Twenty-one days had passed by. Kayden and the others had grown quite strong during that period of time. Once two weeks were over, Marcus, Dan, and Shawn were allowed leave the Arena and go about attending classes as usual. Although what they had experienced under the hands of that military man was beyond torture, they couldn't help but admit how much they had improved both physically and mentally. Shawn, someone who didn't like to train, had suddenly developed a desire for combat. Meanwhile, Kayden and the others had improved as well.
For one, Kayden's Mana holding capacity had risen from seventeen thousand to twenty-one thousand thanks to the Mana potions he would constantly gain from the simulation and the rigorous training the instructors were putting him through. Keeping through to their word, two weeks after, the instructors had introduced other forms of martial art for the students to learn. And a lot of them were finding it really difficult to keep up.
During the abilities class, Kayden would take his time gaining more strength since the Guild Master had no knowledge of other means of gaining strength. He had no choice but to take his time gradually growing stronger, until he felt like he was strong enough to finally challenge one of the stronger basic grade beasts.
He had fought a Scorpanion to the best of his abilities, and although it wasn't an easy fight, he had emerged victorious, finally drinking a higher quality Mana potion. From there, he began hunting more and more stronger beasts, and his Mana holding capacity continued to grow since then.
The same could be said for Marcus and Dan as well. After going through two weeks of punishment with the military man, they could tell that they had gotten significantly stronger, and while hunting beasts along with Kayden, they eventually got strong enough to hunt down stronger beasts such as the Dogtooth as well. They were started to experience the positives of being at the academy.
Almost one month had passed since they had made it into the academy, and it was almost time for the competition between the first year and the second year students. Everyone was excited about the upcoming fight to the extent that no one was interested in paying any attention during the classes. Later that day, a roster had been pasted in front of every dorm room showing which students had been selected to take part in the competition.
In the first place, not everyone was allowed to participate. In order to be a fighter at the contest, you would have to fulfill a set of criteria to see whether or not you are worthy of taking place. For this contest, twenty students had been selected, ten from the first year students and ten from the second year students. Once the classes were over for the day, students gathered in large groups around the hallway, checking to see if they had been chosen to take part in the competition.
"Dear students, we would like to inform you of those who will be partaking in the inter-student competition this year. If you were unable to make the list, it just means that you need to improve on yourself. Don't feel bad about it, just take it as a sign that you need to grow stronger and prove us wrong for not including you in this list," one if the students in the front of the crowd began to read the information conveyed on the flier.
"Those who will be partaking, from the first years, are: Kayden Williams, Kayla Ven, Paul Silverly, Shawn Hit, Dylan Vine, Sophia Monica, Steve Maxwell, Josh Brooke, Hilda Skree, and finally Zain Devon? What?!" the boy yelled out, shocked upon seeing this. Everyone was shocked upon hearing the name of the last student who had made the list. The reason was this was because, Zain wasn't someone who had that high of a rank in the first place. There were those who were far stronger than him, yet he was the one that ended up being picked.
Although most were unaware of his strength. He had never been challenged for his rank since day one. Most people didn't pay much attention to him in the first place, giving him the freedom and peace of mind to focus on why he was at the academy in the first place. As such, many felt like it was unfair that he made the list and they didn't.
Unaware of this, Zain had made quite an enemy of a bunch of students, whom he would have to find a way to deal with eventually. Meanwhile, the said student was back in his dorm room and was ready to call it a night. Ever since that day that he and Zain had really with Steve and Josh, neither of them had caused trouble for him or the others. At this point in time, they were far too scared to even look him in the eye.
They were more focused on either terrorizing other students, or their own training as well, which was why they were able to make the list as well. Josh was planning on how he would grow stronger and eventually surpass Kayden, and as for Zain, he had no idea just what he was truely capable of after training for nearly a month. Of course, everyone had improved quite well since then.
The next day was the last day before the competition would take place, and just like yesterday, everyone was quite restless because of the event. It was not on a chance for them to showcase their talent in front of their peers, but it was also a chance for them to increase their chances of having a brighter future.
During this event, the board of military school leaders would be present, as well as other important individuals in the current world. They had been invited by the academy to come and spectate the new generation of future fighters. It also served as an opportunity to discover hidden talent, and if that student was lucky, then they would have a chance at working for someone quite influential and powerful in the future, who would take care of their needs and ensured that they enjoyed the best out of life.
The next day, all everyone could think about was the competition that would be taking place the next day. It was the hottest topic at the academy currently. Nobody was interested in any of the classes, as all that could be heard from the students was related to the event that would taking place the next day. Plus, a lot of students were talking about the fact that Zain was one of the students who had been selected from the first years to partake in the event instead of those who were of a higher rank than himself.
The first nine students who had been picked had been selected because they were the nine strongest first year students at the academy. However, there was quite a number of students who were above Zain in the ranking system. They were beginning to think that his name had been added to the list instead of someone else by mistake. Many hoped that the mistake would be cleared up by the staff by the next day before the competition officially starts. It would seem unfair to them if an inferior ends up participating instead of themselves.
During the normal class, Kayden wanted to talk to Zain about the fact that he was one of the selected students. He was glad and proud of the fact that he had made the list, however, Zain seemed less than interested in talking with him, as he simply left the class once it was time for breakfast. Of course, he and the others still weren't on talking terms with Kayden after what had happened nearly a month ago. They couldn't accept the fact that Kayden wasn't willing to be more open with them as to what was going on with him.
Although Kayden couldn't blame them. He would have felt the same way if he was in their shoes, so he decided not to get offended by the way Zain had acted. Instead, he decided to forget about it and just head over to the canteen to have his breakfast before heading over to combat class.
On his way there, a girl had suddenly walked up to him. She had bright red hair and matching eyes. Upon a closer inspection, Kayden could see a slight resemblance between her and that second year student who had serious anger issues. Perhaps they were siblings. Kayden didn't care much about this, as he had no interest in chatting with anyone he wasn't directly involved with in any sort of way.
This girl is Kayla, the strongest student amongst the first years, and one of those who would be partaking in the competition tomorrow. As to why she had approached him all of a sudden, he didn't know, neither did he care. As he was about to walk away, she suddenly blocked his path once again, her eyes glowing bright yellow.
"I wouldn't disrespect me if I were you," she said, glaring at him intently.
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