Ethan had already exhausted any mind games he could play to while away time, he did not even know how many hours had passed but it had been long enough to exhaust any ideas and now he could only push through with his will power as the dead silence was killing him. But giving in was not an option for him, he has to prove to this people that silly mental punishment like this can do nothing to him. Ramon wasn't faring any better either as every minute he spending here is making him feel more and more like his head was going explode 'him affecting the whole company with his bad luck was bad enough but why will he specially involve me' he thought ''argh! I just feel like killing him right now'' he shouted, then thinking that if Ethan is before him right now, the mocking face he showed before will just get broader, now thinking this way he started to calm down but not without moments flash of anger as each hour sped by, now he was now regretting actually saying anything against him if he had said not and just kept his damned mouth shut he'll still be with his team and would had point that belongs to him, but now, now he will have no points to himself and he also won't be able to share from the team points as he had already been a loss to them. This team points where necessary to him as it is the only currency recognized in the school system as long as he remains a student. All the three schools in this city and other cities too accepts this currency and it is what they depended on to get what they need as they had it. Parent were not allowed to give their children anything as it serves as training for the students to be self-dependent and learn to earn their keep so as long as you participated in the school activities you won't ran out of points, he didn't know how much points Ethan had but he is sure he did not care because it seems the only thing the boy cares for is causing trouble and sharing is bad luck which obviously he now got his own special package. As a person who cares for luxury he understood that in this school, luxury means hard work and full participation in every activities. Now this is their second week in high and his plan his already falling to piece thanks to a sore thumb, and now taking all this time to think he knew he had to distance himself from this guy as much as possible. Apart from luxury he knew the battle out there is very fierce and getting more dangerous on a daily basis and his current strength is not enough though he wont be going to hunt beast now the time will soon be upon him and a good weapon might be the difference between life and death sometimes. People were plenty strong now though he actually couldn't fathom how weak the previous humans were but so were also most of the beasts according to what he learned in his history class in basic school and even the stronger ones can be easily captured which is a different story in this era. Yet the mixture of this weapons and their abilities has never been a bad thing. Even the resistance who wants all this gone are secretly getting this weapons either by killing their soldiers or using the black market, a kind of corruption which just never seems to disappear no matter the time and age or so he heard. Getting a top grade weapons is no joke and if he was going to get a good weapon through points then being here is very bad for him. Though no weapon is useless but each grade higher is more powerful and consumes more power the cost of using it alone is high grade beast cores and the cost of purchasing it also high according to the tier. This set up is to make sure you are strong enough to use the weapons you buy as you will be able to provide the needed beast core for it, making it perform at maximum potential, using low grade cores for high grade weapons will naturally make it perform below it potential and forceful outbursts will burn the core quicker making the weapon a waste on the battle field. And the points he gathered here will allow get a good weapon and hunting of strong beast will making him use it to its maximum potential.
All this thoughts together made him come to a conclusion that it is not just worth it to throw all that away just to pride himself as something against a hotheaded fool who understands no other language but trouble, wont people call him a bigger fool at the end of the day. At all cost he must actively avoid this foe of progress.
After unknown hours which Ethan is now guessing that it should have been another day or that his mind is now processing time in hyper slow mode, he heard the door to the isolation chamber open and a man came over unshackle the bar he was cuffed to and said "follow me" then the man proceeded to head out and Ethan followed his footsteps that lead to an elevator which they entered and later to exit at the ground floor they kept walking for more than few minutes that ethan thought with a sigh 'is my sin so great that they want to walk me to death'.
But after a few more minutes of walk they stopped and the man took off his blindfold and opposite him he could see another man removing Ramon's fold but that was not what actually caught his attention, what caught his attention is the boulder or better to call it a mini mountain as its height alone was trice his own and its width was as much as the height, from it a very thick rope which seemed to have been hammered into it was extending outward and it was exactly behind Ramon, seeing this he quickly looked behind him wishing the guess in his mind was nothing but a guess but he was in for a disappointment as he could see a boulder of the same size with the same rope extending from it.
"Now it has come to my attention that instead of training to defeat beasts you students fancy it better to fight amidst each other to show who is stronger, an act which was never condone and it won't start with you, well now thinking about it I've got a better solution for you." Captain lauder said
'Is all this speech really necessary, just give the punishment already' Ethan thought to himself as he looked at Ramon he knew he would also have understood their punishment since he was no fool. Though he didn't know what he was expecting when he looked at him but all he saw was a staring Ramon who seem to be seething in anger and he was kind of certain that any moment now fire might erupt from his eyes that seem to already have a kind of fire burning though he was not using his ability. Seeing this though he was very pleased and let out a smirk which only infuriate Ramon more.
"much worse was the fact that you used your abilities even though you knew it was restricted for the first years." " though you already served your punishment in the isolation chamber, I've got a little gift for you" he said with a wicked grin
'who does he think he is deceiving, does he really believe that I for one will fall for his mind games, this is the real punishment let just get things done f*cker' Ethan cursed
"a little way for you to display your strength to each other without breaking the school rules" he said "behind you is a little rock, all you have to do is drag it past the line before you, anyone who complete the task of moving it past the line first wins and you are free to resume the school activities"
"sir, since it is a game just to proof my strength to the guy over there, can I forfeit" Ethan asked
"Ramon is the name, idiot"
"No"
They both shouted simultaneously
"oh I see you still got fires in you, the only way out of this is to drag the rock past the line" lauder said "and remember the more time you spend here the more points you lose, now start dragging!"
Looking at the distance between the giant rock and the line, the AI calculated it to be approximately two meters but he knew that moving this thing an inch is next to impossible, and with their time limit being when they succeed he knew that he was in real trouble but instead of being sad he was quite happy because he believed this is also a way to improve his strength, dragging this for hours wont make him weaker right…
***
On the battlefield amidst the encirclement the beasts which were formerly throwing themselves at the encirclement began to retreat but this didn't make the students feel at ease at all because they knew this is the work of a rank S beast and as if to ascertain their thoughts rank B beasts began to emerge meters away from the circle followed by rank C beast and followed by the lower hordes. They seemed to have formed beast packs of their own and their numbers were far larger…
"is this really a simulation" a student cried in despair
"maybe we been teleported or something"
"fools" mabel chuckled