Hunter Training Centers
[ April 4th, 2213 ]
[ City NV, State TN, Country AM of FR ]
It was a pleasant evening on April 4th. The sun was about to set but there was something special about that evening. Something that happens on April 4th every year all around the FR. It was the Farewell Party, the Graduation Ceremony for the new batch of trainees from the NV Hunter Training Center.
Hunter Training Centers were like schools for young and aspiring hunters. Any child could enter the Hunter Training Center (HTC) as soon as they reach the age of 6. The training period was 10 years. HTC was directly under Hunters of Dungeons Organization (HTO) and had a huge reserve of mana stones and skill books. Even though they spent the mana stones sparingly on students, they did reward the outstanding students with a considerable amount of mana stones and sometimes even a skill book.
Skill books were the understanding of the concept on which the skill is based and the manner of flow of mana when the skill is used.
HTCs had Gyms in which all the trainees would work out. They also had dormitories for accommodation of trainees. The Gyms and Dorms were usually in close proximity with each other.
Life as a trainee of HTC was very simple. It involved working out to increase one's cell usage over 50% and absorb a mana stone till one couldn't absorb anymore. Repeat this process 3 times a day. Along with this, one had to study various subjects comprehensively with books called "Theory of Mana" by Emile Mendes, "Mana Control" by Ark Doe, "Basic skills hunters need to know" by Rosé Hunter and finally, "Survive anywhere" by Adam Sandler. They were four of the many hunters in the Hunter Hall of Fame of FR and each hunter was more experienced and famous than the previous one.
These four set of textbooks were the most basic and comprehensive textbooks for hunters. Each subject had 10 parts. First Year Trainees studied Theory of Mana I, Mana Control I, Basic skills hunters need to know I and Survive Anywhere I while Tenth Year Trainees studied the tenth part of each book.
Each year they conducted comprehensive theoretical and practical exams. By the end of the 10 year, the trainee had to take another exam apart from the usual exam. That exam was held in one of the Dungeons near the HTC.
According to FR reports, the death rate of trainees in this ultimate exam is around 5%.
Nobody cares about anyone else here. They have to get better everyday. There are no bullies that laugh at a trash kid to get killed by the mysteriously now super genius (previously trash kid) hero.
Life in federal republic was no where novel and perfect. There were ups and downs. Let's just say that the wage gap between the 0.1% rich and the rest has decreased compared to yearly 21th century. Living peacefully had become a pipe dream. Dungeons required constant 'clean ups' or clearing. Alternatively humans could be sacrificed if they don't want to clear the dungeons.
Same for Labyrinths. Mining in Labyrinths was definitely not a peaceful and safe job.
One could argue that Mining was more dangerous than hunting. The death rate in Labyrinths was more than the death rate in Dungeons. This was because there were relatively stronger subgroup of monsters called Demons that resided in Labyrinths and Demons were said to be one of the strongest subgroup of monsters. Even though the number of demons was very little compared to the number of monsters, their strength would make up for the lack of number.
Technically speaking, trainees actually had a better life compared to the adults. 5% death rate was nothing. In a world where all humans became supermen and superwomen but were helpless against the monsters without the help of battle techniques or so called skills.
As the self-proclaimed cultivator Rob Hess put it, "Skills were what made us humans able to fight against the heavens!(monsters and demons) They are like cultivation and battle techniques which help us to use our spirit qi (mana) to gain advantage over our intelligence and battle tactics to gain victory over gods and devils!(monsters and demons)".
Trainees were to learn various necessary and battle skills from the set of textbooks "Basic skills hunters need to know" I to X. Most trainees graduated in 10 years. Some trainees couldn't or chose not to complete their studies in just 10 years, they took a few more years to graduate.
HTC took trainees very seriously and have many experienced instructors to prepare training regimes for all the trainees in their respective class. After all, these trainees would literally be the future of humanity.
The main attraction of each HTC was the Main Hall. Main Hall was where all the teachers, officials and trainees meet. This kind of meeting was rare and only a few occurred throughout the year.
Today was such a day. It was the Main Hall where graduated trainees were given a Farewell Party. A touching day for the graduates to give their farewell to the beloved instructors to the mean instructors, their favorite juniors to the naughty juniors. They had to leave the HTC to leave for the Dungeons. It was their day to truly enjoyed with people they spent over 10 years with.
At the moment, the head instructor was listing out the graduates' names and one by one, each graduates were given their Graduate Certificate as tradition and Hunter Smart Watch which contained their status, identity, privileges, etc. I also contained a 1mX1mX1m cubic inventory subspace to store items. A famous hunter called Rachel Matthews took "If you know how to do it, you can do it with mana." to heart and in early 2110s, developed a prototype for a subspace or the more commonly known inventory which used mana to distort and compress a part of space and insert and remove things out of this said space. At first it was a long and tedious process. But as technology became better and better, the process became more efficient, more compact and more instantaneous. Nowadays, it was possible to have inventories in convenient places.
Going back to the head instructor, while he was calling out names, there were trainees talking to each other, they seemed to only care when they or their friends were called onto the stage.
There was one man blending in the crowd, he seemed like a forgettable character and also looked the part. He had black hair, brown eyes and was responding to a few trainees doing small talk with him out of politeness and asking him which dungeon they wanted to go in the near future.
A girl asked him, "Hey..... (can't remember his name so an awkward 5s pause) you, which dungeon are you going to the following week?"
The forgettable guy responded in suspicion, "Who? Me?" pointing at himself.
The girl replied, "Yes, you."
The forgettable guy replied, "Uhhh, haven't decided yet."
The girl responded with an indifferent "Oh" but suddenly seemed flustered by the look she was getting from the forgettable guy and asked, "Hey, What's your name?"
He was about to reply, "My name is Th--" when he was cut of by the head instructor announcing the names.
The head instructor shouted "Theodore Adams"
The forgettable guy pointed at the head instructor and smiled awkwardly to the girl, stood up and rushed towards the stage.
He received the Graduate Certificate and Hunter Smart Watch from the kind looking old man who was also one of the strongest hunters in City NV and was the NV Branch Head of HTC.
As he was returning to the crowd from the stage, he heard an aged male voice only he seemed to hear say, "Good". He turned back to see the old man smiling and squinting is eyes at him. The forgettable guy gave a curt bow and smiled to the old man before returning to the crowd, blending in. He was distant from the girl he previously had interaction with and surrounded by other groups of students he did not know off.
The party ended at midnight and all the drunk and high trainees and instructors were returning to their dorms, houses or hotels.
The forgettable guy was on his way to his own home, when he felt he was followed by someone but couldn't hear footsteps. It was too quiet. Soon, his suspicion came true.
He heard an age male voice say,
"Wait. Theodore Adams."