CHAPTER 41: I Will Sing Tomorrow

[George's POV]

I stood motionless in front of Philia, even though she had told me to sit down. I really wanted to sit, but it was like my body was refusing to obey my orders. All I wanted to do was to leave the ring and go back, but it was like a predator in front of prey.

My primal instincts were screaming for me to run, but my body could not. After a few moments of my standing, she repeated what she said.

"Sit down."

She spoke softly, so softly it was like she was whispering, but her words had a compelling effect on me that caused my knees to buckle and made me to fall to the ground.

I was frozen, locked in place as she looked dreamily at the ceiling. Her gaze was like a summer breeze that teases you on a windy day. It comes one second and goes the next. She wasn't entirely focused on me, and it was hard to really sense her as I closed my eyes.

"The significance of groups is something you should, no, must know before you come to The Test Zone. If you're not competent enough to get placed in a higher ranked group, then there's no point coming here at all."

"There are forty groups in each bloc. Which group you end up in is very important. You could say that the lower the group you're in, the lower the expectations they have for you."

"I ended up in Group 1 because I wasn't genius enough for them to want me. There are few geniuses, but there are even fewer geniuses. I am one of the common geniuses that can be found anywhere on the continent. As there are many like me all over, the school can get as many geniuses as they want. They are after all, the so-called best academic institution on the continent."

She paused and gazed deep into my eyes.

"What do you think they do when they have too many geniuses and not enough room? They admit some, and if you really, really, want to enter, they send you here. If you manage to make it through the grueling three years, they'll be happy to admit you for free."

She moved a little closer to me.

"Don't you think that's interesting? But still, they can't treat everyone the same in here. That's why you don't have the Hani training technique. You're in Group 39, which practically puts you at the bottom of the barrel. The level of the people in the groups progressively gets worse and worse as you go down."

I was too scared to move a muscle, so all my brain's processing power was set on fully understanding the information she was giving me.

"To put it simply, the lower the group you're in, the weaker you are."

What exactly is she talking about? WAIT, is that why that girl from Group 30 was similar in strength to Carter? If so, then it makes sense.

"I assume you are past the age of natural awakening, so they must've done it forcefully. I can sense the Hani in you."

"I assume that from a particular point downwards, no one has actually awakened naturally."

Sense? Sense the Hani?

"As the quality of people gets lower, it's only natural they would lower the standard of living as well. You definitely don't have the same things I do. Group 1 and Group 39 are fundamentally different. There are only two people in my group now, and that's because we killed each other."

My brain which was firing on full cylinders, stopped working at her nonchalant words that blatantly admitted to doing something I could only imagine.

"I imagine you're trying to process what I've been saying, but it's true. The first thing they asked us to do when we got here was to kill each other until there were only two remaining."

"All of us were naturally awakened and had combat experience, so it was nothing easy to survive. But I did, and from then on, they've been having us do nothing but training all the time."

She got up and walked to end of the ring.

"I think I've told you enough. My kindness is over. Let's finish this."

I watched her start to stretch, as if in preparation for exercise. I had a sinking feeling in my gut about what was going to happen next.

But before anything happened, I had one thing I had to ask her. I forced the words out of my throat, which made it come out as a high pitched scream.

"Why did you tell me all this?"

She kept her face blank but gave her answer, and it was not what I expected.

"Just because I wanted to."

That was the last thing I remember before I woke up in the same sickbed as last time.

"What happened? I don't remember anything after that point. What did she do to me?"

I was going to try to get up when I realized I was completely covered in bandages from head to toe. There were also many tubes and wires connecting me to many machines.

While I was trying to make sense of my current situation. the pain I surely should have been feeling kicked in. And I must tell you, it was not pleasant.

The pain was so bad it forced me back into unconsciousness.

When I woke up later, the pain had lessened to a certain extent which let me think about what Philia had said to me.

Does that mean that even in this bloc, I'm just a weakling in a group of weaklings? That's too funny. I even thought I was improving, even if it was just a little. Do I take that as I sign that my thinking is correct?

It's best for me to let this guide my actions from now on. If all my efforts mean nothing, then I'll sing tomorrow.

There was this one song that was popular when I left home, I'll be sure to sing it tomorrow.