Chapter 13: Agility Training

Chapter 13: Agility Training

When they got to the gym, the attendant issued Karl a workout uniform consisting of sneakers, shorts and a shirt in the Academy's white and gold colour scheme, and sent him to the locker rooms to shower and change.

That was their policy, shower before and after using the equipment. Apparently, new students didn't wash enough on their own, and they needed to shower when they arrived. Or perhaps, like he was that day, they were expected to be sweaty already.

It didn't take long to get ready, but Sergeant Rita was already there, changed into a black tank top and a different pair of green cargo pants with clean boots. Did they think that she might be mistaken as a student if she didn't wear green? Or perhaps it was a military rule.

Karl had heard that the elite soldiers weren't officially military, but their own branch of the government. However, they didn't come to the mines, there was no reason for them to be there, so he had never actually seen one before the injection day.

The agility type warriors, as Sergeant Rita called this class, turned out to be almost entirely female. That made Karl wonder deeply about what sort of bias the mana injection had for the skills that it awakened in people, or what that said about his current physique.

He might not be the most macho man ever, but being subtly told that you currently have the physique of a fourteen-year-old girl was hard on the ego.

Then he looked through the glass wall and saw the strength type warriors from the senior classes training, and the class was full of musclebound meatheads with arms the size of his torso.

Maybe he was in the right place.

"Alright, first up, upper body strength. That skill of yours puts a lot of resistance on your body, and you need to be able to power through it, but without building up so much bulk that you can't evade anymore." Rita began.

What followed was two hours in hell. By the time that Karl limped back to the showers, he was sweaty, exhausted and ready to fall asleep right where he was. He was about to collapse when Hawk pushed a piece of cold roast chicken out of the space for him to eat as a form of emergency energy, or a survival ration, Windspeed Hawk style.

A very deeply missed survival ration, even though the bird still had a quarter of a roast chicken and plenty of raw meat left.

Once he was changed, Karl made his way back to the dorms for the afternoon, and straight to the cafeteria for some much-needed sugar and caffeine. If this was going to be the daily routine, he was going to have to start eating much heavier meals than usual.

Somehow, despite feeling like death, he still managed to look like he was in better shape than the next few groups to arrive. They were holding each other upright, and mostly bruised, cut, scorched or dripping with some sort of mystery liquid.

"What happened to you?" Karl asked the mage sitting at the next table, startling him so much he almost fell out of his chair.

Karl took a quick shower and changed into his uniform before the Sergeant was at his door, impatiently knocking and holding a breakfast try in her other hand.

"You're running late, so I brought food. Let's go to the gazebo so you can eat while you study." She instructed.

Once they sat down, Sergeant Rita took out a small stone, and set it on the table.

"What do you think of this?" She asked.

Karl looked it over. It wasn't an egg, it was just a rock of some sort. He even poked it, first with the handle of his spoon, and then with his finger. No response.

"It's definitely a rock." He replied.

"Interesting. So the psychic stone has no response to you, but you can communicate with your bird." Rita noted.

"Now, try this one."

Again, Karl put his hand on the stone, tried to make it do something, but it was just a rock.

Then another, and another. But when she put a small golden coin on the table, an ancient monetary instrument from the Golden Dragon Nation they lived in, Karl immediately felt an affinity for the object, and when he touched the dragon on the coin, a sense of power filled him.

"So, that's the answer. That coin was blessed at the Dragon God Shrine during the last Dragon Festival. It appears that your powers resonate with the dragon energy. Since that's the case, I want to try something else."

Rita took out a small vial filled with shimmering red liquid.

[Oh, I want it. Ask the evil lady to give me that.] Hawk demanded.

[You should be glad that she can't hear you.]