Skipping aerobic exercise led to a rapid decline in physical condition. Both aerobic and anaerobic exercises seemed essential for stamina.

Training began in earnest from that day on.

For the first time in a while, Atia felt shivers throughout her body.

Exercising with Casus was entirely different from when she was with the whiny Kesha.

Same time, entirely different feeling.

“Ha—ha—!”

The room quickly filled with hot air.

The space was as spacious as a training ground, allowing for almost all kinds of exercise.

Casus felt something odd.

‘Does she seem to be preparing for battle?’

Atia was genuinely committed to training.

Casus laid a frame in the middle of the room and filled it with sand.

“When did you prepare this?”

Looking at the constantly pouring sand, Atia opened her mouth.

At a glance, it looked like ordinary sand, but upon closer inspection, Atia noticed something different.

“What is this?”

“Quicksand.”

“Quicksand?”

“Visually it seems like regular sand. But in reality, it’s entirely different. Quicksand claims countless lives every year.”

“Does the sand have teeth?”

“Close enough. Once you’re in, you’ll need tremendous strength to get out.”

The sand reached up to Atia’s thighs.

“Watch.”

Casus inserted his foot into the sand.

In an instant, grains of sand swarmed around Casus’s foot, pulling him in.

As Casus attempted to retract his leg, the sand gripped even tighter.

Atia’s mouth fell open.

“Wow! It’s like a school of piranhas going for prey!”

“What?”

“Your foot must be tasty, Duke.”

Holding back a laugh at Atia’s unexpected expression, Casus said,

“……Focus.”

“Yes.”

The once softlooking sand had hardened like cement, clinging firmly to Casus’s foot.

“In reality, you can’t be certain of the depth.”

“……”

“It could be as shallow as now or go down more than 100 meters.”

“How do you avoid it?”

To Atia’s question, Casus, with his foot still in the sand, scooped up a handful.

“If you look closely, the grains shimmer. Use that as your guide.”

“At night?”

“There are ways to check with light, but it’s best to stay away from sand at night.”

“Yes. This is really scary.”

“Especially in the chaos of war. Many people fall in without recognizing it’s quicksand and die. If you don’t have the strength to get out, you’re stuck there.”

“……”

Casus exerted force and swiftly pulled his foot from the sand.

“Would you like to try?”

“……”

“If you’re scared, don’t.”

“Who’s scared?”

Rolling up her pants to her thighs, Atia stepped into the sand.

The sand reached up to her thighs.

The moment she stepped in, she genuinely felt like she was being sucked into a swamp.

“What if there’s a deep hole underneath?”

Atia glanced down at her thighs.

“Oh, this kind of feels like a massage chair?”

Struggling to get out, Atia exerted her strength.

But it wasn’t easy.

“It’s hardened like cement and won’t let go.”

Like prey caught in a net, Atia flailed as Casus reached out his hand.

“Looks like you’ll need my help.”

Ignoring Casus’s outstretched hand, Atia instead lay flat on the sand.

“Huh?”

Caught off guard by her unexpected move, Casus’s eyebrows furrowed.

Lying on the sand, Atia rotated her legs as if pedaling a bicycle and managed to pull herself out.

The sand grains clinging to her legs poured down.

“Hoo—”

She then flipped over and crawled to grab onto the nearby frame.

Thump!

Taking another deep breath, Atia gathered all her strength.

She counted silently in her mind, timed herself, and sprang up from the sand in one go.

“Whew….”

Casus’s lips twitched.
“I imagined what it would be like to be stuck in quicksand.”

Atia brushed off the remaining sand with a smile.

“I think it would be more meaningful to train as if you’re stuck in the middle of the quicksand, not just at the edge.”

Casus silently watched her, holding back a smile that kept trying to rise.

(This is a time separator.)

“One! Two! Three!”

Her voice filled the room with noise.

Arms and legs going back and forth without a break.

Atia, who never stayed still, was more enthusiastic than anyone else.

“Burpee test, start!”

How could such power come from such a small frame?

It was arguably one of the strangest experiences he had ever had in his 25 years of life.

“Heaven! Duo! Three!”

Casus watched her fully engaged in training and momentarily wondered if this was a battlefield.

“!”

Atia, who had been moving, turned her head and looked at Casus.

With a sharp gaze, she exerted a silent pressure, asking him to join her.

“Ah.”

Realizing she was signaling him, Casus finally stepped onto the mat.

“Wrist, elbow, straight line!”

Atia yelled as she moved.

Although it was a movement Casus had never done before, he dutifully began the burpee test, alternating the movements they each knew.

Atia, who had finished assessing everything with a sidelong glance, shouted loudly.

“Duke, put more strength into your stomach! Keep your back straight!”

“……”

“Breathe, breathe! Exhale and then—inhale!”