THE VERDANT MILITARY TRAINING CENTER

I didn't pay a small price to lease one of these chances to you…so don't disappoint me cause not so many can bear the consequences.

Immediately Kairos heard her words an unexplainable shiver ran through his spine as he could feel his blood dancing in agitation from fright, his brains seemed to pause for a while before it came back online allowing him to mutter two words in a cracked tone:

"Yes Captain."

She then stood upright again with a satisfied grin as she watched Kairos return back to the crowd of contestants.

Staring at her grin, the image Kairos had of her couldn't help but look even more threatening.

"I guess you were even more interesting than I thought." A soft soothing voice could be heard from behind breaking Kairos train of thoughts.

Slowly moving his head back he noticed an extremely handsome black haired figure with brown sparkling eyes…Astin Gunnar.

Kairos simply smiled at his words not willing to say much due to his latest encounter but Astin didn't seem to take his act of silence lightly as he quickly crossed his arm around Kairos neck.

"So you are just going to remain quiet…I am pretty sure you must have set a record of being the first Vulgar to gain admission into a Military Training Center even I didn't know Vulgars could be that strong."

"I didn't technically pass the trials." Kairos refuted him lightly but the latter seemed to be in disagreement as he refuted strongly.

"Nonsense…a little acknowledgement won't hurt."

"…Besides I feel a lot more interesting things are bound to happen if I stay close." Astin muttered in a low tone, his face still bearing his charming looking smile.

While the interaction between Astin and Kairos had garnered a couple of judgmental stares, the cold frightening voice of Captain Blair could be heard once more immediately attracting the attention of everyone.

"I guess that marks the end of this year's trials and the beginning of your lives as a freshman slogger…I hope next time I see you it's on good terms and your body is still breathing. I do have other things to attend to and would now leave you under the care of the custodian of your section, Captain Austmond Bing." 

Immediately Captain Blair said this, the last man that had been standing beside her and the older man since suddenly stepped forward, his amber eyes brimming with unexplainable emotions as he scanned through the group of contestants ignoring the exiting Captain Blair and the older looking man.

"Welcome to the Verdant Military Training Center…as the administrator earlier said, I am Captain Austmond Bing and I would be serving as the custodian to the freshman slogger section."

 "...I guess it's high time we exit the trial arena and go over to the main area."

Immediately the captain said this, he began walking towards the other end of the arena with the contestants following behind him until he suddenly came to stop at a closed two way wide iron gate.

As soon as the captain and contestants got there, two blurry outlines slowly began forming at each end of the two way iron gate. The blurriness began sharpening until their previous silhouette was clearly in the form of a human each wearing a Verdant armor.

The moment the contestants saw this they flinched back in shock but we're replied with a mild smile from Captain Austmond Bing.

"The guards are able to mask their presence with the aid of an enchanted mana artifact." He simply replied and with the wave of his hand signaled that the soldiers both opened the gate which they immediately did creating a passage through.

Captain Austmond first went through the passage prompting the contestants to obediently follow  behind him. 

Immediately they went through the two way iron gate a large landscape came into view beautifully littered with huge buildings, majestically grounded trees, Flags with the Verdant emblem and visible Verdant soldiers…many Verdant soldiers.

The contestants slowly followed Captain Austmond with most of them periodically gawking at the wonders that set before their eyes.

Captain Austmond then paused and with a serious expression  faced the contestants that had been following behind him ever since.

"Before I tour you further into the training center…I must first brief you on the rules of the center as we take these rules seriously, so I would advise you inscribe this rules in your heart and adhere to them strictly."

With his expression turning even more graver and his amber eyes seeming to grow more darker he continued talking with utmost seriousness in his tone:

"First…never act with contempt towards the timing system of the training center as this would be met with severe disciplinary measures which I can't guarantee you survive from."

"... starting tomorrow the timing system will be enacted and this is in the form of a loud bell sound."

"The first bell sound indicates the start of the day…no slogger is expected to be in bed after the first bell sound.

"The second bell sound indicates it's time for the first meal for the day…all sloggers are expected to meet at a designated area which would be shown to you later on for your first meal of the day."

"The third bell sound indicates the end of time allocated for your first meal and the start of your first lesson for the day 'the mana control class'."

"The fourth bell indicates the end of your first class and the start of your second, 'weapons usage and management class'."

"The fifth indicates the end of your second class…you are expected to head to an earlier designated area where you had your first meal for your second."

"After this you would be given some free time until the sound of the sixth bell after which no one is expected to be out of their respective rooms or even still awake."

"In cases where the bell sounds is repeated thrice…it should be considered an announcement of emergency where all sloggers are required to gather at the main hall…which would be shown later on."

"After the timing rules there are not any other much rules except:

"Sloggers aren't allowed to kill…you are also not allowed to question or outright attack authorities higher than you…no vandalism or theft of the center's materials. If any questions or issues arise then approach the nearest official of the training center and report your issues…Am I Understood?"

"Yes Captain." The sloggers immediately replied in unison.

After the Captain's speech, the newly inducted sloggers received a tour afterwards of the whole freshman slogger area which eventually ended at the sloggers hostel for both genders where he showed them which hostel belonged to which gender.

"The capacity of each room regardless of gender should be three per room…I would be giving you the initiative to choose your fellow roommates."

"Take the opportunity today to rest because you will be needing it in the nearest future."

The captain eventually left, giving the sloggers the opportunity to find their respective roommates.

With Kairos and Astin already grouped, Kairos watched helplessly as his roommate tried to convince a third party to join them, which although he was successful in doing, the moment the person he had convinced found out of Kairos the now famous Vulgar was also part of the crew he would immediately back out sometimes even question Astin's sanity.

Same result played out again and again but Astin still remained determined, refusing to let go of the matter.

Kairos eventually got tired of the repetitive event and decided to go look for a free room for both of them. The actions of the other sloggers after hearing they were to be put in the same group as a Vulgar was something he was used to and had already expected.

Astin, who had been busy trying to still convince other sloggers, suddenly noticed his roommate moving away and instinctively followed behind him.

"Where are you going, we haven't found a third roommate yet." Astin asked, confused.

"There is no need to stress the issue, the higher-ups definitely didn't predict the amount of students they induct in…so it shouldn't be out of the norm that a couple of rooms don't have up to three roommates." Kairos simply explained as they went from door to door looking for a room that hadn't been occupied yet.

They eventually found one and without hesitation both of them went into the room.

Despite the constricted look the room had from outside, it turned out to be very spacious within. There were three beds laid in different corners of the room, there was also a wooden box…three of them to be precise, and inside of them were numerous clothes with the Verdant emblem engraved on them and a door that led to a bathroom.

While both Kairos and Astin busied themselves with getting accustomed to the room they suddenly heard a knock on the door putting them on alert.

Knock! Knock!

Astin was the first to take a bold step as he carefully walked to the door slowly opening it up to reveal a  boy with slim build who seemed to be a teenager too. The way his brown eyes would occasionally avoid eye contact and his body would continually twitch showed the boy was a timid type.

"Ehmm…I was asked to lo..look around for any room th…that still had space for one more." The boy said while stuttering occasionally.

Astin without giving a reply simply opened the door wide while gesturing to him to come in.

Immediately he got into the room, the first thing Kairos noticed was the dark glow the bracelet in his hands had.

"A special student." He muttered as he stared intensely at the boy standing a few steps away.

"Hey…m..my name is  Rory." The figure managed to mutter, feeling a little uncomfortable from Kairos' intense gaze.