CHAPTER 31
Swiftly, Ray instantly fell into line like he was always there with the other Aspirants while he silently panted as he stared ahead.
The instructor for today's training was just walking into the training field as he stood in front of the Aspirants with his gaze stern and calculating.
Ray was unable to spot Kai and Van yet in the sea of Aspirants as he was currently at the back.
The Aspirants were divided into three rows with a space in between them as they stared ahead at the instructor whose gaze was sweeping over them.
"Welcome Aspirants to the Aspirant Corps. I'm not going to speak too much because I'm sure that you must have been briefed when you were inducted here."
The instructor paused as his gaze swept through the crowd of teens who all had their chests puffed up, chin raised like soldiers ready for war.
"... I'm sure you must be wondering what you are here to do on this field today."
Ray crossed his hands behind his back calmly as his breathing now steadied down.
"Well, what we will be doing for the next week is building your core strength, perception and agility hence a training regiment have been drafted for you all.
Which you will be taking part in for two weeks before we transition to training you all on how to use the necessary gear for your missions."
'Physical training? Oh common. I just got out of one.' Ray groaned inwardly as he still gazed outward.
Soon enough, on either sides of the field, massive drum like structures were seen emerging from the ground.
Ray counted around fifty of these drums surrounding the students from both sides.
The drums let out a soft hum as the body glowed a bit.
"Fear not. These drums are here to help your training."
'I wonder what the training is going to be about.'
"... Without wasting time, let me just get to business. So what you all will be doing is that you will run round this field for four solid times and in between runs, you will make sure to avoid the holographic spikes that will be shot at you at random."
'Huh? Why does this seem identical to the test we participated in?'
"This training helps to build your stamina in order to endure how you will use your gears. Also, the holographic spikes is to hone your perception and help you dodge attacks that would be sent your war."
The instructor paused for a few seconds as his gaze flickered across the students that stared at him respectfully and not daring make a sound.
Then he continued;
"And of course, you will be timed. Each spike that hit you, it's minus five points from your total score. The first ten people to round the field four times, will be awarded some points."
An Aspirant raised his hand in confusion.
"Yes?"
"Sir. These points, what are they used for? What's the benefit of having them?"
The instructor nodded at the question.
"... It is to keep you all on your toes. It's my personal grading metric. Those with lower points would be considered trash and not worth my time while those with high points are considered to be elite."
Another Aspirant raised her hand hesitantly. The instructor gave her a nod.
"But I feel like our grade level is already prove of those with talent and who is a trash."
The instructor shook his head as he massaged his temples.
"You can be a grade 7 meta and still be garbage if you don't know how to use your abilities properly. And like I said, this is my personal metric system so enough of the questions. We don't have much time left."
Ray just stiffened as he just stared ahead.
"And remember, no use of abilities. This is purely to test your physical abilities. Anybody caught using an ability would be punished. So get running now!"
The Aspirants didn't need to be told twice as they immediately dispered, sprinting across the sandy field with a few patches of grass here and there.
The instructor stood side making sure to not be in their way as everybody lunged forward trying to cover as much distance as possible within the ten minutes time limit they were given.
"Haaa… Haaa…"
Ray panted as he put his nine point of agility to good use while sprinting ahead.
A few hundred students were already ahead of him but he had managed to put quite the distance with a few dozen students behind him as he kept running.
He was solely focused on completing this mission as the only thing on his mind was.
Run, Run, Run.
He kept running when.
Swiiiiish—!
His ears surprisingly perked up as a spike was shot his way.
This caused him to twirl around to face the projectile.
Then with his teeth grit, he sidestepped avoiding the projectile as he swiftly whirled around and continuing on his sprint.
The action only lasting a second.
"Minus five points!" The instructor's voice rang out seemingly calling out a student who was hit.
Cursing under his breath, Ray quickly ducked with all his speed simply avoiding another spike as he bolted forward.
His mind solely focused on running and avoiding the spikes that he didn't realise when he passed by some high grade ability users who were stunned as they saw the number 1.2 flashing from his wrist.
But he didn't care though as his ears twitched and he quickly tilted his head to the side letting a spike whistle past him.
For the more part, he wasn't hit from any of the projectile as sweat trickled down his face after completing the first lap.
His breath was hoarse but he kept running.
'... The trick is to calm your mind. With my four points of perception, I can barely sense a threat a few feet away from me.
Hence I have been dodging with the skin of my teeth because I have to wait for the spikes to get close before I can sense it. Damn it!'
Up ahead, he could see Kai jogging and not even bothering to run while he calmly and nonchalantly avoided each spikes like they weren't even there as he passed by countless students.
He was currently leading the students with Trisha slightly behind him.
For some reason, Ray scowled as he gritted his teeth while narrowly avoiding another spike… barely.
'Show off!'