Skye was sound asleep, but since his muscles were sore all over his body, he subconsciously activated his skill 'Accretion' and the Divine energy around him was slowly getting sucked into his body. From the pores of his skin, it went in to his blood stream and circulated to every inch of his body, nourishing him with the rich energy.
Without his knowledge Skye was getting stronger, but since he activated his skill his life force was also slowly getting consumed.
When Skye woke up, he felt very good. There was no soreness in his body and he felt refreshed and full of energy. He looked out the window and saw that it was still dark. Since he slept so early yesterday, he woke before the sun came out. Looking at the clock in his room it was 3 in the morning.
After getting freshen up Skye came out the bathroom and opened the cupboard, there were clothes and accessories which looked like a military uniform; a total of 7 pairs. The only clothes he had was the poncho and pants Alger gave him. He thought about buying new clothes yesterday, before he entered the castle. But there were no cloth shops open at that time in the morning.
Even if they were open, he might hesitate in buying new clothes, because he has to pay for them with his life. The military uniform was much better than what he is wearing now so he happily wore it. The uniform was a Khaki coloured pant and shirt, and a dark brown leather belt; the shirt had shoulder pads on each side, and finally black heavy boots with thick laces.
Looking at himself in the mirror of his bathroom he was pleased. Skye was not super handsome, but had decent looks. Because he never had a girlfriend, he subconsciously thought that he had below average looks. But in this military uniform, he thought he looked a little better and was really pleased with himself.
Sitting on the couch all dressed up and ready, he was waiting for the sun to rise. As he was getting bored waiting, he thought deeply about what Captain Stonewall said yesterday.
"If I live a simple life, then I can live longer; but if I live a luxurious life, then I will die faster. What is the point of living a long life without any pleasures, it would be bland? But it is also stupid to spend your life on unnecessary luxuries. And no matter what, if I am not strong enough then whichever kind of life I live, it would eventually end."
He then opened his status screen to check his stats,
* Name: Skye
* Title: None
* Passive Skills: Accretion
* Active Skills: --
* Strength 4.11
* Stamina 3.61
* Speed 5.21
* Wisdom 13.11
* Intelligence 18.31
* Soul Strength 1.61
He still did not know what the title represented nor why there were no active skills, but he felt like his stats increased a little. Since he only saw the status screen for a few moments on the first day he got teleported, he did not remember the exact numbers. But he deeply felt that his stats did increase.
Looking at his left forearm he saw his life force value and in a tiny font it was written 13508. It decreased by 2 again!?
"After I bought the apples, I did not buy anything nor did make any trade with others, so why did it decrease by 2, shouldn't it decrease by 1?" Skye thought.
Pondering on it for a while he suddenly remembered what Captain Stonewall said, about how using his skills consumes life energy. His skill was to gather the Diving energy in the air into his body and since he also felt a little stronger after he woke up, he put two and two together and could now understand why he felt a little stronger and why he consumed an extra life force point.
The Divine energy gathered in his body has increased his strength, but since he doesn't remember the exact numbers, he couldn't quantify the exact amount by which it increased. He made a mental note to check up on this later.
He looked towards the books in the rack, there were books with different titles like
'Geography of EDEN'
'History of EDEN'
'Encyclopedia of Beasts'
'How to use Magic, for dummies'
'Skills and their classification, for dummies'
'Basic Martial arts, for dummies' .....etc.
" Except for the first 3 books, everything else is 'for dummies' !"
Skye opened the book 'Geography of EDEN' and read through the first few pages of it. He got to know, that the city of Carcassonne was a small sized starter city in the outskirts of EDEN, and there were 335 similar other sized starter cities, 16 mid-sized and 8 large sized cities; all of them in the outskirts of EDEN.
Similar to Carcassonne their purpose was also to help the chosen assimilate to their new surroundings and train them. So many people got teleported to his city and according to the book there were still so many other cities, he just couldn't imagine the sheer size of EDEN.
A few minutes after 5, the sun rose up and Skye stopped his reading and went out of his room. He followed the route through which he came yesterday and on the way, he saw a palace worker and asked him if he could have breakfast now. The palace worker escorted Skye to the Dining hall and then took his leave.
The dining hall was also similarly large, with high arched ceilings and massive pillars supporting them. The food was served at the counter near the entrance, and long tables were arranged in front of the counter. The exit was at the opposite end where they have to deposit the plates before leaving.
As it was very early Skye was the only person in the dining hall, he took a few meat dishes and sat at one of the tables and started eating peacefully. Since he skipped his dinner last night, he was very hungry and he ate a lot. While he was eating, he could feel the energy running through his body.
It was the same feeling he got yesterday at lunch and the same feeling he got when he used his skill, albeit in far less intensity. He made a mental note to find out more about this.
Slowly other people started coming in, is it because they couldn't sleep properly or something else? he didn't know, but most of them were looking tired and walking stiffly, as if their muscles were still sore from yesterday's exercise.
Just before he finished eating and was about to leave, Skanda walked in along with 2 very beautiful girls. People in the dining hall turned towards the entrance to look at the girls and Skye was also one of them.
As they took their food Skanda spotted Skye among the people and he walked up-to him. Sharon and Iris also noticed Skye and followed Skanda and they all sat at the same table.
They greeted each other good morning and then Skanda spoke "Bro, you already finished your breakfast? Did you wake up early? and where were you yesterday, I couldn't find you at dinner."
"I slept early yesterday, so I woke up early." Skye said and all the while looking at Sharon who sat in front of him. She was very beautiful and the military uniform fit her perfectly accentuating her curves. With her hair tied up in a ponytail, she was mesmerizing.
"Bro, yesterday we met up at dinner and exchanged our room numbers, mine is 1328, Sharon and Iris sisters' rooms are 1728 and 1729, we all live in the same floor, where is your's?" asked the kid.
"Mine is 3106, on the 3rd floor. I wanted to ask you guys, are all of you from different planets? and how did you get teleported here." asked Skye.
"We just found out yesterday at dinner, we are indeed from different planets. In my planet my dad owned an airlines company. As I was going to a party in my limo, suddenly a screen popped up in front of me and the rest you can imagine" Sharon said.
Skye was still mesmerized with her looks and his heart started beating faster as she spoke. He had to suppress his emotions, by singing his national anthem, or else with so much blood pumping to his face, he would have blushed in front of her.
"It's true bro, we are all from different planets, but my background is not as great as Sharon or Iris sister's. I was just a normal kid, I am an orphan, and a NPO in my planet helped me to go to school and study, as I was coming out from my school a screen popped up in front of me and I also got teleported here." Skanda said, but when he mentioned he was an orphan there was a hint of sadness in his voice.
"I was playing in the garden before getting teleported" Iris said, in a pleasant voice and didn't mention about anything her family. But seeing her beauty and grace, it was easy to deduce that she might be from an influential family.
Skanda and the girls were talking to each other while eating, but sitting in front of Sharon, Skye could only sneak glances at her and couldn't speak much because of his nervousness. He finished eating long back and with an empty plate in front of him, he felt very awkward just sitting there.
To not embarrass himself anymore, he quickly excused himself, rose from the table and left the hall.
"Why is it so hard to talk to girls? Am I destined to be alone?" Skye thought, feeling sad and disappointed at himself he walked towards ground 8.
Along the way he saw other chosen going towards their own ground, everyone was wearing the same uniform, but the colour of their belt was different. Some had red coloured belts, some blue, green, yellow, orange, brown, violet, indigo, purple, white, grey & black.