"Why do we have to run every time, haah." (J)
After running through the obstacle course that was filled to the brim with barbed wire, bumps and cavities, the trainees had a short break before continuing with exercises.
"It's because the environment in the Gates is not human-friendly. This much is tame, even. Also running is best way to improve your stamina. No matter how strong you are, if you can't maintain peak performance for a prolonged period, your survival will be hard." (T)
"You know quite a bit about these things, don't you? What do you say to becoming vice leader?" (K)
"I second that, not that our leader talks much anyway." (Sean)
"..." (L)
"Was that a confirmation silence or ridiculing silence? You never know these days." (J)
"I think she meant that she too is approving this arrangement." (S)
"Wait, how did you get this much from just three dots? Is it a separate language for girls? Can you teach me?" (J)
"Wasn't it obvious? She slightly nodded after you mentioned her." (S)
"Riiight. We totally noticed that." (J)
"Looks like our rest time is over." (K)
"As long as it's not running, I can do anything."
(K)
"If it was about running, they wouldn't have brought truck tires right? Since the obstacle course already had normal tires." (Sean)
The truck tires Sean mentioned were for trucks that would carry an Abominations corpse, some of them could get real big due to mutation or their type in general. Most of the aquatic Abominations were bigger than a four story house, there was even an Abomination that was larger than aircraft carrier by at least two times. It was named Jörmungandr, The World Serpent. Although it had a ferocious name it wasn't aggressive unless provoked first, and it's territory provided safe transportation in the oceans. One of the reasons why a 5th Rank Abomination like it was left alone.
They soon started the exercises. Be it carrying huge tires, doing push-ups, or lifting weights. It continued on till it was dinner time. Dinner was much to same as breakfast, only good for its nutritional value. After dinner was the theoretical lessons, and the first topic was Engraving and it's effects.
"- thus it's possible for Engravings to afffect your evolutions. The type, grade and the Abomination's evolution are all factors that affects your Evolution. Now let's talk about how you engrave. There exists six cavities in the human body, think of these cavities as underdeveloped organs due to lack of Ether on Jer. You take a Core of an Abomination, which forms in a similar place to cavities that exist our body, and through manipulating the Ether and infusing it with your own, you place it in the cavities. It's both a physical and metaphysical process, and since not everyone has the best control on Ether, the fatality rate was high. Then through research, it was concluded that starting from the chest cavity has the minimal fatality rate and thus is the safest start. You will also start with the chest. Starting from other cavities is prohibited since it may end with your death. Don't worry, this only applies for your first few Engravings, as the order of Engraving also affects your Evolutions."
The Officer went on with info dumping on how to extract cores and how to determine what grade a Core it is.
"A Core's grade is the same as the Abomination's, much contrary to what we humans tend to do. Most of the Abominations' grade can simply be determined by their irises, but there have been cases where the colour of the iris and Core do not match, mostly seen with Aberrations. Aberrations in general happen because of a mutation during the Abominations' Evolution to a higher Rank or Ascension to a higher Grade. These mutations allow Abominations to go past their Ranks' limit, which is having higher grades then they should have."
After a long hour and a half of learning about Engravings; it was now the free time, a two hour period where trainees could do everything they wanted within regulations. Most chose to practice with their weapons and team, but group A-2 had different ideas.
"Are you sure we should do this? I mean everyone else except us is practicing their combat, shouldn't we too?" (J)
"No, trust me on this one," said Tyson. "We should start with Ether control right away."
"I'm sure we will have lessons about that, what is the hurry?" (Sean)
"It will be too late by then, we should start with it as soon as possible. If we want to have a higher chance of infusing higher grade cores, it is best we start right now."
"Wait, what do you mean by higher chance." (K)
"Why do you think it's so rare to for people raise their aptitudes when the way of doing so is public knowledge? Why is it best to use cores of Abominations that you killed? It's all because of the Abominations' wills still remains in the Core even after their death. Abominations you personally killed is easier to infuse by yourself, even though it still gets harder with every grade."
"Then why not just buy those with cleansed wills, isn't it also possible with those?" (J)
"Don't tell me you buy that crap. It's a scam to rob people out of their money, why do you think I'm here instead of having my family buy those?" (T)
"The thrill?" (J)
"I'm not joking here. Cleansing a will requires someone at least two ranks above the Abomination's Rank. Not only it is not sustainable, it also ruins your future!"
"What do you mean by that?" Samantha asked, clearly agitated. It was because her family was thinking of buying such cores after they learned she was a Red. "How does it ruin our future?"
"Because a beasts will is also important for the quality of your Evolution. Infusion does not cleanse the will inside a Core, it only subdues it. There were once an experiment: they gathered bunch of Reds and had half of them kill an Abomination known as Direwolf, they used same Core six times to guarantee a full transformation type Evolution, but the other half had their cores cleansed by Evolvers of third rank. After everyone engraved all six cores and then reached the First Evolution, they compared the results. It was mind-blowing. Those who had the will cleansed had all shorter time for transformation, lower strength, speed and endurence. It's not just that, but they also continued with this until Third Evolution. Only that those who had the wills cleansed had difficulties reaching Second Evolution, and no one reached Third." (T)
Sudden revelation turned the athmosphere solemn. Everyone here thought at least once that they could use their merits or later with savings from their salary to buy Cleansed Cores. Now they learned that such a thing would leave them to mediocrity for the rest of their lives.
"How do we improve our Ether control?" (Sean)
"First we have to sense it. Get into a lotus position and take deep breaths." (T)
"So we meditate? Is it like yoga?" (J) Ignoring Jayden, Tyson continued.
"And breathe it out slowly, like this; 'Inhaaale', 'eexxhhaaaaaalllleeee'. After you sense the Ether around and in you, try to twist them and form strings."
Everyone sat down on their beds and started meditating. Sounds of breathing could be heard throughout the room. In such an environment, everyone was left with their thoughts. Especially Sean; one could hear the gears turning when they got near him.
'So that's the truth behind cleansed cores, but why the guilds or government put an end to it if it's a scam?' Then it dawned on him. 'No way, they can't be doing these to keep the status quo, right? They could've conquered the Gates with better Evolvers if they had done so! Maybe Incursions wouldn't have happened then, so many deaths could have been prevented!'
Sean calmed himself with deeper breaths. It was not to time to think about these things. He would naturally discover what the people in power kept hidden if he got stronger, so he would do just that. He focused on the environment, trying to feel the mysterious energy called Ether. Group A-2 was no where to seen that night, and the following ones. The word was that Group A-2 was where the all lazy people have gathered, as no one saw them during free time.
Sean got up and stretched, sitting in one position for too long was not good. He was also sleepy, like the rest. The first day had no good results, but they had time. Before they were sent to the Arctic front they had to get better at controlling Ether, which was six months of time. They get up to change into sleepwear to finally sleep, but when they returned, what they saw almost made Sean facepalm.
Jayden was sleeping in a lotus position...