Sophia finally finished drinking her tea and got off of him. Jason collapsed to the ground. He lost count of how many he did but it was well over a hundred.
"I expected you to do worse than this" Sophia said as Jason gasped for air. "Well that was it for the warm up."
"That was… just a…warmup?" Jason said in between breathes.
"Yes. Now we will use this room to the fullest extent."
Jason let out a sigh.
Sophia started messing with the podium. When she was finished, the room started to change. The walls started to move and made an obstacle course. The obstacle course circled around the room and slowly increased in elevation. By the time the course made its way to the starting position, it was twenty feet above the ground. There were swingin balls, immovable columns, even platforms that would let you fall if stepped on them.
"You have two minutes to finish this course."
"Can't I get some water at least?" Jason complained. Sophia looked at him with narrowed eyes before closing them. She called the gym coach back into the room. She arrived with a gallon of water and left it on the table. She then removed the tea set and walked out closing the door behind her.
Jason grabbed the pitcher of water and started chugging it. A minute later, the water was gone and Jason felt refreshed. Sophia looked at the empty pitcher and back to Jason, clearly recognizing something.
"Head to the starting line. You have a minute and forty five seconds."
"Wait. I thought you said two minutes?"
"Time begins now."
Jason swore under his breathe as he started running. He started dodging obstacles left and right. He vaulted over columns that collapsed to block his way. It was almost impressive to Sophia. She then found out the reason for this. 'He said the phoenix was dormant in him until he died.' She thought. 'He had to have ran a lot to protect himself from the blessed. He made it halfway through the obstacle course with forty-five seconds left on the clock. Sophia then thought of an idea and smiled.
Jason was near the end of the obstacle course when a massive fireball came his way. His eyes widened in surprise as he moved his body to dodge it. He successfully dodged the fireball but in doing so, his foot landed on a platform the collapsed under him and he fell twenty feet onto the platform below him. Jason groaned in pain as he clutched his arm. It wasn't broken, but it still hurt. He got back up and continued running again. Sophia smiled triumphantly and Jason was cursing her in his head.
Jason eventually finished the obstacle course in two minutes and thirty seconds. He was sweating heavily as he gasped for air. Sophia shook her head in dissatisfaction. "I expected better from you" she said as she messed with the podium again. The walls returned to normal as a circle appeared on the ground. "Run around the track 100 times as punishment. And I better hear you each time."
'I'd rather be with Jessica right now' he thought to himself. 'At least it would be a hellish experience disguised as pleasure. This is just hell.' Jason started running around the track. Sophia started to make things more interesting by breathing fire in his direction every time he slowed down. He looked at her and saw that she did a partial transformation. Her body and clothes remained the same, but she had the head of a dragon. She had red scales and two horns that rose above her head. Her mouth was open and she had razor sharp teeth. A glowing light could be seen inside her mouth and Jason realized that she was about to fire another ball of fire at him. He sped up and dodged it. His mind raced as he ran. 'A partial blessing activation? How did she manage that? That is much harder to achieve than a simple blessing activation. Both the human and the mythical creature must be in complete unity for that to happen and she is bonded to a freaking dragon. So how?'
Jason was nearing the end of his laps and had only ten more to go. Sophia started to pick up the pace with her fireballs. Finally Jason made it to the last lap and Sophia decided to change tactics. Instead of fireballs, she decided to unleash a full breathe of flames that followed on Jason's heals. His eyes widened in surprise as the flames followed him. He picked up the pace as the flames grew closer.
He finally reached the end and stopped running. He leaned his head back as he gasped for air trying to take in the deepest gulps as possible. He looked like a fish out of water.
He herd something crackling behind him. He turned around and saw that Sophia didn't stop the flames. They reached him and he burned. He started rolling around on the ground trying to put himself out. Sophia started laughing at the sight. She was laughing so much that she was holding her stomach. Her dragon head went back to being normal as she deactivated her blessing.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jason yelled. He finally got the flames extinguished and stood up. His clothes a charred mess and his hair stained black with soot.
"Hahahahahahah." She finally got herself under control. She was still smiling and it pissed Jason off. "Maybe I wanted some fried chicken."
"You little…" Jason started. He was about to fight her there and then knowing he was going to get his ass kicked when an announcement sounded through the academy. "First years, please head to the auditorium for your orientation."
"Oh it's already that time? Well it was nice tortur… I mean helping you get stronger. Lets pick this up later. Ok?" Sophia said with a grin that made Jason sneer.
'I'll wipe that grin off your face one day' he thought to himself.
He grabbed another pitcher of water that the gym coach left on the table while he ran and chugged it before leaving an empty pitcher there.