THE FIRST DAY OF TRAINING

An eerie silence enveloped both hostels, as the sloggers who had been extremely exhausted from yesterday's events basked in their sleep.

But this silence was suddenly disrupted by a loud bell sound.

Ding! Dong!

…

"Huh…a bell sound?" Kairos' muttered confused as he had been half awoken earlier by the loud sound of a bell, he then moved his gaze to the other bed spaces available where both Astin and Rory could be seen sleeping soundly, their odd sleeping positions indicating how tired they had been the previous day.

Kairo's thoughts became clearer some more and in a sudden manner he then jumped off his bed.

"The first bell sound." He shouted alarmed, forcefully waking up his two previously sleeping roommates.

"The first wha-" Astin seemed to have quickly understood what Kairos was talking about as he also instinctively jumped off the bed prompting Rory to follow suit.

They immediately took turns in washing up in the bathroom and in no time all three of them were dressed in the clothes provided by the center that had the emblem of the Verdant Faction on it.

Not long after they were done dressing and the second bell sound was heard causing them to all rush out of the room.

"Is this how our mornings will be from now on?" Astin asked in rhetorical manner as he stared at the other sloggers who were also equally moving in haste.

"I guess we will eventually get used to it." Kairos said in an encouraging tone causing Astin to bear a bitter smile. During these discussions Rory didn't participate and rather just followed behind them quietly.

The trio alongside others had eventually gotten to the area that they had been shown earlier as the cafeteria of the center which was a very large hall, they were immediately ordered by the serving lady to pick up a bowl and join the line.

Standing in the line Astin's face suddenly contorted when he saw the sticky pulp-like dish being scooped into the plates of those who were ahead of him on the line.

"What!...you don't want the dish?…then get out of the line and starve!!" The serving lady was heard yelling at the slogger at the front of the line who also had a contorted expression after seeing the pulp-like dish being served into his plate.

Immediately Astin heard the last part of the lady's word 'starve' he could only gulp and force a bitter smile on his face as he alongside Kairos and Rory who were behind him went forward to take their portion of the pulp dish.

They then went over to an unoccupied table and sat there, immediately they sat down, Kairos could feel numerous stares directed at them…to be more specific, directed at him. He off course knew the reason for these stares and had expected stuff like this to come sooner or later…only he prayed they came later rather than sooner.

He purposely ignored the stares and glanced at Astin who kept fiddling with his food while continuously making inaudible grumbles, Kairos could only smile at his actions as this only solidified his suspicions of him being from a rich and powerful family in the Verdant Faction, he then turned his gaze towards Rory who seemed to be of a better off situation than Astin as he kept eating without making complaints only making slight face changes a few times.

'If he should be able to eat it then I should too right?' Kairos thought and decided to take a spoonful of the food on the table, the moment the food touched his tongue he instantly spat it all out and quickly gulped down the cup of water close by, he then stared at Rory with a weird expression causing the boy to flinch slightly.

"How are you managing to eat this?" Kairos asked, equally attracting the attention of Astin who was also curious to know the answer.

"We..well the secret is..is to swallow without tasting." Rory replied in a low tone.

The duo suddenly had an expression of understanding as they tried feeding themselves with the food once again only this time without tasting and managing to gulp in a couple of spoons. Soon the sound of the third bell could be heard prompting everyone to immediately abandon their plates and walk towards the door of the large wall in a hurried manner, Kairos and his roommates included.

'The Mana control class…in a sense Kairos didn't need the class as it was related to an aspect that didn't concern him…but he also didn't want to get punished by the Verdant officials, so whether he needed the class or not he still needed to attend.

Luckily the captain had shown them a lot of places during the tour…this including the different spots where they were to have their different classes.

A crowd of sloggers instinctively walked towards a second hall, only this hall wasn't as large as the cafeteria's and was surrounded by lighted torches.

At the very front of the class, was a man looking like he was in his late twenties or early thirties, his slicked back hazel hair complimented his green eyes perfectly and with his cleanly cut chin it gave him a younger look. The expression he currently had on his face was one of superiority as he casually moved his gaze round the hall while placing both his hands behind his back.

He didn't say anything and just remained in the same position till the sloggers in the hall eventually calmed down.

"I am Captain Gaurav Shandar and I'll be leading you through the path of mana control." The green-eyed made a blunt introduction and then took a pause, carefully scanning the hall once more.

His mouth wide open and about to say something else, he suddenly noticed a hand spring up through the crowd of sloggers causing his expression to slightly contort.

"What?" Captain Gaurav asked in an annoyed tone, causing the slogger who had raised his hands, a tall but yet slightly busty black haired and brown-eyed figure, to begin to speak while occasionally showcasing the green glowing bracelet on his hand.

"Teacher…since this is a class relating to mana is it right a Vulgar is involved in the lesson?" He asked in an innocent tone while occasionally glancing at Karios's direction.

Captain Gaurav immediately frowned and muttered confusedly under his breath.

"Vulgar?"

He then moved his gaze around the hall once more and noticed a couple of students periodically glancing at a gray haired, blue-eyed slogger wearing a black glowing bracelet, causing a slight smile to appear on his face.

"Well it'll be bad if a Vulgar was present in this class…in fact it'll be bad if the vulgar was present in this training center, the Verdant Faction puts huge investments in this center with hopes of getting strong, valuable and usable assets in return but a vulgar would only waste this investments as he is neither and would never be strong, valuable or usable."

"... luckily I am not discourteous and is willing to give a chance to our vulgar to prove his worth in the class." Captain Gaurav added before staring at Kairos seriously.

Kairos, who long understood why the other slogger raised the question and the meaning of the numerous stares and the captain's current stare, slowly approached the same spot the captain ¹was standing while grumbling under his breath.

"Great! Another vulgar hater."

"I had earlier planned on teaching a lesson of theory but with the presence of our vulgar I've decided on going with something a lot more practical." Captain Gaurav said with a mischievous smile as he glanced at Kairos standing a few meters away from him.

"An element manipulator's control of mana is not only graded on how long he can manipulate elements but also on how well he is able to shape and create things from his respective element." Gaurav explained carefully as he simultaneously began controlling the flame from a torch nearby slowly turning it into a burning spear like object.

"A major aspect of element creation and shaping is the 'element projectile'....a major ability that could be used for one's advantage in a battle if mastered properly." Gaurav continued explaining as he finished shaping the flaming spear like object, staring at it with a glint of satisfaction in his eyes.

"You must also remember that the use of mana doesn't just end after you finish shaping and creating your projectile but also when you use it, as the force of your created projectile would possess depends on how much mana you channel into it."

Gaurav who had been staring at the crowd of sloggers while he explained, suddenly paused and threw the flame spear in his hand towards Kairos' position, taking everyone unaware and catching Kairos off guard.

Kairos who had been standing close to Captain Gaurav trying to decipher in his mind what he planned to do with him suddenly noticed a burning spear fly towards him with a great amount of speed and force but despite wanting to move away he couldn't, his body felt stiff at the moment…if only he had noticed the attack earlier on then maybe there would have been a chance of escape but right now he was caught unaware and his body was too slow to suddenly evade the attack.

The spear a few inches away from Kairos suddenly dissipated causing the already panicked and frightened Kairos to mutter a sigh of relief as he instantly dropped powerlessly to the floor whilst using his hands to wipe off the sweat covering his face.

"So you fear death?" A cold familiar voice woke Kairos from his daze…it was that of Captain Gaurav who at the moment was squatting beside him, pretending to give him a helping hand.

"I don't know how you got in here but if you wish to successfully live the few remaining years you've got left then I'd advise immediately after this lesson is over you drop out of the training center and if possible move to somewhere far away from here." Captain Gaurav whispered into Kairo's ears with a calm yet terrifying tone.