[Dev POV]
"Myself Karan Singh, 21, from Uttarakhand."
After taking a cold bath, I was now sitting face to face with my roommate, and for some reason, he wasn't wearing a T-shirt. I got that he had some solid muscle, but I'm a guy—and I'm only interested in my own muscles, which are still in the developing stage.
"Dev from Delhi."
"You can keep your things in the left cabinet. The keys are in the drawer of the study table. I don't mind sharing bathroom utensils, but towels and underwear are off-limits," Karan said.
Hearing his last line, I gave him a deadpan look. "Thanks, I guess."
I took the keys from the drawer and put my bag in the cabinet, making sure to lock it—even though there wasn't anything important in it.
And thank god he isn't like Vikram. After a few more words, he got himself busy with his phone.
I laid on my bed and started setting an alarm for 3:30 AM on my phone. After placing the phone on the study table—just beside my bed—I started thinking about the things I had to do in the next three days. And surprisingly, while thinking about that, I drifted into slumber.
[Dev pov ends]
At 3:30
Ding... Ding... Ding...Buzz... Buzz... Buzz...
Two alarms went off at the same time.
Dev woke up and, rising from his bed, picked up his phone and turned the alarm off. Simultaneously, he shook Karan a little. The gap between their beds wasn't much, and soon Karan woke up and, in a drowsy state, turned off his alarm too.
After drinking some water, Dev went to take a bath. Upon entering the washroom, Dev noticed something—his body had fully recovered. No muscle strain, and the muscles were somewhat more defined.
Dev was shocked. The improvement was huge. For a normal person, it may take two to three weeks, if not a month, for such a change in muscle definition.
After freshening up, he went 15 minutes earlier to the training ground—and surprisingly, Rana was already there.
"You look in good shape," Rana commented, though he seemed a little surprised at my recovery.
"I was able to sleep well," Dev replied.
"Enjoy while you can," Rana spoke, then told me to do some basic stretches. After that, a gruesome torture session began for Dev.
If yesterday was the trailer, today was the full damn movie. By the end, Dev wasn't even able to move.
He lay sprawled in the dust, panting like a dog. Even if his physique had adapted to yesterday's workout, today's workout intensity was in a different league.
"It's already 8 AM. You can go back. Meet me at 5 PM at the same place," Rana said, then walked away.
If eyes could kill, Rana would have been dead a thousand times.
Dev somehow managed to reach his dorm, and after entering, he directly laid flat on the ground.
Karan, opening the bathroom door, came out while drying his hair.
"You alright?" he asked after seeing Dev's condition.
"Yeah," Dev sarcastically replied. His eyes were saying, Bruh... Seriously.
After some time, Dev finally recovered a little and entered the bathroom. He was feeling awful covered in sweat, dirt, and blood.
After wearing a new pair of clothes, he sat at the study table and started the stopwatch on his phone. Then he began watching lectures on fighting, language, and computers. Except for going out to eat he was glued to his phone.
4:00 Pm
He had almost absorbed the basic knowledge of all of them. Basic, in his sense, was enough to land a good-paying job.
He was now checking his body, which was almost recovered and had clearly improved from the morning session. After checking the stopwatch, he concluded it took a full six hours for his body to adapt completely—but a doubt still lingered in his mind: would changes in intensity affect recovery time?
Soon, it was time for the evening beat..—ahem—training session.
[2 Days later]
The same routine followed for the next two days. The only major change was his friendship with Karan.
Earlier, where he didn't give a shit about him, now he wanted him to pass Hell Month too.
And why wouldn't he? After every brutal training session—whose intensity kept increasing—Karan brought him food. In return, Dev taught him a few fighting moves. And by few, I mean straight-up bone-breaking techniques.
Dev also figured out that intensity did affect adaptation time, but the difference was within the range of an hour.
As for the boosted comprehension? He had no words—it was just awesome. Though there wasn't complete knowledge about everything available online, he absorbed whatever he could. Now he was proficient in French, kickboxing, judo, and computer skills.
He believed that, while he couldn't yet fight at an international level, he was pretty damn sure he could win a medal at the national level
The night before It all Begins
Dev entered his room where he found Karan cleaning his shoes.
"Are you ready for tomorrow" Karan asked
"I guess" Dev replied frankly, sitting on the bed.
"You know Buzzer will rang at 4 right? at which everyone has to gather on the grounds" Karan spoke
"Instructor told me, I will just set a alarm of 3:30 as always but still first one up wakes the other" Dev spoke
Karan nodded and after putting his shoes in corner, went to bed.
Dev following his lead too laid on his bed his thoughts drifted to what will happen tomorrow?
How many trainees would there be?
What there task would be?
How tough it gonna be?
While overthinking he fell asleep.
Ding...Ding...Ding...
Buzz...Buzz....Buzz...
Once again, two alarms rang simultaneously.
After getting dressed within 20 minutes, we both headed toward the training ground, which was much larger compared to where I had trained before.
By the time we reached, some trainees had already started gathering.
Soon, more people began to arrive, and before the buzzer went off, I counted a total of 115 trainees.
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