With the acedemy buildings located at the center, the living settlements located south of that, on the west was a plethora of shopping markets.
Providing everything students may need, so they don't leave the academy grounds. So these days students ventured there like hungry rats to a dead prey.
Asher didn't join the frenzy, choosing to not buy anything.
Two days quickly passed, and the school officially started.
Asher left his room, styling his new pitch-black uniform. Which automatically adjusted to his size, lightly hugging his body.
"Ayo Asher my brother, we're in the same joint so why not move together." Atlas was already standing by the gate when he saw Asher aprroaching.
Wearing a white t-shirt, he had his uniform jersey tied around his waist.
"Let's wait for four-eyes as well, his also in our class." Atlas suggested and Asher obliged, they were early anyways.
"Did you see the baddie I was talking to just now?"
Time slowly passed and other students left, after a few minutes of waiting, a punctually-looking student came with a briefcase in his hands. Looking extremely professional, which was hard to do since the uniforms were basic.
"Four-eyes! over here, let's go." Atlas waved enthusiastically, before they went on their way.
"Hey four-eyes, what's the case with the case, I mean we ain't got books, so whatcha hiding in there." Atlas inquired.
*Smack*
"Hmph! Keep your barbaric paws away...."
....
Over the course of two days, they were somewhat familiar with each other's personality, so there wasn't much fuss.
The sun was slowly rising from the east, the cold atmosphere slowly warmed and the gentle breeze slowly got stronger.
The different buildings all looked similar, with no aparent labels.
The buildings were named numericall, in order of conception, so there weren't placed in any particular order.
Normally it would be hard to find a specific building, luckily though, they had technology. Using a holographic map, they quickly found their academic building.
They entered the class, seats were arranged in a half-circular ascending manner, with the teachers platform at the bottom-front. Resembling an Armenian opera theatre.
"Ohh there's still more people, have a seat wherever you want." Standing on the platform, a familiar face, with unkempt hair stated. It was the invigilator from the third test.
The students sat in scattered groups, there weren't many of them, roughly 50.
"Wait! Not you four-eyes, your seat is right here in front, besides your boyfriend." The man pointed at the nearest chair. The first row was nearly empty, except for another youth.
He was the boy who spoke up during the initial meeting at the 3rd test and was dubbed 'His boyfriend.'
"This man's is petty, let's chill at the back." Altas adviced Asher as they went to the back.
Four-eyes wasn't bothered, fixing his glasses, he took his seat.
"Good, good." The man mumbled to himself while nodding.
"My names chase but four-eyes and his boyfriend must call me Mr. Chase. Now I'll be your register teacher until your final year, I usually hate this but four-eyes really pissed me off. Does anyone have any questions?" Chase looked around the classroom.
Seeing no questions he continued, "All of you received your programs based on the courses you've picked, now that program won't apply for this month. This month, all of you will be going through preparations for the baptizim in a month."
The 'baptism' was a crucial ceremony that every saint went through.
Human bodies were known to be uncorporative with mana, but the baptism helped the body to become more 'obedient'.
It wasn't clear to the public what ingredients were used in the baptism, and only the origin church, hosts of the ceremony knew.
Luckily, it was free to everyone, yet others had to wait a bit longer, due to limited resources.
"I've already sent all of you the timetable for this month and I won't lie, I'll purposely make this month a living hell, and you can thank four-eyes and his boyfriend." Chase stated with a wide smile on your face.
It was as Atlas stated, 'this man is petty', it was clear to everyone that he was placing everyone in a battle field, while putting a target on four-eyes's back, all because of one interaction.
Because of this, no one dared to speak up, for fear of receiving similar 'special treatment'.
*Clap*
"Now everyone follow me, it's best to start things early." Chase said while leaving the room and everyone quickly followed him.
....
"In order to get the best benefits from the baptism, we have to stimulate your bodies to the max. So first things first is to improve your endurance and fitness." Chase stood on a round hovering platform and said.
"Hmm, Sir, do you posses any research, as far as I know, the..." With a frown, four-eyes raised his hand and interjected.
"My research is that I made it the f*ck up." Chase disdainfully glanced at four-eyes.
!!!
"Che you've ruined my mood... Since you've volunteered, you'll be the class president and you'll be leading the class by example, if anyone falls behind by even 5 meters, you'll all have to run for an extra hour." Chase dictated.
"What! Why?" Four-eyes exclaimed.
"Because I feel like it. If you open you mouth again, no one will receive a break!"
!!!
Chase's words shocked everyone.
What did we do? Don't get us involved.
Just as four-eyes wanted to complain, his mouth was shut by 'his boyfriend', fearing the class might tear him apart.
"Since there's no complaints and everybody's gotten time to warm up, follow me." Chase wore a warm smile, resembling a man who just won the lottory.
Wait, when did we warm up? Confused, the students didn't have time to think as Chase was already hovering away.
Still grumbling, four-eyes quickly led the class, and the others followed behind them.
At first it was a bit chaotic but everyone quickly adapted and moved forwards in a rythmatic manner.
They jogged around the school with no clear destination, going towards one direction then circling back the opposite direction. It was clear that, Chase's route was similar to his research.
Time elapsed.... 20 minutes... 30 minutes, 40 minutess, soon an hour had passed and everyone was getting exhausted.
"If even one of you strays behind, no one will get a break." Chase shouted when he noticed a few students straggling at the back.
He had gotten tired of standing so he sat on the hovering board, giggling and laughing while texting on his phone.
Hearing him, the students quickly pushed themselves and returned to the group.
Time passed even slower, 1 hour, 2 hour, 3 hour, soon 4 hours had passed, surprisingly, everyone was keeping up with the group, albeit their movements were anything but eloquent, but they still kept up none-the-less.
*Whoop whooop* *Whoop whoop*
Suddenly, sirens rang across the school, indicating lunch time.
"Oh is it finally lunch time? " Chase suddenly stopped and turned around.
Most of the students collapsed on the ground as soon as they stopped.
They were breathing heavily, while their limbs were trembling involuntarily, their bodies completely powerless.
"Good this means you have strong will power..." Chase nodded as his gaze swept across the few students who were barely standing.
His gaze suddenly changed with disdain as he looked at a standing student, "Four-eyes, contrary to your frame, you've got endurance, I'm almost tempted to let everyone continue running if only to test you limits, but I'm hungry, and I need to get laid."
Despite being dranched with sweat, Four-eyes was standing tall, but clearly exhausted.
He turned around while saying, "You can rest now, we'll continue once I'm done eating."
Chase hovered away, and disappeared into the plethora of buildings.
It was lunch time and students from other classes started pouring out, and going about their ways.
"You've got a pretty solid body." Atlas complimented, patting Asher on the back, they ran side by side.
"*Huff" Your one to talk, you don't even look tired." Asher whipped the sweat from his forehead, he couldn't help but frown when he looked at Atlas.
Despite his skeleton frame, his body was very capable. During the run, he didn't have trouble keeping up and even now he didn't look like he a broke a drop of sweat.
"Hey four-eyes! You need to learn to keep your mouth shut, we're suffering because of you." Suddenly, and angry youth shouted his complaints, while sitting down. His words garnering some cheers of agreement.
The target on four-eye's back was undoubtedly attracting some attention. Frustrations was undoubtedly a subtle component in many conflicts.
"Let the man be." Atlas suddenly spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention.
"What are you, his second boyfriend?" the boy retorted, while not everyone supported him, the few that did, emboldened him by laughing.
Atlas didn't respond and arrived in front of the boy. With a swift kick to the face, Atlas lifted the boy to his feet, before slapping him across the face.
" I must have misheard you, what did you just call me?" Barely an inch away from the boy's face, Atlas looked him dead in the eye and asked.
Everyone was shocked at his decisiveness.
Unsupervised fights weren't tolerated in elite schools, expecially a prestigious academy such as this one. If found, expulsion followed by a heavy fin was normal.
Feeling the pairs of eyes on him, the youth was enraged and had the urge to fight back.
But his anger was dominated by a strong emotion that caused his heart to beat rapidly, while his palms became sweaty.
There was something about the pair of eyes in front of him.Brown, neither sharp nor intense, that detered any thought of fighting from even appearing in his mind.
His instincts told him that, if even he sneezed incorrectly, he might wake up in the hospital.
Ultimately, the youth lowered his gaze.
"That's what I thought" Atlas turned around and looked at everyone else.
"Ya'll ain't idiots, you know that Chase is just using four-eyes as an excuse, so lay of him." He glenced at the youth behind him, then at the others who supported him earlier.
They lowered their heads as well.
His gaze suddenly became intense as he increased his voice, "If you disagree, step forward and I'll dish-out some free dental work."
!!!
Despite the many people who supported the youth earlier, not a soul or the wind dared to disagree with him. Clearly no one wanted free dental work.
"Don't know how long it'll take this man Chase to eat, Probably 30 minutes. So I'll advice yall to quickly chow and rest. This man's got authority so there's no telling what he'll do next." Atlas's words snapped everyone back to their senses.