"Go collect some strong twigs. We have to survive for another week. Let's make a hideout. We will have an easier time surviving as two than alone."
Han knew by instinct. In this drill people would be separated into two groups, plunderers and defenders. Han preferred to defend rather than steal.
A boat quietly floated in circles around the deserted island.
"Have ten already failed?"
Sergeant Red fished the drowning kids from the ocean. They were the kids who lost to exhaustion before they could make it to shore.
The drill instructors were monitoring every student. The data bracelets worn by students acted as a GPS and constantly monitored their basic health statistics.
"Hypothermia. Tch."
Sergeant Red used his flame skills to warm up the space. He picked up the students who failed and sent them back to Ark. The hospital staff carried out the children one by one.
Sergeant Red entered the monitor room. The drill instructors who had been leisurely watching snickered seeing Sergeant Red.
"Yo, rescue squad."
"Quiet."
Sergeant Red muttered and sat down. The drill instructor explained the current situation.
"A lot more students chose plundering than expected. It's hard for class B to gather into one force."
"If Dmitri had still been the class president, this really would have been a camping trip."
Sergeant Red let out a cold laugh.
"Do you think all children are pure hearted? They're no different. If they're able to use their strength without restriction to control others, they will not hesitate to do so. I'm sure many of you would end up stealing to fill your bellies instead of starving."
"That's why we're running this test. In order to separate the real gems that will be the ones to save humanity."
The psychic soldiers who pass all of Ark's curriculum become super humans.
But, what if that superhuman were to betray humanity?
What if they were to choose to reign over humanity instead?
The psychic soldiers must solely be for the purpose of fighting against the dragons.
"Psykers must not become the enemies of the weak. They must become the shields for those without fangs. They must be the knives for those who don't."
Ark's drills include an endless amount of psychological tests. This drill was created mostly for the sake of testing the students' mental strength.
If they fail to make passing scores on the personality and mental tests, they would be sent to the rehabilitation center to restore their mental health. This whole process would be completed without the student's knowledge, of course.
"Making it in this way should be correct."
Han tried his best to try and remember the chapters from the textbooks. Kuro successfully made a hideout. It was a low-grade tent made of intertwined leaves and twigs.
It was enough that it blocked out the wind and morning dew. Inside, the parachute was spread out onto the floor and made for a nice sleeping hideout.
"Han! This is amazing!"
Kuro admired Han's handicraft.
"We did it together, Kuro."
"Just the tw-two of us?"
"If I was alone, I wouldn't have been able to make it so quickly."
Han had found a strong looking stick and carved it into a knife. He required a weapon to defend himself.
While preparing this and that, the day had already grown completely dark. Nothing could be seen in this darkness.
"Let's go to sleep and look for water first thing tomorrow."
Han and Kuro decided to rotate night watch shifts through the night. The two didn't manage to completely fall into deep sleep. When the sun rose in the morning, the two couldn't hide their fatigue. Han forcefully moved his body, stretching his body.
"This is our breakfast."
Han broke off half of his own daily food allowance and shared with Kuro. He purposely kept the cracker in his mouth like candy instead of chewing it.
'So hungry.'
Kuro couldn't get himself to say these feelings out loud. He was feeding off of Han's own emergency food ration. Kuro had been aware of this.
"Let's climb that place."
Han pointed toward a hill. On top of the hill they spotted a pond. The water seemed visually clean, if they used the water filter they should be able to drink the water safely. Han and Kuro kept their guard up as they slowly made their way down the hill.
"It's water."
Han's body was beginning to show signs of dehydration.
"Wait!"
Kuro firmly held Han's harm and pulled him back. Light glowed from Kuro's eyes. He was using his psychic powers.
Kuro suddenly felt an ominous feeling creeping in his gut. It was a feeling hard to put into words. He used his telekinesis to move a pile of twigs on the floor.
"It's a trap."
Han furrowed. The hole in the ground was dug quite deep. It was dug about 4 meters below ground. The trap looked like it had been in this place for quite awhile.
"It seems the drill instructors made this trap long before."
Kuro mumbled. Han peered over to Kuro and observed him.
"How did you know there was a trap here?"
"I'm not sure. I just got a feeling."
Han had seen a faint light of psychic energy flowing from his eyes a moment ago. This was most definitely one of Kuro's special skills.
'Did he develop unique psychic skills?'
Kuro had great psychic talent. If it weren't for that, he would have been sent home long ago.
"Anyway, thanks to you I'm safe. If I fell in that hole, I would have broken a leg at the least."
"Let's get some water. I'm dying to drink some water."
Han and Kuro used their own water filters to fill up their water bottles. Foreign substances were filtered out and only crystal clear water trickled out. Han took a light sip and nodded.
"It's fine. It's drinkable."
Han and Kuro moved on and drank water to their heart's content. Now that they were able to drink water, the hunger pangs didn't feel as bad.
The two sat down and decided to rest a little. Their expressions looked a degree better than before.
'But are the both of us able to survive with only this amount of food?'
Han realized a mistake in his logic. His physical body had required less calorie before than now.
He had been very thin and small so he could go on a long time with only a little bit of food. Now, hunger seemed to find him much faster. His body was physically stronger, but it burned energy that much faster.
'We must keep moving forward. I might be able to survive, but it will be hard for Kuro to survive. He needs more food.'
It was a mystery as to how much food was forageable in this deserted island. Han and Kuro began to explore this problem.
The only things they could think of were coconuts, but they couldn't see a coconut tree anywhere.
'This must be how everyone decides to steal from others.'
Han and Kuro decided not to move outside their hideout during the day time. It was too hot and it was too likely that they would suffer a heat stroke. It was better to move around during the cooler mornings and evenings.
"Han, can we survive this place?"
Kuro spoke out his inner fears.
"The drill instructors won't ask us to do something that is impossible. Do you want some crackers?"
Han took out a cracker from his pocket. Kuro felt guilty but didn't reject.
The pain of hunger was starting to become unbearable.
Two days had passed. Han and Kuro had finished their night exploration round and returned to their hideout.
"Someone has been here."
The hideout was a complete mess. Somebody had turned this place upside down. Han had taken all his emergency food supplies with him so there was nothing valuable enough to plunder. The campsite they had discovered was a dud.
"Let's move to a different place. This place had been discovered."
Han and Kuro struggled to look for a new hideout. They must find a suitable place before the night grew too deep.
"It's a cave."
Kuro pointed to a cave. He had good instincts. While Han spent his day to day life with Kuro, he discovered Kuro had great sixth sense.
It was hard to consider all these moments pure luck, there was another factor to these moments. Han considered some things he learned during his lessons.
'Immediate foresight unique ability.'
It was highly possible that Kuro had developed the ability to see into the immediate future somehow. There had been people who can look into the far future, or sometimes people can only see a few seconds into the future. It had been a rare unique skill that was considered highly by everyone.
"Somebody is inside."
Han looked into the cave. He could see something moving in the darkness. He gripped onto his wooden dagger.
"Who's there? I don't have any food. Do as you want."
A voice came out from within the cave. Han stepped into the cave. His pupils dilated as it became accustomed to the darkness.
"Jose?"
Inside, the youth Jose had made a camp. Jose plopped down to the ground and sighed in relief.
"It's just you Han. Is that Kuro behind you? I couldn't see you well because it's so dark. I already ate all my emergency food supply. I made sure to put them into my stomach before anybody can steal from me."
Jose spoke freely. Han quirked his head in confusion.
"Jose, you already ate all your food rations?"
In Han's memories, Jose had always been calm and made logical choices. He was not one to make rash choices like eating away all his food in one go.
"I twisted my ankle when I landed. I'm not able to move well right now. So, I judged it was better I finish off all my food before they can steal from me. I'm sure if I stay here without moving, I'll be able to survive a week."
Jose wasn't wearing shoes. His right ankle looked very swollen.
Han thought for a moment and spoke to Kuro.
"Kuro, make a door. Let's make this our new hideout."
Kuro nodded. He camouflaged the cave opening with the dried twigs from their past hideout and added some more to completely hide the place from view.
After blocking out the wind, this place became a degree cozier. Jose looked surprised to Han.
"Han, being with me will not benefit you in anyway."
"I don't have a reason to abandon you here either. Plus, we also lost our own hideout as well. Even if we were to go around looking for a new hideout, it will be hard to find a place better than this spot."
As the night drew, the place became quite chilly. He could hear bugs crawling around. Without a fire, the cave was quite uncomfortable.
Han and Kuro tried their best to use friction of two sticks to start a fire but had only managed to waste their time. They didn't have the skills to start a fire without the aid of some sort of tool.
"You spent two days in this kind of place?"
Kuro peered at the insects and spoke. Despite Kuro being of dark complexion, he looked quite pale from fear.
"Well, yeah."
Jose spoke bitterly. The cave was damp and cold. It seems a stream flowed through the end of the cave.
Han explored the inner cave a bit and found a small corner of the cave. There were traces of fire.
"Jose, do you have a lighter?"
Han brought the burnt piece of ash to his nose. Something had clearly been burnt. Jose let out a long sigh.
"Haaa, no choice now. Han, Kuro. Don't tell others. My unique skill is fire."
Jose extended his palm. Heat seemed to gather and suddenly a small spark burst from thin air.
"Woah! That's amazing, Jose!"
Kuro spoke with surprise. As heat gathered, the temperature rose a little. As soon as the bugs saw the flame, they ran the opposite direction. The murky air became comfortable.
"I can't keep this up for long. Bring me something to burn. As you can see, my leg is in this state so I can't move well."
Han and Kuro gathered some firewood from just outside the cave. Jose used his skill to light the firewood.
The wood crackled as it burned.
Everyone felt much better while gathered around the fire. Just the fact that they could continue to have a fire going gave them a sense of comfort.