The man stopped right in front of me, looking down at me with his dirt brown, dull-looking eyes. I sighed and just sat there in silence.

"You think you're the best, don't ya?" the man asked with this already quite uneducated sounding tone in his voice.

I stayed silent.

"You think you're too good to answer me?"

The man got angrier and raised both his eyebrows. On his forehead, I could see a vein bulging and he tried to look taller than he was.

"I do," I answered, looking at him with the most deadpan expression I could make.

"You little shit! First, you can't even respect the grand sorceress and now you're respectless towards your elders as well!" the man yelled.

He looked around as if looking for support from the others but none dared to approach us. Some were even held back by others and I could quickly determine that those that didn't approach and held back others all had mana actively flowing through their body, meaning they did have their mana awakening. Which actually answered a question I asked myself. The question was whether or not beings without the ability to use mana could feel it. I knew that they could feel mana pressure and were affected by it but they apparently couldn't feel mana within others.

I smiled and stood up, towering above the man that had yelled at me. It felt good, seeing that people were cautious of me because of the amount of mana I had. I slowly leaned down and poked the man's chest with a finger.

"Fuck off," I said, already disinterested in the whole situation.

I knew exactly what would happen. He would get angry, believing himself better than me and then he would attack. I would easily defeat him and get yelled at by the instructor because I was bullying my fellow volunteers, then the instructor would target me with the hardest tasks while all the others got to rest or something.

"Who do you think you are!" the man yelled with widened eyes.

He had widened them so much that it looked like they would bulge out of his skull any second now. I sighed and pressed my finger even deeper into his chest. I felt his cheap leather chest piece give way and felt it fall apart a little.

"Fuck. Off," I said loudly.

There was certainly fear in his eyes but he still looked a little too confident.

This fucker is starting to make me angry!

'Don't use the Power of Wrath while someone from the church can see you! If they figure out that you're my host you can kiss your revenge bye-bye!' Ira said.

'Oh of course... then what? I have no clue how to release mana pressure without that shit,' I said, annoyed by the fact that I couldn't utilize my strongest power for the foreseeable future.

'Why? Isn't that something you learned?' Ira asked.

'Why do you think I only ever did it when I used the Power of Wrath?' I asked.

Ira sighed in my mind.

'Alright, alright... it's like... like when you're drawing in mana just... the opposite, you know?' Ira explained.

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'Oh right... because that's the way to teach someone...' I responded.

'Well I dunno, just try it,' Ira responded.

'Why can't you just give a better explanation?' I asked.

'Because I could just do it, now try or do something else,' Ira said.

At that moment I could imagine her sitting on that throne, in all her glory... pouting.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for just a second. I imagined mana flowing through my intake veins and going out of my body through my mana pores, without losing it... as if I was letting it out while keeping it on a leash. When I let out my breath I let out my mana with it, hoping it would work.

The screams that followed told me that at least something happened. I opened my eyes and saw the man in front of me laying on the ground, screaming while the other volunteers were all struggling to even stay on their knees. Almost immediately a few doors near the large gate opened and about twenty soldiers came flooding out, approaching me quickly. The closer they got the slower they became and some even fell to the ground. That continued until the gate swung open and a tall woman stepped out. She was dressed in a tight leather costume with shoulder and thigh pads, leather boots and metal gauntlets. I couldn't see any weapons on her but I could see a small humanoid sitting on her shoulder, grinning.

The creature had light grey, scale-like skin, deep black eyes, sharp teeth, wore nothing but a pair of pants, had claws on both its hands and feet and had its overly long tail wrapped around the woman's right arm.

"What's going on here?!" the woman yelled as she casually walked up to me, past the volunteers and soldiers who were all pressed to the ground.

"H-He... he su-suddenly a-att-attacked me..." the man in front of me said, struggling to even talk.

The woman raised one eyebrow. I completely ignored what he said and studied the woman. She didn't have any mana herself but the being on her shoulder had quite a lot. She had raven black hair, similar to Ira, although hers was only shoulder-length, dark blue eyes, wore black lipstick had pale skin and looked quite stern but still beautiful and young. She turned to me, her eyebrow still raised and didn't say a word.

"He annoyed me," I said, drawing back in all of my mana that I had let out, which felt different to the rest of the ambient mana.

My only mistake had been that I let out too much. If I had let out all my mana then Elsa, Rudolpho and Lestul might have come out as well.

"That seems to check out," the woman said.

In the corner of my eye, I could see everyone stand up.

"W-What? Y-You... you're just going to believe him?" the man, who was still on the ground, asked.

"I've read the report on you, you're a known troublemaker. On the other hand, this man has saved the daughter of one of our biggest sponsors who have now promised us more money after taking him in and he has also fought against Pergament, one of the biggest thorns on our side. Who do you think I'd believe more?" the woman, probably our instructor, asked the man who was now getting up.

Word sure travels fast... how does that family even know they took me in and when did Rudolpho write a report about me?

'I dunno, it wasn't while you were sleeping, that much I can say... maybe during those times when he left the group for some time to deal with some business?' Ira suggested.

'Well, who cares, as long as it gives me an advantage I won't complain,' I said.

The man-made a tch sound and walked away, earning himself a slap from one of the soldiers who were currently leaving.

"So, mister Obero- no, I'm sorry, you prefer to be called Altair, right?" the woman said.

I nodded.

"Alright, mister Altair. While I won't punish you this time please know that it is very dangerous to release so much mana pressure in this place, do you understand?" she asked.

I nodded again.

"Good, now fall in line with the others, the introductions will begin soon," she said as she turned around and walked off, back towards the gate.

I sighed and got in line with the other volunteers. There was some whispering but I ignored it all and just waited. Minutes later the woman came back out, following behind her were about twenty more people who also got in line with us. Two soldiers then came out of the gate, carrying a small wooden platform between them and closed the gate behind them. They put the platform down in front of us and then positioned themselves on both sides, their hands firmly pressed against the sides of their torsos and their legs as close together as possible.

The woman walked up to the platform and stepped on it, looking down even on me even though she was much smaller than me, everyone here was much smaller than me.

"Alright volunteers. My name is Laura Ernest, your instructor for the next couple of years. I will turn you thirty into the best damn soldiers you can be... if you survive," she said with a loud and commanding voice.