The Heiress They Lost Came Back Overpowered

"Five hundred bodyweight squats. Count them yourselves. Begin now."

"Yes, ma’am!"

Though they were all as exhausted as dead dogs, not one of them stopped moving for even a moment.

Nina Jennings shivered in the wind. "It’s still a bit cold in Aurelia these days. Suddenly, I’m a little envious that they get to sweat."

’That’s a weird thing to say...’ If not for the sincere look on her face, Yvonne Lowell would’ve thought she was just bragging.

"If you want to sweat, you can just go run a couple of laps."

"Better not. I just ate and I feel like I haven’t even digested it all." Nina Jennings rubbed her stomach, then something suddenly occurred to her. "Angus, it’s been a while since I beat you up. Perfect timing. How about we spar a bit to help with digestion?"

Zachary Jacobs rolled his eyes irritably. "Are you nuts? Running is bad for digestion, so fighting is good for it?"

"Oh, come on, hurry up." Nina Jennings grabbed him and hauled him to his feet, dragging him toward the sparring ring. "Don’t worry about all that. When you’re about to get hit, you stand at attention."

Zachary Jacobs couldn’t help but twitch his lips. ’When you’re about to get hit, you stand at attention? Is that how you’re supposed to use that phrase?!’

But he knew he was going to get beaten up one way or another, so he could only let her drag him along.

At first, the two of them leaving didn’t attract anyone’s attention, not until they heard the sounds of a fight.

They instinctively turned to look and saw their "muscular instructor" and their "top-knot instructor" fighting in the ring.

The fight was brutal, with every punch landing solidly, each move powerful and swift.

It was nothing like their usual sparring sessions. It looked like they had some deep-seated hatred for each other.

Their attention was captivated, and even their squats slowed down.

Yvonne Lowell’s eyes narrowed as she shouted at them, "Focus on your own training! Is it that interesting to watch? How about you come up here and fight me instead?"

The group quickly snapped back to reality and refocused on their training.

"Blaze, you want me to put a mirror in front of you so you can see the difference between you and a toad in a paddy field?"

"And the two of you in the back row of Gray Wolf, on the far left! You got hemorrhoids on your asses? Is that why you can’t squat all the way down?"

"If you’re tired, you can slow down a bit, but don’t let me see those disgusting postures. Anyone who didn’t know better would think I’d walked into a public latrine."

The few who were called out looked mortified. They thought they had already experienced the instructor’s sharp tongue yesterday, but they didn’t realize that was just the tip of the iceberg.

’Today’s instructor seems even more terrifying. Mommy, save me, I wanna go home...’

...

Over on the other side, Zachary Jacobs walked back, his face ashen, with Nina Jennings trailing behind him, suppressing a laugh.

He sat down next to Yvonne Lowell and complained in a low voice, "That crazy woman, she always uses dirty tricks. She always feints a kick to scare me."

Yvonne Lowell looked at Nina Jennings, a hint of confusion in her eyes. "You went for his lower body again?"

"Yep. It’s called ’all’s fair in war.’ Who knew he’d fall for it every time?"

Zachary Jacobs flew into a rage. "Any normal man would instinctively dodge, okay?! That’s my happiness for the rest of my life on the line!!"

"Just admit I won." Nina Jennings shrugged. "As for the happiness of the rest of your life, you’re planning to spend it with your pile of Legos anyway. They won’t care."

Yvonne Lowell couldn’t be bothered to listen to them bicker. She simply stood up. "Watch them. I’m going for a few laps."

Nina Jennings waved at her. "Go on, go on. You’re the type who feels weird if you don’t get your morning run in."

Yvonne Lowell went to the side to warm up on her own, then strapped sandbags to her legs and headed for the track.

When the trainees caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of their eyes, they were all dumbfounded. ’Those are sandbags marked with ten kilograms, right? And she strapped one to each leg, right? But she’s moving like she’s about to take flight, right?!’

Although they prided themselves on being top-tier when it came to running with weights, compared to their instructor, they were completely outclassed.

Seeing the people below finish their squats and turn to watch Yvonne Lowell run with shocked expressions, a hint of a teasing smile flashed in Nina Jennings’s eyes.

’Finally, someone else gets to experience the brutal torture we went through back then. Accept your judgment by storm, little bros!’

Nina Jennings stood up. "Everyone, remove your sandbags and squat down."

The group followed the order without hesitation, quickly removing their sandbags and squatting down to look at their "top-knot instructor."

’Guess there really are no perfect people in this world. The ’top-knot instructor’ is so pretty, but she just had to be born with that voice of hers.’

"One hour in a static lunge on each leg. Begin now."

The group’s faces fell. ’The static lunge... It’s the collective nightmare of everyone in the entire system!’

The basic requirements for the static lunge were to keep the upper body straight and hold a low squat with one foot forward and the other back. After ten minutes, your legs would go numb. After another ten, they’d start to tremble. Ten more minutes and the pain would set in. For someone who hadn’t done it much, it could really make you cry.

Back at the camp, holding the stance was the punishment most people wanted to avoid. It felt fine when you first got into position, but the longer you held it, the more you understood the taste of despair.

Every time they finished, they could barely stand up; it felt like their legs didn’t even belong to them anymore. Was there anyone on the team whose face didn’t pale at the mere mention of the static lunge?!

’It’s only the first day. Do they have to be this ruthless?! How are we supposed to survive the remaining 29 days, 696 hours, and 41,760 minutes?!’

...

Not long after they had switched to the other leg, Yvonne Lowell finished her run and returned.

Watching her walk past them, not even flushed or out of breath, the group was once again filled with envy.

’Thanks for asking, but my heart *is* beating,’ Yvonne Lowell thought. ’If it stopped, you’d all be attending my funeral right now. ^_^’

After stretching, Yvonne Lowell looked at the group below, their faces contorted in pain, and felt an inexplicable sense of empathy.

But every single one of them, despite their faces being twisted in pain, held their bodies as steady as a mountain, not even swaying in the slightest.

Nina Jennings seemed to have guessed what she was thinking and raised an eyebrow. "What? Remembering the days you used to be punished by Auntie Dahlia?"

Yvonne Lowell smiled. It was true. The scene reminded her of her time back in Apeiron, when she’d skipped training to go have fun and Auntie Dahlia had dragged her back from the rear mountain to punish her with the same stance training.

And it happened more than once. Auntie Dahlia seemed to have figured out that she was afraid of stance training, so every time she got into trouble, that would be her punishment.

It was precisely because of this that even now, Auntie Dahlia was the one person in all of Apeiron she dared not defy.

She even dared to talk back to the old man, but whenever she faced Auntie Dahlia, she was as meek as a kitten.

...

「Two hours later.」

Yvonne Lowell had them stand up. "You have one hour to eat breakfast and rest. Assemble back here at eight-thirty sharp. Dismissed!"

"Yes, ma’am!"

The trainees supported each other as they headed to the mess hall, their postures utterly bizarre. Every step felt like walking on the edge of a knife, as if the floor had suddenly grown spikes that stabbed their feet.

Yesterday, after running ten kilometers with weights, they could still dash to the mess hall to fight for food.

But now, after two hours of holding that stance, every last one of them was left hobbling.