"That is why the food served at the cafeteria is so nutritious. To cater for your developing bodies, restore lost and worn muscles and foster growth." The Officer continued his lecture.
"That is why you are taught the importance of unity among kindred. That is why you are yelled at to do things together and defend one another. To feed your Soul. To foster Brotherhood and Sisterhood. To build a sense of belonging, and patriotism. To ensure that love grows and as a result, your Soul grows in tandem with your Body.
"But you know what they don't directly teach? This. What you are doing right now. Meditation. They know the importance and are willing to teach you. But you have to earn it first. Some earn the right to learn it in their first year, some in their fifth, some during service and some, never do.
"Luckily for you, you have come at the right time on the right day to the right person. Hence, you have received the right to learn even before you have earned it. You have been given an edge above others. Use it well. Meditate every night before you sleep. It is relaxing. It is helpful. It is peaceful. It is the last piece of the puzzle to attaining the trinity. Time is up! Time for classes."
His voice rose in volume. It wasn't too loud. Just normal speaking voice.
"Stand up. Go and change. The skins suits stay on. But the uniform changes to the special robes." He said, pointing at a door at the other end of the room. "Look for the ones with your names on it."
As he finished speaking, the others ran in, soaked in sweat and looking like they were going to collapse. They wheezed and rested on their knees as they took deep breaths and tried to catch their breaths. Their lungs were burning hot from lack of oxygen.
Officer Grim looked at them calmly. He said not a word as they panted and regrouped. Finally, after several minutes had passed, they were able to organize themselves. They stood in a straight line alongside Femi, Ojiso and Stellar who were now in robes. It was really just a Judogi, but much of history was very long lost by then.
They collectively stomped their feet, creating a booming sound even though they were standing on a soft matting.
Boom!
"Sir!"
Officer Grim sighed and shook his head. Internally, he shook his head even more. All these loud extravaganza really was not necessary.
He was not going to say that out loud though. This was the army and loud, booming, unhinged show of respect was expected from the inferiors to their superiors.
Instead, he looked at each of them, calmly, registering their faces to memory. But that wasn't all he was doing. He was also subtly testing out their levels of connectivity with their spirits, hoping to find one or two special, gifted ones.
"You all go in to change to robes like those three. There will be no skin suit removal. As the orders go, you will wear them till you graduate from first year. That is almost twelve months to go, so, I will advise you to endure and get used to it fast. The faster you get used to it, the stronger you get and the less punishments you receive." He advised.
He pointed at the same door that he did the first three. "Into that room, all of you, except these three." He said pointing at Femi, Ojiso and Stellar. "You will find your names on lockers that will signify yours. You have no more than three minutes."
They rushed in and were back out in less than three minutes. As they all arrived, Officer Grim made them sit around him in a large circle.
"For today, there will be no actual combat practice as I am sure you are all physically exhausted. You need to eat well tonight before bed. Got it?"
"Yes, Sir!"
Officer Grim closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
This noise!
He opened them.
"When I speak to you, don't yell back at me. Got it?"
"Yes, sir." Their voices were lower this time.
"Better. What do you know about the powers man possesses? Very little I'm sure. That is what you will be learning today. You better listen attentively because you don't know when this knowledge could come in handy. And I don't intend to repeat this lesson.
"Powers were first discovered publicly, give or take, three hundred years back. But it wasn't until a century back that the awakening became rampant and random. I used the word 'publicly', because long before that time, there were already humans that existed with the knowledge, gift and-or the belief. Rumors were spread. Stories were told. There were private and public figures, some were teachers, some athletes, some bodyguards, soldiers, gangsters, soothsayers, prophets, political and religious leaders that had seemingly superhuman abilities. Of course back then, it was simply tagged as being gifted, skilled and experienced. Some, especially the religious ones, accredited it to a god or the other. But the ratio back then as compared to now is abysmally low.
"Back then, it could be inference that there was one in every couple hundred million. Now, it is reported that on average, three people awaken in most cities every month. Mostly mid-teenagers like you. There are some oddities like babies, old and dying men and women, toddlers. It gets even weirder. Most people awaken when in deadly situations or just after surviving one. I'm sure that is how it is for most of you. But some people awaken at awkward situations and may I say, positions." At this point, Officer Grim giggled.
"Some have been reported to be in the clubs, concerts and parties having the time of their lives when they suddenly awaken. I'm sure you know of that popular rapper that most rendered everyone in his concert deaf when he awakened halfway through his most rated song. What's the name again?"
"Gone are them days! Healer." Brady immediately responded, his eyes glinting excitedly. "I got his autograph just before the concert that day. That was also when I awakened."
"Oh! Would you mind telling us what you were gifted with?" Officer Grim asked.
"Hehehe!" Brady chuckled like an old evil uncle. He looked at Baldhead Bronze. "I can never go bald."
Bronze's entire face spasmed. It was a choice. His baldness was a choice, okay? It was not like he was doomed with patchy hair like his dad or something.
"Hahahaha!" Officer Grim laughed. "I remember my nearly deaf granddaughter talking and laughing about someone whose hair kept growing as he foamed in the mouth.
The whole class giggled. Brady looked down at his feet.
"Anyway, you get my point. Odd, awkward situations. There are all kinds of powers. There are common ones like Enhanced physiques. Enhanced physiques come in different forms. For some, their leg muscles, lungs, heart and every organ needed to give them increased speed and reflexes become enhanced, for some others, it is strength, for some it is more well-rounded, making them jack of all, masters of none. There are also other common powers like flight, improved eyesight, enhanced sense organs, or long hair like Non-baldy over here."
Another bout of giggles and snickers sounded briefly.
"There are still some common ones like, basic elemental manipulation. They are those people with the ability to influence the movement, shape and concentration of whatever elements they have an affinity with. These elements include fire, ice, earth, wood, water, and wind.
"Water and Ice are similar but not the same. It is a lot harder to control water molecules in liquid form than in solid form. There have been a couple ice users who crossed a threshold and became capable of water manipulation, but a good ninety-nine percent of them never cross that threshold. And those who awaken water manipulation straight-up, find that it is extremely difficult manipulating ice as first they have to force the water molecules together to become ice first before using it. Ready-made ice would not even react to them regardless of their efforts, whereas Ice users can freeze a river and then use it to their advantage.
"Fighting skilled people like these can be quite frustrating." His face frowned a little. "Even very annoying at times. But it mostly depends on the opponent."
"There are uncommon ones as well like Metal manipulators, those with regenerative and self-healing abilities but can't transfer such to others, belong in this group as well. There are also a set of people with improved cognition. Their enhanced brain cells are supposed to put them in the rare category and in fact, Countries A, B and D do, but not us. There is enough of them to prove that it isn't that rare to find extra-smart people. And in truth, there is nothing much to them, they can only solve mathematics and come up with chess moves faster than the rest of us is all. It doesn't make them wiser in the real, more applicable sense.
"Then, there is the Rare Category. Power Boosters also sometimes called Amplifiers; Healers; Prophets, who are sometimes called Seers and Shamans; Mind manipulators also known as Hypnotics; Sound, Light and Shadow manipulators belong in this category.
"They are harder to come by and are treated with much more respect and fear than the previous categories mentioned because they are deadlier, scarier, more powerful and the appearance of a few can make a lot of difference on the battlefield.
"For example, in the last battle between Country F and Country A across the ocean, the battle was cut short by a Sound manipulator from neither of the countries. He lived a solitary life near the ocean and fished there. Then on one of his fishing trips, happened to get caught between the two sides on the verge of naval battle. He had managed to communicate with the whales and other large-sized ocean-dwellers near them and caused both sides so much trouble, that they had to return back to shore as quickly as they could. Oddly enough, no soldier was killed. The worst they had were severe injuries. The man was smart enough to know not to kill anyone and had communicated the same to the many animals in the ocean.
"He literally stopped a medium-sized battle that usually had a lot of casualties by speaking with plus-size fishes."
The students were amazed. What a man! Such power.
"Such charisma!" Wood muttered.
"But they aren't the most feared." Officer Grim said with a smile, much to the surprise. "There is still a category above the Rare Category. They are known by different names. Some call them, the 'Ultimate Humans', Some call them 'Blessed Ones' and have even created cults in their names in hopes of being blessed as well, some called them 'The Doom Bearers' because when they appeared, humanity was thrown into a drastic war with the planet itself."
"Uh?" No one was sure who huh-ed. There was a look of fear in some students' eyes.
Officer Grim did not seem to mind. He continued, explaining;
"About a century ago, give or take, the animals all over the planet and every mutated plant that could move, went berserk and began attacking every human settlement. That was not long after they collectively awakened. That was the 'Beast Carnage' that has become a caricature. But some people call them 'Saviours' and 'Heroes' and the 'Harbingers of Super Humans', because they were the ones who stood in the way and stopped the beasts from killing all humans. And after that, the number of awakened humans also increased.
"I simply call them the Ultra-Rare Category. They are Summoning, Power Copying/Mirroring and Blood Control. Imagine facing off against someone who could summon a giant from some undiscovered realm, or facing someone who can directly copy your powers and use it even better than you or worse still, someone who can control the blood that flows through your veins, arteries and organs."