One hour and some minutes later, I was walking out of the gym with a look of something that bordered on boredom.

After the majority of the people who had signed up for the tryouts had made it, most of them fifteen minutes late and the people who tried to join after that were kicked out for not getting here on time, we all got sat in front of the whiteboard by the coach. By the time that everybody that was participating made it, there were a good thirty guys who showed up, which was not particularly surprising but it was weird once I was there seeing as two thirds of these guys would not be able to make it past tryouts.

The coach was a bit different from when he normally teached P.E. class, as where he seemed bored and lazy during those classes, he seemed fiery and engaged while he stood in front of this group. He started his speech about the basketball team after that, how we would be the best, how he expected everyone to put in the effort, and then after that he started talking about basketball positions and things.

I won't pretend to understand most of what he was going on about beyond the basic jobs of certain groups and people, but it was good to know. Especially when I had the Perfect Recollection passive and I could review it word for word on command. That particular skill made some things incredibly easy sometimes. It would be definitely more important in school if I didn't mostly already know everything from my self study and having the mind of a eighteen year old who was not half bad during school the first time.

After that introduction talk we got started with talk of what we would actually be doing for tryouts. On the first day, we would be running. That's basically it. We would be doing basic exercises for the entire hour. I didn't know if that was the normal way to go about the first day of tryouts… but it was not what I expected.

I wasn't worried about getting through the exercise though. I did not do hours of exercise and training every day for nothing, and that's not even mentioning the fact that my entire body gets enough exercise for days when I enchant something. I was firmly into what I was pretty sure was crazy strength and endurance levels for the amount of time I had been training, and I was definitely more fit than a good number of people just from a quick glance around. That's not to say that I had a defined six pack or anything as I only had some faint signs of one showing, but then again I was not on any real diet like some of those fitness freaks that showed up for the team so that could be to blame. Who knows what they are putting in the cafeteria food?

Then as soon as the talk ended, we had to go to the table that was set up and get a sheet of paper with a number printed on it taped to the back of our shirts so the coach could identify us easier. At least I think that's why he did it because he didn't explicitly say. I got the number eight, and then we all got started with our first day of tryouts.

Running around and doing exercises for the hour that the tryout took wasn't even hard, it was just boring, so I turned my mind to other things. Other things being me gaining an intrinsic understanding of myself.

My experience in this world was… well not a lot. My experience in my old world was not a lot either, as I had been a very closed off person. I had never before had a job, or had many friends, hell I have only ever been to a couple tame parties throughout my life. It made me wonder why I had been so… lifeless I guess in my last life. I hadn't had any particular struggles or major successes in it, I hadn't really tried very hard on much and even then I never picked up anything substantial in terms of motivation. I didn't have a goal in my life is what I am trying to say.

I didn't have anything to live for, anything to die for or anything to push myself against. I was just… existing.

And even now, I am not much better. Sure I had plans on what I was going to do and how I wanted to do it, but in the end I didn't have any particular goals or some strict moral code that I had memorized and am planning to live by. I just… sort of lived life like a plastic bag, floated from one thing to the next. Maybe I gain something along the way, or maybe I get a few cuts, but in the end it was the breeze or my surroundings that moved me around to do things. I hadn't taken control of my own life.

Of course I could change, I could have had some epiphany about how I wanted to take control and live my life in some way or the other, but… I didn't. In the end, I was just one in a crowd of plastic bags and I was fine with that. So what if I don’t have big dreams or aspirations? So what if I didn't have rules on how I live my life? I could be my own person without these things.

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I could live my life without holding myself down, I could just be a normal guy. A normal guy who has the blood of a god flowing in their veins, but that doesn't mean I have to change who I am. Sure I might get power, and I probably will if my little plans go as I think they will, but in the end I was always the friendly plastic bag that flowed around from one thing to the next. And maybe that was ok. I didn't have to change, but I could always grow. Staying true to oneself was a good way to put my sudden philosophical thoughts. I would stay true to myself, and I would do what I could when I could. I didn't need to be some storybook character or some comic book hero, I could just be me and live my life.

Well, what my thought process was really like went along the lines of ‘I wonder what I want to do in life?’ then a few seconds of thinking later I thought, ‘Eh, who cares. I can decide when I get there.’ Yes, it was really poetic and everything. In my defence I thought better when I was not doing suicides with a bunch of sweaty tweens and was resting comfortably in my bed.

Well other than that highly insightful moment I had, I did have some more useful thoughts come to my mind while I was exercising during that hour. I got a good look around and what I saw left me a bit confused. While I felt like I was just getting warmed up and wasn't really feeling like even breathing heavily, a good half of the people in here were looking like they were about to fall over and were covered with sweat and were panting as they moved sluggishly to do the exercises. The rest of the people seemed to be doing better, though there were only a few people who seemed to not to be really pushed, and the rest seemed to be struggling a bit, they weren't as bad as most.

It seems that I might have put more effort into my training then I needed with middle school basketball. Though of course I haven't trained for sports and was instead training for fighting and life and death situations like I knew I would get into, so that was what I needed.

The coach also seemed to be a bit disappointed with the lackluster performance of the people who were really struggling through this and I could see him cross off something on his clipboard every once in a while, most likely the numbers of some people.

But from the people who I had guessed would make it past the first day of the tryouts there was a particular group alongside me that seemed to be doing good. It was Jay, Tom, Vincent and Terry, the group that approached me before tryouts started. They seemed mostly ok guys I guess, though I haven't really gotten to know them enough to really say. They honestly seemed like the most athletic guys in the tryouts and there were only a few who seemed to be around there and my level. There was a clear divide here.

That was probably just how it was, and it made sense. Not everybody was willing to put in the work.

Nothing particular happened besides my thinking and exercising during that hour however, so I walked out of the gym a bit bored and without a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I could go back to the Soul Forge and continue with trying to make a motion detector that actually worked. Though, I kind of wanted to relax or try something different for some reason. Maybe I could hang out with Percy and Grover for a bit.

I started walking casually away from the gym and out of the small crowd of people however, I heard my name get called making me turn around to see Jay standing behind me. “Hey, me and the guys were wondering if you wanted to come hang with us for a bit?” Jay asked casually, gesturing to the other three who were standing and talking with each other down just to the side of the swarm of exhausted kids that were exiting through the gym doors.

I considered his offer for a second. I mean, I am honestly pretty sure that I would be on a basketball team with these guys soon so it would probably be a good thing to get to know these guys a bit. Plus they asked me to go so honestly it would be pretty rude if I didn't go. Another plus is the fact that I honestly didn't have any plans in particular.

“Sure, why not.” I accepted his offer with a smile, and walked with him to where the other guys were standing. The stream of students leaving the gym seemed to have ended as I walked over, as I noticed the hallway was mostly empty at this point. “So, what do you guys normally do?” I ask once we rejoined with each other, looking around the small circle that we seemed to have formed once me and Jay caught up. The others didn't really seem to know how to respond to my question, but Jay answered with a wry grin. “Well… how do you feel about leaving the school for a bit to get something good to eat? I could use some ice cream.” He asked, with a look that told me that yes, he knew that we were explicitly told we were not allowed to leave the school grounds, and no he did not care.

I could get behind that though. I didn't particularly care much about that particular rule either.

I gave a grin in response to his question, “That sounds as good a plan as any.” I acknowledge and as a group we started walking towards the back of the stream of students to head outside and into the city again. Now that I think about it, I don't think I have had ice cream in this world as of yet. Finally having some would be a good change of pace.