2:30 PM, Jyorta looked at the students converging on the ground, occupying the area next to the Head Office. He could feel the emission of psychic energy from some people near him, the rest were seemingly Warriors. Taking a look at their shirts, he figured everyone belonged to his batch.
Suddenly, something crashed into the ground before them, sending patches of grass mixed with soil flying everywhere. A small crater around a metre in radius had formed; the man standing at its centre looked at the students.
"Welcome to the military academy, Cadets." His booming voice resounded through the crowd, making them clutch their ears, trying to muffle the sounds. "Though, I like its other name better. So, welcome to the Academy of Perseverance."
He took a step forward, producing a dull thud on the ground, forming an imprint, "I am Rishen Veera, your physical training instructor. You can just address me as Rishen Sir; the other Cadets seem to address me that way."
Rishen Veera then motioned for them to stand in formation, "Make 20 columns. Considering your strength, there will be 42-43 Cadets standing in each column. Hurry up!"
As the students hurriedly formed lines, Jyorta randomly picked one to join. He had to crane his neck, peering over the shoulder of a tall boy who stood before him, looking at the 15 other students in the line; there were more to his back. Unable to look at Rishen Sir due to his vision being blocked, he attentively listened to the sounds, hearing him talk.
"We will generally address you as Cadets during training activities or while in a lecture. But, most teachers just mix it up between students and Cadets; so, don't mind it." Rishen Veera said, nodding in praise at their quick reaction.
"The time is currently 2:35 PM; we have class till 4:30 PM." He smiled, his expression sending chills to the students who stood in the first row. "Stamina is the most important when you roam the Wilds in the future. Even if you exhaust your energy, as long as you can run and fight using your body, your chances of survival would increase. Moreover, you would generally have to run for long distances during every mission, making stamina training a necessity."
"For starters, you would be running along the path we make," Rishen Veera looked up into the air, "Ground staff, can you handle this matter? Please use design number one."
Following his shout, ten streaks flew towards them, stopping in the air, hovering at an altitude of 20 metres from the ground. Without speaking anything, they each spread put along the breadth of the ground, waving their hands as they emitted a dense amount of psychic energy.
Jyorta hurriedly closed his eyes, trying to get a feel of the psychic energy emitted from the staff nearest to him. He soon noticed the psychic energy around the staff converging into a psychic arm. "1…2…3…4; the staff is a Ground Controller," Jyorta exclaimed, looking at the staff with interest.
Suddenly, a narrow gorge appeared on one edge, trailing from one end to the other, spanning a kilometre in length. Immediately, more than 20 gorges appeared on the ground, parallel to one another, trailing along the length of the ground, creating numerous paths.
As the surrounding students exclaimed in shock, Jyorta noticed the staff converging all the four psychic arms into a larger psychic arm, making it assume the shape of a hand. The psychic arm then ploughed the field, spilling out soil in clumps of various sizes, ranging from a metre to 5 metres in size.
The entire ground became messy, the terrain uneven, filled with hurdles. Once it was done, all the ten staff used their psychic energy to further deepen the gorge, also making its width span 4 metres. Jyorta peered into the gorge, feeling apprehensive of its depth, thinking, 'It is at least 5 metres deep. If I fall into it and come into contact with a sharp rock, I might very well say my farewell to this world.'
"Now, Cadets," Rishen Veera shouted, making the students clutch their ears once again, "You will start the course from the Warrior Block and try to arrive at the Esper Block. Starting from this Head Office area, you will proceed straight, take a left turn when you approach the White Building area, and return here, finishing a round. Then, you will make a 'U' turn to your right and once again dash towards the White Building area, continuing with it."
Seeing the looks of the students, Rishen Veera laughed, "Don't worry; you only need to avoid the gorges. There is just a single path for you to take, and that is to proceed straight. You would be making 10 trips in total, shuttling between the two ends of the ground, the distance rounding over to 20 kilometres. Moreover, you will be awarded Credits based on when you finish. First place gets 100 credits while the hundredth place gets 1 Credit. Beyond that, you will not get anything."
"Even if we only have a single path to take, amid this crowd, and considering the narrow area for travel, it is not going to look pleasant." Jyorta murmured, raising his vigilance.
Suppose he trips and falls over, amid the rush, there was a fair chance that he would be stepped upon. In the rush for credits, people would most probably become blind. Moreover, the people on the back will continue to push the people on the front, raising the chance for a stampede.
The students then marched along the edges and arrived near the Warrior Block, to the corner adjacent to the Head Office Building. This was the starting point, with the end situated in the corner between the Head Office Building and the Esper Block. They faced in the direction of the White Building, crouching a little, looking ready.
"The time limit is 4:30 PM. You have 110 minutes. Begin!" The moment he shouted, the students on the first row started to run, sprinting onto the rugged path. With the very first step, most of the students lost balance, tripping, and falling. An instant after their fall, they hurriedly picked themselves up and started to run, traversing the path that was many times worse than an obstacle course.
Moreover, the path to run was only about 16 metres wide, painting a narrow space for the crowd of 800+ students. After a couple of seconds, the boy before him started to move. Jyorta became alert, trying to create some space for himself so that he doesn't get pushed around.
Taking the first step on the path, Jyorta mentally cursed. 'How the hell did they change the texture of the soil? This feels like sand. Moreover, there are many rock-like objects strewn around. They are probably the soil clumped into rocks under the pressure exerted from the psychic energy of the staff. Though, I don't know how much force they used to achieve this feat.'
No sooner had he proceeded 10 metres, the crowd before him became denser.
Jyorta jumped on his spot, raising his line of sight, looking at a large rock that was 5 metres wide and 2 metres high. Students pushed and pulled at one another in order to advance faster.
Jyorta jumped again, taking a look towards the sides, gazing at numerous students falling into the gorges as they tried to avoid the obstacles and the crowd.
'This is mayhem.' Jyorta sighed, feeling perplexed. He wasn't tall and buff like some of the students surrounding him, making him feel as if he would be squished any minute. He cautiously inched forward, covering his face from the elbows that flashed in every direction. Many didn't seem to care if the elbows they flailed hit the faces of others.
"Ouch!" A girl two meters diagonally to his left screamed, clutching her nose that bled profusely. Tears streamed from her eyes as she felt the pain. She then saw the boy who had unconsciously hit her, inching forward in his struggle to climb over a large rock.
Her expression morphed, clouded with anger as she jumped towards the boy, not reacting to the couple of hits she received in her dive, grabbing hold of the shoulder of the boy. She then bit his left arm, making the boy raise a shrill scream. The two immediately began to fight each other, infecting the others surrounding them when they received a couple of hits.
"Gohff," Jyorta grunted, clutching his stomach in pain, involuntarily crouching down. No sooner had he done so did a student trip over his crouched body, falling next to him—his legs locking Jyorta in place.
Like a chain reaction, two more people fell, suffocating him under their body weight. "Get off from me," Jyorta screamed, gasping for breath, trying to wrestle out.
"Blind idiots! Stop for a second!" Another boy cursed as he got stepped upon by a student.
"Where are you touching me?" A girl let out a shrill scream, grabbing the hand of a boy that touched had her butt.
"It was an accident!" The boy screamed, getting pushed from behind.
"As if; die, pervert!" The boy was ganged up by the girl and a couple of her friends, getting beaten up and eventually pushed into the gorge.
"The students of this batch are wilder than the previous one." Rishen Veera laughed, carried to the air by a psychic arm, made to hover next to a staff. "Please ensure that no deaths occur."
"They would probably be making a lot of enemies like this. The previous harmonious atmosphere has been shattered." A staff replied, picking up the students that had fallen into the gorge, placing them on the vacant area before the Head Office. The staff also monitored the conditions of the students broiled into the chaos, planning to pull them out when their injuries surpassed a threshold.
A team of Espers arrived at the scene, beginning to treat the wounded students, prioritising the gravely injured ones. Those with minor scraps on their limbs were set aside for the moment, only given care when all the seriously injured students had been treated.
"Dammit," Jyorta cursed, wriggling his way out of the entanglement like a worm, using his shorter stature and lean body frame to his advantage. He then pulled the shoulder of a boy who was climbing over the large rock, using the power to push himself over.
"Bastard," Ignoring the cursing of the boy, Jyorta used the boy's thighs—perpendicular to the ground since he was climbing up—as a foothold and gave a push, tumbling over the top of the large rock.
His jump wasn't perfectly calculated, his footwear hitting the top edge, losing his balance. He then fell over, traversing the large rock, and falling behind a girl who had just propped herself up. The force pushed her forward, implanting her face on the ground.
Jyorta noticed her, becoming shrewd; he hurriedly side-stepped, weaving through the crowd, taking a different direction. The girl hurriedly got up and gazed behind her, noticing a boy who had just jumped down. Misunderstanding him for the target that had pushed her, she kicked him in the groin region, expressing her anger.
"Awoooo!" The boy howled in pain, making the surrounding boys unconsciously shield their groin area as they marched forward. Taking a glance forward, Jyorta noticed numerous batches of students, crowded in various places, blocked by stones of various sizes.
"Dammit," He became vexed. After getting hit multiple times and suffering from a stampede, he had barely traversed 20 metres from the starting line.