"Tell me everything about the Classrooms, that will be enough for now, and then maybe someday tell me all about your personal lives there.", She said with an earnest smile.
"Suit yourself," I glanced at everyone present and then began, "The Classrooms are special environments created to house and train us- Users. We wake up in the facilities at the age of 4 and are taught intensive combat. We are taught battle tactics, forgery and martial arts. We are taught to obey all the elders and the official supervisors, and are punished if found doing otherwise"
"Everyone has to stay alone until 7 years of age and then we get to choose our roommate, our roommate will also be our training partner for the future. Nevera was my first partner and friend at the Classrooms."
"We are taught simple surgical techniques, support tactics and swimming to better ensure our survival in dire conditions. After we become 10 years old, we have to fight each other including our own partner until only 25 of us survive."
"It is a fight to the death. When the last 25 are left, we are made into units consisting of 4 members each. And are finally sent to the real Classrooms. An artificial environment consisting of forests, plains, lagoons and waterfalls."
"Here we start off with meditation and balance-based exercises"
The memories of doing those exercises for the first time rushed into my head. I could, even now, remember vividly how we used to fall while doing those exercises. And the fact that the flooring was made of Jarring Titanium didn't help.
Jarring Titanium was a special variation of regular Titanium. It was mined in the east, the former land of the Yakshas.
What made it so special was that, it was unbelievably reactive, in a physical sense. It produced deafening noises because of the slightest of touch and if you fell, while unprepared for the fall, you were sure to break a bone or two.
After some recollection, I continued.
"We are trained in wielding various weapons like swords, polearms, shields, axes, knives, daggers and bows by a man known as a Professor. Then we are made to practice and exercise all day with small refreshment breaks until we become 15 years old, after which we can pursue a weapon mastery,"
"An hour more at most." Nevera interrupted.
[Current time, 7:29 pm]
"Then come the unit battles. Here different units are matched against each other in fights to gain special items or rewards from the Watcher- a man who oversees all items and materials in the rooms. The unit which has the highest wins is made the commanding unit and its captain- the battalion commander."
"At this point we receive commissions and requests, which are similar to missions. We have to complete our daily commissions to claim food and other necessities, to add to this, after completing a certain number of commissions, we are given a dungeon key which can be used to open one of the material dungeons and raid it"
"There are often many monsters inside but they can be killed using the repulsion gloves that we are given for dungeon fights. We can also choose to team up with another unit and raid the dungeon, doing this will require us to split the bounty equally."
Viviane seemed to be satisfied with what I said.
"So does this satisfy you?" I asked her while yawning lazily.
"Tell me about these Instructors you have and then I will be."
"Why are you so curious…"
I stretched and started, "There are only a few instructors that I know about- The Professors, The Givers, The Watchers and The Regulars."
"The Giver is the one who lifts the seal on our powers and measures our FV, the Professors are our teachers. They teach us what we need to know and assign us commissions"
"The Watchers are rarely ever seen, since they are only present when you decide to raid a dungeon, they stand by and wait for the raid to be complete in order to inspect the rewards. They can also choose to close the dungeon in the event that the raiders die."
"Scary…"
"The Regulars are just normal staff people. They include- cooks, doctors, cleaners and supervisors. Like their regular name, their work is also regular and they are the closest people of the 'other side' to the Users. The only thing common between all these people is that they wear white lab suits and usually have blonde hair."
"When we become 18 years old, we are sent to fight Users from other facilities in the Hallways"
"It is similar to a tournament except for the fact that it can be fatal. Since there are about 4 Classrooms in each dominion, the Users of the same dominion put up against the Users of the other Classrooms."
"The unit with the highest wins would represent the dominion and then fight with the other teams in the Central dominion."
"Did your squad ever fight?", Viviane asked me.
"No, our fight was this year, but that won't happen now."
She looked at the others and asked, "So, if you were participating in the tournament, you'd have to fight Kathyln?"
"Yes, we would have to, in the event that they would be representing their dominion."
"That's not really a question, is it? Surely Kathyln and the others would represent their dominion?", Viviane looked expectantly at the violet eyed girl.
"Yes, we would win", a curt reply.
"Yeah of course we would, our captain is a battalion commander after all!", Cecilia added enthusiastically. A rare action.
"I didn't know that you were a captain Kathyln", Cadet Venti entered the chat.
"Because I never told you", she replied in her usual energy-saving tone.
"The Captain of The Silver Banshees- Kathyln Igriss", I spoke and then added, "My Professor told me about you beforehand, for the time when I'd have to face you."
"Stop it, besides I wouldn't really be a match for you.", she said, waving her hand dismissively.
A part of me refused to believe her, that part of me knew that she had better overall abilities than me. Something just felt off about her.
"True, no one can beat Aether in a fight", Arthur leaned back and stretched his arms.
"Yeah, this blockhead learnt it the hard way after all."
It was Nevera who spoke from the front.
"Huuuh? Tell me how it happened!"
Lia who I thought was sleeping asked me energetically.
"Arthur once challenged me for the position of the Captain and Commander of our battalion- The Five Leaf Clover, shortly after I accepted his challenge, people swarmed around the training grounds to watch the fight, at that time Nevera had asked me why I accepted his challenge, and I told him that I wanted to set an example."
"Of what?", Sapphire asked naively.
"Of what would happen if someone challenged me", I gave a pause to allow what I just said to sink in and then continued, "During the fight, Arthur first came at me with a right cross, but he was still just a greenhorn, I dodged it with ease and dealt him a blow right beneath his sternum at his Celiac Plexus."
"He punched me so hard that I fell, almost instantly, with no air in my lungs I was struggling like a fish out of water and before I knew it, I woke up in the infirmary with a note by my side"
"It said, 'You lose punk', it's hard to believe I wrote something as childish as that back then", I said while trying to not laugh.
"Yeah, you really were cocky back then", Venti added.
"Huuh? Wanna say that again?", I spoke in an intimidating tone, purposefully adjusting my vocal cords to make my voice deeper.
Venti was shaken and just as he gulped on nothing, Nevera's voice rang out like a silver bell.
"We're here ladies and gentleman, prepare to pack and then proceed to rest."
[Current time, 8:08 pm]
"It's time everyone, get your sleeping bags ready"
"Yes sir, we will sir!"
It ticked me off slightly.
That was the most enthusiastic reply I'd ever heard from them.
The Central Dominion, it was my first time seeing it, or so I thought. Somewhere, in one of the corners of my head, I felt a memory resurface, a memory of the past or was it the future?