Center of Attention

It was early in the morning, and sunlight pierced the window and permeated its warmth.

Natalia's eyelids trembled before she eventually opened her eyes.

Although she had gone to bed at the same earlier hour as Alex, with the intention of allowing her body to recover naturally without relying on performance-enhancing pills, she appeared fatigued, her eyes bearing the telltale signs of exhaustion.

But it was natural because Alex is quite a talkative sleeper.

'What is he dreaming about to shout every time he went to sleep? Now I'm really curious'

Just remembering the constant screams from last night, she could only shudder. It was torturous, she couldn't get a wink of sleep that she needed after she was completely beaten and batted by Instructor Stone.

However, this also sparks more curiosity about Alex's dream.

Glancing over to the sofa, Natalia found that he was nowhere to be seen.

Deciding to take a shower in a partially transparent section of the room, thankfully equipped with blur features to ensure privacy in case one of them needed to shower while the other was present, Natalia freshened up and donned her uniform before heading out.

'Where could he be when it's still 5 in the morning?' Natalia pondered through the hallway.

It was still three more hours before class began.

Knowing Alex's personality, she found herself in front of the Arena Hub of the academy.

The Orion Institute of Mech-Soldiers, being a prestigious academy sought after by many aspiring young individuals, was meticulously equipped with all the resources and facilities necessary for an aspirant's journey toward becoming a fully-fledged Mech Soldier.

One of the features is the Arena Hub.

A place aspirants could use to increase their combat prowess and secluded training.

Entering the Arena Hub, Natalia was greeted with countless box-shaped blurry glass rooms with some early bird aspirants around. It seems each of these rooms could be used by aspirants to further themselves.

Going to the receptionist's desk, she was greeted by an android.

It's human-shaped but its face is an interface depicting a smiling emoticon.

"Hi, there. What can I help you with?" the android asked politely with its robotic voice.

Upon hearing this, Natalia looked around to inspect the place before she decided to ask blatantly, "Can I know whether aspirant Xander, Xander Sitradus is currently using one of the rooms? I am his roommate, and I was wondering where he went"

"Please wait a moment, I will check" The android stood stiffly for a brief moment.

Accessing its database, connected to the System of the entire academy, it then finally returned to normal and focused back on Natalia, "Yes, aspirant Xander is occupying room 211. Do you want me to notify him of your visit?"

Natalia pondered for a second before she shook her head.

"No, there's no need for that. Can you give me a room instead?" She eventually asked.

Meanwhile, Alex has been training for a couple of hours already.

Several hours earlier when he woke up to do his exercise consisting of numerous stances of martial arts, accustoming his body to his fighting style, he asked an android assistant in the hallway and found that aspirants couldn't leave the academy's grounds.

It was already expected, but he was still dejected from hearing it first-hand.

Due to that, he searched for a place to train and stumbled on the Arena Hub of the academy.

Like the old adage in the Adudal Principality, a strong body might not always equal a strong mage, but a weak body is always equal to a weak mage. Training in physique and mana has long become a habit for him every morning.

A few hours in, he finished training his physique. However, there's one crucial problem.

I couldn't train my wind elements freely here...

Although the Arena Hub provides private rooms, it's still probably monitored closely.

Disregarding the room to be really private is a risky move for him, so he would need to either find a way to go out of the academy grounds or find a secluded place where it's highly unlikely to be monitored.

Even then, it's easier said than done.

Stepping to the control interface on the side, Alex changes the settings of the room.

Upon finishing the setting, multiple glowing blue dots appeared across the box-shaped room, and he proceeded to stand in the middle. He has never used this kind of training before, but he reckons that this would be very effective in improving his body control and precision.

Closing his eyes, he breathes steadily to calm his fired nerves.

A robotic voice then began a countdown from three before the training started.

[3...]

[2...]

[1...]

[Start!]

Alex's eyes jolted open when he heard the start signal from the robotic voice.

Just then, the luminous blue dots initiated a barrage of holographic light beams relentlessly, and his immediate response was to shift into high alert, swiftly evading their trajectory to the best of his abilities.

However, his efforts fell short, and within seconds, the robotic voice echoed once more.

[Hit! Level 1 failed]

Upon hearing this, Alex clicked his tongue in displeasure.

In the next hour, he keeps on repeating the same training and evidently gets better.

Since the holographic light is not an actual thing, but rather a manmade light, it was not able to be detected through mana thus providing a perfect training for Alex as he couldn't cheat and use mana to sense the holographic light beams.

This will definitely boost his senses to an insane level.

But time flies when he is training, and he heads to the class after taking a shower.

Alex was not expecting to find that Natalia was not inside the room, and she returned not long after him, saying that she was also from the Arena Hub. She was not sweating, because she was training her aim instead.

Quickly taking a shower, the two then headed to their class.

"It should be technical firearm class, right? Eugh... Why do we have to be with the upperclassmen? Can't we be taught privately like with Instructor Stone? I can already tell that it's going to be awkward" Natalia grumbled as the two coursed through the hallway.

Due to the starting time of the class, the hallway was packed with aspirants.

Upon hearing this, Alex shrugged his shoulders, "Obviously instructors are busy people"

About five minutes later, the two arrived in front of the room.

Many new faces could be seen getting in and out of the room, and they were giving a quick glance at the two of them who were clearly new. One distinctive feature that separates the two from the others is the fact that they don't have a blue barret.

Judging from the surroundings, most of the upperclassmen wear a blue barret.

"Let's get in and find our seats quickly, I really don't want to be called out to the front to introduce ourselves by the instructor" Natalia grumbled and quickly entered the room, ignoring the gazes she was getting.

Having no problem with her decision, Alex also followed behind her.

"New aspirants at this time?"

"Why aren't they coming together with the others? Joining our class even"

"I don't know, maybe they are exceptional"

Despite the attention he was getting, he wasn't particularly bothersome about it, given its inevitable nature. Alex entered the classroom and swiftly surveyed his surroundings, discerning that the layout was unconventional for a typical classroom.

Contrary to seats, there were more than a dozen long metallic tables arranged neatly.

On each table was a peculiar, advanced eyeglasses.

Alex found Natalia heading to the table on the corner, but his body stiffened when he caught sight of particular figures, also gazing at him in surprise. Great, this is just great. Out of all the classes, I was assigned that has them in it.

Inside the classroom, he catches sight of Hannah and Amara alongside their group.

Nothing but bad luck caused him to be assigned to them.

Moreover, because of not coming to meet with her last night, Hannah was giving him a slightly sharper look than before, depicting clearly that she was displeased by him. And he knew that he would need to deal with this somehow.

Diverting his eyes away from them, he headed over to Natalia's table and stood beside her.

There was only one person on this table aside from them.

Given this woman wearing eyeglasses who was looking down, fidgeting with her fingers, seemingly even more nervous than them, Alex could already tell that she was meek-natured. It's good to be around someone like her, there won't be any trouble.

But that still doesn't clear the problem he had with Hannah.

"Stop being nervous, it's making me even more nervous" Natalia suddenly commented.

Upon hearing this, Alex smiled acutely as it must've been obvious on his face.  If I acted differently than the usual Xander, then it would've been odd to her, and would surely pick her attention. I guess I should acted how Xander normally acts to her, to keep her disinterested.

Nodding his head, Alex decided that he would talk with Hannah after class.

Xander is utterly, mad in love with Hannah, and he would act that way for his peace's sake.

I could even feel her stare from behind, I really should talk to her.  Alex pondered wryly.

Soon enough, more people started to fill the classroom until it was totally packed. 

Fortunately, only three more individuals joined him at his table, and they appeared to be the outcasts of the entire class. As the class start time approached, the instructor, a woman with silver hair tied into a ponytail entered the room.

Compared to the other ones, she has an air of outgoing around her.

It was largely attributed to her chewing gum leisurely and the intricate tattoos adorning her arms, clearly visible through her sleeveless attire. She wore a short, plastic-like blue jacket that exposed her toned abdomen, extending to her navel.

Obviously, this instructor is one of the less strict ones.

Putting her stuff on her own private table, the class went completely silent.

Moving away from her table to stand in front of the class, the instructor's gray eyes scanned the classroom before her eyes slightly dilated seeing two unfamiliar figures near the back, seemingly trying to hide from her vision.

Upon seeing these two, she taps her forehead remembering something.

"I just remembered that there are two new aspirants assigned to my class" she uttered, cursing herself for being forgetful. But then she pointed at the two, "Class, meet Aspirant Xander and Aspirant Natalia. Both of them will be sharing your schedule until the next cohort comes"

Just then, one upperclassman raised his hand and asked, "How are they here earlier?"

"Good question" The instructor nodded, putting her left hand on her waist. "It may be foreign to all of you as there haven't been that many aspirants that came earlier than expected, in fact, I only have ever seen five in my years of teaching here. But these two are a special case"

Retrieving something from her back, she then clicked and summoned a holographic interface.

It displayed a video, and she let it play in the background.

"During the recent Trial, a beast horde happened, and a Type-4 Beast appeared. Aspirants Xander and Natalia were abandoned, but they survived through the use of their skills. All of you should take notes from them" the Instructor proclaimed, turning the classroom dead silent.

Sensing the tension, Alex sighed inwardly. She just had to say it like that, huh...