A normal day in the Academy

Adam had been at the academy for two weeks now and still hadn't gotten used to the stress of the morning. Yawning, he folded his blanket, while Jean scurried out of the room, to change in a separate dressing room for women.

"*Yawn* Aldo, what's on today's schedule?" Adam asked, yawning.

"The usual morning routine and a practice battle with the knight class ." Aldo answered as he opened the door to leave the room.

As usual, the recruits lined up in front of their rooms and were picked up by General Aslan for breakfast. After a quick breakfast, the lion-man rushed the recruits around the training ground while he drove them on with loud roared commands and let them run for a while, before ordering the exhausted young men and women to gather in the classroom.

"Today, you will conquer an enemy camp with beasts owned by the Academy! You'll follow me to the stables and you'll be assigned to a mount there. As you've probably noticed in close combat training, your uniforms will absorb some of the damage, so don't hold back! The knights will defend a training camp and you will try to take it, it shouldn't be that difficult! You will stay together in your room groups, so choose a leader! And now, follow me to the stables!" The giant lion man declared.

The recruits followed the general in two lines, through the academy, across the training ground, through the city and through a small gate in the city wall, that was on the opposite side of the main gate.

"Get in a line! The stables with the mounts are numbered from 1 to 30, come to me in turn and you will be given a number, then you go to the stable with the same number and familiarize yourself with the mount!" General Aslan ordered, when he pulled some cards out of his pocket.

The mounts were huge wolves, that were used to beast riders in training riding them. So getting on the wolves and gathering in the room groups in front of the stables, was not a problem for the young warriors. The real problem, for most groups was choosing a leader.

"I will be our leader!" Jean proclaimed.

Adam and Aldo didn't really care, who the group leader was and just nodded, but John didn't seem happy with the decision. The wolf boy rode his mount right in front of Jean, staring her straight in the eyes.

"I'll do that, after all I'm the strongest one around here!" John said with an arrogant look.

"Then let's find out, who would be more suitable! You and me! Here and now, without weapons!" Said the lioness, defiantly.

"Not again!" Aldo muttered quietly to himself.

"Does that happen often?" Adam asked curiously.

"Ever since we met, it's been like a never-ending competition between the two of them. Eating competitions, running races, wrestling matches and even a pee competition once, it never gets boring." Aldo explained.

While Aldo and Adam were talking, Jean and John got down from their wolves and got into a fighting stance.

John charged at Jean, faked with his left hand and punched with his right. Jean ducked under his fist and delivered two quick punches to the wolf boy's stomach. John, who reacted quickly and had tightened his abdominal muscles, took the punches and launched into a kick, that Jean blocked with her arms in front of her face. Jean skilfully intercepted John's second kick, turned and used John's kinetic energy for a shoulder throw. With an ugly sound, the black-haired young warrior landed in the dirt. Jean didn't waste the time passing and grabbed the boy's legs and pulled them back for a submission hold.

"AAAAAAHHHH! Stop, STOP! OK, ok, I GIVE UP!" John yelled in pain.

"That's my girl!" Aslan murmured, chest swollen with pride.

During the fight between the two, General Aslan and a couple of the other students had gathered around them.

"Now, that each team has a leader, the drill can begin!" General Aslan announced.

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The exercise was over, and after lunch the budding beast riders gathered at the training ground.

"YOU ASHAMED ME! YOU CALL THAT, AN ATTACK?" The lion man's voice made the ground tremble.

The general's huge figure, positioned in front of the recruits, trembled with anger. Adam could see a man with a long beard appear at one of the windows, only to quickly close the window and disappear. The General's shovel-like hand grabbed a young man with curly blond hair, who was standing in front.

"Mister von Ramberg! Where was your group?" The general hissed his question.

"Uhm... o... o..." Was the only thing, the young man managed to get out.

"O... O? What's that supposed to be? Do you not understand my question? WHERE... WAS... YOUR... GROUP?" he bellowed at the recruit every single word.

"O... On the front lines, we... we were the first to...!" stuttered James.

"If I saw right, you jumped over the enemy formation and crashed into a tent. Congratulations, if those weren't also recruits, you'd be dead!" The general interrupted him.

The general opened his hand and dropped James, only to suddenly appear in front of Jean, throwing a giant shadow on the blonde lioness.

"Jean! Jean… I expected better from you!" General Aslan didn't yell at her like he did at James, but Jean, who lowered her head, seemed visibly struck by his words.

"TAMIKA! Why did your team stay behind?"

For about 10 minutes, that felt like hours, the general yelled at the recruits and questioned them about their decisions. Until he left the training ground without a word and came back with a halberd.

"Looks like we have to train a lot harder! Come on, ATTACK ME WITH ALL YOU HAVE!" General Aslan roared, as he nonchalantly twirled the halberd around.

Without a word, the recruits took their war scythes out of their storage bags and rushed towards the man. General Aslan swatted the first two recruits only with his bare hand away, which smashed into a group of charging recruits behind them. The fight lasted only a few seconds and already 5 recruits were on the ground. He turned and grabbed John, who was trying to sneak up on him from behind with the halberd's hook and threw him into the crowd. Jean jumped over the recruits in front of her and was knocked aside with a powerful attack by the general, who had already seen the attack coming. She crashed straight into Adam, who tried his luck from the side.

The fight didn't even last 2 minutes!

"Embarrassing, you're supposed to be the elite of the army, one day! PUSH-UPS, until I order otherwise!" The lion man's voice made the ground shake again.

The young recruits spent the rest of the day, until late in the evening, on the training ground doing push-ups, sit-ups, sprints and practice fights. Completely exhausted, the beast riders dragged themselves up the stairs at the end of the training.

"Haaa... haaaa... haaa..., shall we play cards befor we go to sleep?" John asked exhausted.

"I just want a cold shower and then sleep!" Aldo said, as he sat down on his bed.

"Well, after a shower Aldo can go to bed, then we'll ask someone else to play with us." Adam said as he combed his sweat-soaked hair back with his hands.

"Let's ask the Rona twins or Tamika!" Jean suggested.

"Yeah, the more the merrier!" John wagged his bushy tail excitedly as he pulled a towel out of his chest.

"Please, not the Rona twins!" Adam said.

"Why? Do not you like them? They're nice." Jean looked at Adam questioningly.

"Yeah, they're really nice and I like them too, but I don't like it, when they talk at the same time or finish each other's sentences. That's just weird!" Adam explained.

The group kept arguing all the way to the showers who they would ask.

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In Room 16, Jean, John, Adam, Tamika, and two identical looking black haired half-elves were sitting on the floor playing cards, while Aldo was laying on his bed.

"HA! Another win for me!" Jean proclaimed, with a big grin.

"You're cheating!" John said, as he angrily threw his cards on the ground.

"Hey Adam, if you win the next round we'll...!" the Rona twins said in unison, only to whisper the rest of the sentence in his ears.

John and Jean couldn't help but laugh, as they saw Adam's face blush.

"Pffff... Hahaha. Hey! Hey Adam, is it possible, that you've never had sex?" John asked, laughing and holding his stomach.

"Yes, of course, but never with twins. Okay, you know what? I'm going to win the next round!" Adam grinned determined.

Jean won the next round and the following round as well.

"Looks like I won the grand prize!" Jean winked at Adam and wrapped an arm around one of the twins.

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The following day was even worse! General Aslan had the recruits fight each other and do strength exercises all day. In the evening, Adam dragged himself through the town with Jean. He had been able to persuade Jean, to accompany him to the temple, so that he could tell the goddess, what he was doing and how he was doing.

"Wow, there's a lot of people here today!" Adam said, as he squeezed through the crowd with Jean.

"We're pretty late today. Of course, all those who come home from work want to visit the temple. Especially, after what happened last time, when people felt the presence of the goddess. Word like that, gets around quickly here!" Jean explained.

The temple was pretty full, so Adam just sat down on the floor at the very back and leaned his back against the wall.

"Hey." A young man's voice sounded inside Adam's head.

"Ateus? How are you doing? How's it going at the Gods Academy?" Adam asked excitedly.

"Who else am I supposed to be? Don't you recognize the voice of your big brother anymore? Well, the academy isn't easy, but I'll manage." Ateus said.

Adam chatted with him for about 20 minutes, before leaving the temple. Jean excitedly told him, that she felt a divine presence again.