The students are sat down in class. Shuichi, Tatsuo and Yuka look very tired due to all the exercise and Ryota is banging his head against the table, but Hiro is sitting with a large grin on her face. Yuka approaches her, “Hey Hiro why are you so happy this morning” Hiro continues smiling and replies “it’s awesome, Ryota’s dad is our ability mentor and our first session was just having dinner and getting to know his family, they were all super nice.” Yuka turns to Ryota, “you don’t look so happy about this but think about it, at least you won’t need to travel far for your training, just look on the positive side” Ryota stops banging his head on the table and looks up “easy for you to say, you and Mizo are crazy lucky, you’re being trained by the number one hero in Japan, I’m being trained by my dad, it’s embarrassing” Hiro jumps in “yeah but you are incredible magic users right? His sisters showed me a few spells”. Ryota remembers the night before when the twins were showing Hiro amazing spells whilst Ryota sulks in the background.

Back in the classroom, Ryota speaks to Yuka again again “anyway, training with Titan must be incredible, how’s it going?”. Yuka replies, “to be honest yes it’s amazing, but it’s also very hard, his training was rigorous and well thought out but also heavily reliant on physical exercise and he even gave me homework”. Mizo jumps in “talking of, Shuichi, Tatsuo, Titan told us that his old master is training you guys and that he’s even tougher”. They both look at each other and sigh, Shuichi replies “that’s correct he’s an incredibly tough trainer”. Tatsuo continues, “however he’s also incredibly talented in comba and swordsmanship, it’s great we’re learning from someone so experienced but… man it’s tough as hell”. All the class start muttering and Etsuko turns to Tatsuo “So the person that taught Hotaka Sensei is also teaching you two? What’s he like? I’m guessing he is super muscular”. Kenikai whispers to Shuichi “if only they knew the real old man”.

Yuka turns around “Hey Kenikai you look pretty happy as well,what was your training like?” Kenikai replies, “to be honest, we just had spent the whole day at the arcade and movie theatre but it’s ok because or mentor said it counts as training, right Kame?”. Kame replies whilst maintaining an emotionless face “yeah it was fun, I enjoyed myself”. Everyone looks confused and Hiro whispers to him “I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not” Kame replies “no really, I had fun”. “Oh sure, anyway, Daisuke, Etsuko what was your training with Minita Sensei like?“. Daisuke replies “Yeah she pushed us pretty hard but it was really good. One thing I would say is…” as he says this Minita Sensei opens the door, he saquéela in a high-pitched voice and very quickly turns invisible.

“Morning class, I hope we all had a great time with our first day of mentoring just a few things to go over, remember we have our ability sessions in class as well as your weekly training sessions with your ability mentors and don’t forget to practice in your spare time. In 3 months the Academic Arenas will take place, a chance for you to showcase your talents, so make sure you are as ready as possible.” All the students start to mutter between themselves. Minita continues, “I know it’s very exciting as it’s the most watched competition every year but please remember you will be there representing the academy. Hopefully all of your abilities will have developed enough in that time to give you all a fighting chance. Of course, your uniforms are all designed and made perfectly to fit your unique abilities so you will be wearing these for the competition, as I said this is publicly displayed so do your best and make Titan Academy proud. Now let’s head off and do some more ability training, if you have specific power training please head to the simulation, if not head to the gym”. All the students get up and head out of the classroom.

A couple of the students download into a simulation, as usual, they are in a large battle gym. Yuka is punching a wall and making energy pockets, he then does 10 push-ups and repeats, Hiro is psychically lifting small objects, Daisuke is putting his hand through objects, and Etsuko places both hands on the ground and begins to make parts of it come out, suddenly she sets on fire, “Damn it! Not again”. Kenikai, Shuichi and Tatsuo are in the gym working out, suddenly Kenikai’s watch goes off, he activates his ability and begins writing down in his diary. Whilst working out Shuichi and Tatsuo are discussing training. “Hey the old man said next week he wants us to start sparring together” Shuichi replies “that sounds perfect, hopefully that will help my stats level up quicker, he also spoke to me about teaching me to spar using my Katana, if you wanna join then you’re more than welcome”. Tatsuo replies “urrrm yes! That sounds awesome”.

In a hallway, Minita is walking with Kame and Mizo. “Both your powers would benefit from a little relaxation time, so we have created a room for that exact purpose”. She opens a door into a tranquil garden with an inside forest and waterfall. Mizo looks shocked while Kame continues with his usual emotionless face. “Please both focus on your breathing techniques that were in the files. This is your place to come and relax and focus on your training objectives. Feel free to use it at your leisure, of course, the other students are also welcome any time”. They both sit down, Kame crosses his legs and slightly levitates off the floor, they both begin to breathe together, the sound of the waterfall in the background slowly gets stronger.

Kenikai is sweating and turns to the others in the gym, “this training is brutal, is your mentor really making you do this”. Shuichi nods “for our abilities to get stronger so must our bodies” Tatsuo jumps in “he said until our seed abilities fully develop we have to focus on training our physical abilities”. Kenikai sighs “Woah your coach seems hardcore, mine just let us play games and go to the movies” Shuichi breathes out “that doesn’t seem like normal training but I guess it would benefit Kame to relax a little”, Kenikai replies, “he said it’s supposed to be good for us to have a little fun once in a while, we’re quite lucky to have a mentor as cool as Toshia. Tatsuo puts the weights down. “Wait what, you mean Toshia Hataka, the rank 4, S class hero, Bullet”. Kenikai strains and carries on. “Yep, that’s the one, for an S-class hero he’s pretty laid back”. Shuichi puts his dumbbell bar on the hook as well, “from what I’ve seen from him in media he seems it, but still he’s a super high-profile hero, I don’t we should underestimate just how lucky we are to have such incredible mentors”.

Hiro is seen floating up and down, as she does she is counting out loud “98, 99 and 100… woah I’m feeling light-headed” Minita downloads into the simulation. She walks over to Yuka who is still punching the wall and staring at it, he then gets on the ground and does 10 push-ups. “Looking good Yuka”. “Thanks, Minita Sensei but still no progress on visualising my pockets” she replies “that’s ok, it’ll take time”. Yuka begins to think for a second “Minita Sensei, I have a question, if we’re in a simulation why are we exercising, won’t it be nullified when we return to the real world”. “Luckily no, any work done with your avatar body in a simulation is carried on into the real world, however we can change the damage and pain factors done to someone in a simulation, for example, any life-threatening damage could be completely nullified allowing us to also respawn someone. There’s a few other applications but this is the main one, that’s why most dangerous sports are now done in simulations”. Yuka nods his head “so if I eat in a simulation will that help?”. “No, simulating food and water unfortunately also isn’t useful, it has no flavour or nutritional ability, so far simulations are only useful for training however it’s been proven you don’t get as efficient results from working out in a simulation, that’s why they recommend continuing working out in a real gym. But of course, as your abilities are currently volatile we recommend you use them in a simulation for now” Yuka nods “That’s fair, I understand”. He turns around and continues punching the wall. Minita walks over to Etsuko. She is still on fire. “Are you ok Etsuko?”. Etsuko puts her thumb up and the fire around her disappears.

A few weeks later Shuichi is holding a wooden katana in a fighting stance in the middle of a combat arena, Kenshin is standing opposite him also with a wooden Katana however is very relaxed and holding it at his side pointed to the floor. Shuichi dives in and goes to strike but Kenshin almost immediately knocks his sword away. This fight continues however Kenshin continuously wins with minimal effort, easily knocking away Shuichi’s sword. “You’re still just as slow as when we first started, have you not been practising at all?”. Shuichi looks at his stats to see his swordsmanship level is 6, and one or two of his other stats have also gone up. He then looks at Kenshin to see his swordsmanship level is 99. “It seems sparring with myself and Tatsuo has helped your levels and skills increase but nowhere near enough to even be considered skills yet” Shuichi continues to throw strikes but is completely shut down every time “Kenshin Sensei one day I will defeat you, no matter how many years it takes”. He strikes again, this time Kenshin knocks the back of his head and swipes his feet so he falls over, “it seems it may take longer than a lifetime at this rate” Kenshin helps up Shuichi. They both smile at each other and then begin to laugh. “Well done, that will conclude your sword training today, go finish off with Tatsuo in the gym”. He heads out the door and it closes behind him.

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Shuichi walks into the gym where again he sees Tatsuo and Kenikai. Shuichi addresses them both “Hey guys”. Tatsuo replies “So I’m guessing training with the old man was fun as usual” Shuichi snickers. “Hey Kenikai any luck with your ability, I’ve seen you logging it all the time but any luck with an algorithm or with any external factors?”. Kenikai shakes his head “not yet, what about you Tatsuo, any luck with your power?”. Tatsuo shakes his head. “No luck here either, looks like the only one of us that’s developing their power is you Shuichi” Shuichi smiles “I guess. My levels are going up but all our strength levels are increasing as we train so we better keep it up, although I’ve not gained any extra skills since becoming class captain, and I’m not sure if my power even allows me to go past the normal human strength and speed, for now, we just need to keep training and see what happens”.

Kenikai turns to Tatsuo “but hopefully once our powers work we won’t need to rely on being strong and going to the gym anymore, however it has been nice, at least I’ve got to know you guys a little more, and Yuka when he’s here. Is he joining us today?”. Shuichi replies “I don’t think so, he said something about Hotaka Sensei taking him and Mizo out to celebrate hitting the first step in his improvement plan”. Tatsuo tuts. “That’s nice, I wish the old man would do something like that for us”. Shuichi and Kenikai are shaking when they see Kenshin standing behind him, he seems to be calm but also angry at the same time. “What was that about me being an old man?”. Kenikai looks shocked and turns around, “I just meant…” Kenshin jumps in “I’ll take you somewhere nice when either of you does something worth celebrating” they both look disheartened. Kenikai thinks to himself “Woah I’m glad we’ve got Toshia who takes us out to do nice things all the time, Kenshin seems pretty intense… I hope Kame is having a more relaxing time than us right now.

Kame is in his meditation room relaxing, he remembers in the past few weeks, him, Kenikai and Toshia exploring several places taking photos near waterfalls and canyons and other nice places, it then returns to Kame who again begins to smile a little as he does his aura slightly thins and he moves closer to the floor. Yuka, Mizo and Hotaka are in a restaurant, Hotaka is wearing a disguise as to not be recognised. He raises his soda and begins to speak “Here’s a toast to Yuka who finally managed to visualise his kinetic bubbles”. Yuka nods. “Now I can finally see them, they’re like golden circles with numbers in and each one has exactly how much force will be applied when released, it makes my life much easier”. Hotaka nods. “That’s great to hear”. He turns to Mizo “Don’t worry you’re also coming along well, unfortunately, we still have a little way to go with that anger of yours but that’s ok we’ll get there” Mizo awkwardly smiles. A waitress comes to the table “here are your 3 Ramen specials”.

A fairly large rock is seen floating in the air by a few inches, and suddenly it drops to the ground. Suzuki claps “Well done Hiro I see you’re able to lift larger objects now, although there is still no improvement in the speed at which you can move them but this is a step in the right direction. Well done”. He then looks over to Ryota who is meditating “Ryota still nothing” Ryota opens his eyes “I’m sorry dad I just can’t seem to see or feel any magic essence”. “That’s ok son but look around, this place is rich in it, it holds the largest a mount of essence from anywhere in the world and you personally hold within you the most essence of anyone in the world, if anyone can do it, it’s you”. Ryota shuts his eyes and opens them again, “nope still nothing” his dad sighs “ok well keep at it I’m sure you will get there soon. Hiro let’s focus on the speed at which you make objects move, here are some smaller stones try to create a circle by spinning these”. He places 2 small rocks in her hand she levitates them both and they slowly start to spin in a circle, Suzuki continues “Hey that’s great, now see if you can make them move faster, keep that up”. Ryota continues meditating but reminisces a memory of the 3 of them reading a level 1 magic spell book together.

Suzuki turns to them both .“The key to being a mage like me and Ryota is being able to feel the magic essence around us and in our bodies, once you can do that you know the limit of your power and what sort of spells you will be able to make. For you Hiro it is similar. Your telekinetic abilities are based on your ability to feel telekinetic energy in objects and then use your telekinetic energy to manipulate or move those objects, in order to determine the size and speed an object is moved at is to compare its telekinetic energy with your own. What we need to do is find out how exactly you feel that energy and if we can do that maybe we can apply the same technique to Ryota here. So tell me, how did you come to feel telekinetic energy?” She thinks for a second “well at first I couldn’t use my powers much at all, but then one day when I shut my eyes I started to see that energy you were talking about, it was like I could see everything around me whilst my eyes were closed, I could see and feel the vibrations of each object and that each object vibrated differently. Eventually everything cause it’s own pattern of waves”. Suzuki thinks for second, “so maybe if we can apply that to Ryota he’ll be able to do the same thing, let’s continue meditating but in the meantime try to feel your surroundings”. Back in the present Ryota is meditating and with his eyes closed only sees black, however, a faint colour of blue appears for a split second before disappearing again. He opens his eyes and looks over to Suzuki who is looking happy as Hiro makes the 2 rocks spin faster.

Etsuko is in a simulation and is also making 2 rocks spin in a circle however the rocks are much larger. As she does, the rocks get faster and faster until eventually, they spin out of control. One of them starts hurtling towards Daisuke. He attempts to turn intangible but instead starts floating, the rock makes contact with him and they both go flying. Etsuko winces and shouts over to him, “Sorry Daisuke” he respawns next to her. “That’s ok… luckily we train in a simulation” Minita is next to them “that’s the 3rd time you’ve killed Daisuke in the past few weeks, Etsuko you need to concentrate more and not get distracted”. Etsuko replies “Sorry Minita Sensei im trying to concentrate but moving 2 large objects like these is hard”. “That's ok, let’s keep going and try the same again, this time try not to lose control”. Etsuko puts both hands on the floor and 2 small boulders come out in front of her. She holds out one hand towards them and they float off the floor and start slowly spinning, they continue to spin at a steady pace until suddenly they both set on fire and shoot off in different directions, one of them crashes into Daisuke and he screams and respawns. He takes a breath then turns to Etsuko. “Hey I know it’s hard to control your powers, there’s no doubt you’re super strong… but if you could please stop killing me that would be great” he smiles and Etsuko begins to laugh. All 3 of them then join in and laugh together. “Ok Daisuke back to training” Daisuke walks over to a wall and starts putting his hand through it, he gets up to his shoulder and gets stuck “Damn it”.

A tv screen is seen, and a news anchor is on it. “It’s been a month since the numerous attacks on the banks causing multiple deaths of local heroes. As of yet, no more information has been given by the Protection Agency since the withered were taken into custody. Was this a one-off attack or is the start of something more sinister? Hopefully, that’s the last we see of those villains.” The tv shuts off and a chair spins around. Checkmate smiles “Oh don’t worry that’ll be the last you see of them, unfortunately for them they got captured, and we can’t have them spilling secrets. Hopefully, you lot won’t make the same mistake as them”. In front of him, a couple of people are on their knees blindfolded, checkmate walks up to them, places a hand on their chest, activates his power and their cores light up. As the light disappears the person fall to the floor. He then continues this with the other 4 people. Checkmate walks over to sit at his desk, pyroknight is standing next to it. “Well done on the recruitment this should easily be enough for the next step”. Pyro replies “and when will that be?”. Check turns and grins “patience Shinji, in chess, you must take your time between each move to think, if I rush I could miss a vital detail”. The people who were laying on the floor get up and brush themselves off. Check smiles. “They’re awake, hello everyone and welcome to the chess club”.