A/N: SORRY FOR NO UPLOADS THE PAST TWO DAYS, I'M HAVING EXAMS NEXT WEEK, SO I HAD TO BRING OUT THOSE BOOK THAT WERE COLLECTING DUST SOMEWHERE.
ANYWAY UPDATES MIGHT BE A BIT BUMPY FROM TOMMOROW. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME, AND DONT FORGET THE MOTIVATIONS.
ALSO YOU GUYS ARE NOT LEAVING ANY COMMENTS OR REVIEWS, ITS ONLY THROUGH THEM THAT I WOULD KNOW IF I WAS DOING SOMETHING WRONG.
PLEASE COMMENT EVEN IF ITS CRITICS 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏.
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The moment I heard the shrill alarm, I immediately jumped out of bed. I quickly wore my tracksuit and jumped off of my balcony, and once I was close to the ground, I activated my null field on myself, slowing my descent just enough for me to not break anything.
The moment my feet touched the ground, I bolted for the portal station amongst other cadets. I wasn't the only one; all of the first-year cadets were also scrambling toward the portal station. Today, the portal station wasn't even open. Instead, there was a massive portal, bigger than normal, probably to enable more cadets to pass through at the same time.
Numerous cadets were already going into it in droves, and I thought I would be amongst the first to get here. As I stepped through the portal, the same feeling as if my insides were being wrung out enveloped me. A second later, I arrived on the other side.
The first thing I saw was cadets facing the portal, already in line, arranged like soldiers. But that was the plan; I joined the line and stood still. Cadets were continuing to arrive in droves and joining the arrangement. It took me approximately fifteen seconds to get here, and the cadets were given 60 seconds to get here.
The moment it was 5:01 am, the portal dimmed.
An instructor stepped forward. "Of course it would be him," I scoffed inwardly. "Attention, cadets," Instructor Blake bellowed. "From today henceforth, this will be your new routine every single day."
"Take a look," another instructor I didn't recognize displayed a holographic terrain—or rather, terrains. "This right here," he said, pointing at a barren wasteland, "is where we are right now." "You'll start from here, going through the red forest," he pointed at a reddish terrain, "go over the mountain valley," he gestured to the terrain with mountains, "and last but not least, pass through the frigid river, and arrive back here," he traced.
The conclusion was a massive circle: we would just be going in a circle through all those terrains to arrive back here.
"Heh, it'll be extremely easy!" scoffed a cadet.
"Wanna bet? I'll complete it in 10 minutes!" said another.
I thought the same, but then I saw something: Instructor Blake suddenly grinned. My instincts told me something was wrong.
And right on cue, "You are going to do it without your bloodlines," the other instructor said. The atmosphere stilled; silence ensued before it was broken by the protests of the cadets.
"What! It's not possible—how do you expect us to go through that without our bloodlines?" asked a cadet who was supported by other voices.
The instructor ignored them and picked up a bunch of bloodline suppressors. He gestured to the other staff members to begin distributing the suppressors. In five minutes or so, everyone had a suppressor. The moment I put on the suppressor, the same feeling of not being able to access my essence came over me. I felt weaker, and for some reason, incomplete.
"You have exactly three hours to arrive back here, and the three hours started the moment you left your dorm room," Instructor Blake announced. "So if I were you, I would start moving right now. If you aren't back here when the time clocks 8 am, trust me, you wouldn't want to know what will happen."
The moment his words sank in, the cadets began running with all their might toward the barely visible red forest. "Fools," I muttered. They would waste their energy early on and then succumb to exhaustion toward the end of the run.
The run wasn't just about reaching here first; it was most likely about endurance and conditioning of the body. So pacing oneself would work better than going full gear at the beginning. But even still, one could not pace too much since there's a time limit—they'll have to reach a point where they abandon everything and go at full power.
It was on Friday—that is, three days ago—that Instructor Cornwell briefed us about this.
Three days ago,
"As from next week, your entire schedule would change: you would no longer be having three classes a day, but one instead," Instructor Cornwell suddenly announced. "The class will start at 9 am and end at 1 pm."
The cadets were about to rejoice when the instructor's voice interrupted, "Do not rejoice yet; you have no idea what is waiting for you. Your schedule would be changing because you'll now be having a training session from 5 am to 8 am."
"Oh, come on!!" Owen exclaimed, as did the other cadets who groaned. As for Tokito and me, who were sitting beside him at the back of the class, we tactically moved away from him.
"Enough!" the instructor shouted. "Disrupt my class again, and I'll send you out," she pointed at Owen.
"Now, as I was saying," she continued, "the moment you hear an alarm by 5 am, you are to immediately leave whatever you're doing and head to the portal station. There will be an already prepared portal waiting for you. You must pass through that portal within sixty seconds of the alarm sounding; if not, you will have yourself to blame," she explained with extreme solemnity. "And also, I'll forward your new schedule to your bracelets."
As I ran toward the red forest, the only thought in my mind was, What the hell happened to those who did not pass through the portal within those sixty seconds? I shook my head and decided to focus on what I was doing. Right now, I could see I was among the last of the cadets; I was literally at the back, but I knew I would eventually surpass the fools who rushed forward with all their might. Besides, it wasn't a competition, but a race against time.
By the time I reached the red forest, fifteen minutes had already passed, and damn—I had to admit the forest really was thorny; it should be called the Thorn Forest instead. I hadn't even spent an entire minute in the forest, and I already had scratches all over my hands and face.
"Fuck, what the hell is this?!" I could hear a cadet cursing.
"It got in my eye—it got in my eye!!" another cadet screamed. The second one almost made me burst out in laughter, something I thought was hard for me. I wasn't a sadist or anything, but the guy was literally rolling on the ground.
I was also getting my fair share of injuries, but I made sure to shield my eyes. There wasn't a particular path in the red forest, so the cadets had to pass between the red thorn trees, which for some reason stirred a bad memory of mine. "Yeah, curse that bitch," I muttered.
More or less, it took me almost an hour before I was able to get out of the forest. And before me was a mountain hundreds of meters tall, with cadets climbing on it. "The academy and their bad sense of naming—I don't see no valley here," I muttered, sizing up the mountain.
I made my way toward it to start climbing, when I heard a startled cry. I looked up to see a cadet plummeting from tens of meters; if he hit the ground with his bloodline suppressed, he might not die, but he'd be in for a world of pain.
I instinctively winced as he impacted the ground and let out a shrill cry of pain. He probably broke more than a few bones.
I continued to the mountain and finally started climbing. The first rock protrusion I held suddenly dislodged as easily as a piece of fruit from a tree. "The fuck," I muttered. Some of these things are traps, my eyes widened in realization. Still, I couldn't stop, could I? I continued climbing, but made sure to test every crimp, edge, and foothold, and also followed where other cadets had climbed. Every now and then, a cadet would slip off and fall toward the ground in hysteria.
I could tell that no one had scaled the mountain yet. Why? Because I could still see Aurora De Silva above everyone but ultimately still climbing, and a bunch of other top rankers. Though no one was a close second, then after her were Damien and Ashley.
Time went on, and it wasn't until around the one hour fifty minutes mark that I got to the top of the mountain. After a ten-minute rest at the top, I started climbing down. Climbing down was riskier but also easier, since the mountain on this side was less slopy; almost thirty minutes later, I got down the mountain on the other side.
After that, the further I went, the colder it became, until I came across a river. It had some parts frozen, which was enough for one to realize how cold it could be. Some cadets were simply waiting in front of the river, unable to enter.
Before I entered the river, I decided to test a little something—I dipped my hand a little to come to terms with the degree. It was at least below zero; how it's not entirely frozen was beyond me. It's probably not normal water.
With a resigned sigh, I jumped into the river. I was sure my entire body would be numb after this. I subtly hissed as the cold water kissed my skin. The river wasn't that long, but it's the current that is strong, and it's pushing from the direction the cadets are supposed to head.
In twenty minutes, I eventually broke free from the river and ran among other cadets who had also finished with the river, like my life depended on it. Soon, I started to see the barren field and maybe a little over five hundred cadets already there. But like I said, it wasn't a competition, but a race against time. I finally reached the finish line in three minutes—and in the two hours and forty-three minutes mark.