Everwhite's upper-class training rooms.
In a sizeable white-colored room, Layla examined the five cadets in front of her. Lined up orderly shoulder to shoulder.
Jona was to the very far left with her same arrogant smile glued to her face. She was probably still thinking of herself as on top of the world.
Next was Sara, a girl with slight nerdy features radiating off of her. Black unhealthy bags were visible under her brown eyes. Dark emerald green hair that grew to the middle of her back and kept loose. Her fair-colored cheeks were a little puffy, and her freckled nose held her circler glasses.
It was pretty evident that Sara lacked self-care.
Then in the middle was Kai, standing tall with his hands behind his back in parade rest.
After Kai was Jessica, who was also standing at parade rest. Her short brown hair was styled to represent a butterfly, and her orange eyes were in contrast to Jessica's hair. Her round face and slim curvy body added cuteness and hotness to her traits. Just from how she stood, anyone could pick up her responsible and cool demeanor.
Then finally came Alice, the shortest one in the group and probably the quietest. Long silver hair with the tiniest smidge of blue, only visible if one looked very closely. Deep golden eyes that showed off nothing but indifference and apathy. An antisocial girl, if one had to say.
All five stared at Layla, waiting for her to speak.
"Let's cut the slack." Layla sharply spoke, clasping her hands together. "A ranking test will be held in three weeks, so we'll do what everyone else is doing. Train."
"Will that really be necessary?" Jona giggled with a big smirk. "I mean, weaklings will forever stay weak."
Kai was about to say something, but Layla beat him to it.
"It's different from now on." Layla sighed. "You'll all be facing stronger opponents from now on."
What Layla had just said wasn't just something to scare the five. Instead, she was genuinely concerned about her student's rankings, especially when she thought about James and his sudden weird obsession with that Ellia girl.
"Ha! As if those weaklings could do anything!" Jona laughed.
"Hey, have you been picking on other people?" Jessica abruptly asked as she leaned forward and looked past Kai and Sara to meet Jona's eyes.
"You got a problem?" Jona raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, I do have a problem. Kai said to cut it out, so stop acting like a bitch."
"What did you say...?" Jona's lips twisted downwards along with her eyebrows.
"Ah... let's calm down..." Kai weakly chuckled while seeing sparks fly past him between Jona and Jessica.
"Idiots..." Alice scoffed. "I hope you all are getting along," Layla said, placing her hands on her hips.
"Yea, we get along pretty well." Jessica smiled joyfully at Kai.
"Haaa… crazy bitch…" Jona and Alice both muttered through their shut mouths. Sara just yawned as if she was in a world of her own.
"I don't know what she's talking about…." Kay said, looking innocent.
"Yea, you better not, kid." Layla stressfully spoke while rubbing her temples. She knew trouble would arise when Kai was put into a team with girls as his comrades, but she didn't expect it to be so soon.
"Okay, now everyone shut up so I can talk." Layla cleared her through before speaking. "We will be training for three weeks straight."
"T-three weeks?" Sara muttered, her tired eyes opening wide for the first time today.
"I don't have any problem with that," Kai spoke up.
He had to get stronger. As of right now, he knew he was too weak. The thought of the incident that occurred a week ago was still fresh in his mind.
When Kai met that unknown soldier, she was the same age as him, but the difference in skills and strength was clear as day and night.
His only wish was to get stronger as fast as possible.
"What he said." Kecia's said, going along with Kai.
"Ehhh…? Are you guys really going to train?" Jona asked while scratching her head. "But if everyone else is doing it, then why not."
Alice didn't say anything; she only nodded in acceptance.
It was only Sara who didn't want to take part in any of this, but in the end, she reluctantly accepted her fate.
"Good." Layla approvingly nodded, then took out five transparent capsules from her pocket. "These are the type C-asuras. It's a pill replicating the effects of asura's recreation by 10%."
"What? Do you mean that expensive but godly pill? The one everyone wanted to get their hands on a few years back?" Sara asked, surprised yet again. "I heard it got sold off to some wealthy nobility during the auction, but since they were in the VIP section, people don't know who bought it.
In every auction house in the Empire's capital, there were VIP rooms only available to the nobility, and those in the VIP rooms had their identities known.
"Yea, it is that pill," Layla confirmed with a nod. "The pills have been provided by my higher-ups who saw potential in you guys. Though 10%, it's still a lot."
As Layla passed a pill to everyone, they immediately swallowed it without water.
"I don't feel anything," Jona spoke.
"Asura's recreation doesn't work like other strength-enhancing pills. These pills don't work unless you, the consumer, train your body; the pills only help you grow. And there's an advantage when it comes to the type C-asuras. You don't have to deal with 90% of asura's demanding training intensity." Layla explained while talking left and right.
"How much were these, though?" Jessica asked.
"A few million," Layla responded without much of a change to her facial expressions, most likely because she wasn't the one who bought the pills.
"Holy…" Kai mumbled. He wasn't sure how to feel with such an expressive item melting inside his stomach.
"Use it well," Layla said before finally stopping her random walking.
"We will." Kai nodded.
And for the training, I panes for you all…." Layla smiled and quickly walked over to a metal door and went inside. Kai and the girls stood still and watched her.
In just a moment, Layla exited the room and strolled out, pushing along a cart.
Inside the cart were five helmets. Black stainless steel with white neon lines going across the middle of the helmet.
Everyone had clueless expressions except for Sara, who knew what these helmets were meant for.
"Does anyone know what these are?" Layla asked as she displayed the helmets to everyone.
"Nerve helmets meant to connect to the Cyber World," Sara answered almost immediately, her eyes still half closed.
"That's right." Layla nodded. "We're going to be using this for training."
"How are we going to use that for training?" Jona questioned with a scoff.
"It's better if you see it for yourself," Layla spoke as she tossed everyone a helmet. "You wouldn't understand anything if I explained to you now."
As Layla began talking, everyone started to check out their new helmets.
"So there's a chance of you not being able to connect to the Cyber World, but considering it's you guys, it shouldn't be a problem." Layla then threw the helmet over her head and took a few steps back to lie on a comfortable bed. "Lay down on the other beds and get comfortable, kids."
After saying those words, she pressed a button on the side of her helmet and sank back into the softness of the mattress.