"Just five minutes?" Adam asks as he thinks the time required to clear all these obstacles is just a little too long. A fit person should be able to easily clear it.
"Hahaha, you will know how hard it is when you try," Harry says, patting Adam's shoulder before bringing him towards the obstacle course.
At the obstacle course, Adam sees a young man with strap-on glasses covering his eyes; the glasses look concave, meaning the guy has bad eyesight, and his entire body is covered in dirt; he also looks very exhausted.
"Let me introduce you to Manny. He also wants to learn firearm combat. It's his second week now, and he still hasn't cleared the course, so he is stuck," Harry says, laughing.
Manny feels embarrassed as Harry exposes his failure before a complete stranger. Adam gives Harry a weird look because he thinks it was out of line. If he were in Manny's position, he wouldn't want to get ridiculed either.
"Today I am going to complete it. I promise," Manny says with determination. Adam can see the fire in Manny's eyes, so he hopes that this man succeeds.
"I hope so, I am feeling bad seeing how much money you have spent here already," Harry says, sighing, but there is clearly no hint of pity in his voice.
"Wait, if he has been doing this for two weeks now... Has he paid over two thousand dollars and still learned nothing?" Adam asks as it sounds like clear extortion.
"What? Of course not, do you think I scam people? They only need to pay once they complete this obstacle course, but of course, to use the obstacle course, there is a fifty-dollar charge upfront, "Harry says, grinning ear to ear.
Adam realizes that this is how they earn most of their money. This Manny guy seems to have spent over seven hundred dollars just to complete the obstacle course.
This, of course, makes Adam curious about Manny. Why is this guy so hell bent on learning firearm combat? If it were any other person, they would have just given up after failing the second or third try.
"Are you ready?" Harry asks Adam.
"Why don't I watch Manny do it first, then I will attempt next," Adam suggests.
Harry looks at Manny and nods his head. "Okay, kid, I hope you succeed today; if not, there is always tomorrow," Harry says, grinning. This man clearly wants Manny to fail because Manny has become a constant cash cow for him. But he does hope that Manny succeeds soon because he can then charge Manny the whole subscription price.
"I am going to succeed this time for sure. I have been training for this!" Manny says with determination and starts the course.
First, he runs on top of a long, uneven log that came from a very long tree without falling or losing his step. Then, he had to jump over and grab the net hanging from a platform and stopping himself from falling into a mud pile. He then had to climb up the net and started jumping side to side to cross a section where multiple logs were placed in the ground vertically, providing very little surface area to step on. Manny did a good job crossing it, as he clearly has experience and the muscle memory to cross it; the heavy uniform and equipment didn't hinder his progress.
Then he had to dive into a pool of water and swim across, drag his body through the wet land, and crawl into a tunnel made out of barbed wire. As he crawled through, his equipment started catching on the barbed wires, slowing him down, plus the wet mud was not helping him, but he pushed through.
After successfully crawling through the barbed wire tunnel, he comes across a rope climb. Already exhausted, he grabs the thick rope and starts climbing it. The wet mud stuck to his hand makes it a little difficult, but he slowly inches upward with everything he has.
As Adam watches Manny struggle through the rope climb, he starts cheering for the guy, hoping that he succeeds.
He does it, he manages to reach the top, grab onto the platform, and climb up, but the time is slowly running out. He slides down the wooden board and makes a run for it, before him a straight, tall wall, and the only thing he has to help him climb is a very thick rope that will definitely need both hands to grab
Manny makes a run for it, he jumps, grabs the rope, digs into feet into the wooden wall, and tries to climb up his muddy shoes keep slipping, but his grip strength is good, he slowly inches up. The time's running out, ten seconds, five seconds, and at the very last second, Manny grabs onto the platform, climbs up, and crosses the finish line with only a microsecond to spare.
Seeing that he succeeded, he screams victoriously.
Adam is impressed. From what he saw, a normal human will clearly have a very hard time completing this obstacle course, but he is no ordinary human.
"Would you look at that, this little fucker really did it." Even Harry is impressed by the grit and determination that Manny showed today.
An exhausted, beat-up, and covered in mud Manny comes back to Harry, his face containing the biggest smile possible. "Sir, I did it. I completed the course!" He says with excitement. His fists are balled up and shaking from the adrenaline he is feeling right now.
"You surprised me, boy, but good for you. You can now officially join my course. Of course, you need to pay the fees upfront before we start," Harry says, clearly trying to extort more money out of Manny, but he doesn't seem to mind.
"I will go do that right away!" Manny says and rushes back.
"Hey! Wash up before you go out there, or my wife's gonna get mad," Harry shouts towards the running Manny, who quickly changes his course and heads towards the locker area.
"So, it's your turn. You saw how it's done, do you think you can do it?" Harry asks, turning his head towards Adam.
Adam looks at the course and doesn't think it would be much of a challenge at all. With his explosive speed and strength, he can easily clear all the obstacles.
"Sure, let's give it a try," Adam says. "Wait, let me reset the timer," Harry says, smiling ear to ear. Rarely does anyone complete this course on their first try, and even if they did, they can't do it within the given time without proper training.
The chances of a first timer like Adam completing this are lower than one percent.
Once the timer gets set, Adam gets in position, and as soon as the green light hits, he takes off. His powerful leg muscles propel him forward like a Cheetah.
His feet touch the long wooden log, and before you know it, he is already on the other side. Even with the wooden log being uneven and hard to balance on top of, due to his insane sprinting speed, Adam easily gets past the log.
His speed easily carries him to the net, which he climbs up like a monkey using just his hands. Once up, he is met with the uneven logs, which are of child's play to him as he can perceive space and time much better than a normal human; he continues with his explosive speed and just runs over the logs as if they are just a flat surface.
After crossing the logs, Adam dives into the water pool like a professional diver and swims through the pool with ease. Being strong with incredible endurance is showing its benefits.
After crossing the pool, he comes across the cursed barbed wire tunnel, which will clearly be the most time-consuming part of the course. Adam dives in and crawls through the wet mud while keeping his body as flat as possible, making sure that the barbed wire doesn't catch anything.
After crawling through the tunnel, Adam arrives before the rope climb, and once again, it's too easy for him. He has a lot of strength, stamina, and endurance to spare. He climbs that rope as if it's the most secure ladder in the world with just his bare hands, while his legs just dangle; he didn't have to use them at all because of how strong his upper body is.
The last obstacle of the course also posed no challenge to Adam as he just brute-forced through it, completing the whole course in one minute thirty-seven seconds, most of which was consumed by the barbed wire tunnel, as Adam couldn't fully utilize his strength and speed there.
Adam looks at the time and smiles; he did better than he expected. Well, he didn't know what to expect as this was his first time, but he believes if he does this course a few more times, he can shave a few more seconds off the clock, but of course, he is not going to do that.
He is here to learn how to fight with a gun, not become an obstacle course master.
Adam returns to Harry's side, who is looking at the time on the timer with a gaping mouth. One minute, thirty-seven seconds, that's a new record. Harry has been doing this for over five years now, but he has never seen anyone do this so fast.
He can't even compare Adam with his military buddies, as Adam just blew past all their records as well. He looks at Adam as if he were a freak.
"Okay... you can join the class..." Harry has nothing to say.
Adam smiles and heads to the locker room to wash himself off before arriving at the front desk once again, where he sees the fat lady and Manny talking.
Noticing Adam, Manny takes a sigh. "Don't give up so soon, my friend. Maybe try a few more times. These kinds of skills are hard to come by; you never know when you may need them," Manny says, thinking that Adam failed and gave up instantly, as it's not even been five minutes since Manny got here to register himself.
"Oh, I already passed. I am here to register as well," Adam says with a smile, shocking Manny.
"What? You completed it? Already?" Manny asks, his voice raised.
"Well, it was all about speed. I didn't really have to worry about anything else," Adam says, making Manny feel a little jealous, but he quickly gets over it.
He is not here to envy what others can do; he is here to learn how to fight.