"Uh, yeah, If I had to pick...." The girl named Maria thought for a moment, caught off guard by the sudden question.
Steve's eyes glinted when he saw her take some time to think.
'What is up with this guy and favorite foods man...' Clay was dumbfounded at how quickly Steve shifted the topic to favorite foods.
'Whatever, I'll wait for the others.'
Clay let the two talk it out, Maria sometimes laughing at the jokes Steve would drop.
She would also sometimes over exaggerate her giggles, making Clay cringe inside.
While the other two were talking, Clay on the other hand was side-eyeing Maria, wondering why she had to force her laugh that much.
Before long, Josh arrived at their table, with Khael in tow, prompting the other three to turn to the new arrivals.
"Yo, sorry we took so long." Josh waved towards Clay.
"It's alright, we didn't have to wait long." Steve said as he made some space for the others to sit.
Josh turned towards Maria.
"So... Is she your girlfriend?"
"W-what, n-no—I'm n-not!" Maria sputtered out, almost screaming.
Realizing her voice was a little loud, Maria covered her mouth with her hands.
"Oh, really.... alright..." Josh squinted his eyes at Maria.
Realizing that she might have caused a misunderstanding due to how she acted, Maria could only cover her face i embarrassment.
"We just met, right before you guys came. Some guys were bothering her so I stepped in for her." Steve explained clearly, much to Maria's relief.
"Sure, anyways, we're gonna grab some food now, you guys have eaten already right?" Josh changed the topic.
"Oh that reminds me, I still haven't eaten yet as well, I'll come with." Steve remembered he still hasn't eaten.
"Uhm, I've already eaten, so.... I'll take my leave now." Maria said.
"Alright, see you around." Steve and the others bid farewell.
Seeing that Maria was probably out of earshot, Khael nudged Steve teasingly.
"Only your second day at the academy and you're already talking to girls." Khael joked.
"Oh please, it's not what you think." Steve rolled his eyes.
The rest of their breakfast went by without a hitch.
The group were heading back to their dorms when they noticed that a crowd had gathered in front of them.
They all looked at each other in confusion, wondering what this was all about.
"All first year students, gather around, we will begin our first activity shortly. If you notice your dorm-mates are not around, please do call them here as well."
Although Clay could not see the person who announced that due to the crowd, he heard the voice loud and clear.
'I wonder what the activity would be, back at the village, the secretary mentioned that the academy would test us again, could the activity be that?' Clay pondered.
A few minutes passed as everyone waited for the other students to gather.
"Alright, everyone make four lines and follow us to the training grounds." Charlot stood on a platform, grabbing everyone's attention.
The group of students lined up obediently and quickly followed Charlot and the other instructors to the training grounds.
"Wow, this whole place is even bigger than our village." Josh marveled at the sheer size of the training grounds within the academy.
There were other various facilities within the training grounds, in the middle was where people could spar and test their abilities, and on the left and right side were dummies that they could practice on.
Meanwhile, the group gathered in front of the instructors.
And behind the instructors were different items and objects.
"For this activity, we will be assessing your abilities and raw stats through the objects behind us." Charlot explained.
"Do your best, we have great expectations for everyone, good luck." Rafael adjusted his glasses.
"The first test is the power test, just hit this stone with all you got." Tom patted the huge black stone beside him that was twice his size.
"Who wants to give it a try? Any volunteers? Don't be shy now." Tom grinned.
"I'll tell you what, anyone who can break this stone gets an extra whopping ten thousand credits from me."
Hearing this, someone stepped up, albeit with some slight hesitation.
Standing in front of the stone and Tom was a young man with navy blue hair.
"That's the spirit, what's your name kid?" Tom approved the young man's confidence.
"Xavier, sir." The boy named Xavier replied.
"Alright, Xavier. Just give this big ol' stone a punch and ten thousand credits might just be yours."
The other instructors gave Tom weird looks.
"He's up to it again. He keeps doing this to the first years." Charot shook her head at Tom and his antics.
The stone was created to measure the strength stat, of course it would be difficult—if not, impossible for people to break it.
Furrowing his brows, Xavier took a stance and prepared to punch.
Thump
"Argh!" Xavier yelped as he clutched his swollen hand in pain.
The stone glowed deep red for a moment, before returning to its previous state just as quickly.
"Somewhere around the 50 range, pretty decent." Tom nodded at Xavier who was still clutching his bruised hand.
"Alright, who wants to give it a try next?"
Some people who were originally confident, hesitated after seeing Xaviers pained face.
A few others though, stepped up and approached the stone.
They all gave the stone a shot, each receiving different results.
Clay and the others observed the stone and the results it gave for each person.
"From what I've seen, dark blue is the lowest, somewhere around the 10 range in stats, purple comes after at around 25, and somewhere at 50 for deep red which is currently the highest." Khael rubbed his chin.
"Wait, look, it's a new color!" Steve pointed.
The stone this time glowed a shade of brown.
"Someone in the 100 range? Kid, whats your name?" Tom raised his eyebrows in pleasant surprise at the young girl who stood in front of the stone.
"Galemit Skye Wynstria." The girl gave a small bow.
"Galemit, a nice name. Alright, next."
The people who tried after Galemit couldn't beat her record
And with the number of people in the line decreasing with time, it didn't take long before it was Josh's turn.