Gold was a two-meter man with long mane-like blonde hair. His bulging muscles seemed to be capable of breaking steel and combined with his domineering presence, made all the kids gathered fear him.
Noticing the fear of the children's looks, Gold smacked himself on the head and said in an apologetic tone.
"Oh, sorry did I scare you guys? Hahaha, you don't have to worry, despite my looks, I won't bite."
Hearing his effort to make jokes the kids, although still scared, calmed down slightly.
"But once again, I'll remind you all. In this facility, only the truly strong will prosper. You will all be given hellish training regimens that an average child your age would never even dream of accomplishing. Your limits will be constantly tested, and will constantly be stretched. Although overall rankings are based on the three aforementioned criteria of the potential of gift, current ability, and backing, do note that if you only got this far because of your backers your chances of lasting here is slim to none."
"gulp"
Hearing the man's words, I could hear numerous gulps coming from the area. I looked over to my side to see how Darius took his words but was surprised that he didn't show any reactions at all.
Confused about my stare, Darius asked me what was wrong, which I immediately answered with "nothing".
After letting the noise pass by, Gold or to be more precise instructor Gold continued with what he was saying.
"But this also means that those who are objectively stronger than those who were higher ranked than them would have better chances. When testing you all we didn't take into consideration certain factors. Some of you had objectively low-ranked gifts in our eyes, but depending on how it's used and who uses it could become exemplary."
While saying that, instructor Gold looked at a few individuals. Although it was too fast that I couldn't specifically see whom he was looking at, I believed that he was looking at those he thought fell into his previous sentence's category.
"…and there were also those of you who, although were much stronger than what they truly are, showed an only disappointing performance to their instructors. This led to their current ability being lower than it actually was, costing them a higher rank."
{Darius}
I was certain about this hypothesis since I could barely feel Gold looking in our direction just now.
"Anyway, you've all been warned. That's all for my introduction and I will no longer go out of my way to warn you… I hope those of you who are still willing to join are ready to experience hell."
Turning his back on us, Head instructor Gold went in the direction of the cube's door. Noticing his presence, the door automatically opened and closed after he was fully inside, making him disappear from our view.
After a few seconds, the door opened once more and this time 6 new staff members went out to greet us. At the forefront was the familiar face of former head instructor Philip who looked… how should I say this...haggard?
"Ehem… as you've been informed, instructor gold will be taking reign of this project as the head instructor from now on. Since it is so, I will now hold the position of official head advisor of the advanced combatant class. Nice to meet you all." (Philip)
Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap*
After his speech, the children clapped their hands as they would rather be around sir Philip than the beast of a man just now.
"Thank you for the warm welcome. Now then, please proceed to the table over there and pick out a badge. There are two types of badges available, the badge that has two swords crossed together will refer to the combat class, while the badge that has 3 coins encircling a pen refers to the non-combat class.
Depending on the badge you'll choose, you will be put into that class where you will be taught specialized courses. Do note that it takes a year for you to change classes, so please think over your decision carefully."
Seemingly finished with his role, instructor Philip stepped out of the way which opened a path to the table where the other five staff members sat. One staff member a woman who was wearing a dark blue uniform with 2 armbands was in the middle surrounded by the other 4 people.
To the right of her was a man wearing a dark purple uniform with 1 armband and a woman wearing a brow uniform with a golden outline with 3 armbands. To the left was the same with the only difference being the dark blue uniform of the man beside her.
"So…what will you choose?" (Fred)
Fred asked me, to which I responded with a short answer of my own.
"Combat."
"To where Boss Jericho is." (Darius)
"I never asked you, did I?" (Fred)
"What was that?"
"Stop it."
{Hah… just as I thought, there's still some bad blood left between them. Well considering what they went through I shouldn't expect them to be close friends all of a sudden.}
"Anyway, that's that, I'm going to the combat class with Boss."
"Th-then I'll go to the combat class as well." (Cole)
"Tsk! So I have to constantly see your faces for a year, how unlucky."
"What did you say-!?"
"u-um! Boss Darius!"
"Hm, what is it?"
"I-I'm sorry but…I'm thinking of joining the Non-combatant class. I'm so sorry!" (Archie)
"…I understand. It is your choice after all so I won't be holding it against you."
"Considering your gift, your choosing the non-combatant class is ideal. (Jericho)
In the past few days, I've come to know more about my new lackeys. Archie in particular was a special case, as instead of something combat-related like Darius' or Cole's, he instead received the gift [Unlimited Ingredients].
It was a gift that allows Archie to recreate any raw ingredient that he has tasted before out of nothing. This would've been an extremely broken gift if it wasn't for the fact that only Archie himself was able to use the ingredients he could create as they would immediately turn inedible if touched raw. But even so, as long as Archie cooks and prepares them himself, the organization would on paper have unlimited food.
But alas, Archie is only a single person. Meaning the amount, he could cook and prepare at a time was quite limited which is why he still ranked lower than me despite his backing.
{If he could become a better cook not only when it comes to quality but also quantity, then I might be looking at a future famous chef}
"Follow through with what you decided, it's not like we'll never meet again. I've heard from a friend I know (Librarian) that there will be combined courses where we the combat and non-combat classes will take together so there's that." (Jericho)
"I see… ok, Thank you, boss Jericho!"
As if he was full of new conviction, Archie headed to the right and asked for a non-combatant badge. We also followed suit and turned left to take our badges.
{Well then… it has finally begun.}