Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer-Novel

Ashton checked himself in front of the mirror.

Right now, he's wearing a blue jumpsuit, similar to the Prof. Rycard was wearing, his however, was fitted to his body. The fabric clung to his skin but it wasn't uncomfortable, in fact it's the opposite.

The jumpsuit covered majority of his skin except for his hands, feet and head. Aside from this, they were also given a pair of shorts. The girls had an additional sleeveless shirt for themselves.

Once Ashton thought that he looked fine, he exited the changing room to wait for further instructions. Once the time limit set by their professor was up, he announced:

"Today, will be a fitness test. Start with a round of warm-ups according to the screen you're seeing. Once you're done, go run laps around the training field, you are not to stop unless I told you so."

"Begin."

Their professor wasn't one to waste time it seems. Ashton has no problem with that. He looked at the screen in front of him and saw the exercises he needed to perform.

• Push-ups: 30

• Sit-ups: 30

• Forward lunges: 25 per leg

• Chin-ups: 30

• Jumping jacks: 50

• Run around the training field.

'Okay, that's doable.' Ashton mused to himself.

He found a nice spot for himself and immediately performed the exercises that are listed above.

Meanwhile, the other students are somewhat horrified by what they're seeing. To them, this doesn't look like a 'warm-up' at all, this is a whole-ass work-out for them.

Of course, there's also students like Ashton who didn't have any complains about this and started doing the exercises already.

Mary, Alice and Blake saw Ashton dropping down and starting his push-ups. That made them look at each other. Afterwards, they shrugged and began their own as well.

Professor Rycard who's watching the class saw all of this happening with a sharp look on his eyes. He didn't say anything despite seeing the troubled faces of the other students.

'If they're already complaining about this, I don't see them lasting very long in this class.' He snorted inwardly.

Of course, he won't coddle-up with these kids. That's not his style and frankly, that kind of attitude with just be detrimental for themselves. If all these kids do is complain all day long, there's no need for them to be here.

On the other hand, he appreciated those who didn't utter a word of complaints. Although there's no way for him to know whether they can last or not, it doesn't really matter today.

After all, this is just him testing their fitness. He just want to see how active these students are so that he can make sufficient preparation for them in the future.

Of course this is only applicable for today. By all means, he's here to be their fitness and combat coach. He need to train this kids because that's he job.

Ashton was used to this kind of routine already since he had been doing it for quite sometime now. Actually, he's doing much more than this but there's no reason to attract unnecessary attention for now.

To him, this is an actual warm-up.

He took a couple seconds of rest in between so that he won't accidentally pull a muscle. He breezed through the exercises and by the time he was over with the warm-up, he stood-up to drink some water before jogging towards the edge of the field.

Once he arrived there, he started his run. He didn't go at his full speed, just the regular one to conserve as much energy as he could. He's also paying attention to his breaths as he did so.

Once he finished his first lap, he saw that there are others who were joining him already. He could see his friends running closely behind him as well.

When the other students saw that their classmates were already running laps, their procrastination ended and they started their warm-up as well.

Time passed just like this and eventually, all students are now running laps around the training field.

Rycard watched over them from time to time to check their progress. He's also committing some names to his memories as he watched.

From time to time, the students would hear him say something like: "Richardson, get-up and give me 3 more laps. If you can't, drop out of this class."

Sometimes, it would be like:

"Hill, 5 more laps and you're done."

"Grayson, 2 more laps."

"Are you messing with me Paul? Not even a lap and you're already tired? Get-up and do 5 laps before you die."

Mr. Rycard wasn't playing around. He was strict and is certainly watching each and everyone one of them. He also wasn't one to use nice words to encourage his students. He's crass with his words but they can't complain about it.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the crowd, Ashton was on his 7th lap already. He still look mostly fine, just sweating profusely. Near him, Mary, Alice and Blake were haggard.

"Geez." Blake murmured.

"Hah...hah..." Alice was breathing heavily.

"Dear god..." Mary was complaining.

Ashton would chuckle if it weren't for that fact that he thinks it's inappropriate to do so right now.

And it wasn't just them, majority of his classmates are suffering right now thanks to Rycard. Those who had been called out earlier already passed-out on the field due to exhaustion.

"Dude...how the hell are you still good?" Blake complained while running near him. "You started way before us, you don't even look tired."

"Right...you're...not even...a knight..." Alice huffed.

"..." Mary didn't say anything. Well, more like she can't since she's already dead tired.

"I'm used to it." He replied to them. "Focus on your breathing and don't talk to much. It'll be over soon."

After saying that, Ashton didn't mind them anymore and just continued his jog.

"Klein, give me one more lap." Rycard said.

"Yes, Sir." Mary responded, seemingly energized to know that she only has to endure a bit more before it's over.

Time passed and Rycard called-off more students. Eventually, Alice and Blake was called out too. As for Ashton, he's still going. He's on his 10th lap at this point.

More time passed and by the time they realized it, only Ashton was the one running.

It was such an ironic sight since he was practically the first one that started running and it's also him who lasted this long.

While others were already recovering from their suffering, Ashton is still running. How the hell was this even possible?

Even his friends couldn't believe this. Wasn't Ashton supposed to be a Mage? How come he outlasted every single on of them here.

It has to be known that the Mages who were enrolled in this same class were the ones who surrendered first. So there is a basis on why they found this situation a bit bizarre.

Ashton outlasted his entire class even though he was a mage. Even though this doesn't sound like an impressive as it is, in truth, it was.

Even Rycard was impressed.

"West, one more lap and you can rest." He said.

"Yes, Sir." Ashton replied and continued with his jog.

Painfully aware that he's being watched by the entire class right now, Ashton soldiered on.

To be honest, he's nearing his limits as well. One more lap is all he could do before he starts wobbling. He was still sweating profusely and he could feel that stinging pain on his legs.

Eventually, Ashton finished his last lap, making his that a total of 15 laps around the training field.

Instead of collapsing though, he slowly reduced his speed and walked instead. He took out a bottle of water from his belt and downed it in an instant.

"We'll have a fifteen minute break, cherish it since there's more activities today." Rycard said before peeling his attention away from the class. He ignored the groans of his students since there's nothing they can do to convince them otherwise.

Once Ashton reached where Mary, Blake and Alice were sitting, he sat down with them and took out a towel to soak-up the excess sweat on his body.

He noticed that the three of them were looking at him weirdly, so he asked: "What? Is there something on my face?"

"Dude, you're a monster." Blake blurted out. "Are you really sure you're a Mage?"

"It's very unlikely for the personnel to make a mistake in the assessment so, yes. I'm sure. Otherwise, the White Mage option wouldn't show-up for me."

"I mean, you did tell us that you're used to it so I guess it makes sense." Alice commented, "Do you go to them gym often?"

"No." Ashton shook his head, he swept his hair back since it's still dripping with sweat and it was irritating to him. "I do have a gym set on my house, so I don't need to go to one."

"But still, that doesn't make sense." Mary complained, "You weren't using Mana when you ran. How did you finish a whole 15 laps around the field without using Mana?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just built different." Ashton replied while taking out energy bars from his belt.

He opened one and took a huge bite of it, he then looked at his friends and asked:

"Want some?"