The next day came quickly. I woke up a few minutes before my alarm clock. I got up and made breakfast.

"Sunny, it's time to get up." - I said to my familiar.

Sunny squeaked and hid under the blanket. So I concentrated on preparing breakfast and put her bowl away from the bed.

Sunny reluctantly got out from under the blanket and went to eat breakfast. After that, I took my things and Sunny took her place on my shoulders. Thanks to Lily, I have supplies for my familiar for the entire training period.

Almost everyone was already on the training ground.

A few days ago it turned out that not only I from Aria's charges got a training offer in another world. I liked it, I won't feel uncomfortable.

They were the best two of the oldest group. Exceed with pure white fur with the powers of the wind - Kazo. And an Exceed/Elf mix - Hirt. He had slightly smaller and more slender ears, a lighter build, and deep green fur with black spots. Of course, he specialized in plant magic.

We high-fived each other and waited for our coach.

"The whole planet is covered with dense forests and jungles... It's going to be nice." - Hirt said very excited.

"You can't fly freely among the trees..." - Kazo commented.

Soon our teacher showed up.

"Are you ready?" - he asked and he counted everyone.

"Yessss!" - we replied loudly.

And at that moment, a portal appeared in front of us. We all moved to the other side. The first thing I felt was very warm and humid air, the smell of flowers also turned out to be intense. This world is called All-Mighty-Jungle. This place is huge planet and it is covered only in jungles. There aren't even oceans here.

"Follow me." - our trainer said.

We followed him right away. I looked around, we are in a large fenced area. The trees in this place are at least 150 meters high... There were also various strange singing sounds. Local animals?

Sunny was squealing excitedly and looking around the place. I gave her a few strokes.

"And what do you think about this place?" - I asked her.

"Cool! Lots of food and friends!" - she replied to me.

"Friends? Animals here?"

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"Yess! Lots of friends." - happy squeak again and she rubbed her head against my cheek.

"Not every animal is going to be friendly..." - I said worried about her overly optimistic attitude.

"Not friendly are food!" - she said as if it was obvious.

"Oh... Okay... But remember... We don't hunt wild animals. We can just buy food and we are safe here." - I explained to her.

After a while, we reached the building where we will sleep.

It is true that thanks to portals we can freely travel between portals, but some portals are difficult and the purpose of this training is to get used to difficult conditions.

Everyone had their separate room. I unpacked my things.

Sunny leaned against the windowsill and watched the view from the window.

"I want a walk!" - she said to me, tilting her head back and looking at me upside down..

"No, we can't go right now... And I need to ask where it is allowed to go. This place is dangerous. We have our first training in 10 minutes. I'll see what can be done after that." - I promised to her.

When it was time, I took her in my arms and went to the training ground, which was right next to the building.

Mr. Azar waited for us next to the entrance to the obstacle course. Sunny was given moving targets to shoot at as she was unable to run.

"You have three hours to complete this obstacle course. Every minute you're late will be penalized with 10 push-ups in your free time." - he informed us.

It sounded... terrible. 3 hours? 10 push-ups for every minute of delay? It looked like the beginning would be hard and we're supposed to spend 2 weeks here.

He didn't give us much time to think and when he gave the signal to start we all started. I felt that the warm humid air was a very big impediment.

The obstacles were also very difficult and required sudden turns, jumps, bending, and squeezing... Plants also attacked me regularly. The training ground was spell-secured, but the pain and discomfort were real.

There were also a few obstacles that I overcame with difficulty due to the lack of wings, but thanks to the vegetation that was around on the sides of the track, I was able to pass them without feeling pain.

Unfortunately, that's also why I was slower than the others, but I didn't give up.

I did the whole track in 3 hours and 17 minutes... Damn, 17 minutes means 170 push-ups. However, I wasn't the only one who had to do push-ups... My friends had 60 push-ups to do, and several other Exceeds were a few minutes late... I didn't do too badly.

"Sorry, rules are rules... 170 push-ups... And at 15 another training." - he said to me and I nodded.

I fully understood that, there was no more lenient treatment. That wasn't the point. I wanted to be like the others. I dreamed about it more and more. This society was just great, I wanted to belong to it.

I didn't know when my attitude changed like that, but that's exactly how I felt. I was drenched in sweat and exhausted, but I didn't give myself much time to rest and started doing my exercises.

After a quarter of an hour, I was barely alive and gasping for breath, but it was done! I laid down on my back to rest. And all of a sudden I was overwhelmed by a rather heavy weight.

"Sunny..." - sometimes she have no mercy.

I got a few licks from her and she didn't seem to want to get off me. After half an hour I regained enough strength to be able to stand up.

I took Sunny and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. There were two bathrooms here. One for women, the other for men. Some of them sat under the cool stream of water for a long time and rested.

I washed up properly and joined them.

"Hey... In fact, what's it like to not have fur?" - one of them asked me finally.

"Bald." - I laughed and they too.

"I think I'd freeze without fur." - Kazo.

After a dozen or so minutes I felt much better and I dried myself off and got dressed. Sunny reluctantly walked out of the bathroom. I saw that she was looking at the fruit-scented liquid soap with distrust while enjoying a bath.

I prepared a meal for us in the room, we had still 4 hours of free time. I decided that the first walk will be around our training facility. We don't have to go outside the fence...