Silas strikes again!

Huff! Huff! Damien panted as he returned from his early morning run.

As days passed by, he had noticed that the strength and stamina of his body were increasing alarmingly.

His previous workout routines couldn't cut it anymore.

Now, if he really wanted to reach his limit, after his exercise routine, he would have to complete it with a 12 km run!

Damien woke up around four in the wee hours of the morning, when most of his fellow mates were still snuggled in their beds and exercised till it was six in the morning.

What had helped him was that the various gyms and training centers in the Imperial Institute were always open so he could go there to lift weights and work on his body for an hour before leaving to go for a run.

Even before awakening, Damien always woke up early to get some exercise so continuing that habit after awakening was very easy for him.

After all, his body was now very strong. Even at the Enlightenment realm, his body was at the level of the fitness of Earth's experts before awakening!

Once he finally broke into the Advanced realm, his bodily strength would soar to crazy heights. He would even be able to kill someone with just a casual punch!

Damien had been an awakened for barely two months but he was already training like a beast.

He wanted to be stronger, better, far above the pampered rich snobs who were padded by their families. 

Ever since awakening, Damien's desire to be strong enough to resist these rich jerks grew stronger.

He had an individualistic mindset. He didn't want to be the follower of a rich kid or a retainer for one of those wealthy families.

He had the talent and the power to stand on par and even above them so why would he dare settle for less?

It would be a great disservice to himself!

Damien's breathing rate quickly reached normal as he walked into his house. 

The lights were on, indicating that Frank and Hank had arrived.

As if on cue, both brothers came out to see Damien. They looked haggard and minor bandages were wrapped around Hank's fists and Franks head.

"You two don't look good at all. What happened?" Damien asked, looking at them in shock. He had never seen them looking this bad.

Frank grinned. "This mission was our most exciting mission so far. We got attacked by a gang!"

"Yeah! Best fight I've had in a long time. We pounded the living hell out of them! You should have seen their faces," Hank chortled.

Damien face palmed himself. "Seriously guys, you don't look good!"

Hank waved it off. "Don't worry about us Damien, we're fine. It's just a few scrapes here and there. We'll be dandy in no time!"

Damien smiled wryly.

Hank and Frank were the most optimistic people he had ever met.

Even bandaged and not looking good, they were laughing it off as if it was nothing.

Damien's admiration for them grew. Being able to keep a positive mind as an awakened was an underrated ability most people didn't have.

"Yeah, we'll be fine. Now what have you been up to while we were gone? Did you bring a lady friend? Don't tell me you've been training all day?" Frank said.

Damien nodded.

"Dude your willpower is impressive! When I first awakened and came here, training was such a bore; still is. So monotonous and taxing but it's a necessary evil," Frank sighed.

Damien nodded in agreement.

Just because he pushed himself to train didn't necessarily mean he liked it. He had to. If he wanted to be strong enough to be able to protect himself and his family, it required discipline and diligence.

Same for if he wanted to become the strongest student in the Imperial Institute.

It wasn't acquired on a silver platter.

Even those rich kids who got padded by their families, there was only so much mana stones and rooms would do.

As one increased in realms, their early foundation determined their strength in future.

"Damien you're trending!" Hank suddenly exclaimed.

He was checking out his comm when something caught his eye.

"Yo Frank take a look at this!" he called to his brother.

Frank looked over to see what it was. A few seconds later, their eyes went wide in surprise.

"Whoa Damien that was sick! How did you make that dude crap himself like that without even lifting a finger!?" Frank exclaimed.

Damien smiled sheepishly.

"It's no big deal. It was just a mental attack," he replied.

"Mental attacks can do this kind of shit? Damn that is sick!" Hank exclaimed.

Both brothers guffawed with heavy laughter as they kept watching the part where James lost control of his bowels and bladder.

"You barely got here and already you've made this week's #6 trending issues in the top 10! Your vid, 'oops my bad' just got 10k views overnight! Now that's a record!" Frank chortled.

"Damien's a celeb now. I won't be surprised if we come and meet him with some girls here," Hank winked at Damien.

Damien rolled his eyes and walked away.

These two were too much!

He had to take a shower and grab a bite before going for Application class today.

There was no time to waste!

It was now nine and already, Damien, Mindy, Brianna, Austin and Zane were in the class were their first application lesson would take place!

Well, technically, it couldn't be called a class because in actuality, it was a humongous dojo which had no desks or anything classrooms tended to have.

Instead, it was filled with various burgundy mats and elevated platforms made for mock duels.

Packed neatly to the side of the humongous hall were rows and rows of cold weapons arranged on various platforms and cabinets.

Great swords, daggers, bows, normal swords, double-tipped spears, shields, maces, sabers, hammers, axes, you name it, it was there.

"This class looks scary," shuddered Brianna as her gaze strayed to one of the weapons which had a platform all to itself.

It was a long sword with serrated-teeth like edges. Coupled with its blood-red stains at the edges, it looked extremely menacing!

"Stop acting like a child Bri. No one is going to use such a weapon on you," Mindy said, rolling her eyes.

Damien looked around the hall, trying to see if he could estimate the number of students present. Compared to the theory class, the numbers were far encouraging but it was plain as day that there was still a chunk of students unavailable.

They would be those who had made the first floors of the various training centers their second homes, frantically absorbing mana to make the cut.

James' type of people.

Damien shook his head wryly and turned away.

The familiar green hair of Silas Spears and other faction leaders were also present, each grouped with their members, watching everyone from a distance.

Well, except for Silas who was laughing raucously with his group.

Of all the faction leaders, he was the only one who freely laughed and joked with his underlings. The others always had serious looking people following them around.

Surprisingly, Ronnie Quentin was absent. 

His cronies were present though.

The familiar faces of Danny Bloom, Victor and Rico Lewis alongside some five others stood in an isolated part of the room, looking around.

Of course, Silas noticed them right away and pointed at them. "Look at these guys! Stan, ain't that Ronnie's people? Why are they moving around alone?" 

Silas' voice was loud and all the students heard it.

Everyone turned to look at them and immediately the faces of Victor, Rico, Danny and their people became dark.

Silas Spears was at it again!

"Yeah that's Ronnie's people," replied the guy called Stan.

"Say, why would these dogs be out alone without their master? Is it that Ronnie was so weak that he couldn't take in my awesome power?

Dude, I barely used my power and already a few words are enough to hospitalize Ronnie Quentin!

Doesn't it mean that if I used it Ronnie would die?

I didn't know he was so weak!" Silas mocked.

Everyone burst into laughter except Ronnie's cronies who had dark scowls on their faces.

"It's such a shame. I wanted to use this class to test out my ultra-new technique on silver-haired Ronnie the cunt but he disappointed me! 

I guess I'll have to settle for his dogs.

Fuck, look at them. They barely have bark in them. How the fuck will they even bark?

They do justice to Ronnie's reputation. Toothless dogs always follow toothless masters!" said Silas Spears, throwing everyone into laughter again.

"Shut up Silas!" one of Ronnie's cronies couldn't take it anymore.

"Who the fuck are you to dare entertain the idea of shutting me up? Motherfucker go and tell that to your father and your ancestors!

Besides, a smelly-mouthed person like you should keep your head down and your mouth shut when I am talking.

Just a sentence from you has already polluted the atmosphere here!

See me in chambers for a remedy to your stinking mouth. Your mouth stinks so much that I'll probably consider giving you mouthwash and breath-refresher for free but don't count on it.

With the amount of shit you spewed just now, I'm even having doubts that my mouthwash would be effective for you!

I guess you'll live with a smelly mouth all your life.

A moment of silence for your future girlfriend…

That's if you'll even get one," Silas' rebuttal was as sharp and vile as ever!

"Oooooh!" everyone oohed. 

That was savage!

The poor guy's chest rapidly heaved and he turned a beet red!

Seconds later, he was foaming from the mouth and his eyes became bloodshot even while Danny and Rico restrained him from running to Silas!

"Let me at him!" he roared furiously.

"Calm down Tobias! It's not worth it," Rico said as he and Danny strained to hold back the livid Tobias.

"Yeah let go of him. I want to see how good smelly-mouth is.

Come on, stinking mouth, I'm right here! Come get me!

I wanna knock your teeth in so they'll finally be free from the stench in your mouth and not be continuously assaulted by your stinking breath!

Look at those teeth of yours!

Your mouth stinks so much that your teeth aren't even able to maintain their white color!

The stench has discolourated them all!

I'll relieve them of such misfortune.

You won't even have to pay me anything! Just walk over here and let me knock them out for you," said Silas with a smirk.

Everyone turned to look at Tobias' teeth to see if they were truly discolored.

Indeed, it was!

Then could this mean that it was true that Tobias had stinking breath?

Tobias noticed the sudden interest with which people were using to check out his teeth and he hastily closed his mouth.

He turned to look at Rico and Danny and noticed that they had their heads to the side even while holding him back.

He suddenly became pale. "My mouth doesn't really smell that bad… right?" he whispered.

One look at his friends gave him the answer.

Not able to handle the shock and trauma anymore, Tobias fainted!

Everyone's eyes went wide in surprise. Just a few words from Silas had already taken down the poor guy!

Silas was too foul mouthed!

His tongue was sharper than a well-sharpened spear!

Or even a laser beam!

Ronnie's cronies gritted their teeth in humiliation and anger even while some of them took the limp body of Tobias out the hall.

Silas grinned. "Knockout!"