The instructor Keith Shadis looked at this young man who still kept a slight smile on his lips. Takashi is a tall young man of athletic figure with short dark black hair and bristled down, reaching a little below the ears.
His eyes were the most special, they are black in color, which he apparently always keeps narrowed. Keith Shadis could sense something different about this new recruit.
When Takashi heard instructor Keith Shadis' question, he wiped the smile on his face and answered immediately with a military salute, "I'm Takashi Ackerman, I grew up in Dauper south of the Rose Wall."
Instructor Keith snorted coldly, "Oh? That sweet potato girl's hometown? What are you doing here, eating sweet potatoes too?"
"Haha!" There was a burst of laughter all around.
When Instructor Keith heard the mocking laughter, he just narrowed his eyes but said nothing.
Takashi on his side was a bit stunned and his expression changed from seriousness to coldness, "You're wrong, Sir! I'm just a simple hunter, I came to this place not to feel helpless from the rumors and hardships of my life. My only goal is to learn everything necessary to slay titans. When I am prepared enough, I hope to hunt down the titans one by one until I finish all the prey in this world."
Feeling the firmness in his words, Keith raised his eyebrows and said, "Wow.... Not bad at all, I hope you won't be so scared by then!"
After he finished speaking, he walked away, full of strength and with only one thought in his mind, "That boy is different."
Takashi's face became calm again, at first he didn't want to say anything arrogant, so as not to refute the words of instructor Keith Shadis, but on the other hand he wanted to leave an impression on everyone by saying, "Come and look at me, I will be someone great in the future. If you don't want to be trampled, train so hard that you can't move any muscle in your body at the end of the day."
Takashi wanted to be a kind of conical steel tip, the tip of an arrow for future fights to come.
But he also didn't want to be someone too arrogant, he didn't want to imagine that once he was in front of a Titan his hands would shake and he would be so scared that his punches would be ineffective when attacking. For now, he had to hate the Titans and think only of how to eliminate them.
In battle, victory cannot depend on arrogance alone, so he needed his training skills to surpass the rest of the recruits around him.
You could say that as an instructor, Keith Shadis was someone who also failed to achieve anything significant on the front lines as a Scout Corps soldier. But Takashi Ackerman was different, not only did he know the early events of this world, but he also knew that it wasn't just the titans who were his enemies, there was someone else on the walls, outside or inside who could transform just like Eren Jaeger did.
So, in order to win, Takashi needed to find them all and use the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan to slay them all at once. Takashi didn't care about their intentions, he is inside the walls and anyone who threatens his safety, will be his main enemies in this world.
More than an hour passed.
With the exception of the twenty or so people who did not need to be trained, the other almost 300 people had already been scolded by instructor Keith... the rite for everyone to become good soldiers was over.
Instructor Keith took another sip of water, feeling somewhat dissatisfied with the results.
He walked to the high platform in front of the training soldiers and said coolly, "New recruits, the joining ceremony is over, are you relieved to be able to become a formal training soldier?"
"Isn't it?"
The training soldiers who had just relaxed in the audience were silent for a moment, realizing that things were not that simple.
Instructor Keith took two steps forward and said expressionlessly, "Well, for the rest of you your day is not over yet, you will have a competition at four o'clock this afternoon where you will all have a race, the last five to finish two hundred laps will be ejected from this place, Sasha Blouse you will run until you pass out."
Instructor Keith paused for a moment and then roared in a loud voice, "Pack your own bags and leave if you don't think you have the qualifications to pass this test! We don't want any waste here!"
"God, did I hear right, two hundred laps in the field?"
"That's too cruel, he'll kill us before we start the real training!"
"Damn it, we have to eliminate five people before the real training starts!"
The soldiers training under the stage suddenly muttered and grumbled under their breath. This is the first day of joining the regiment, is it really good to kick them out like that?
Takashi also felt bad, on the other hand Sasha was holding his hand with tears in his eyes, "Takashi, please help me and get me something for dinner or I will starve to death."
Only then did Sasha know why Instructor Keith said to let her run until she just passed out or died, and she had to keep running with the others two hundred laps without being in the last five places.
But out of everything, for her the most important thing, she would run out of dinner!
Takashi's mouth twitched, can people starve to death if they don't eat a meal?
That it's impossible? As a good friend and companion he still had to do Sasha this favor, "Okay, I'll save you some food for dinner."
Sasha's eyes lit up, looking at Takashi as if he was looking at delicious bread, and he said gratefully, "Thank you, you're a good friend!"
"Well, it's nothing." Takashi thought with embarrassment as he saw everyone's gazes turn towards him and Sasha.
In the dining room just before the race started, Takashi grabbed some bread and cold sweet potatoes, storing more food for Sasha to have his dinner.
He also prepared a light soup and sat down to eat next to Thomas.
As for why the two didn't sit with Eren Jaeger and Mikasa, he was really sorry, he wasn't in the habit of being too attached to people.
This time the protagonist took Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert to lunch together... a good friend and a cute Ackerman. Takashi under no circumstances wanted to be a burden or be intense, it was not his style.
By the way, Takashi and Mikasa have been in light contact in the last two days since he met Eren Jaeger. He found that it wasn't hard to get along with that cold-looking girl and her inseparable self Eren Jaeger. Even Mikasa asked for Takashi's father's name, but was surprised to have never heard Takashi's father's name. It all seemed pretty normal, didn't it?
Takashi didn't think much that his father and Mikasa Ackerman could be related since he had all the memories of the old Takashi Ackerman, but he never heard of any long-lost relatives of his father.
Although the surname is the same, there are possibly hundreds of Ackermans in the world, it would be impossible for them all to be known relatives.
Sitting across from Takashi, Thomas, who was drinking his vegetable soup with a spoon, asked, "Takashi, aren't you worried about the afternoon race? The last five will be eliminated."
"You mustn't worry, it's only two hundred laps, keep steady and don't lose your breath." Takashi was very calm.
Thomas was speechless, don't talk about the two hundred laps like it's nothing, it's about fourteen kilometers!
It's not that Takashi doesn't care. Since he came to this world, he slowly learned the Chakra training technique and the improvements in his physical body were noticeable. These two hundred laps were possibly not much for him, but for others it would be hell.
Takashi didn't remember that this training method was pointed out by the instructor Keith Shadis, he only vaguely remembered that Sasha had been punished after the bonding ceremony, so possibly it was due to his last slightly off-color words towards the instructor.
He didn't know why, but he firmly believed that instructor Keith hated special people, perhaps he wanted to see first hand who were special with this simple training.
Of course, although he had trained his Chakra, it had only been less than a week, and the strengthening of his body and Chakra did not increase extravagantly. Because of this, he might have a bit of difficulty being the first to finish the two hundred laps.
However, he discovered that the potential of this body itself is very amazing, the physical quality of his body improved slightly every day, and this is not simply due to the effect of Chakra.
He thought about the sudden burst of power and control over his body on that day when he faced the bear, he knew that the initial potential of this body had been taken away, but apparently not entirely.
The lineage of this person seems to be a bit powerful, considering that Mikasa Ackerman was also someone extraordinary.
In the original series, Mikasa is so strong and talented that very few could match her power in battle, perhaps it has something to do with her and the former Takashi's family in this world. Being interested, Takashi also asked Mikasa about this, but she didn't know anything about it.
In general, Takashi's possible talent that was somehow taken away from him had just awakened less than a week ago and Mikasa had done so more than three years ago, so Takashi thought that his power was not completely taken away from him, but was still developing.
These thoughts flashed in Takashi's mind, but to think of the original Takashi's father as just a normal person, nothing special from the other world, leaves him very puzzled.
Perhaps the original "Takashi" was granted this incredible talent?
Regardless, now Takashi's body configuration was just fine.
Perhaps if he trains hard as he had originally set out to do, he can surpass himself and become more powerful than even one other main character.
Chakra, which is a bit unstable when using it, is not reliable at all, even Takashi hesitates to be able to use it in swords and strikes against Titans.
In the afternoon, in the large training courtyard, more than three hundred soldiers of the training corps were in the waiting field, many of them looked a bit bitter.
This place, it could not be called a lay, there is no smooth ground, the holes in the cement make it a much more uncomfortable place, there is only a small line drawn in front of them.
Many crowded forward, hoping to grab a good place to start from.
After all, there are over 300 people. Although the place is too spacious to accommodate them, it is impossible to make the competition run in an orderly fashion. However, as long as there is no fight, the instructor won't mind.
It is a yard that possibly plus two hundred means more than twenty kilometers, Takashi could imagine that it is impossible to complete for more than half of all the recruits. This led Takashi to a single thought, first of all, it wasn't a competition.
Possibly, it will all come to an end when five soldiers from the training corps give up this dream of becoming a soldier. Somewhat logical and consistent considering the numbers, Sasha had been running for about an hour without stopping, which shows his strength and very strong physical endurance.
Takashi is standing behind the crowd.
Upon discovering the significance of this competition, he knew that it was not a competition of speed, but of will and determination. Moreover, he is very confident that he can finish the two hundred laps if he is wrong in his assumptions.
"Starburst!"
An instructor shot a flare into the sky, and the crowd rushed forward like a tidal wave. The soldiers of the training corps rushed forward at full speed. Even if only the last five people to complete the two hundred laps were ejected, they didn't want to end up behind.
Takashi was in no hurry, he controlled the rhythm of his breathing and kept a steady speed in the middle of his squad. What's the hurry after all? They wouldn't die even if they failed the test.
He looked to the front of his squadron and saw Jean who was energetically leading the group, and Mikasa who was silently following him.
As for the other people next to him, they are unknown at the moment.
Thomas is ahead of Takashi, Armin on his side was.... Hey, what about Armin? Takashi looked for Armin and almost mistook him for that girl with similar hair, some time later he discovered that he was right behind him. Well, in the series Armin's physical strength was not his strong point, but he would definitely not be eliminated in this test.
Takashi's happy smile was discovered by a girl with a black hair with two pigtails at her sides, "You seem to be very relaxed in this test, why are you following our pace and not running faster?"
Takashi turned his head and looked at the pretty girl beside him, "Don't worry, this is the second lap. Don't talk and concentrate on keeping your breathing."
Mina, who has two black colored tails, was surprised and said quickly, "Well, I'm Mina Carolina, I mean, thank you for worrying. I thought you would run much faster, although there is no reward for coming first, many of the instructors are watching us."
When Takashi heard the words Mina Carolina, he looked outside the field, and in fact, almost all the instructors came over to watch the performance of the new recruits.
He just smiled and said, "I'm Takashi Ackerman, don't worry, after twenty laps, many people should start to slow down, then it will be harder for them to keep their pace so fast."
Mina chuckled: "After twenty laps, won't you be exhausted too?"
Takashi shook his head and said nothing.
If he kept his pace, pretending to be in an unremarkable position, he would always be in control of the whole scenario.
Watching the soldiers of the training corps pretending to be fast, when in reality they are burning all their stamina in the first few laps.
He didn't intend to pretend to be bad and then reveal his incredible physical condition, he just wanted to carry his own pace without worries.