Ivan's eyes flipped wide open the instant his consciousness woke up a bit and he threw a quick look toward the wall clock in his room.
It was exactly four in the morning!
Ivan did not have the chance to enjoy the feeling of waking up in a comfortable bed nor grumpy about waking up so early as he sprang up from his bed and hastily took out his trainee uniform, sliding the pants on his waist and quickly putting on the gray T-shirt, he held the top of the tracksuit as he dashed out of the room.
The instant Ivan got out of the room, he noticed a lot of other trainees also making their way toward the entrance of the dormitory. He spotted Glen running over from behind and he began to run too.
'Being late on the first day of training, such luck!'
Ivan thought to himself as he ran, he had almost overslept due to how warm it was under his blanket; good thing he still managed to wake up on time.
They arrived at Ralph's door and took a second of their time to knock on it, Ralph quickly came out and he was already dressed up.
"What were you still doing in there since you woke up earlier?" Glen could not help but ask as the three of them headed out together.
Ralph stared at him with a poker face before saying calmly.
"Mental preparation"
Glen "..."
Mental what! Are you kidding me?
Glen immediately began to question Ralph nonstop but the latter simply ignored him.
They arrived at the field along with other trainees after a few minutes, they had run the whole time just to avoid arriving too late.
They discovered that several people had already arrived at the field for morning warm-ups.
There were over a hundred people in purple tracksuits standing like a small crowd but maintained an orderly line, ahead of them were two middle-aged men in the regular black uniform and white belt.
One of them had curly blond hair and a handsome face with a beard while the other had shoulder-length black hair with a menacing look.
They silently stood in front of the crowd of trainees and watched as more and more people arrived. After another five minutes of waiting the number of trainees had already exceeded five hundred; one had to know that even with this number, the field still had enough space to accommodate ten times the amount of people present
But it seemed like the men had had enough as the man with a menacing look raised his right hand immediately after the five-minute mark, the man with curly hair nodded softly before disappearing from where he was standing and appearing behind the group of trainees.
Thick red Nexus energy began to sip out from his body as his uniform fluttered as if he were in the middle of a storm.
Swoosh!!!
With a push of his hands, the Nexus energy around him surged forward before moving up like an upside-down waterfall. In less than five seconds, the man had built a tall wall of Nexus energy between the trainees who had arrived on time and the path that led to the lobby; by separating the field from it and preventing anyone who wasn't already inside from coming in.
A lot of trainees who arrived at this time saw the tall wall of Nexus energy and stared at it in confusion; they wondered what it was for; their answer came a while later after the menacing-looking man began to talk.
The man with curly hair had reappeared beside him before he started talking.
I welcome you all to the new session of training and I will be your instructor for the next six months as far as morning training is involved.
You can address me as Instructor Logan and my colleague here as Instructor Nathan, both of us will be in charge of your morning training until you successfully surpass your limits and leave as true prodigies of the Owen Tower.
Know this, every one of you is here because you are seen as geniuses and talented Nexulytes but talent alone will not be enough to reach greater heights. So for the next six months, we will make sure to push you to your limit and if possible…breaking point; both physically and mentally" Instructor Logan's voice was loud enough for everyone to hear, even those who were blocked out by instructor Nathan's wall of Nexus energy could hear him clearly. They all felt a rush of excitement and nervousness just from listening to his speech, the words filled them with so much adrenaline that they felt that they could soar at any moment.
But instructor Logan's next words filled the trainees who were outside the wall of Nexus energy with dread and they began to lament while some girls started crying right away.
"Now, we will start our traditional morning run. A ten-kilometer run. As for those who arrived late…you'll have to do it while wearing three times gravity bracelets, that's your punishment for being late"
Ivan immediately felt grateful that he had woken up on time, he didn't know how heavy three times gravity was but he did not wish to test it out.
After instructor Logan's words, instructor Nathan disappeared once more, he flashed constantly between the trainees outside the wall of Nexus energy. Whenever he appeared and disappeared near a group of trainees, they would realize that they now had a bracelet attached to their wrists and Instructor Nathan was already gone
This went on for twenty seconds and it was all it took for instructor Nathan to place a bracelet on the trainees who numbered up to six hundred.
After placing the bracelets, the Nexus wall slowly disappeared and the trainees were allowed to join the rest. Ivan could not help but notice that the movements of these people were heavy and strained, some of them were already gasping for air.
"Now we will add talent-blocking bracelets to those who arrived early, this will prevent those who already have some training with Nexus energy from using their talents or enhancing their bodies with Nexus energy, " instructor Logan said and Nathan flashed away once more.
Ivan felt something brush against his skin and saw that he already had a bracelet on his wrist.
He immediately felt…weaker. The feeling wasn't extreme but it was enough to tell that something had changed within him.
He hadn't noticed that he had gotten stronger after awakening because of how subtle the increase in strength had been along with the liquid in the pod helping him to adapt but now that he had his ability blocked, Ivan was able to tell that he wasn't the same as before.
After Nathan was done, he returned to Logan's side and the both of them rose into the air.
"Don't worry about getting lost, just keep going forward and you'll end up here. Just be sure to look out for traps, now go!" Instructor Logan said and a large number of trainees immediately set out, it was like a free-for-all marathon as they all sped off along the path that led into a forest.
"Traps?" Ivan muttered in confusion.
"Come on, let's go together," Glen said and pulled Ivan and Ralph along with him, they started running along the other trainees.
The field had a wide footpath that led into the forest that was behind the Tower, tall trees with thick branches and wide leaves were all one could see at a glance. The sun wasn't out yet as it was still very early in the morning, causing low visibility as they navigated through the forest path.
Just three minutes after they started running, a lot of people had already started panting and sweating heavily as they dragged their bodies to keep going forward; these people were those who had been given gravity bracelets.
While running, Ivan, Glen, and Ralph had maintained moderate speed which helped them to be among people at the front.
"Instructor Logan told us to look out for traps, so far, we haven't encountered anything yet" Ralph voiced out as they kept running, his voice had to t fade when a trainee who was a few meters in front of them suddenly got sent flying all the way back by a tree that had appeared out of nowhere.
The tree had a metal string attached to it which allowed it to swing back and forth, more of similar trees appeared and sent a few more trainees back to the field.