Late Again

It was nothing but bad luck to meet Amara and Hannah at this time.

Both have left a deep scar in Xander's heart.

Alex could feel his own body reacting differently at the sight of these two women, it was definitely not his natural reaction. If it is, then he would've frowned right now as the two are nothing but trouble that he doesn't need.

Especially considering that this is the first day inside the academy.

Instead, now he has his eyebrows raised and eyes wide open, meeting these two's gazes.

An instinctive reaction that Xander used to have.

Despite he was not the one residing in this body right now, the reflex still remained behind.

From her, I can feel my body becoming alert. She was always sharp with her words and bullied Xander a lot, so it makes sense. Alex rested his eyes on Amara while trying to relax his nerves, he then shifted to Hannah. She, on the other hand, made my chest tighten. It's hard to breathe when I look at her face.

Judging from this reaction, Xander must've liked Hannah a lot.

Since the two were engaged for two years before canceling, they naturally got closer.

Fixing her surprised eyes on Alex, she sucked in a cold breath.

A whispering voice slipped out of Hannah's mouth when she saw him, "X-Xander...?"

Due to the sudden stop, the woman behind Hannah bumped into her and was confused. She went over to her side and waved her hand in front of Hannah's eyes, "Hello? Hannah? Dolotov to Hannah, why are you stopping suddenly? My nose hurt, hello?"

But then, another woman saw Alex standing across them and asked, "Do you know him?"

"Seems like a new student, I've never seen him before" Another added.

Upon hearing the others' banter, Amara snapped out of her daze first and glared at Alex.

It was clear that she was giving him a warning look with her sharp eyes, signaling him to not say anything or else, "Who? Him? How can Hannah know a new student? It's impossible. Anyway, let's go, I don't know why but the air suddenly turned foul"

"Almost as if there was junk nearby" She deliberately looked at Alex when she said this.

Listening to Amara's banter made the others giggle.

"That's impossible, Amara. Something is definitely wrong with your nose"

"Yeah. What junk? It's the library"

Bantering lightly, the group continues onward, ignoring and walking past Alex.

Despite clearly being mocked by Amara, Alex could care less about it, he doesn't have the time to waste right now. She reminded me of my little sister, Kiara with her sharp mouth. But then again, it's good that she doesn't want anybody to know we're related, that'll be for the better. I don't want to associate with her or any other troublesome people.

Alex stepped to the side, letting the group walk past him.

However, when he was about to move onward, he saw Hannah was still in front of her.

Looking at this, he frowned. Did she have something to say to me?

Pausing for a moment with her eyes still fixed on him, Hannah's expression grimaced, she was clearly annoyed by the sight of him. Refraining from saying anything, she went ahead to catch up with the group.

But she takes a brief stop to stand beside him, giving him a sharp glance.

"Meet me at the cafeteria at night" Hannah said.

It was more of a command rather than asking, which in a way deeply irked Alex.

Alex moves along to reach his class when the group walks past him, the treatment he got from those two women really reminds him of his previous life and his siblings. Back then, he didn't mind them treating him like that.

Since he was the oldest brother, he needed to be the one taking a step back and be kind.

However, he realized now that it was not okay.

Now that he gained the same treatment from Xander's siblings, he realized that they were treating him as if he were a slave, and that's when he realized that he was being too kind and was taken advantage of by others.

Due to that, his expression tightens. No more... I will not let others do this to me anymore.

A moment later, he arrived at his class.

Surprisingly enough, he arrived there two minutes before the class started.

Is it a training chamber? Guess the first class for today would be testing our physique.

Alex saw the name of the class above the automatic door and nodded, he then went through the door and was exposed to a spacious circular-shaped room, adorned in metallic color and blue neon light with a small platform at the center.

On top of that, he also saw Natalia and an instructor near the center.

Jogging to them lightly, Alex saluted and greeted the instructor, "Aspirant Xander, Sir!"

Standing in front of him is the instructor, a middle-aged man with a chiseled build and clean shaved beard. He checked the time and wrote something on a console in his hand before shifting his eyes towards Alex.

"Take three steps towards me aspirant Xander" the instructor commanded.

Upon hearing this, Alex did as he was told and is now standing very close to the instructor.

But before he could think of anything.

Bam!!

"Huaakhh!" Alex's eyes bulged in pain when his stomach suddenly got punched very hard.

A punch from the instructor instantly pushed him three steps back and fell to his knees, he could feel his abdomen contracting in pain as he gasped for air a couple of times. It doesn't seem like the instructor was trying, but he hit really hard.

"Get up and take three steps towards me, aspirant Xander" the instructor said again.

Pushing himself to stand upright once again, Alex stepped forward again with a pained face.

Just like before, he was punched in the guts once again.

Bam!!

Compared to before, he was now ready to receive that punch and could handle it quite well. But that doesn't stop from forcing a trickle of blood seeping out of the corner of his mouth, the punch is not a joke.

It happened one more time, leaving Alex cradling on the ground.

Upon doing that, the instructor nodded his head, "Are you aware of the rules here?"

"N- No, Sir. Can you inform me what I did wrong?" Alex replied, hissing in pain.

Since the two are new aspirants in the academy, the instructor decided to let it slide for this once and explained, "Despite the associated time of the class, aspirants are expected to arrive before the instructor. But for me specifically, if you arrive ten minutes earlier than the associated time, then you'll be forced to add weight to your training. And if you arrive five minutes or below, then you'll get punched accordingly by me. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir!" Alex and Natalia replied in a union.

Nodding his head, the instructor then heads to the platform to prepare the class.

On the other hand, Natalia helped Alex get up while shaking her head, "Don't make this a habit now, Xander. I thought you learned the lesson from Ms. Joselyn. But now, you dare be late for the most strict instructor..."

"Eurghh- How am I supposed to know?" Alex grumbled, stumbling to stand up.

Upon hearing this, Natalia shakes her head in disbelief, "Everyone knows that the physical class always has the strictest instructor, it's common knowledge!" She said, looking at Alex weirdly. "Forget it, just follow my lead next time"

A moment later, a hologram light shot to Alex and Natalia respectively.

Before the two could understand what was going on, the instructor turned to face them again, "My name is Stone, you can call me Instructor Stone. I will be in charge of improving your innate physical attributes before you are given the first shot of HyperX and begin your physical conditioning to prepare your body for using a power armor"

Physical attributes? Then that means this holographic light would be...

Realizing what the holographic light was for, Alex quickly circulates his mana again.

It seemed his body was being scanned to assess his physical attributes, and thus he would need to cast his Body Visage spell and adjust it to make it as strong as the last time Natalia scanned him with her visionators.

Soon enough, a box interface appeared beside him.

[Aspirant 1313 - Physical Attributes]

Strength: B-

Agility: C

Durability: C

Endurance: D

Physical Resilience: D

Physical Points: 960

Upon seeing this, Alex was surprised as he once again marveled at the technology.

For something to be able to scan a person's physical attributes and give a grade in a matter of seconds is something beyond him, it was not present in the Adudal Principality and surely very convenient.

But then again, the scan could be messed up with the use of mana, so it's not very accurate.

Curious, Alex turned to look at Natalia's physical attributes.

[Aspirant 1312 - Physical Attributes]

Strength: C

Agility: B

Durability: C

Endurance: B-

Physical Resilience: C

Physical Points: 1,270

Just from the physical points alone shows that Natalia is way stronger than Alex.

It was natural that she could take on many beasts back in Planet Sion 2T with that kind of physical attributes. Alex wouldn't be able to compare to him if he hadn't used mana. But then again, Xander's hard work clearly shows.

Alex suppressed his mana using the Body Visage spell to not stand out.

Due to that, the physical attributes shown here were the raw attributes that his body had.

Even without the enhancing serum, they could reach monstrously high.

Natalia definitely had an enhancing serum injected into her, at least she definitely got the initial one and thus made her this strong. So Xander, training his body and managing to near the four-digit marks is already impressive in Alex's opinion.

"Those are your physical attributes, and also your benchmark to pass my class"

Hearing Instructor Stone's voice, Alex snapped out of his daze.

"In order to pass my class and be eligible to have your own power armor, you must at least reach 2,000 physical points. That is the standard, but since this is my class, I won't let you pass if you don't have 3,000 physical points" Instructor Stone continued, saying the objective of this class and his condition sternly.

Gazing at the two aspirants with squinted eyes, he then asked, "Are we clear on this?"

"Yes, Sir!" Alex and Natalia replied in a union again.

Nodding his head, Instructor Stone then pointed at the platform and explained, "Both of you will take turns to be assessed further through fighting a hologram dummy. Since the scan system has a slight error margin, you two are going to do this to adjust your physical attributes"

"First up, aspirant Xander. Get on the platform" He instructed.

Alex saluted before he climbed the platform, hiding his frown as this was not good.

Why do I need to be first...?