Ace stood in a large stone courtyard with hundreds of kids his age. The Sun was out in full force, it's harsh rays bearing down on the children without mercy. There was no cloud in sight, no escape from the blistering heat.

The past 3 days had gone quickly for him. Stellis showed him how to cook real food and continued to teach him about the city he would have to call home. He learned more about the city's history, more about humanity's civilization before the Interlopers, and learned the basics of GQC-1's currency and transportation system. If he played his cards right, he would become a Knight of Steel and be able to lead a comfortable life... not that he planned on doing so.

When time was up, he and his belongings (of which there few) were relocated out of the stronghold and into the training ground barracks.

Much like he suspected, the stronghold of House Steel was indeed high in altitude. So high in fact that it was situated on top of a mountain near the outer edge of the city. The training grounds were located in a valley at the base of the mountain with a forest bordering it.

He looked around at the other trainees. To him, many of them looked... different. It wasn't just the fact that they had two arms either. Most of them carried an aura of confidence that leaked off in almost palpable waves. Some of them were even engaging in light hearted conversations.

Ace wondered where such baseless confidence came from. He had been outside of the walls, had survived The Wilds for weeks alone, and had even killed a Grade 2 creature. Yet, even he knew better. Being eaten was possibly the humbling experience of his life.

Scoffing internally, he began to take notice of a few outliers within the crowd. Just like him, they were silent, with eyes moving back and forth rapidly as they looked for danger.

'Yup, definitely other kids from the slums... they probably have nothing left as we-'

Suddenly, a loud voice cut through the useless chatter.

"Greetings young trainees! My name is Gawain, The 8th Knight of the 12 Blades! You will refer to me as Instructor!"

Moving to the front of the pack, Ace finally got a good look at the man who was standing on a raised stone platform.

He was of average height, had tanned skin, and was bald, obviously by choice. The reflective sparkle on the his head was so bright that Ace had to shield his eyes to get a better look at his physique.

Much to his surprise, the instructors musculature was even more pronounced than Larcet's, indicated by his rippling muscles that were visible through the gambeson he was wearing.

Noticing a few students whispering about his baldness, the instructor perked up.

"It would seem you all think that this is going to be easy, seeing as you have enough energy to chit-chat amongst yourselves!

Let me assure you, this will be anything but easy. During the next two months I will whittle down your numbers until only 50 remain! Then, we will enter the next phase of training. Right now, there are 1000 of you!"

He paused to look at one of the trainees who had pointed at his head. He made intense eye contact with the boy as he continued.

"We don't know if you have relatives in House Steel, are from a working class family, or are undesignated. And... we don't care. What we want is the best. And the best we shall have!"

Turning his attention back to rest of the crowd, the instructor raised his voice even more.

"Many of you will fail, some of you may not survive, and while quitting may be looked down upon... at least you will be alive. I encourage you to remember this in the upcoming weeks."

The man raised his arms and clapped them once.

"Now, we will officially begin your Knight Indoctrination! We'll start with a test... an endurance test. Everyone, take a lap around the valley! It's only about 20 miles! You have one hour!"

Nobody moved. Instead everyone looked at the instructor with concerned faces.

A brave soul stepped forward, their voice quaking.

"In-Instructor... did you say we had an hour?"

Laughing out loud, the instructor responded.

"Oh... my apologies everyone!"

He looked down at his watch and tapped it, giving everyone hope. It was quickly shattered as a giant holographic timer floated into the air, visible from anywhere in the valley. He pointed to it with a devious grin.

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"You actually have 59 minutes and 30 seconds! The trail is right next to you all... get going!"

With those words, everyone broke out into a sprint, beelining for the dirt path that encircled the valley.

Ace moved in silence.

If there was something he was good at, it was running. Years of getting into trouble with Icarus had given him a great base which the Sever only enhanced further.

With the pace the instructor demanded, everyone was practically sprinting. After only a minute, the large group of trainees began to split into groups with the fastest breaking away first. Ace stuck with them in the back of their group. They passed the first mile marker in just under 3 minutes.

*** 20 Minutes Later ***

Ace was still going strong. The extra endurance that came with being Lawless had made keeping his pace trivial. He wasn't tired, but even if fatigue did build up, he could simply filter trace amounts of Sever energy into his legs to alleviate his pain. He was so comfortable in fact that he suspected he would have been fine... even as a Bruiser.

He looked ahead at the rest of the fastest runners. While some looked okay, many were already starting to show signs of fatigue. Before the group could hit the 7th mile marker, a few fell behind Ace. It didn't take long for him to stop hearing their footsteps. He checked the timer.

They were still on pace.

*** 20 Minutes Later ***

The lead group had lost even more people. Now, only about 50 trainees remained. It became clear to Ace who was going to make it and who wasn't. Amongst the people in front of him, the ones who looked most at ease were those from the slums and two or three from the city.

*** 15 Minutes Later ***

Much to Ace's surprise, no more trainees had fallen behind him, everyone was hanging on. At this point, the signs of fatigue were heavily pronounced, even for the people in front. Loud gasps for air along with the sound of dirt grinding against boots was all that Ace could hear.

A minute passed without change.

Then, it happened. A person towards the front of the pack tripped and fell. On their way down, they grabbed someone else's leg, taking them down as well.

Moving past them, Ace could heard the pair get into a scuffle behind him. Thinking nothing of the incident, he continued running in the back. Only a few seconds later, another 4 people went down, each of them latching on to someone close out of desperation.

As the lead group moved ahead of the fallen runners, it passed the 19th mile marker. With the finish line in sight many people tried to tap into their final reserves. For some of them, it was too soon.

A few seconds later, another 10 trainees went down, grabbing their fellow runners and forcing Ace to jump over a pile up. He was growing annoyed with the antics of the people in front of him. Those who couldn't hack it were doing there best to at least drag someone down with them.

It was a way of making their own inadequacies less visible.

Seeing people do so only made Ace feel pity. It was something he expected to see from a thug in the slums, not people taking a test for an honorable knight society.

The group continued running for another minute. Only the strongest 20 remained. Ace hoped they could pass the finish line without incident.

Soon enough, they passed the half-mile marker.

Ace looked at the timer in his periphery. They had just under a minute to finish.

As others took notice, they began to pull on their reserves and broke out into enhanced sprints. Ace followed suit. With his speed, he knew he would make it. It was almost too easy. As a result, he started to lose focus.

Almost as if to rectify his complacency, a body was sent flying into his face, knocking him off his feet.

'huh?'

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw even more students be sent flying backwards as the trainees in the lead started throwing punches and kicks mid stride.

Landing on his back, Ace tried to rise to his feet, only to find another trainee gripping his leg with enhanced strength.

"What the hell?! Let go!" he yelled.

The nameless trainee only looked at him with disdain. "Or what? You think I'm scared of a cripp-"

He cut off the the other trainee with a vicious kick to the face, lifting him off the ground and sending him flying further down the trail.

Wasting no time, Ace filled his legs with Sever Energy. He spared no expense in his enhancement, kicking up large clouds of dirt as he sped down the trail. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the timer.

There was only 5 seconds left and the finish line was still a half mile away.

He put all of his effort into his strides. With each of his steps, he left a deep imprint of his foot in the ground, covering dozens of feet. It didn't take long for him to pass the unconscious bodies of other trainees ahead of him. He passed one, then two, and then a few more before he lost count.

3 seconds were left on the clock.

The finish line was only a few hundred feet away.

2 seconds were left on the clock.

He wasn't going to make it...

Without interrupting his desperate sprint, he condensed energy into his legs even more than before and crouched down. In the next instant he unleashed it.

Cutting through the air rapidly, Ace saw himself pass the finish line with a second left on the clock. Only... he continued to fly past it. His wild leap had used too much energy and had carried him much further than he intended.

Before he could register what happened, Instructor Gawain appeared in front of him. Raising a hand, he stopped Ace's flight without a struggle, bringing an onset of wind and dirt clouds into the finish area.

At the same time, Ace felt his ribs and back crack. The man was truly a stone wall.

Coughing up blood, Ace fell from Gawain's hand and onto the ground. As he healed from his injuries, he peered up at the finish line. He wanted to get a good look at who had made so much trouble for him.

Except when he looked there was... no one.

In that moment, Instructor Gawain walked up behind him and put a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"Not bad kid... Not bad at all... I expected as much from someone Lady Stellis took an interest in. As you can see, no one else made it."

Walking past Ace and back to his spot at the finish line, Gawain chuckled before speaking once more.

"This happens every time we do this test... You youngsters get so caught up in your own tempo that you forget your surroundings.

It doesn't take long for the first person to take advantage. When that happens... others quickly abandon all pretenses of playing fair."

Walking down the trail, Gawain lazily waved a hand back at Ace without turning around.

"That was the real purpose of this exam... to test your awareness. The clock, the other trainees, and even your own limits. Lose sight of one, and the others will quickly humble you... or kill you."