A flock of birds is chirping all together. It is quiet, there is no sign of any hindrances. Inside a particular room full of double-deck beds, there at least 25 of them. The room is large and there are plenty more spaces to occupy. Some of their bags are interspersed within the room making a little mess.
On the left side of the room, there are 2 big windows with their respective curtains that have an elegant design, however, it is not opened yet. There's also a couple of curtains on each bed and on the corner of the room, there are tables with a lavender flower sitting on top of it.
"Nile..." A soft voice can be heard.
"Nile..." And another call.
"Nile..." Another one.
Nile casually tried to open his eyes but he cannot do it seamlessly because of rheums and eye mucus that have accumulated on it. He then began to sit up slowly while pricking his eyes and yawning.
"Nile, are you awake now?" It was Stell who have been waking him up for a couple of minutes now. Stell seems to be lively as usual and there's no implication that he didn't sleep last night. He wears a brown long-sleeved shirt and casual pants. His hair is too messy as well, he looks like a terrorist who has not been taking a bath and cleaning itself.
"Damn it, Stell. Why are you waking me up this early in the morning?" Nile rammed his thoughts, still while yawning and fixing his clothes. Nile wears a white-colored long-sleeved shirt and casual pants as well with no designs. Since his hair is not that long, it is not that messy and dirty.
"What do you mean early in the morning? Look at the freaking time!" Stell suddenly exclaimed. Nile was dumbfounded when Stell said that, he quickly dashed to approach the large grandfather clock to peek on it. And when he saw it...
"What the!? It's already 10 in the morning!?" Nile suddenly burst out. Everyone in the room got startled. Some of them fell down from their double-decked bed and some of them surprisingly woke up from the shout Nile did.
"Whoopsy..." Nile said while covering his mouth. Suddenly, while the commotion is ongoing, a not so old female dressed as a maid came in into their room. She has a bell in which she rang it.
"Alright, boys and girls. Everyone wakes up." The lady said still while swirling the bell around her hand. She is smiling while doing that which is a little creepy.
"The grandmaster wanted all of you to gather into the main lobby again for some announcement. Please fix yourselves first and tidy up your beds and bags. We're going to start in 15 minutes." She followed. After that, she left the room to go into the other room to wake the others as well.
Bunch of murmurings can be heard, some of them are still half asleep while the others are fixing their bags and things already. On the other hand, Nile and Stell left the room with their things. They didn't bother waiting for the others to finish what they are doing.
"Hey, what happened last night?" Nile suddenly asked out of the blue while they're walking on the hall.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Stell returned the question with a confused expression.
"Sorry, I was kinda lost in my thoughts last night. I didn't remember what they said." Nile responded.
"Well, the commander with a large beard explained the reason of why we're here. It turns out that this program is not actually a program that serves as a training. They're making a force out of us, out of all of the young kids who have gathered here." Stell said with a serious tone.
"I see, that's really absurd for us kids, don't you think?" Nile responded yet again with a worried expression. The two of them stopped their momentum. Stell placed his hand on Nile's shoulder while looking at him.
"Nile... It's okay. I know that myself. But you gotta accept the truth. We're not actually a 'kid' anymore. We're in the middle of adulthood and we need to take responsibility for some things. We cannot just let our parents handle all of the dangerous things we might encounter some time in the future. Besides, if we're here then that means we can learn a lot of things that are probably more essential than venturing the caves and collecting rocks." Stell said with a calming tone.
"I know but... It's just too much. I mean why us?" Nile asked with a little raise on his voice.
"Well, we don't know. But Nile, think about our future. If we just stay there without doing anything, then we're just waiting for our deaths."
"I... I don't want that... I don't want to feel uncool with how things are going. Knowing that there's going to be someone who will kill us... At least, I know myself that I tried to fight even though there's no chance. But that is the point of this training, right?" Stell answered with a little quiver on his tone.
"Hmm..." Nile was silent. He knows what Stell is talking about.
"Besides, you need to cheer up! Don't you want to find your other family and your mother as well? If that bastard Yama showed up then are going to be able to search for them?"
"No..."
"Then that's all the more reason for you to be part of this thing. Nile, if we are stronger, we can defeat that whatever dark lord guy. At the very least, we need to be a professional fighter before that. Then we can continue finding what we desire or what we want." Stell responded.
"You're right... I'm sorry, Stell." Nile apologized.
"No, that's okay. I'm sorry as well for dragging you into this. You've warned me about everything yesterday, yet I was looking for a better light without thinking. But since we're here now, we have no option. Let's do this together, Nile!" Stell pounded Nile's chest with his fist.
"Urgh! Y-Yeah."
"Alright, let's go now."
The two continued to walk with a positive feeling. The building they're in right now was the left side near the main central building. It turns out that the 2 side buildings are situated for them to occupy. These buildings are called "Stations". It is a dormitory-like building where a lot of kids can sleep, rest, take a bath, eat, and things they mostly do on their home.
The size of the stations is twice the size of a normal museum. It is large enough to handle at least a thousand of Mana Zone testers. The stations are also capable of being a fortress. Each room has 25 beds but they're separated on each section. The left side station is for boys while the right side station is for girls.
Each station has its own respective bathroom at the least, and a large area where they can sink in or take a bath. Spring can be also found on the backside of the station where they can use it to fish or to camp.
To sum it up, this program is not just aiming to be a training ground. It is a new world where they can do whatever they wanted before the said war.
A couple of minutes have passed. All of the Mana Zone testers have gathered again on the central building.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen those two." Stell wondered while gazing around. There's a lot of people yet again and all of them are not lined up.
"Ack, this is messier than last night." Nile followed up.
"Ehem, good morning my dear children." The murmurings have stopped when Luong suddenly made another cringy grand entrance.
"Ah, here we go again." Stell gave a smirk while looking at him.
"How is it going? Did all of you get a nice sleep, last night? Well, I hope everyone got a good night's sleep because that's going to be your last night sleeping with a late schedule." He said. Everyone was shocked about it, it almost feels like something is going to change.
"Surprised? Well, that's because we're going to get stricter! HAHAHAHAH!" A devilish laugh that is pretty laughable.
Everyone glared at him with a disgusted expression.
"HAHAHAH! HAHA Haha... Hahaha... sorry." Luong stopped his cringy movement and started acting seriously.
"Anyway, what I mean is. Starting tomorrow, you're all going to be waking up at exactly 6:00 AM in the morning. No one's going to be sleeping until 10:00 AM. Me and the maids have set up a magical alarm that will force everyone to wake up with its sound. If you're still asleep with that alarm, you're going to be forced to wake up because the beds are made out of spring that will instantly throw you. So if you don't want to get hurt, just get your butts up." He finally explained it properly.
After that, A maid with a bunch of paper on her hands approached Luong. She gave it to him and then left the scene.
"Alright, here are the things I would like to discuss. It's all about the basic information you will have to remember for your first terms." He said while skipping some pages.
"What is he talking about? Are we still dumbfounded about something?" Stell whispered.
"I'm not sure, but let's hear it." Nile responded with a soft voice.
"From now on, those of you who have submitted their form and enrollment papers will be called 'Astrochists'. Astrochists refers to those young people who participated in this program. Mana Zone Testers are also considered to be Astrochists. Everyone who has gathered here is part of it. Oh, and by the way, I haven't introduced myself properly yet, did I?" Luong said.
"I'm Luong. Top 10 strongest elemental user. I'm going to be your grandmaster and your teacher for this upcoming war. As some of you might know, I'm from the Leo Clan. The Leo Zodiac Clan is not really fond of soft training. For those of you who're going to encounter me, you're going to receive hard training instantly. This is good for those of you who are excited about becoming stronger. If you don't want to be strong then you're needed here." He followed.
"Oh, and by the way. Before we start our first day. We have prepared a special uniform for all of you. These distinct clothe are weaved using the most expensive clothes and wools they can find on the other side of the country. It is also soaked in magic spells to prevent any damages from your elements. All of you are going to wear this to determine that you are a certified Astrochists." After a while, he showed the uniform that they're going to wear.
For the top, A gray shirt can be found inside with a leather belt that is crossing the chest area. It is tied firmly to avoid looseness. It has a unique design with some random strokes. On the left side of the chest, there's a symbol indicating that it came from the Mana Zone program. These are for the boys.
And for the girls, still, in color gray, it is a long blouse with a leather belt on the belly. There are also some random strokes as a design and the symbol of the Mana Zone program on the chest. The design of the blouse is not that fancy, it is plain but it looks great.
For the boys again, aside from the gray shirt, a long white coat is also presented. The coat is also great, and it is exceeding pass the knee.
As for their pants, it is also covered in White and as for the footwear, it is dark gray colored boots.
All of the Astrochists cheered when they saw their very own uniform.
"Damn, that is actually good." Stell said.
"Yeah, it looks like we're onto something, not just training," Nile responded with a smile.