Guardian academy (2) - Day One

"Alright, you sissies. Let me see some bustle with those warm-ups." The candidates were taking a lap around a field. There was no sun but for some reason, perspiration was high.

"What the hell is this?... Aren't we meant to be cultivating or something?... Why are we jogging." Riley felt like crying as he tried to keep up. "I guess even though most things have evolved, the military still retained their training drills."

Reyes and Nathan jogged side by side, Riley a little behind. Reyes, with his athletic physique, could have easily moved ahead but chose to remain with them. Nathan was not exactly athletic but at least fit enough to manage for some time.

They had been jogging for a little over an hour. After they left their room, an announcement was sent out for the cadets to gather at the assembly ground adjacent to their dormitory.

Once there, they realized that it was Captain Rodgers that had called them out and instead of information regarding their squadron uniforms and general class structure, he ordered them to start running.

Unfortunately, a few brave ones were stupid enough to question his order. Which was why from a fifteen-minute jog, he had increased it to an hour. "I'm going to fuck up some bastards." Jeremiah cursed under his breath. He was one of those at the front of the group.

In total, they numbered a little over four thousand. The fact that the track was able to contain all of them testified to the general size of the entire assembly ground.

"This is horrible. I need a break." Riley was just about to pause for a breather when he heard Captain Rodgers. "If any one of you stops before you get to the finish line, I will be adding five more laps. Don't test me."

At that moment, the eyes of those in front reached the back as they scouted for anyone that would dare to stop. Riley's expression scrunched up as he continued to jog.

By the time, they got to the finish line, Riley was one of the last to get past. The moment he did so, he collapsed. "I… need… help…" Reyes chuckled as he walked up to him with a bottle of water.

"Come on, man. Don't embarrass us." Nathan said as he reached out to help Riley up. He was also out of breath but he did well to regulate his breathing.

Captain Rodgers walked up to their group with a speaker fixed on his ear. "How are you all feeling now?... Less feisty, I hope." There were a few that grumbled but in the end, no one dared to reply lest they be asked to run again.

They were still normal human beings. They hadn't even become cultivators yet since their cores were yet to be formed.

Captain Rodgers smiled with a satisfactory gaze. "Good. Now I have some announcements to make. Firstly, your uniforms are not ready yet so squad formations will be pushed back.

"For the time being, you are to attend vocation classes to learn more about your class. You can check the notice board in your dormitory social area to find out when and where your classes will be held.

"Also, I will be handing out these wristwatches. You can use them to navigate your way around the academy grounds as well as with one another.

"Come up and take them." Captain Rodgers pointed to six large metal boxes beside him. He tapped his watch and the boxes opened to reveal hundreds of wristwatches.

They looked rather neat, their design similar to the Apple watches that were popular on Earth at some point in the past.

The cadets moved forward and picked up a watch after which they returned to their position. "Those that have picked up a watch should join me on the field. Before you become a cultivator, you need to train your body first."

Everyone groaned.

***

Three hours of grueling field training after which Captain Rodgers let them go. Nathan and Reyes rested for some time before heading back to the social area to check on their schedule for the day.

Riley would have followed them if he wasn't too busy begging some existence up above to give him strength for he was dying. Nathan felt embarrassed for himself.

They soon reached the social area which was quite crowded as others had also returned to check. "How about this… I pick you on my shoulders and then you can quickly check the board."

Nathan managed a disgusted glance at him. "Not on your life." He slithered his way to the front as he managed to get a peek.

Once he was out, he gasped for breath. "Did you see?" "At least ask if I'm okay."

"Hmmph, I had suggested a better idea but you chose this." Nathan shook his head. "You've got a class by twelve and I've got a class by one."

"Nicely done. I guess I need to search for the location though." Nathan pointed to his watch. "Yeah sure."

Sometime later and Nathan was on his way to Academy section RM. Once he got to the area, he felt familiar energy. It was the same kind he felt whenever he found himself in an engineering workshop.

It was a feeling of being home. He took in a breath just as he heard his name from behind. "Nate?" He turned to find Leah behind him. He was immediately stunned.

She looked quite beautiful today. "Hey." "Did you just get here?" She asked in a mellow tone to which Nathan nodded. "Yeah. Let's go in together."

"Alright." Leah accepted as they walked together. Academy section RM was a set of four buildings, one for teaching, the other for materials, another for experiments, and the last for test drives.

Nathan and Leah headed for the building set aside for teaching as they were aware that their first lesson would be a theoretical one.

It was a one-story building with a rather steep roof. It looked a bit old like it was suffering from neglect.

The walls were made of metal with only the area between the roof and walls being completely made of glass.

They walked into the building to find almost forty other cadets already there. Some were standing, others were sitting but what they all had in common was that their eyes were currently looking in a particular direction.

Nathan and Leah followed their line of sight to find a person, at least only the person's legs, the rest of the body was stuck in a large metal container.

It looked like the person had somehow managed to fall, head first, into the container.

"How did that happen?" Nathan asked inwardly. Leah quickly reacted as she rushed to the container. Nathan followed after and together they managed to pull the person out.

Throughout all this, the others maintained their position as they watched the show. Once the person was helped out of the container, they could all see that… it was a woman.

A rather odd-looking woman that is. Her skin was pale, her hair was disheveled and over her eyes were a pair of round glasses that made her look like a bug. She looked rather lean and emaciated like she had not eaten for quite some time.

If not for the bump on her chest, no one would have realized that she was a woman. The bump itself was hardly noticeable.

She wore a sweater with a white lab coat over it and a pair of khaki pants with sandals. "Thank you so much, I was worried I would be stuck in there for a while."

Nathan stared blankly at the woman before he suddenly blurted out. "Ms. Granger?" The woman glanced at him with a confused look on her face. "Sorry, do you know me?"

Nathan widened his eyes as he realized he had made a blunder. The reason he knew the lady was because he had come across her in his previous life. She had dated Hassan for some time and afterward, she and Doctor Chen even had a fling.

He always wondered why the two of them, that were rather good-looking, would go for an oddball woman like her. Now he had blurted out her name like it was normal that he was meant to know her in this timeline.

"Do I know you?" The woman asked again as she looked Nathan over. "Ehmm… No." Nathan awkwardly replied as he stepped back. She frowned for a bit before ultimately shrugging.

"Ahem, you guys were quite mean to not help me as I was trapped in an unfortunate predicament just now." Ms. Granger turned to the cadets present with most sighing and rolling their eyes. It was obvious they weren't happy to be here. "Aunt, are you okay?"

The lady turned to Leah as a smile formed on her lips. "Of course. You should take your seat. All of you as well." She seemed largely unaffected by the negative response most of the cadets had given her.