48 Hours a Day

As expected, no one could complete the extra training on the first day.

As the sun went down, it was way past their mealtime. Everyone was famished. The fastest among them had only completed a third of the extra training. Zhang Heng made sure he did not over perform during the training, crucial that he maintained moderate progress. Among all of the gladiator candidates, Bach suffered the worst. Even before their training volume was doubled, he already had to train harder than the rest of them. In other words, he had to work even harder after their training was doubled.

Looking like a fish out of the water, he stared at Gaby not far away from him.

And Gaby seemed to have not felt Bach’s anger and resentment. He watched the trainers walking among the crowd without saying a word while urging those who wanted to take a break to carry on with their training.

Finally, there was a candidate who could stand it no more. He threw away the training sword in his hand, shouting, “I want to eat!!! I want to eat!!! If you want us to train more, at least let us eat first.”

Many actually agreed with him, but only three to five people responded. Although the rest did not speak up, the looks on their faces were enough to show that they agreed with his suggestion from the bottom of their hearts.

Gaby heard the words and walked to the man who threw away the training sword. He then said coldly, “Pick up your weapon.”

Usually, the man who tossed the sword would not dare disobey Gaby’s order. But now, perhaps he felt that his request was reasonable, or perhaps he felt that there were a lot of people supporting him from behind that gave him more courage than usual. Hence, he didn’t bend down to pick up his training sword.

“Very well. You don’t need to train if you don’t want to train. You will be sent to the mines with the man named Varo the day after tomorrow,” said Gaby.

The man who threw the sword was shocked, realizing suddenly that he had just done something stupid. Gaby decided on the life and death of the slaves. With only one sentence, he could turn their fate upside down.

Since Mark Reuss was not here, Gaby was the king. Unfortunately, it was too late for him to beg for mercy now. Gaby seemed determined to make an example of him as a negative role model. After he dropped the order, two trainers came forward. They went up on both sides of the man and dragged him out of the training ground.

The latter screamed while struggling, “You can’t do this to me! Let me be a gladiator! I can make more money for the arena!”

“Do I look like I lack gladiators?” asked Gaby indifferently. He had made such a decision because he wanted to motivate the others to train harder. Besides that, he was in a nasty mood right now.

Habitus was not willing to obey his orders. After all, he was a veteran in this gladiator school, and he was also a celebrity in the arena. By comparison, the sword thrower was a nobody. Gaby was mad that he used his self-worth to threaten him. People like him could be replaced easily.

After all, no one in this group was irreplaceable except for Bach.

Just when the sword thrower was about to be dragged out of the training ground, the two trainers stopped moving forward suddenly. Gaby frowned, and the sword thrower was overjoyed. He thought Gaby must’ve changed his mind. What he did not realize was that Gaby was looking at the man behind him.

“Why are you back?” Gaby asked.

“The performance is over. I’m back here for the training,” replied Varo. His appearance had changed a lot. His beard that had not been shaved for several weeks was now gone, and his hair had been cut short. He looked way more energetic now. The most important thing was that his eyes were once again filled with vitality. It looked like he started to care about his life again. Obviously, he was in a rush when he cleaned himself up, considering the few razor cuts present on his cheeks.

“Didn’t I tell you that you don’t need to come back here anymore?” Gaby was indifferent as if he had not seen the changes on Varo.

“You said that I have three days to change your mind. The third day is not over yet,” said Varo calmly without feeling any fear.

“Interesting.” Gaby was not angry when he heard how Varo talked. After a short pause, he continued, “I’m a man of my word. In this case, I will keep you until sunrise tomorrow. I have just doubled the amount of training. If you fail to complete it, you will be sent to the mines tomorrow.”

“I will make sure I won’t be sent to the mines,” Varo proclaimed confidently.

“I think we will know the answer to this question soon.” Gaby raised his chin, “Go back to training.”

The sword thrower saw hope when he heard their conversation. He then quickly said, “I know I’ve done something wrong. Please let me continue to complete the training. I promise I will work harder than anyone else.”

“No, I have found someone to fill your position now. You are no longer valuable to me. I hope you like the air in the mines.” Gaby waved his hand and asked the trainer to drag the person away.

On the other side, Zhang Heng whispered to Varo, who was carrying the wooden pole, “Welcome back.”

“Thank you,” replied Varo sincerely. Earlier, he looked as though he had given up on life, but it did not mean that he had no idea about what was happening around him. Varo knew that Zhang Heng fought with Bach because of him. And the reason why Gaby was willing to let him stay in this school for another three days obviously had something to do with Zhang Heng.

“You are a true friend. If I can continue to stay here tomorrow morning, I will definitely repay you in the future,” Varo added afterward.

Zhang Heng was curious about what happened to Varo. He thought that he had given up on himself, but it seemed like the trip to the area rekindled his fighting spirit. Could he have been moved by the gladiators’ heroism when they performed in the arena?

However, this was not the time for them to chit-chat. Their short conversation had managed to capture Gaby’s attention. So Zhang Heng quickly shut his mouth and carried on with the training.

…

At 3 a.m., someone finally completed the training. And Zhang Heng was one of them.

Gaby was not inhumane. He did ask the cook to leave some food for them. Although the food was already cold, no one had the strength to complain at the moment. Everyone hurriedly went to bed after eating.

In the end, only Varo and his trainer were left on the training ground. Varo’s body was almost at its limit, but he clenched his teeth and did not give up on the training. Amid the training, he fainted once from exhaustion. However, he did not say a word when he regained his consciousness. All he did was continue to push himself to complete the regime.

Early the next morning, after Zhang Heng had finished breakfast, he went to the training ground. He saw that Gabi was already there and he was talking to his trainer.

“I don’t know why you insist on staying here. So what you complete all the regimes before sunrise? A new set will begin soon after that. How are you going to push yourself to carry on with the new set of training?”

“Hatred,” Varo wiped the sweat from his forehead. Something was burning in his eyes.

“There is no power stronger than hatred, right?”