jurgen didn't say a word until he crept to his full speed, his feet pounding on the machine when Jurgen gave a slight nod to the technician next to him.

"Begin the count," Jurgen said and Kon ran as hard as he could for fifty-two seconds when the technician called time. All around him squires had turned to look at him with wide eyes as he came to a halt. Jurgen was smiling as Kon came to a halt.

"Good. Diur, you're next," Jurgen said, though he wasn't as caring of Diur's performance as he had been of Kon's. Diur quickly leapt on top of the machine and was soon running at full speed. Kon had to fight back a grin as he realized he beat her time by a full two seconds.

She hopped off the machine with a faint frown, just the barest hints of disapproval as she stared at it. Compared to her normally placid expression, it was a glaring sign of her irritation. Even Jurgen had a bit of a smile as they walked away from the machine and toward a set of weights.

"Allright, I already have your squat numbers, now I need other core groups. First up is bench press," Jurgen said pointing to the flat bench with a bar over the head of the station.

Kon smiled and flopped onto the hard bench, settling himself with his feet firmly planted on the ground as he reached up to grab the thick bar. Jurgen grunted and it took a minute for Kon to realize the man was laughing.

"Your weight isn't set yet. How much?" Jurgen asked, placing a hand on the machine next to the end of the bar.

"I don't know, sir. How much is average?"

"For a squire? A set of ten reps would be about one hundred kilos."

"Let's start there," Kon said with a bit of a smile. Jurgen smiled darkly and clicked a button. Kon felt a shiver at the muscular Knight's sudden joy. He pushed it to the side and grabbed the weight as the Knight stood behind him, hands inches from the bar. Jurgen gently repositioned Kon's hand placement on the bar.

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"On your go," Jurgen said. Kon grunted, exhaling sharply as he pushed the bar off the rack and centered it over his sternum. It was heavy enough that his arms trembled a bit for a moment before steadying it.

"Control it, cadet," Jurgen said right as Kon started to lower the bar to his chest slowly. The metal bar pressed against his chest and he grunted as he pushed the bar straight up, arms snapping locked.

"Breathe in as you lower the bar, out as you push up," Jurgen gave his advice in quick statements, constantly giving quick pointers as Kon worked his way through his ten reps. He set the bar back on the rack with a rattle and sat upright, breathing heavily as he finally looked around the gym.

Every squire was staring at him with wide eyes. Kon turned to look at Diur who was standing with her arms crossed across her chest, waiting for him to get off the bench. There was a bit of a competitive spirit there, the UImna woman ready to redeem herself after Kon beat her in the sprint.

"That wasn't a hundred kilos, was it?" Kon asked, turning to look at Jurgen.

"Two-twenty-five. You did splendidly. Now get out of there and let your steward have her turn," Jurgen said. Kon nodded and stood up, heart beating slow and steady, and walked out of the station as Diur sat on the bench, brushing him in her hurry as she lay down.

"Didn't know you were so competitive," Kon remarked as he stood to the side to watch her. Jurgen stayed in place to spot her as Diur grabbed the heavy bar without a word. Her reps were crisp, arms locking out, slow movements downward followed by explosive bursts up. Mathis drifted over right as she was finishing her last rep.

"That seems unnatural," the squire said as Diur racked the weight. He had a sheen of sweat starting on his forehead, chest heaving as he breathed deeply.

"Hmmm?" Kon asked, tearing his eyes away from Diur to look at the squire.

"How strong you two are. I know she's a cultivator and is roughly on a young Knight's level of energy, but to see it like that is impressive. Two-twenty-five for a warmup? I think I might be able to finish at that," Mathis said. Kon shrugged, he had no real knowledge of these exercises to make an accurate accounting for how they were performing.

Other than better than everyone else.

"Stop gawking and get back to work!" Jurgen snapped. Mathis shot away as if shot while Kon hurried to the now empty bench press.

"Going up!" Jurgen said with joy in his voice as he clicked a button. The bar shuddered a bit, Kon swallowed hard but grabbed the heavy weight and picked it up and started his second set.

Kon and Diur alternated on the bench, shooting friendly glares at each other when the other surpassed the other. Kon had to admit defeat first, failing on his eight rep of two-hundred-seventy kilos. Diur made it to two-hundred-eighty before her trembling arms gave out under her. Jurgen wasted no time, whisking them away from that station to the next.

Leg press, lat pulldown, incline bench press, leg curl, leg extensions, weighted pullups, then a break where Jurgen put them on running machines side by side and told them to run at full speed for as long as they could. The sadistic Knight seemed intent on making them sweat, keeping the intensity as high as he could, whatever rune he was using was effective at it too.

Kon had figured it out at the incline bench station when Jurgen had been yelling in Diur's ear, shouting words of encouragement as she tried to finish her last rep. Kon could feel a tendril of energy, so thin and wavery if it wasn't for them being in an energy devoid space he wouldn't have recognized it. There was a rune there, not fully realized, that was encouraging the competitiveness between the two of them.

"Alright, you two have finished all the basic physical testing. Astounding results for your age group and apparent level," Jurgen said, having taken away the tablet from the silent technician. He was scrolling down it with his eyebrows slowly climbing up as he looked over the results.

Kon kept his hand on his hip as he tried to recover from the experience, his chest heaving as he looked over at Diur. She seemed to have not been as badly affected, but sweat still gleamed on her head. All the squires had quietly gathered on the other side of the gym to watch as they finished their workouts.

"Whatever it was that Knight Roose taught you, she knew what she was doing. Here, take this pad, it will give you the information you need for your room, reporting time, cafeteria assignment. While you are on the ship you will report to me. If you cause any trouble, I will make you pay for it. Understood?" Jurgen growled the last sentence and Kon found himself nodding as he accepted a secondary holopad that Jurgen had pulled from somewhere.

"Your belonging have already been moved over and I believe you have mail, Cultivator Hthior. Now, good day and I'll see you tomorrow," Jurgen turned away from them without another word to stalk toward the squires. Kon and Diur left, headed for the showers, the doors not closing behind them before Jurgen's booming voice reached them.

"THAT WAS THE MOST PATHETIC EXCUSE OF PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE I'VE EVER SEEN. YOU LET A PAIR OF CHILDREN SHAME YOU. EVERY DAY YOU SHALL SWEAT AND PLEAD TO GODS LONG FORGOTTEN THAT I FORGET THIS PERFORMANCE, FOR WHILE IT IS IN MY MIND YOU SHALL SUFFER. NOW DOWN!" the hall shook under the Knight's deep voice. Kon risked a glance behind him and saw the squires hitting the deck in push up position.

"I think Jurgen just used us," Kon whispered to Diur. She looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"You have much to learn about how sects and elders function. Now, let us bathe and retreat to our room. I hope the mail is what we need to further your body cultivation," Diur said. Kon shuddered as he remembered the pain of going through the body cultivation. Then it ended as he remembered the performance he'd just had and how the older, better trained, squires were now being punished.

"It can't be as bad as I remember."

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