Orientation(3)

"Grr!"

Seeing the butterfly appear out of thin air, Woof raised its hackles and growled.

The gust of wind seemed to have been involuntary: the hair on the heads of the kids had been blown back, too, but they looked like they were used to it.

Aaron was still as amazed as the first time he had seen this, but he only looked at Woof and made a hand sign that indicated that he was telling it to take it easy.

This was mainly because the poor butterfly's wings were shaking on the sight of Woof, who looked like a big bad wolf.

In fact, the butterfly had even gone so far as to hide behind Jenny's shoulders, hovering there while shooting frightened glances at the two of them.

Sighing, Jenny said, "Can you ask your Tera to stand down, please? I understand that you must have been living in the jungle, where everything can be a threat. But we're in a Human Settlement now. It's safe. Just…relax. My poor Pink-Winged Butterfly is very timid, you know."

Hearing this, Aaron scratched his head and quickly moved to Woof's side, who was still staring at the butterfly as if it would make a tasty snack.

As he laid a hand on the husky's fur, he sent it the thought that they shouldn't be hostile in someone else's home.

This made Woof finally look away reluctantly, before it sat down and started scratching the spot behind its ears.

Jenny had been watching, so when she saw the ferocious-looking husky sit, she turned around and cupped the butterfly in her hands, before speaking to it in a soft voice.

"It's all right, J. It's all right. That wolf won't hurt you, ok?"

After eyeing Woof for a few seconds, the butterfly finally bobbed its head before landing in Jenny's hands.

Turning around again, she resumed the orientation.

"Where was I? Oh, yes, Teras as weapons. All of you must have noticed these white gems that flash whenever your parents summon their Teras, right?"

Saying so, Jenny held out her right hand and made that gem appear again.

Now that he could take a closer look at it, Aaron noticed that it was in the shape of a dodecahedron.

Again, he didn't know how that word appeared in his mind, but he somehow knew that that was what it was called.

It was very small- about the size of a third of her middle finger, and its edges looked rough.

All in all, it looked like a shard of some gem that had fallen away while carving it.

Glinting in the sunlight that was entering the room through the windows, it looked mysterious and captivating.

At least, it had definitely captivated Aaron, who couldn't peel his eyes away.

He could tell that it was extremely precious, even though he didn't know exactly what it was yet.

"This…is a 'Core'. It is one of the most precious materials available to us, humans, as it allows us to harness the energy of the planet."

Hearing such a grand statement, a puzzled expression came on Aaron's face.

The energy of the planet? What the heck was that?

Seeing the same puzzled expressions on all of her audience, Jenny smiled and said, "I'm getting ahead of myself. Gentlemen, please enter!"

She yelled out the last sentence, following which a door on the far end of the room opened to let in four people.

Their sight made Woof stand up, as it could sense danger from them.

One of the three was the Chief, who nodded in Aaron's direction. His hand which he had used to shake Aaron's hand before looked like it had had some sort of white past applied to it.

The second was a man who was even stockier than the Chief. He was at least a quarter of a foot taller than Aaron, which made it so that his hair was almost brushing the ceiling. He wore a yellow sleeveless shirt and yellow pants, and the parts of his body which were visible were rippling with rock-hard muscles.

The third was a woman, who had a wreath of flowers in her hair. Wearing a yellow dress, she looked delicate.

Finally, the last person was also a man, but he had a strange weapon on his back.

It was a long, black tube with an angled handle at the end, which seemed to be designed to hold it. From where he was, Aaron could tell that that tube was hollow. The tube had many imperfections over its surface, which made it look quite crude and primitive.

At the spot where the handle connected with the tube, there was a rough, oval area which was transparent, almost looking like it was a bubble that had been trapped inside the metal.

How strange…was that supposed to be some sort of club?

This question appeared in Aaron's mind, but the next moment, he muttered a word which had just occurred to him.

"Gun."

Raising an eyebrow, Jenny looked at Aaron and said, "Yes, a gun. To be more precise, an Energy Gun. So you do know something after all."

The one who had been referred to also shot a glance at Aaron, which was when the latter realized that he was wearing some sort of strange apparatus on his head.

Over one eye, there was a glass goggle that was affixed to his head.

When all 4 people took their places in the center of the room, Jenny looked at the ones taking part in the orientation and said, "Listen up, children. This is the most important part of the orientation. Here, you'll learn the most common professions of humanity in this age. You see, Teras aren't the only ones who evolved. As the elements in the air also changed, we slowly evolved and adapted in order to breathe. In the process, and due to also being affected by the radiation that leaked through the doors of our havens, our bodies changed, just like the Earth. On the Earth, a new type of Energy had been born. Some said that it was just a type of radiation, but regardless, this is what we call it. The absorption of this Energy leads Teras and beasts to grow stronger and undergo more mutations in order to become better than their previous forms. We, humans, cannot directly ingest that Energy that is floating all around us. But what we can do is integrate our bodies with these 'Cores'. At the age of 18, each and every human body becomes capable of integrating with a Core. The Cores absorb Energy actively after the integration. With the absorbed Energy, we can do whatever we wish. For example, one can infuse that Energy into special weapons…"

The moment the last sentence was uttered by Jenny, the man wearing that apparatus on his head grabbed at the handle that was sticking up from his back in a practiced motion.

Pulling it forward, he placed his other hand on the lower part of the 'Gun' for stability before pointing it toward the open door.

Squinting, Aaron noticed that the man was holding the gun in such a way that his index finger was touching that glass 'bubble'.

Instantly, the white gem appeared between the knuckles of his index and middle fingers and flashed, following which a white gas came into existence inside that bubble.

Boom!

With a loud sound that made the children squeal while Woof stood up and barked, a small, pointed, solid object shot out of the end of the tube and flew toward the door.

Only…instead of passing through the open door carefully, it impacted the room at a spot right beside the door.

Wood chips fell to the ground as a hole appeared, and after a few seconds, the solid object fell to the floor. Its end which had been sharp was now blunt.

The Chief looked at that spot with an appalled expression on his face before walking up to the guy who had given this grand performance and hitting him on his head.

With this, the demeanor of an expert completely disappeared from the man, who hung back his gun and hung his head with shame.

Seeing this, the Chief growled, "You idiot, I told you you couldn't take the shot! Now look what you've done! Reminds me of that time you shot a spike at Hannibal's ass instead of at the beast that was charging at him! The guy couldn't walk for weeks!"