As Finn, Brady and I arrived at our dorm, we were immediately struck by a few new changes. The once discolored and splintered door leading inside was now a sleek black sliding door with a biometric scanner connected to it. I guessed that the scanner was to provide an extra sense of security.
I walked up to the door and placed my left hand onto the scanner and the door slid upward, to which we all let out oohs and aahs. Stepping inside, we found that our very basic and empty room had indeed been upgraded to a whole new level. The living area that had once only held a grimy couch now had two black leather couches as well as a glass table in the center of the room.
The kitchen now had a new refrigerator, microwave and stove top. It also had two rows of double door cabinets under the sink. As far as we were concerned though, this was all a waste as none of the H rank students could even afford groceries to store in their dorms. What was probably intended to be a gesture of goodwill by the academy just came off as mockery to us.
Moving on to the bathroom was the biggest shock to us. Instead of one tiny shower with no hot water, there was a giant tub and a walk in shower with black glass doors. Finn immediately went too test the water, Brady and I froze when we saw Finn's eyes get wide as steam began to fill the room. To three people that had not felt hot water in half a year, this moment was incomparable to any gift that could be given by the academy.
As we were celebrating our luxurious new home, we heard a knock on the door.
"I wonder if that could be Dana and the others, maybe they already finished checking out their new dorm situation so they came here." Finn said, still watching the steam rising from the shower.
"I can't let Valerie see me in my weak form!" yelled Brady, getting down to perform a round of pushups.
I walked to the door and opened it expecting to see them, but I could not have prepared for what was waiting outside that door.
"Mr. Miller, Come with me, I want to have a little chat with you." Pain said as my heart threatened to stop on the spot.
"O..oh, of course sir!" I replied as my back immediately straightened out and I left the room without another word to the guys.
Pain looked at me with cold expressionless eyes as if trying to decide whether he should rip off my head or my legs. After a few moments of silence, he finally looked down at his teleportation watch.
"Set your coordinates to the arena, we have some things to discuss." He said as he pressed a few buttons on his watch and then twisted the face and vanished. I did as I was told and followed just behind my fitness instructor whom I thought I had seen the last off for awhile just that morning.
I arrived at the arena and I could see Pain standing on the stage and out of habit I immediately ran to my spot to await instruction.
"What are you doing Miller?" Pain asked as he stared at me in confusion.
"I am waiting in my spot sir, like I usually do." I answered, not quite understanding what this man wanted from me.
"Look Jake," he began, calling me by my first name and startling me in the process as that had never happened. "You have obtained your beast weapon and passed my tests, that spot is for the weak. You are not weak anymore."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing, the monster that never once praised anything I did for the last six months was not telling me that I was not weak. I walked up on to the stage and stood across from Pain and wondered why he had called me there.
" The academy allows me to take one new pupil under my wing for the duration of their time here. I have chosen you, I believe that I can mold you into something that you yourself could never imagine.
I know that you are not as big and strong as that moose Brady or as proficient in battle as Valerie, but I see something inside of you. Bravery. You looked into my eyes and asked about killing somebody, that takes guts." Pain finished and looked at me as if expecting me to say something.
"So you want me to keep training with you instead of choosing a career path?" I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders slightly and looked around for a moment, his eyes settled on one of the weapons racks at the end of the stage.
"Here is my proposal to you Jake, I will be your instructor, advisor and benefactor if you can give me every last ounce of strength that you have in order to reach the top of this academy." Pain said.
"My benefactor?" I asked suddenly taken aback by his choice of words. What could that mean?
"Yes, think of it like a sponsorship, the more that you advance in the ranks here the more I will award you with beast cores, secret knowledge and opportunities to grow stronger, including the fifty beast cores I am about to give you." Pain explained.
I could not believe what I was hearing, this was a huge opportunity that had just fallen into my lap. I scrambled for anything to say "Thank you sir, I will not disappoint you!"
"Don't thank me yet, these beast cores are not free. You need to earn them, and what better way that to really put the skills that I've taught you to good use." He said, a wicked smile appearing on his face.
Pain then pointed to one of the controlled portals "I want you to go into that portal and kill fifty beasts with nothing but a wooden staff in under five hours. If you succeed the cores will belong to you, but if you fail then you will no longer be qualified to be my student." His tone suddenly turning serious as he explained my situation.
This would be an incredible advantage over any other student at the academy outside of the S ranks, to have a strong teacher backing me up.
I turned and walked over to the staff, picking it up and admiring it's smooth texture. As I approached the portal I heard Pain speak behind me.
"This will not be like any portal test you have seen, you will not be in a pit, you will be hunting in their world while being hunted simultaneously. Oh and don't even try to absorb any cores while before the test is complete, trust that I will know if you do. Good luck kid." He finished and then began to walk away.
This was a real chance to become something more than a weakling with a weak ability, this was a chance to become strong. I took a deep breath and stepped through the portal, all alone in a foreign world for the first time.