Survive The Week First

Whi-plash! "..." Heian Ciemnosc barely saw the incoming whip-tail when the Fire element splashed around his bare torso. It hit his lower left ribs, at his side, and left a fiery mark there. The instructor paused and gave Heian Ciemnosc a look before grinning and lashing out the remaining 9 strikes at his body. His upper thighs, waist, sides, ribs, and shoulders were struck one after the other as Heian Ciemnosc did nothing to retaliate. However, in his mind, he was grunting and glaring at the instructor.

'What a good Blooming realm limited cultivation base,' Heian Ciemnosc thought. And while she did give off auras only a Blossoming realm cultivator would give, he could feel the fluctuations of a higher realm. This was none other than a might equal to the Heaven-Breaking ream, which Heian Ciemnosc could read was at least in the 3rd stage, causing him pain and some mild injuries here and there on his body.

It also seemed like Heian Ciemnosc was the only one to notice, as the new recruits still thought he was only facing the instructor when she was limiting her cultivation base a whole Step below her actual level. The instructors were indifferent to their colleague's antics, but some new recruits did seem to feel something off. However, who were they to stop the good-looking, pervertedly handsome from getting punished for no reason?

Heian Ciemnosc endured those 10 strikes like a champ, allowing his body to gain a few marks, like tattoos that went beneath his skin and marked his muscles, flesh, and even bones a little. When it was finished, the instructor stopped and walked over to Heian Ciemnosc, moving around him to inspect his body, becoming intrigued when she saw his pale skin awfully slowly regenerating and forming again to hide the Fire elemental particles embedded into it.

The Neutral Energy was still wreaking havoc in those injuries without spreading elsewhere. The instructor's underhanded methods were unnecessary, but she wasn't going overboard to inflict more than painful injuries in Heian Ciemnosc's body, at the very least. After examining his body, she stood before him again and said with a nod, and as her Demon tail's tip exuded Water energy that only Heian Ciemnosc, the other instructors, and a few new recruits could sense.

"Not bad, Heian Ciemnosc," the instructor began. "I can feel your body is indeed tougher than normal. No wonder your body can withstand strikes definitely above your cultivation base. This was just the beginning, though. Are you ready?"

"..." This time, Heian Ciemnosc didn't try saying something. Instead, he lowered his stance for a millisecond before standing straight up again. The instructor smiled and snortled playfully at his actions before placing her body before him, slightly tilted and rotated to her left so she could have a better time hitting him with her Demon tail as its tip glowed with a pristine, starry azure.

Whiii-plash! Plash! Plash! Plash! Plash!...

The instructor went all-out, still with a hidden limitation of her cultivation base at the Heaven-Breaking realm 3rd stage, aiming at Heian Ciemnosc's front and upper shoulders, nearly at his back. Heian Ciemnosc also felt his feet's instep targeted and some stabbing sensations near his entrails and pelvis. He didn't notice how well the instructor managed to do all these rapidly but without too much speed.

Just as Heian Ciemnosc was falling into a learning state and his darkest eyes were clouding a little, as from the outside of his mind, the instructor finished hitting him and shouted with Neutral Energy added to her notion, "Pay attention!"

"...!" Heian Ciemnosc woke up and looked at the instructor, who remained standing before him now, with her tail slowly fluctuating up and down on her right. Meanwhile, the new recruits felt their skin numb at the treat Heian Ciemnosc was enduring, not knowing the only thing bothering him was the wisp of the instructor's Neutral Energy stabbing his flesh and veins. Heian Ciemnosc kept his stance and waited for the instructor's movements or dictations.

"Hmph, you're good, alright." The instructor crossed her arms and tilted her head to the left before adding, "Even when your body is tough, there's a deep understanding of the four Elements within your body. Not just from what you can manipulate but what your body has become used to. How long have you trained under the thrashing of Elements?"

"..." Heian Ciemnosc politely grinned and shrugged his shoulders. What? Should he say he was born like this? He was already the Faction's #1 enemy. No need to fasten his way to death and humiliation, right?

"Hmhp," the instructor relaxed her arms as the other instructors looked at Heian Ciemnosc, and the new recruits looked at each other, thinking about what something like that could mean. Heian Ciemnosc prepared to get the following strikes. The instructor suddenly flashed a grin as her Demon tail's tip hosted a warm, light lime with a glow of murky green. Her eyes revealed a trace of interest, and the other instructors seemed intrigued to see what happened next.

Whii-plas! Plash! Plash! Plash!...

Heian Ciemnosc's body was struck again, 10 times in a row, and still looked majorly unharmed. This time, even though the hits were still all-out and similar to the previous 20 when the tail's tip touched Heian Ciemnosc, the power behind it tried crushing his body, nearly making him sidestep, backstep, and lose his balance. However, Heian Ciemnosc endured the sudden, heavy impact and maintained his balance each time.

"...!" After the instructor stopped her Demon tail once the 10th strike was finished, her face gradually changed expression. From the narrowed eyes, calm eyebrows, and closed mouth, her lips became slightly parted, her eyes widened tremblingly, and her eyebrows were inadvertently lifted. Heian Ciemnosc's darkest eyes blinked, remaining down for an extra second before opening again, showing no ripple across them.

"Impressive..." - "To think something like this could exist... heh heh!" - "Mm, damn! The things we can do with a subordinate like this..." - "Can we call dips on this one? I know there's no money in between yet, but..." - "Sure! Do you also want us to donate your body to the homeless after your head is cut off?" - "... I like my head where it belongs, thank you very much..."

The instructors revealed the thoughts of the instructor striking Heian Ciemnosc. The new recruits were already overwhelmed when they saw Heian Ciemnosc resist each strike from the heavier, louder, and bone-crushing sounds of his body being hit. But Heian Ciemnosc still remembered there were another 2 challenges he had to go through.

"Heian Ciemnosc, if we ever fight in a battle, and you're under me, I will make you fight terribly. What do you think?" The instructor's eyes were blazing as she looked at Heian Ciemnosc, and the latter grinned without saying anything. Seeing his reaction, the instructor smiled savagely, feeling reaaaally pleased with the young man's learning. She changed her posture and strangely lifted her right leg, folding her knee.

"Here I come," the instructor said. "Although I have comprehended the Four Primary, my favorite is still the Wind element. It goes well with my nature and my innate swiftness. Now, feel. Because you won't be able to observe."

Whi-PLASH!

As soon as the instructor finished speaking, Heian Ciemnosc didn't see, even though he at least tried, and immediately felt the former's cultivation base actually lower to the Blossoming realm before landing the first strike on him. The strikes this time were insanely rapid, as Heian Ciemnosc didn't even know when the sensation of being hit disappeared when another came and made his eyes widen.

Before he knew it, 5 new Wind-based strikes landed on his back, 2 on his thighs, 1 at his glabella, another at his neck's apple, and the last at his heart. Heian Ciemnosc's blood ran cold when he processed everything. The instructors' attention became more of a reaction, and they each reacted with smiles as they saw their colleague's exemplary behavior. On the other hand, the new recruits didn't realize until nearly 10 seconds after noticing the instructors' mood.

"Phew..." The instructor's pose had gone from her right leg slightly lifted to lowering her stance with her left leg extended to the side, her right knee bent as her head was at Heian Ciemnosc's pelvis level, and 1 meter before him with her arms spread like blades to the sides. Only then did Heian Ciemnosc realize this woman had moved everywhere around his body and that her Demon tail didn't just elongate as much as she wanted.

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His eyes widened as the instructor stood up ordinarily and aesthetically pulled her pants up while facing Heian Ciemnosc with a strangely contented expression. "You're something else, young man. Go ahead and receive your next challenge. Mn. Don't let me see you in close-quarters Elemental combat, or I'll find the worst opponents for you."

"On the contrary, I'll be glad to receive the instructor's guidance again." Heian Ciemnosc clasped his hands and courteously bowed towards her. Since the challenge and 'session' with this instructor had finished, he felt free to speak. The instructor looked at him, crossed her arms, and nodded after 2 seconds before turning around and walking to some of her pals to chat a little. Only when she turned did Heian Ciemnosc straighten his back, letting the new recruits learn a bit more of the expected behavior as a new recruit.

Of course, not everyone thought they were a Heian Ciemnosc, but it was nice knowing a few extra things. Just as they were becoming slightly more excited than they already were to start training, as it was still late in the morning, another instructor walked forward and stood before Heian Ciemnosc. This time, it was a man. He was shorter and less handsome than Heian Ciemnosc, of course. But with silvery, short hair.

This instructor was definitely charming and attractive, gaining a lot of attention as he stood before the semi-naked Heian Ciemnosc, who didn't bother picking his clothes back up. After the instructor scrutinized Heian Ciemnosc's body, sometimes looking like an 'interested' party, he finally spoke. "I'll throw you 3 different array formations' inscriptions. Do well and immediately complete them. They might be incomplete, but if you don't finish them, you can consider yourself a failure every time you attend a Craftsmaking lesson from then on."

"Understood," Heian Ciemnosc kept a straight face as he said. However, he was internally tensed-up when he heard the conditions and penalties for failing to impress the instructor. The latter was a mix of a Moon Elf and a Human and had a rough, hardened voice, only making him scary and more stupidly alluring for anyone interested.

"Here they go," the instructor revealed no expression as he saw Heian Ciemnosc's face and heard his words. He said directly before lifting his right arm. The instructor's index fingertip glowed with a mechanical bluish light, shooting into the air like smoke and forming 3 different shapeless, long tube-like bodies that rapidly transformed into array formations' inscriptions that broke apart and separated to create a half-done canvas, so to speak.

Heian Ciemnosc's darkest eyes became awfully concentrated as soon as these things came out of the instructor's array formations. As his mind worked the shit out of his dark Soul to experiment with so many scenarios of these little things and kept his Spirit Sense inside to not 'cheat' and realize this challenge without depending on such necessary and obvious tool for Craftsmaking to further impress the challenging instructor.

'This is the inscribing of array formations with just a thought! The Third Step... It doesn't even need one's Spirit Sense to create them when they have been inscribed by an expert so many times that not only their Souls but their physical bodies become used to them to the point they don't even need to think to employ them. Where just an instinctive action is enough... I will attain that state!' Heian Ciemnosc's mind rocketed.

The challenging instructor supported his left elbow with his right forearm and clasped his chin with his left hand. Although he frowned upon seeing Heian Ciemnosc's calm reaction to the array formation, his eyes shook when he saw Heian Ciemnosc only take 3 seconds before moving to the left and right incomplete array formations' inscriptions. Then, Heian Ciemnosc spent only 7 seconds completing them, elaborating only a few strokes to achieve success!

Pshift... pshift, pshift, pshift... Tshiing! Tshiiing! Thshing!

When Heian Ciemnosc's right pale hand moved to the incomplete array formation in the center, he took a few more seconds to complete it. However, he only spent a second before immediately completing it. This left the challenging instructor startled, but he didn't put any emphasis on Heian Ciemnosc's actions. When Heian Ciemnosc finished, the new recruits were astounded that he resolved it so rapidly and effortlessly.

Others thought they'd have taken at least a minute to decipher and several more minutes to find a way to complete them without destroying what the instructor had already inscribed. Otherwise, they might as well do the whole array formations themselves. But no, that was much easier and was why this challenging instructor made Heian Ciemnosc complete another's incomplete array formations.

"Nicely done," when Heian Ciemnosc completed the central incomplete array formation, the instructor said expressionlessly before stepping forward. He kept caressing his chin while asking Heian Ciemnosc, "Are you well-versed in creating spacecraft and any other warring tool?"

"Yes, sir," Heian Ciemnosc politely announced while putting his clothes back on. The challenging instructor didn't stop him, and the situation was getting weird because of his nakedness, so he dressed up. The instructor asked Heian Ciemnosc again, "Fighters? What about Frigates. Do you know how to do them all by yourself now?"

Heian Ciemnosc nodded at the mention of Fighters but kept a pensive face when the instructor asked him about Frigates. He was referring to spaceships, not warships, whose difference was ginormous. Because, more than anything, warships and armored vehicles don't use engines, so they are many times faster to build than any spacecraft. Only Fighters are simple to fabricate because of their smallish sizes, smaller than most armored vehicles in length.

"I only helped others build Frigates. My experience building them myself is too low, but I'm capable." Heian Ciemnosc said as the instructor nodded and turned around. Without saying anything, the challenging instructor left Heian Ciemnosc behind, letting another take his place to challenge the pale, pervertedly handsome fella everyone hates but is now becoming interested.

'Hmm.' On the other hand, Heian Ciemnosc grinned internally. The array formations the challenging instructor used were simple, basic ones. Not in general, as only those who have at least built Fighters or spacecraft for transportation knew, like the Synergized Equatrend Mobilizer in the middle, which Heian Ciemnosc learned during his time in the Academy and continued practicing in the Blauw Empire as an assigned supervisor. Heian Ciemnosc was used to it by now. Thus, when it appeared before Heian Ciemnosc, he had to limit his facial expressions.

Now that the second challenge was over, Heian Ciemnosc looked at the new recruits, who were now just stupefied, wanting to know what kind of bullshit would happen next. They weren't bored before, as joining the Crimsonbreaking Faction was a groundbreaking and mind-shattering achievement, but they could use a bit of entertainment like this. It just so happened that Heian Ciemnosc was 'willing' to be that person in this batch.

"Okay, let's wrap this up," the only old instructor in the room spoke. He walked from the side as the other instructors became quiet. Heian Ciemnosc looked at this instructor fearlessly. He was the calmest and the one to not actively look for messing with Heian Ciemnosc from the lot, very tall, and had a countenance where each wrinkle was like another heavy sensation and reason to respect him even further.

"Tell me, kid," the old instructor said, revealing his intentions to show his challenge. Despite this not being 'fun' for the other instructors, they didn't utter a thing and let the old man continue as a dressed Heian Ciemnosc faced the latter. The instructor's aged eyes looked down at Heian Ciemnosc, showcasing his Giant Race, and solemnly spoke with a casual twinge.

"If the Faction is in danger, perhaps of obliteration amidst the battle as the climax nears and our Carrier is, let's say, falling."

"The enemy is at the peak of the Third Step, and they are more than half unharmed, where you only have your Fighter at your disposal, with your teammates or not, and only have 15 minutes to respond to the situation. What would you do? Choose from these 2 options: wait for your death, or betray?"

"Never betray," Heian Ciemnosc calmly, softly, and quietly said as his darkest eyes were ultimately cold, serene, and to-die-for adorable. His few words were spoken slowly, and looking straight up at the instructor. The other instructors looked at Heian Ciemnosc with the same glint in their eyes, locking onto his body and not even wondering how the challenging instructor would react to his answer.

The seriousness of the moment, started by Heian Ciemnosc, spread to the other new recruits as they felt like everything had become absolutely silent. They watched as the old instructor kept looking down at Heian Ciemnosc, and suddenly, a powerful smirk was drawn under the white mustache as his eyes squinted and laughed uproariously twice. "Bwaha bwaha! Alright, this is over. Get in formation!"

'...' Heian Ciemnosc realized something after the challenging instructor turned around and walked to rest on the same spot at the wall, leaving Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head to the right, twisting his neck as his darkest eyes followed after the man's upper shoulders. The instructor didn't want an answer. He wanted conviction... and he found it.

"Phew~," Heian Ciemnosc looked at the new recruits and exhaled as he saw each of these people having spectacular talent and potential. It wasn't as vast as the Academy's new numbers each year, but the Faction's consistency of the quality of their brand-new recruits made it clear... Even if they lost their soldier units, it would be at the cost of an enemy's overly superior numbers, not any other way. The difference had to be 1 to 20 for an organization like this to face a defeat. Who knew how badly it had to be for them to become obliterated.

Heian Ciemnosc walked to join the new recruits, walking through their shoulders and arms until arriving a few lines behind the first at the front, and turned around to face his instructors. The others looked at him once but didn't waste more time on him, concentrating on the talking instructors instead.

"Tomorrow, all of you will follow a set of coordinated actions and activities, and you will be supervised even if you want to get intimate!!" - "That last part is not true! But if you think you can mess around without us knowing, go ahead! We like gossiping!!" - "Anyone who doesn't adhere to their future schedules for the following 3 months will find their life here ending, and perhaps as a whole." - "You can commit mistakes you will amend for, but you cannot refuse to serve the Faction. From today and onwards, live with the Faction, die with your siblings, and kill at your Chairwoman's command!!"

"Huaaaah~~!!" The tens of thousands of new recruits responded after several instructors spoke, filling their hearts with the expectation of belonging to their dream. Now, they were their dream and have become others' dreams, and they had to struggle to maintain the cycle and not humiliate the Crimsonbreaking Faction!

...